England #2

Hello again from England! We arrived back to London about two weeks ago and have been busy visiting friends, relatives and wonderful places. The very first things we did, though, were some long showers, a few loads of laundry (thank you Ann!) and some shopping in a grocery store where could actually read what we were buying to eat. After taking care of some banking tasks due to the stolen wallet in Greece, we were off on the train on rainy Good Friday to south Devon. We had been looking forward to our visit at Sharpham Barton with good friends the Zeitlyns for months; we knew it would be an absolute highlight of our 4 1/2 months abroad - and our six days there did not disappoint.

Rain was expected throughout the Easter weekend, but while the wind howled and the clouds poured all over the rest of England we had glorious sunshine and the white, puffy sort of cloud everyday till the last. You cannot really imagine the beauty of the place we had the gift of staying in: the greeness of the hills, whose steep ups and downs as far as you can see gave us the vocabulary lesson of the day for the word 'undulating' - Anna and Michael will never forget that definition now! There is the River Dart peaking in and out of those hills (where Dartmouth gets its name, after the town in Devon at the end of the river), the paths to walk across the fields to village and market town, the woods, the spring daffodils, primroses, wild garlic, the lambs, the calves, just so, so amazing each day. The best part of all, though, was the company of the Zeitlyns; their three children are such good friends with ours. Anna and Michael had a ball playing badminton and croquet on the lawn, getting milk from the farm up the lane, riding bikes to the local town of Totnes, hunting for Easter eggs, playing music, taking walks. On and on the fun they had out in the open air was wonderful to watch. And I greatly enjoyed talking and playing with dear friends Spike and Tory, and with Tory's extended family.

The house at Sharpham is old and pretty: there is a terrace out front to enjoy the view while having tea in the afternoon, a fire burning in the BIG kitchen fireplace, the kettle always boiling, interesting old magazines and books to read, delicious fresh food to cook and eat together, and the MOST comfortable big bed (with a hot water bottle each night!) to sleep in from which I awoke with an amazing view, especially on Easter morning (see the sunrise over the hills in the photo). When we weren't walking across the hills (and spying the sheep shearing van that serves the local farmers - funny that 'Sam' had left no phone # to call, guess everyone knows him? See the photo!), we were just hanging out doing lots of relaxing into what we like to call 'Devon Time' Time for breakfast, time for a walk, time for Elevenses, time for lunch, time for another walk,, time for afternoon tea, etc. etc. Two especially fun things while in Devon were going for a hike on Dartmoor and finding Anna a sweet little traveling celtic harp; it will fit on the plane to bring home!



















We returned a week ago Wednesday during a thunderstorm, very loud and exciting and wet, but the skies were sunny by the time we reached London: such is the incredibly changeable English weather. We have had a couple days exploring London: the Imperial War Museum with its great displays of the WWI trenches (which we especially liked after being in real ones at Gallipoli), the Blitz and too many tanks to count; the Tate Modern art museum; The London Dungeon, Madame Taussaud's, and enjoyed a sunny picnic hanging out in Green Park. Michael was a bit jealous of Anna's harp and was missing his music so we've picked him up a small guitar. That purchase was rather exciting because as we were checking out all the guitars in Tin Pan Alley (the music and recording street off Tottenham Court Road), a film crew was setting up to film that night's scenes of the new Harry Potter movie in the small street and alley way outside. The cast wasn't going to show up for hours - they film from midnight till 5 am! but we took a good look all around to see if we can recognize the buildings in the movie next summer.

We've very much enjoyed just hanging out in Upminster, the eastern suburb of London where we're staying with our friends Michelle and Benjamin. The local playground, library and tea shop have become favorites. We even found the local pie and mash shop! In a pie and mash shop there are just four things on the menu: pie (meat), mash (potato), jellied eels, liquor sauce (kind of a thick, flour-y parsley mixture), and of course, 'afters' - the dessert of the day. We weren't brave enough to try to the eels, but Anna and Michael found the liquor sauce rather interesting. Anna's favorite cake at the tea shop has been Victoria Sponge (after Queen Victoria, popular dessert during her reign?), so she decided to make one herself the other day. And we all agreed it was the best one we've had so far! She's so clever: downloaded an English recipe, figured out how to use the stove and all the metric measurements, even put in fresh strawberries! Michael and a local bobby obliged me by posing for a photo; it's so fun to see the bobbies out on their beat, and I don't think they get many Americans around here asking for their photo!


