Athens

We're here! This sign greeted us inside the Athens Airport. (We learned later that WIND is a mobile internet provider in Greece.)








In the Arrival Hall we were greeted by Spiros of the Aegean Tour Company. He loaded us into two taxis and took us to our hotel, the Athens Gate.








On the way into the city we managed to snap a picture of this reminder of the 2004 Olympics.








The Roof Garden Restaurant at the hotel has a spectacular view of the Acropolis! Our first meal was Greek Salad Sandwiches with creamy feta cheese, ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, red onions and green peppers on slightly crunchy, toasted buns. (This information is for Clare and Isabelle's mothers who are curious about what we're eating.)

















In the other direction there's a view of the Temple of Zeus.








The girls couldn't wait to visit the Plaka (we thought the word meant "market" in Greek, but we learned it refers to a "flat area" or the old area of Athens.) They jumped right into shopping mode.








Rather than a description of dinner, here's a picture. This Greek Salad tasted as delicious as it looks. We ate in the Plaka on the street under a tree and people-watched. Groups of young people from the Special Olympics - which had concluded the day before - strolled by. Wearing their team t-shirts proudly was Team Singapore.








Wednesday, July 6th - Breakfast at the Roof Garden Restaurant and another look at The Acropolis, this time in morning light. It's hard to resist taking pictures of this legendary site.









This is the third floor of the new Acropolis Museum which opened in 2009. It's spectacular. Designed by a Swiss Architect it incorporates the ancient Athenian village discovered at the site. Glass floors cover the village so you can look down at a place that existed long before the birth of Christ. In two months people will be able to walk through the village itself.




















Entering The Acropolis!









The world's most beautiful building - the Parthenon.








The air was clear enough to let us see Athens and beyond. We didn't miss the smog that smothered Athens during our visit 19 years ago.









The large stone hill is the Areopagus mentioned in Acts 17. It's the site of St. Paul's famous sermon to the Athenians. We read the chapter before dinner and couldn't believe how current it sounded - as if Paul had been here just a few weeks ago.








Isabelle is giving her best impression of St. Paul on the Areopagus.








Clare told us that while she was descending the stairs and trying to keep the wind from blowing her dress up, a man said to her "Don't be afraid of the wind." He stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Dimitri," and then kissed her on the cheek! I was dumbfounded. I was thinking I would like to slap him, but instead asked "How old was he?" "Really old. About forty." (Clare's dad is going to love THIS story.)








Our favorite resting spot after surviving the heat of the Acropolis, the courtyard of the Church of the Apostles. A Danish woman took this photo.








We stopped in an art gallery owned by the artist, Moraitis. HIs assistant brought us downstairs to show us his studio in the center of which is a huge 2,000-year-old jar which stored wheat. When they dug the basement and discovered the pot, they tried to move it to the museum. When it began to break apart, they just left it. Athens is full of such juxtapositions of ancient and new, each living quite comfortably with the other.








We kept passing this poster of our friend George in the Plaka, saying hello each time we did. Finally, we decided to memorialize our time together with this picture.




















Our wonderful day in Athens had a perfect ending. We found the best restaurant, under a tree and near a park. There's that Greek Salad again plus calamari, dolmas, and spanakopita. THEN ------








the day reached absolute perfection when we decided to go to the Roof Top Cinema across from the restaurant and saw a funny, light-hearted movie directed by and starring Tom Hanks called "Larry Crowne." And to our left ---the magnificent Acropolis with a new moon above. Can it get any better than this?

Clare and Isabelle's Adventures in Greece

THE HICCUPS OF TRAVEL
You always wonder how it will go. The hope is for safe travel - smooth flights, smiling attendants, good food and great entertainment. But that's not the way it works. The stories happen when the unexpected happens. So, let me tell you about the trip to Greece with Clare and Isabelle. Anticipated for over a year, the girls' excitement was fed with Christmas gifts of journals and books about Greek mythology, outfits for the cruise to the Greek Islands for birthdays and emails to them and their parents throughout the year about various aspects of the trip:

"We're going to Mary's House near Ephesus." (The parents: "Wonderful.")
"Our hotel is near the Acropolis and the new Acropolis Museum." ("How lucky they are.")
"It's also near the Plaka." (The girls: "Hurray!!")

We couldn't help teasing the parents about our stop in Istanbul. "The girls will LOVE the bazaar. We think we can get a good price for them there." Okay, maybe not all that funny. But they perked up when we mentioned the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Spice Market.

