Blog and Photo Albums of Bette Degnan-Kryak and Don Kryak

Brian and I took Cole (5yrs old) and Anna (4yrs old) to their first Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall in NY City to see the Rockettes.  The show was AWESOME!!!!  We had 3 Dimensional glasses on, as they showed Santa traveling on his sleigh through NY City.  Cole kept lifting the glasses up to check that things weren’t ‘really’ flying at him!  He kept ducking as he watched the show……so cute!!!  Cole and Anna were so good, they really enjoyed the show, as did Brian and I.

We went to Starbucks before the show for lunch.  The day was warm and rainy…..really raining.  After the show, Brian took Cole to Wii store to get a new game.  I took Anna to the American Girl Doll store.  The place was PACKED with little girls and mothers.  I had Anna pick out a doll and asked the cashier to get the doll and outfit, after all, how much could an American Girl doll cost? in NY? at Christmas time?…..well, $140.00 later we left the store!!!

Here are some of the photos

We arrived in Valletta Malta at 11am. It is a 15 minute walk (uphill) to the center of town. Don negotiated a horse and buggy ride for 50 euros. It was awesome!! The driver stopped at a few sites, explained the history and then waited while we got out and took pictures. There are a LOT of churches in Valletta. The center of town has a large shopping area with no cars and lots of outdoor cafes. We of course started our day with a gelato and ended it with lunch and wine at the cafe.

Here are some pictures…

This was the BEST place of all!!! We arrived in Alexandria at 7am. We had reserved a private tour with www.memphistours.com however, when we arrived we were placed on a tour with a family of 8 adults. We were going to request to be changed to a private cab, except there was an added person to our tour bus….it was an Egyptian bodyguard. He wore a silk suit, silk tie, nice shirt and had a machine gun underneath his suit. He carried a locked briefcase which we suppose carried more ammunition for the machine gun!!! Since there are safety in numbers, we stayed with the group Our bodyguard went everywhere with us, never smiled and would not allow anyone to take his picture. Welcome to Cairo!!!

We had a 3 hour drive to Cairo. Cairo, which means “the triumphant”, is the capital and largest city in Egypt and Africa. It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world. The city is 82 square miles and has a population of 21 million!!! To put that in perspective, New York City is 305 square miles with a population of 8 million!!! Both Cairo and New York City have a nickname of “The City that Never Sleeps”.

Now lets look at the driving in Cairo. Imagine this: New York City on a busy day, multiply the traffic by 10, take out ALL traffic lights/stop signs, Remove all street lines to designate traffic lanes, and add in people running for their lives attempting to cross the streets at random places and the occasional 9 year old child riding a camel or horse through the traffic. You need to see it to believe it!!! And, very few accidents. If you want a drivers license, just write to the government and they give you one……no test to take….no manual to study. If you are involved in an accident, the police decide who is at fault and that person pays for damages (or doesn’t pay)….no lawyers, no insurance!

Now, the poverty. Visiting Cairo makes one very grateful that they were born in the USA and for anything that they currently own. There is trash everywhere in the streets of Cairo. There is a canal in the street about 4 feet wide with muddy water and God only knows what is in it!!! The USA ghettos would look like upper class homes in Cairo. We saw a bus that holds about 50 people that had probably 150 people on board. The saddest thing was looking at a 5 year old with his face pushed into the bus window becasue it was so jammed with people. Imagine, a hot day (110 degress) on that bus with absolutely NO ROOM to move. We couldn’t imagine how you can get off at your stop!!!

The sites were phenomenal!!! We got to see the “Step Pyramid” of King Djoser, Teti pyramid and the tombs in Sakkara, colossal statue of Ramses II, Giza Plateau which is home to Egypt’s signature attraction of the Great Pyramids…one of the seven wonders of the world…..including the Great Pyramid of Cheops, middle pyramids of Chephren and the little pyramid of Mykerinos and the mysterious Sphinx, the Father of Terror for the ancient pharaohs. We had a buffet lunch at a very nice restuarant with some Egyptian delicacies.

Due to all of the traffic, we left the tour sites and went directly to our dinner River Cruise on the Nile. There were belly dancers for entertainment Our bodyguard and tour director Mario accompanied us to the dinner cruise and picked up us afterwards. The “City that never sleeps” still had mega traffic and stores still open, it was 11pm!!

We arrived at our recommended (thank you Bridget!!) 5-star deluxe hotel called the Mena House. It was superb. We took a picture of the slippers that were placed on the floor next to our beds. There was a fabulous buffet breakfast with the freshest fruit I ever had!! A wide assortment of cereals, cheese, jelly, pastries, etcetc AND you ate looking out at the pyramid!!!! HIGHLY recommend this place

So, day two of the tour we saw: Museum of Egyptian Antiquities with over 120,000 masterpieces including King Tut; Citadel of Saladin; Mohammed Ali Alabaster Mosque; Ben Ezra Synagogue. No tour would be complete without a visit to the Carpet factory, Pyparus factory (yes, we did buy something here) and the aromatherapy/perfume factory. We made it back to the ship with only 45 minutes to spare, they leave without you if you are late

