I was reading that last post, the one that I wrote after we visited all the Athens sights.  Even though it was just a few days ago, it feels like its been forever, and even longer since we were in our nice Condo at Crete.  I’m writing from JFK Airport again, same computer terminal in the admirals club that I sat at during the beginning of our trip almost 2 weeks ago.

Our second day in Athens was very short, we got up and packed our things with just enough time to explore the shops and have breakfast at the cafe before heading out.  We were enjoying our Frappes at a cafe when it started raining! We knew this was our sign to head out!  We left Athens in the afternoon and arrived in Paris around 7pm local time.  We checked into our hotel near the airport and tried to figure out how much time we had before the trains and hotel shuttles shut down for the evening.  We took a chance and at 9:00 decided to take the hour long train into Paris.  The one thing that we wanted to accomplish our second time around, was to go up the Eiffel tower.  There are many other things that we still want to do in Paris, but your options are limited when its 10pm and you’ve got about an hour.

We went up to the second level, for time and finical considerations…along with the fact that the Rick Steeves book said the best view is from the second of the three levels. It was an amazing view of the city, something well worth all the trouble that we went through to get there.  If we wanted to catch the last shuttle from the airport (where the metro train runs to) to our hotel at midnight, we were going to have to take a quicker train route back.  We had things figured out, but were helped by a Eiffel tower security guard who saw us looking at our map and offered to help us.  This guy was about our age, and was very helpful at getting us on the right train.  It was interesting to talk to him for a while about the US, and his views on our foreign policy….not probably what we were expecting from someone in France.

We got back to the hotel beat, and went to bed around 1:30am….and set the alarm for 6:45am Paris Time.  We got up in enough time for a wonderful breakfast before heading out to the airport this morning, and are now in the middle of a 24 hour travel marathon back to Seattle.  That’s right, by the time we get back to good ‘ol SEATAC at 9:30pm PST, it will be a full day since waking up in Paris…..

We got another pass for the admirals club, so that is making our 6 hour layover in New York manageable….that and the fact that Clay Aiken was here earlier.

Its day one here in Athens, we got in yesterday afternoon and had just enough time to check into our hotel and explore the city for a little bit and plan out our day today.  We got to see many ancient sites today, including the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, and the Plakas (old town).  The Acropolis was pretty amazing, with many different temples, theaters and buildings on the top of this huge hill, right in the middle of the city.  The Parthenon is the most famous of all these sites, and it is currently under restoration.  One of my favorite places to see was “Mars Hill” where the apostle Paul preached to the people of Athens in 49 AD.  Last evening we called Lydia’s dad & wished him a happy birthday while we were sitting on Mars Hill over looking the entire city.  The Ancient Agora is also a place where Paul is said to have preached and debated with the people of Athens, its also where Socrates did a lot of his Philosophy in a public setting. We’ve taken over 700 pictures over the last two weeks, I’m excited to look through them and get the good ones online!

Today we also visited the National Museum, one of the most famous and important ancient museums in Europe.  We saw many cool things, all of which I’m sure you could learn about somewhere on the Internet, so I won’t even try and recap what we saw.

Its been a very long day, and even though its not even 6:00pm we are very tired after being on our feet all day long.  We’ll probably stroll back to the Plaka for dinner and head to bed.  In the morning we will leave here around 10am, and head to Paris for the rest of the day.

Its been a wonderful two days here on the sunny island of Crete, its hard to believe that tomorrow afternoon we will depart after spending an entire week here and start our journey home.  We will stay two days in Athens, another evening in Paris, and then begins the long series of flights from Paris to NY, and NY to Seattle.

Yesterday we took a tour of some traditional villages up in the mountains, we had hoped to take another tour with a different company, but they had already closed up shop for the season.  This was a great tour though, and much cheaper than the other one .  We saw life in traditional, 600 year old village.  They built the alleys and streets so small and similar, as to confuse pirates if the village was ever looted.  There was an old grandma who had opened part of her family’s home up as a museum filled with old photos, farming tools and clothes from the old days.  It was very interesting for me especially to think that this could have been how my Greek ancestors lived less than 100 years ago.  We also saw a church from the 12th century (or what was left of it) that the villagers still use to this day.  The tour-guide was very funny, and all of the narration was given in German and English.  We stopped at a cafe on our way back, and were surprised with local house wine and a sample of food.

Today after a breakfast on the balcony of our condo we spent some more time at the sea, riding the waves on our 4 euro inflatable mattress.  The water isn’t *warm* but it definitely isn’t cold either.  After getting some sun and getting soaked with salt water for a few hours, we packed up and headed back. This afternoon we went horseback riding on the beach.  We were picked up at our condo by the owner, she took us to her stables where we met her husband who took us on our two hour ride. The first half an hour we spent on the local roads and trails making our way down to the beach. We had an hour on the beach walking, trotting and cantering past the tourists and then headed back.  After realizing how incredibly sore we were from a 2 hour ride, we were given a ride back to our condo where we had just enough time to shower and change for the evenings meal served at the hotel. Tonight was cretian food night here and there was also live music and traditional dancing.  After nearly 2 hours of eating and watching the entertainers, we are about to head back to our room and start packing up for the morning.

Today we decided to slow down again and spend some time out in the sun. The other day when we went to/blogged from Hania we noticed the shops and things were very similar to Remnthyon, which we had been to a few days earlier. Remnthyon is just about 10 minutes away from our hotel on the public bus, and only costs 1euro each way to get to….Hania on the other hand was over an hour away and cost 6euro from Remnthyon to get to. Hania is a much larger city, with some very cool places, but we found ourselves in the “old town” that is geared towards tourists.

