Nanny, Pappy and Aunt Beth just left last Thursday after a 2 week visit. Chance was elated to have Aunt Beth sleeping on his bottom bunk, and the visit as a whole couldn't have been better.
Thursday, the day they arrived, was a slow moving day. We sent Chance to school so that everyone could recover from the grueling flight. In the afternoon Beth stayed home to rest, while I took Nanny and Pappy out to stroll the Neiderdorf and the old town. We swung by to get Beth, and everyone went with me to pick Chance up from school, an event he had been waiting for for weeks. He was so proud to have everyone in town, that as we left the school, his teacher peeked her head out the window, and Chance grabbed Nanny, Pappy and Aunt Beth's hand one by one bringing them forward up to personally introduce them to his teacher. He was so excited.
Friday Ryan was lucky enough to take off work. We headed up to the forest to grill up some burgers and enjoy the nature. Nanny really enjoyed looking at the massive trees, and Chance had fun as usual getting dirty and kicking the soccer ball around. Saturday morning we headed down to the lake and packed a picnic lunch. Chance and Pappy fed the swans, and Chance even found a tree that he could climb to the top of and peek out.
We left Saturday for Athens, on a really late flight. Sunday morning we headed straight to a cafe - we all are some serious coffee addicts I have learned! - then strolled around looking for a market, and stumbled upon the Ancient Agora. The ruins reminded me a lot of Rome, I apparently am not educated enough in the ways of Greece vs Roman architecture to tell the difference! We had a great lunch, and Nanny tried the rest of the trip to match the garlic mushrooms that she had for that day. Unfortunately unsuccessful.
Monday we headed for the Acropolis first, man was it crowded even in October, and very dusty and windy.
It was amazing to imagine that 250 thousand people used to live up on that hill top, it seemed so small. Hundreds of steps up (carrying Chance I might add) and back down, we decided to then head for the Temple of Zeus. We saw it from the street and decided we had no energy reserves to go inside, so we opted for food instead. Again, as with any vacation, food seems to be the common theme here. And boy did we have great food. Greek salads are now on the top of my list, as well as feta which I used to not like. Greece put such a spell on Pappy that he overcame his distaste for olives, although unfortunately the same magic did not work for me. And get a load of this.....BETH NOW LIKES TOMATOES. Yip I am making the official announcement. BETH NOW LIKES TOMATOES. No going back now! Monday afternoon Ryan, Chance and I pressed on, opting out of a nap. Chance fell asleep in the stroller and so Ryan and I quickly found a spot in the middle of Omonia Square to admire eachother and our surroundings for a second, and then found an icecream shop. Chance woke up and we spend an hour or 2 in the National Gardens, at the playground there of course! and then met up with everyone to watch the the guards of the Unknown Soldier do a funny dance as they changed command.
Tuesday we had the breakfast of champions at no other than Starbucks and got to meet our box van Fiat that was to tote us around for the next 2 days. We saw it and began to wonder how in the world it would fit us, our Greek filled bellies, and our overstuffed suitcases.
Pappy and Ryan managed to squeeze it all in and we set off on a very interesting adventure towards Delphi. I preface this story with the fact that the day before while in the playground we met another couple that were joking at how confusing driving in Greece can be, and that we should fully expect to get lost. Well, that was an understatement. We took a wrong turn which cost us about 2 hours in Athens traffic. Finally once at the highway we managed to stay in a round-about, round and round and round we went until we could decide which way we should be going. Toll booths surrounded us in all directions, and we chose the one we thought would point us in the wrong direction. We pull up, pay our money and ask if we are going in the correct direction. We are told we have to turn around, go the other direction and of course pay a toll again! Next toll booth, we realize hummm we have no idea where we are going, we better turn around again. We kept going thru the same toll booths over and over, almost to the point that we were running out of new toll booth tenants to go to (since we didnt want the embarrassment of going thru the same person twice)....20 Euros later, we finally decided on a direction and stuck with it, and 5 hours later we arrived to Delphi a little beat up and woozy from the small windey roads. It was the town of MarcoPolo that screwed us up - there are 2 of them, one north of the city and one south. Now we know where the game comes from.Delphi was super charming, perched on a hill above some amazing olive orchards that swept the valley floor and off in a distance you could see the Gulf of Corinth. The only redeeming quality of our hotel was the view we got from our balconies, but the hard beds and tiny showers were a little disappointing! Before dinner we walked down to the ancient site, what Delphi is famous for. Delphi was apparently the "center of earth", where Zeus released 2 eagles in opposite directions and the eventually collided marking this spot. The ruins were spectacular, perched on a hillside overlooking the immense valleys of Olive orchards. We never did quite figure out exactly what the "Oracle" of Delphi was. We were the last ones out of the place and the sun setting there provided a really nice glow. Pappy found us a really nice restaurant that night and again we enjoyed the food the Greeks were serving!