So the planning and phone calls to tour companies, airlines and parents finally came to an end. We were ready. And that's when the Greeks decided to join in the dissension and unrest rippling through the mideast and Europe. We checked news stories, found the location of our Greek hotel and discovered it was about six blocks from Syntagma Square. We called Jean, our travel agent, who called the tour company who told us they could move us to the coast if events didn't improve. We held our breaths as well as our reservations at the hotel. Surely it would be okay.

It seemed so, and two days before our flight we were going through our itinerary at lunch with the Côté Family, reading it out loud and savoring the adventures to come. I glanced at Isabelle's flight itinerary and --- wait a minute! It says "July 16th" not the 15th. A quick look at all four itineraries, and it seems that Isabelle is booked to return the wrong day. How did this happen?! Thirty minutes later and a tense conversation with Rudy from Air Canada, and it is straightened out. It was their error. A close call. This is why itineraries are supposed to be inspected very closely.




And now comes a very sad part of our story Those who love their pets, especially cats, may want to skip this part. The day after we'd arrived in Kingston, it was discovered that Mama Cat, Chai, was under the weather. She just got worse. It didn't help that Celeste in California was dealing with having to put her cat down. This morning Kristin and Caroline took Chai to the Vet and left her there for tests. Then we put our packed suitcases in the car and left for the airport. About an hour later the Vet called and told Kristin that it would take extreme measures to help Chai, and she probably wouldn't make it in any case. The decision was clear. Isabelle and Caroline began to sob along with their mother. Clare comforted Caroline in the back seat, and I reached around the seat to pat Isabelle. They were inconsolable. Somehow this wasn't the way I had imagined our trip beginning those long months ago when we first envisioned the trip to Greece. `Finally the sobs subsided, and I told Isabelle that I was a bit concerned that her tears might alarm the Customs Officers who would suspect we were taking her to Greece against her will. The thought of her grandparents kidnapping her made her laugh.

Chai will be missed, but they will have her daughter Paprika to remind them of the great mother she was. Kristin said a lovely prayer for Chai and added prayers for a safe, smooth and uneventful flight to Greece.







So far it's all of those things because, it seems, as the sign says, we're going to our "Happy Place." For real.


And now Jerry and I are wondering about only one thing ---- why are the girls laughing uncontrollably across the aisle from us?





MORE FROM GREECE!




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Location:From Air Canade Flight 828 to Greece

Zimbabwe and Botswana

VICTORIA FALLS

- a wonderfall: majesty and mist, rainbows and rain, thundering water. We had come to the other side of the world to see one of nature's wonders - just as legendary explorers, Stanley and Livingston, had come more than 150 years ago. Thinking about their lengthy, exhausting expeditions reminds us to be grateful for our "mere" 24 four hours plus journey from home to here.

Do you know the story behind the famous greeting, "Dr. Livingston, I presume?" No? Well---

After discovering Victoria Falls in 1855, Dr. David Livingston returned to Africa in 1864 to search for the source of the Nile River. He wasn't heard from for seven years, and the world wondered what had happened. Had he been abducted? Did he die? In 1871 the editor of the New York Herald had the idea of sending one of its journalists, Henry Morton Stanley, to find the great explorer. During his eight months there Stanley began to hear stories about a white man with a long grey beard and finally, on November 10, 1871 he found him on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. It's a great story, and you can read a description of this epic moment in history in Mr. Stanley's words by going to

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/stanley.htm

We always enjoy visits to schools and watching the students perform. Our mutual curiousity and eagerness to know one another better is always a highlight of these trips. This is the Chinotimba Government School where the children's dancing, singing, energy and enthusiasm wowed us.
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"A Walk with the Lions" Gone Awry

Namibia (Continued)

April 23/Sossulvlei Sand Dunes

Freddie endeared himself to us at the Sea of Sand, the world-famous sand dunes. We're not sure who was more courageous, those of us who worked our way up the ridge of "Big Mama" or Freddie for taking us all under his wings and giving us priceless lessons in nature as well as what he called "Lessons in Life" along the way. Most memorable lesson: holding hands as we walked down the sand dune at a 90 degree angle (well, it seemed like 90 degrees) and experiencing a "symbiotic relationship." Thank you, Freddie!

Welwitshia Mirabilis ["Welwitshia," named after the Austrian botanist

who discovered it in 1859, and "mirabilis" which means "miracle"].

They are the oldest plants on earth and considered living fossils.

They're found only in the Namib desert and can live 1,000 years or more.