This morning we started our day off with some pastry’s from the local bakery, where we’ve found EVERYTHING is good. Then we went to the beach for a few hours to get some sun and go swimming in the Aegean sea. Where we were the water was crystal clear and different shades of blue as you looked out towards the end of the earth. The weather was perfect for laying out on the beach, it wasn’t to hot and there was a nice breeze to cool us off. We walked up and down the beach, checking out all the hotels between us and Remnthyon. All over the area we have noticed that shops, restaurants, cafes, and especially hotels have been closed because the season is ending. We’ve even tried to book some excursions and have been turned down because the last trip was a week ago. We’re still enjoying ourselves, and have had lots of fun trying to figure out where all the other tourists are from. Many people sound German, and all menus, signs and written instructions here are in Greek, English, and German. We’ve heard some British accents…and only a few “american”. We’ve still got a lot of time left on the island, I’m sure we’ll learn more as the week goes on!

Its late in the evening here, we decided to try out the hotel’s internet (which is more expensive than those cafes in town). I think we’ll watch some more CNN International, and go to bed soon. We’ve got lots of plans, and a big day ahead of us… but I think we’ll find some more time to go back to the beach.

So, today we’re in the large city of Hania, which can also be translated from the greek alphabet as Chania, or Xhania. This is also the city which we flew into a few days ago. Up until our trip we were pouncing it China….oops.

Yesterday we took a relax day and did a lot of nothing…..is there a better way to spend a vacation day? We watched some movies, lounged by the pool and slept in.  Today has been a bit more touristy as we explore this ancient city.  We went to another archaeological museum here that has artifacts that were thousands of years old, and just found in the 70s & 80s.  The food has been pretty good, but we feel there is more to try.  Crepes are very common, as are Gyros & other pita lunches.  Today we had a “Ham, Cheese & Tomato Pie” which was more like a flakey pizza pocket.  The weather is still good…….hot, in the mid to upper 70s (although they measure everything in the shade with wind).

We’re having a great time!

We arrived in Chiana Greece late last night, and were met at the baggage claim by our cab driver, holding a sign with “Lydia Rogers” on it… It was great, as I at least had been concerned about the process of hailing a cab and letting them know where we were headed.  As after all, this is greece, and not only do we not speak greek…we don’t read their alphabet either.  Everyone here has been more than hospitable.  We took the bus to Remnthyon today, not far.  And walked around the Venetian ruins, complete with a church and a mosque, and beautiful views of the Aegean sea.  We then walked around the old city,  narrow streets of mostly pedestrians, with the items for sale spilling out of the shops and into the street.  I had an authentic Gyro Pita, and Josh had a Slavaki Pita.  I had a nice chat with an elderly lady in a residential alley right off the market area.  She greeted me warmly and asked several times in several different ways if I spoke any greek at all.  “Lingua Greco?”  pointing to her tounge.  Sadly I had to say no….she good heartedly laughed at me and we were on our way.  Despite weather reports of flooding on Crete late last week the weather here is beautiful-better than I expected, there aren’t any signs that there was heavy rain recently.  I will definately make use of the pool this evening.  All the Best! Lydia and Josh

Its been a long two days, but very fun. From Seattle, to New York
where we had the opportunity to spend four hours at the airport, to a
flight to Paris that robbed us of 10 hours.  We got into our hotel in
Paris around 1:45pm local time, and after *briefly* getting settled,
we set out to see as much of this world class city in a day as
possible.  From a podcast tour of the Orsay Museum, to walking the
street markets of the Rue Clair district we’ve been able to get a lot
done in just a few hours.  We almost made it the full two days without
sleep, but after a museum tour a quick hour nap was in order.  We had a
great dinner out tonight at a wonderful cafe/retaunt near the Paris
Opera house where we encountered our first Parisean who didn’t speak
very good english.  We got through the meal well without accidently
ordering the snails or frog legs (although we DID see both of them on
the menu at multiple locatins).

Its been a great day, and tomorrow will be full of more travel as we
leave here in the afternoon and fly to Athens, and then onto Crete. We
should arrive at our condo around this time tomorrow (11pm local time,
around 2pm PST).  We’ll checkin with the blog after we get settled.

We just spent a wonderful four hours at the NYC Admirals Club…layovers are very managable at this pace .  Its off to catch the Paris red-eye then we’ve got 24 hours in “freedom frys” land….arriving at 10am, I can only hope we will only sleep during the evening!

Well, I think I have something interesting to write about again…we’re going on vacation for the next two weeks; it’ll be our first vacation to Europe.  Lydia went to Switzerland and Rome for about a month right after she graduated from college, but I haven’t ever been off of the continent.

We’ve been planning this vacation for a few months now and its hard to believe that the time is almost here.  We’ll leave tonight for Kent, and then fly out early tomorrow morning.  While we’re gone we’ll see Paris, Athens, and the Greek island of Crete. We’ll be in Crete for the longest by far, staying there for 7 days.  I was up until the wee hours of the morning last night making sure that I was all packed and ready to go.  This morning has been pretty rough, with my last day of work only operating on a few hours of sleep.

So, I found out this morning that its been raining pretty heavy on Crete for the last few days, leading up to some flooding that was featured on the news here in the Pac NW.  A friend told me that this morning when I got into work, and I had a little mini freak-out.  But after doing some research online and finally finding someone with a Grecian weather forecast it looks like a good majority of our trip will be sunny and warm, but the first day or so might be a bit soggy.

So, we’re pretty excited for our newest adventure.  I’ll try and journal online a few times while were gone, much like our experience in Alaska, the blog might be more for myself than it is others€¦.but people used to find that interesting.

Over on the blog side of things, be on the lookout for entries from our vacation in Europe. We’ll be gone until the first of November, and hope to be able to record some fun highlights from our trip online. We leave in just under 24 hours…..