We left Delphi after a little morning shopping, decided to go west around the coast and back on to the Peloponnese mainland to work our way to Corinth and on to Epidavros. Halfway down the upperside of the drive, we lucked upon a car ferry. Probably didnt save us anytime but a couple Euro in gas. And we were able to enjoy the views aboard the ferry for about an hour crossing the gulf of Corinth. The water was amazingly blue. Too tired to stop, Corinth was seen in just a blink. We made it to Epidavros, barely, since the roads are not always marked on the map. The place was a jewel overlooking the sea towards Athens. Olive orchards, orange trees and vineyards surrounded us. The villa was too cute for words, very modern and the one find I am proud to say I booked. We had studio apartments with an adjoining terrace that overlooked the immense bay. Breakfast was served to us out there, a full feast was an understatement. Epidavros is a tiny dot on the map, famous for its Ancient Theater seating 14,000 and is so well preserved it is still in use today. We visited there and were astounded at how well you could hear someone in the center of the stage from all the way at the top. Several other visitors were there while we were, and Chance managed to take center stage giving heart warming performance after performance to the onlooking crowd. I loved the lack of inhibitions and his sincerity in performing his songs. He held up his fingers and said to the crowd "This is my last performance", sang a song and then made his awkward bow. I think that will be one of my favorite moments in Chance history.
Morning came and after our feast, we headed to the crystal clear beach down below the villas. It was rocky but so clear, and Chance and Ryan were brave enough to jump in. The water felt nice, but too cold for me. We collected cool rocks and enjoyed our morning before heading to Athens to catch a plane to Santorini. We waved as we crossed the famous Corinth canal.
Santorini came quickly and our place was on the very tip of the island, in Oia. The owner was very friendly and we got to know him over 2 dinners that he would accompany us to. One night he took us down to Ammoudi port where we feasted on a huge baracuda and had tomato cakes, something the island is famous for. Saturday we took a somewhat disappointing tour around the island, then on a boat over to a volcano island.....I climbed to the top in search of a real lava pit but to no avail. I think the start of the day was a bit indicative of the rest....we had to catch a bus at the crack of dawn, and as we were approaching the stop I realized I had forgot our tour vouchers. I had 10 minutes to run, yes run at full speed, back through the town of Oia and down the steep hill to our hotel. I attempted to run back up the hill, but chose life over heart attack, then picked back up speed at the top through the town to make it back in time. The only thing that kept me going was Ryan's voice echoing in the back of my head, what he had said when were last in the forest and I wanted to sit instead of throw the football: "No Pansies at the Picnic, Honey".....so I used that to motivate me and keep running! The town of Oia was so adorable, perched on the side of the cliff just as in the movies with stairs and tiny windy paths as roads. We bought a picture of a door, as Santorini is famous for its interesting doors. We also got to climb 283 steps after our tour ended back up to the top of the town, dodging donkeys charging down the steps after laboriously carrying people all the way to the top. Glad I'm not a donkey!
Sunday brought us home and Monday we spent relaxing. Ryan's family went to check out the Chagall stained glass windows in the Frau Munster Church on Monday, and Tuesday we had the famous St Gallun sausage and some more Starbucks. Wednesday we took a quick day trip to Baden, and on Thursday we said our goodbyes. The time really flew and we enjoyed every minute of it! Come back and see us again!!!