The Sossulvlei Lodge
Our home in the desert.
Camping in style

The view from our "tent."

I assumed, when invited to ride one, that a "quad" was a four-wheel bicycle. Not exactly. Basically, I just held on for dear life and prayed I wouldn't hit a rock or pothole as I zipped along the desert road. The most exciting moment was watching an ostrich trying to escape a fenced enclosure. As we noisily approached, the terrified ostrich backed up for a running start and headed towards the fence at full-speed. I was bracing for a collision as she headed in my direction, but she missed the top of the fence by a few inches and fell in a heap on the other side. Not to worry though. She scrambled up and, with feathers flying, zoomed away.

The next morning we drove out to the Sea of Sand where we discovered there is more than one way to view the desert.
This is the famous Dune #45. Can you see the people walking on the ridge? We didn't realize we'd soon be doing the same thing on the dune known as "Big Mama."

And here we are, ready to tackle a sand dune. Since we were at

the head of the line (this photo was taken by someone else), we didn't realize that a few of the group turned around and waited in the shade while we marched on, three steps forward and one step back in the soft sand.

A sand-diving lizard was no match for Freddie who dove onto the wall of sand to capture him. We were impressed by BOTH of their diving abilities. (Can you see the lizard in Freddie's hands?)

Here are our shadows on the sand just before we joined hands to descend. It was a vivid example of the importance of hanging onto each other for survival. It would have been much harder trying to do it alone. A life lesson indeed.

Though it doesn't seem too high at this distance, the Big Daddy Dune

is almost 1,000 feet high, one of the tallest in the world.

And finally, an oryx emerges from the shadows, transforming itself before our eyes from black to white. Another miracle in the desert.

Namibia, Land of Endless Space

April 21/Flight to Namibia and the Namib Desert

We flew from Cape Town over the southwestern coast of Africa and soon were looking down on miles and miles of desert. The loveliness of Cape Town, it seemed, was being replaced by the unrelenting harshness of an inhospitable environment. It only seemed that way, however, until gradually we were introduced to a different kind of beauty and a country that is one of the most unusual we've ever visited. Arriving at the Walvis Bay Airport, I looked around at miles of nothing and asked Tony, only half-kidding, "Where in the world have you taken us?" The word "Namib," in fact, means "nothing."

We began our four days in Namibia with local guide and proud Namibian Freddie Bester.

At Walvis Bay (a Dutch word for whales) I took a birthday photo with Jerry and one of the thousands of flamingos that reside there.

We drove past an enclave on Long Beach that was famous for a time as the hideaway of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie when they were expecting their first child, Shiloh. (Some of you, we know, are really interested in this.) By the way, she didn't deliver the baby at home, as was suspected, but in the hospital in the thriving coastal German town of Swakopmund where we spent two nights.

We stayed at the Swakopmund Hotel, built as a replica of the Railway Station in Hamburg for those who were missing their home country. The Germans arrived in the late 1800's and created a protectorate here. Very strange to see German architecture and to hear German spoken by all the residents, including the African street vendors. Even though Germany left the country to its own devices during World War II and Namibia was granted independence from South Africa in 1990, the country retains many of its cultural ties to Germany. Does the beach front remind you of anything familiar?

April 22/Swakopmund, Damaraland, Spitzkopp

It's "Earth Day," and what better way to celebrate than explore this "Land of Endless Space"? Spitzkopp is called the Matterhorn of Namibia. You can see why.

On the way to the mountains we stopped at the Skeleton Coast to view one of many shipwrecks that litter the shore. Later, a bathroom stop at Hentie's Bay gives us an opportunity to see a golf course with more sand traps than greens.

Jerry and Freddie examine rocks on the side of the road. Most of our finds are mica, nicknamed "the baboon's mirror."

Spitzkopp is part of an area known as Damaraland where ancestors of the Damara tribe lived for thousands of years. Eddie, one of the Damaras, shows us Rock Art that's two thousand years old that was part of the communication system of the people. He also demonstrates the language which is one that involves the "clicking" sound that became famous in the movie The Gods Must be Crazy. Can you see the rhino on the wall?After stopping for a short climb to the Arch Rock, Freddie

takes us deeper into the mountains to find a nice place to

stop for lunch. "What, you didn't bring lunch with you?"

he jokes. "Then what shall we eat?"

The answer is found behind one of the larger rock formations where a pavilion has been set up by a tree, and a tasty buffet awaits us. Isn't this how everyone dines in the desert?

Eddie briefly demonstrating the Damara clicking language.