Athens, Trip Journal Part 1

After we landed in Athens, some of my first observations were to see how this place was different than America, besides the language of course. I was impressed by the recycling receptacles, water efficient toilets, and small cars (I'm enamored especially with Smart Cars).There was great public transportation from the airport and around town. It was smoggy and the smokers everywhere might be a big contributor (And this is coming from people living in Tobacco country).

We stayed in a hostel about a kilometer from the Acropolis. When we arrived in downtown Athens, we dropped off our luggage and headed out. The Parthonon is an amazing Greek, Doric style, temple on a hill above the city. They are reconstructing missing parts and so there was a lot of scaffolding on it. It was especially amazing at night as it was lit up and you could see the big fortress up on the hill.

From Athens

On the side of the Acropolis is Mars Hill. For all you Bible fans out there, this where Paul went as a missionary and found a shrine to the Unknown God and preached.

From Athens

We came back down from the mountain and looked around and had lunch. I absolutely love Greek Food in Greece. The Greek Salads have no lettuce in them and are just tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, feta, and a titch of parsley. We ate a lot of gyros and had some tasty grilled octopus. By about five o'clock our night of no sleep caught up with us and we went back and slept till midnight. We woke up, went out for a midnight snack and then came back and slept again.

The next morning we were out and about. Up first was the public square next to Parliament, where they have the tomb of the unknown soldier and the Changing of the Guard, and these interestingly uniformed soldiers:

From Athens

I guess there are other places besides Scotland and Fiji where the soldiers wear skirts. This is the first time that I have seen shoe pom-pom's on soldiers. After that we headed up to the National Archaeological museum

From Athens

It was cool to see the gold jewelry, statues, and funerary stuff. Cheyn liked it a bit more than I did, probably because she is a bit more cultured in this area. After that we took the subway and walked back down and over to the remains of the Temple of Zeus and the 1896 Olympic Stadium built on the remains of the ancient Olympic Stadium.

From Athens

From Athens

After all the walking we headed over to a park and relaxed.
With our remaining time we headed back up near the Acropolis and read and watched the sun go down.

From Athens

From Athens

I think what I appreciated most about Athens was the remains of grand buildings and temples of the birth of Western Civilization. Democracy, Philosophy, Public Sanitation all seemed to have started here. I liked to explore all the remaining vestiges of Greece in their glory. I also liked to think about the brushes early Christianity had with Greece. All in all Athens was a great city to explore for a couple days and a grand introduction to Greece.

Istanbul, Amsterdam, Paris

We got back into Raleigh last night. Here is our last batch of photos from the last week of our trip:




We'll be posting about the happenings of our trip soon!

Ephesus, Turkey

Another batch of pıctures

Samos, Lıpsı, and Patmos

Were ın Turkey now and here are more pıctures of our tıme ın the Grecıan ısles. There are no explanatıons or narratıve so ıf you want to look at pıctures and try and fıgure whats goıng on,then thıs post ıs for you.

Athens

Hey were safe and finishing up our two days in Athens. Here are some (but not all for sure) of our pictures. Were having a great time, and we'll blog more later!


PS AS of Sept 18 weve uploaded all of our Athens pıctures to the slıdeshow (to get some space on our camera). We are ın Turkey and wıll dd pıctures of the Greek Islands and Turkey when we get a bıt more tıme. Were happy healthy and a lıttle sunburnt.

Baby Cheyney

When we went down to Atlanta over Labor day our seven year old niece Elisabeth had this great peace of artwork ready and waiting to show her Aunt Cheyney. Isn't she a great artist? We enjoyed it so much that we thought we'd share it here on our blog.

Under the Sea

Over Labor Day weekend, we took a quick trip down to Atlanta to stay with the Hills and meet up with the Harpers. It was so fun to be with friends and family. We went to the Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest in the world, and saw beluga whales, whale sharks, and so many fish! The touch pools were really cool, especially with kids. I will let the pics and video speak for themselves. What a great weekend.

Emily the Great

We have anxiously been awaiting Emily's visit to us in Raleigh. She finished up her summer as a camp counselor in Maine and visited us on her East Coast tour. She arrived last week and stayed for two days and we had a blast. We did a city Segway tour, ate southern food at Mama Dip's, and toured Duke Gardens. We had fun watching the political convention. Oh how we miss Emily, Los Angeles, and our cherished Lost nights.

Oak Island getaway

We finally ventured out to the beach, one of the main reasons why we moved to North Carolina. It only took us a year and a half to get there. It was so much fun. Now that summer is basically over, we are bummed we haven't gone to the beach every weekend. Next time, we need to bring boogy boards.