So here are some of the pictures……

We arrived at Izmir (Ephesus), Turkey around 8am. Our private guide was named Tom and we hired him through www.ephesustours.org. Again, spoke good English and very knowledgeable. Our camera was not working that day so the only pictures we have are pulling into the port. We visited the House of Virgin Mary where it is believed that she arrived with Saint John 4-6 years after the death of Christ and where she spent her final days. We visited the Ephesus Ruins (Odeon, Temple of Hadrian, Roman Baths, Celcus Library and the Theatre which is still in use today for concerts and has an amazing capacity of 25,000!!!). It was truly spectacular to see the Ruins and walk through this ancient site with the streets paved with marble. We also visited the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Our day would not be complete without a visit to the carpet factory. Apparently tour guides get a commission for bringing visitors to their establishments in the hopes of us buying their crafts. We got to see carpets being made and of course were encouraged to buy…….a small carpet, say 6ft x 8ft was a meager $10,000 euros. No, we did not buy any……nor did we buy anything at the jewelry store that we were taken to visit. There were about 40 different jewlery counters with very unique pieces and the lowest price I could find was $1,000.00 for a small pair of earrings!! Our tour guide offered to ‘give up his commission’ if we wanted to buy anything! No, we didn’t buy here either. We did get taken to lunch but the food was basically American

We arrived in Civitavecchia and walked around the town. We picked up a couple of souvenirs and of course had a gelato .

Our next port was Piraeus. We hired a private tour taxi driver for Athens Greece. The web site is www.athenstaxi.org. Our guide spoke very good English (used to live in the US) and was very knowledgable. He took us to the Parthenon, Acropolis, Temple of Zeus, the Olympic Stadium, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Changing of the Guards, and the shopping district known as Plaka. He also took us to a Greek restaurant for lunch that is frequented by the locals…..Don got the lentil soup…..I experimented and got the lamb and couscous dish. Ah yes, Don also got Ouzo……when in Greece, do as the Greeks

Check out the pictures…

Don and I took a cruise of Europe on the Norwegian Cruise Line March 6-20th, 2009. The ports that we visited were Civitavecchia Italy (1 hour train ride to Rome); Piraeus Greece (near Athens); Ephesus Turkey; Alexandria Egypt (3 hour car drive to Cairo); and Valletta Malta. This was a trip of a lifetime. With the help of our daughter-in-law Bridget, we booked private tours in Greece, Turkey and Egypt. The private tours were fantastic and certainly worth the expense. We were able to ask questions of our tour guides on the culture, economics, religious beliefs, etc and tour the sites at our own pace.

The pictures of each port are published by port…….check them out Hope you enjoy them!!!

We did not like the food on the Norwegian Cruise Line. They have “Freestyle Dining” and the food in the main dining room was similar to cafeteria food. We ended up eating in 6 of their ’specialty’ restaurants which we VERY good, however, there was an extra charge ($10-$35.00 per person depending on the restaurant). The main entertainment shows were ’so-so’. Instead, we went to see an improv group about 6 times. They were GREAT and a lot of fun!!!

The captain told everyone BEFORE their visit ashore to Egypt that they needed to be VERY diligent about washing their hands (all the way to the elbows) and not to drink the water unless it was bottled. After the ships visit to Egypt (day 9 of the cruise), there was an outbreak of gastroenteritis onboard. At that point, we were no longer allowed to use the serving spoons at the buffet on the ship. The crew had to dish out our food and the public bathroom doors were kept open. Don and I managed to escape the GI problem, I carried Purell and we used it like every hour while in Egypt!!!

Cole and Anna came to visit on Friday, Cole skipped school so we got to spend more time together I asked Cole and Anna about going to Chuckie Cheese and the response was “No, let’s go to your house and play with you and Don!!!” We did stop and get movies, Cinderella for Anna and Speed Racer for Cole. We all enjoyed Eagles ice cream during the movie. Bedtime went VERY well and they both went without any problems:-)

Fortuneately I went to bed early because at 6:45am I heard a whisper “Nana”, and as I opened one eye…..there stands Cole, with Anna right behind him….and our day begins!!! We played video games, dollar store puzzles/games, laundry basket drums, parade, and monsters in the closet. We all had fun and Don loved having the heat turned up for the 24 hours!!!

Cole had taken a bag home with some ‘trinkets’ he found in the house, one of which was a light that has (or should I say HAD) sticky material that you peel off and mount the light. Well it would seem that Cole has a little of his ‘Uncle Chris’ mind……Cole peeled the tape off the back of the light and mounted it on the wall in the downstairs hallway. He then pulled it off the wall……and voila……off came the paint and wallboard. I think I am in trouble!!! Uncle Chris (at about the same age) pulled the wallpaper off one wall in the bathroom……he “wanted to see what was behind the paper”.
Here are some of our pictures……boy does Anna love to be photographed

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My mommy and daddy took me to breakfast at my favorite place……Nudy’s in Thorndale. Mommy and daddy dropped me off at Nana and Don’s because they were going to Devon to do some volunteer work (painting at a home for mentally and emotionally challenged).

I may be just short of 4 months old, but I kept looking around at the people (Nana and Don), the furniture, the pictures…..I didn’t recognize anything or anyone I got scared and this was the first that Nana heard me cry My mommy and daddy had brought my ‘jumperoo’ and Don suggested that maybe I would be soothed by the jumperoo. It worked…..I saw something familiar. After about an hour, I took a nap.

Thank goodness for short term memories, when Siobhan woke up, she must have forgotten she was in a strange place and she was as pleasant and smiling as always. Once she gets talking, she doesn’t stop!!! Check out the photos and especially the video that Don took of Siobhan talking. I think she is saying “Nana, you really need to make this bed!!!”

Don and I got married on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at the Fellowship Church in Thorndale, PA. Karen Marshall and Bob Degnan were our maid-of-honor and best man. Our family joined in the celebration at our house. The caterer was fantastic and the ‘bartendress’ made the best margaritas (thank you Karen) Here are some of the photos (courtesy of my son Chris).