We've also had time with cousins in Kent, which I always love because it's nice to see the generations of our family reconnecting across the years and miles; I so much hope that our English-American cousins continue to enjoy spending time together. We had four generations together on Sunday. My cousin Marjorie's grandchildren, Jasmine and Olivia, are exactly the same age as Anna and Michael so they had loads of fun learning games that Marjorie used to play with two balls against the wall, and looking at the latest summer fashions with Jasmine's mum, Sam, all while Chelsea played in the background.... And, of course, we ate a delicious Sunday roast dinner with roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding! I don't understand the big complaints about English food, I love it and ALWAYS go home gaining tons of weight, yum, yum!

Turkey

Hello! Turkey was wonderful. Can't wait to go back, and we will! There is so much to share about our quick 9 day visit to the Aegean Coast and Istanbul. Highlights: We made a wonderful friend on the ferry from Greece, Shule, and she insisted that we spend an extra day in Bodrum so that she could show us the beauty of the area. I was trying to make up for the 'lost' week stuck on the Greek islands, but Anna, Michael and Shule pleaded so I said, 'What the heck?! This was meant to happen, time to meet a wonderful new friend! We're on nobody's schedule but our own. Let's get to know this place!' She and her partner, Zafar, welcomed us into their home, shared a delicious Turkish dinner, breakfast and lunch with us, and drove us all around to see the sites - places we never could have gotten to or known about on our own. Michael had so much fun with Zafar playing guitar and learning backgammon from Shule. We visited Zafar's work with a foundation for physically challenged children (he's a physical therapist). It was an amazing introduction into an amazing country. Thank you Shule and Zafar!!

We left Bodrum and traveled north on one of the great buses of Turkey (they're like airplanes: super friendly attendents, food and drink service, comfortable, timely, inexpensive - actually I guess much better than airplanes!) We arrived in the town of Selcuk where we visited the Roman ruins at Ephesus; and one can hardly call them ruins as there is much of the formerly 300,000 populated city left. Also in Selcuk we visited our third Wonder of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis - or what is left of it. (we've also passed through the former standing ground of the Colossus of Rhodes and the Great Mausoleum of King Mausolus in Bodrum) The storks are enjoying nesting on what remains of Artemis' Temple nowadays.

From Selcuk we took an overnight bus to the Dardenelle Straits and visited Gallipoli. A very beautiful place now which belies its violent and sad past. Very interesting for me as my grandfather and two great uncles fought, and luckily, survived here in World War I. Michael liked playing on the beach at Anzac Cove; fortunately the Australians we were with didn't mind and actually enjoyed watching him enjoying himself. I think it lightened the mood a bit. Didn't have time to stop in Troy, but we drove past, and we thought of it, and also thought 'that's one less ruin to roam around. Phew!'

Then by bus around the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul. Here we met up with my sister Anne and her husband, and all the cousins had a great time exploring this interesting city together for a few days. Lots of mosques, bazaar shopping, hookah smoking (the herbal variety), site seeing, whirling dervishes. The highlight, though, had to be the deluxe Dan Bodansky Bosphorus Transit Tour on which we were ably guided by my brother-in-law, guidebook in hand and nose in the air to sense the trail, up the Bosphorus toward the Black Sea and back to Istanbul in time for a little evening shopping at the Sunday Ortakoy market, cafe backgammon, and dinner. We enjoyed 7 different modes of transportation in fewer hours: taxi, ferry, feet, bus, 100 year old trolley, cable car, and tram. What a memorable and funny journey!

Our last day was cut short by President Obama's historic visit to Turkey - his first official overseas visit, and to a Muslim country no less! Way to go him for reaching out a friendly hand! However, for us, it could not have been more ill-timed. The security was so tight that the whole city movement was stopped: roads closed, transportation shut down (and Istanbul has amazingly efficient public transport, but not on this day). No taxis, no shuttles, no trams - ugh! We were able to get out of the city early in the morning and spent almost 7 hours at the airport waiting for our flight - but at least we made it.

Back to England now to spend some much looked forward to time with friends in Devon.

Greek Islands - part 2

Hello from our last day in Greece! We arrived on Rhodes a week ago Friday. We were hoping to spend a relaxing week there, but found it crowded and expensive: the cruise ship crowds prowl the alley ways of the castle town dropping hundreds of euros everyday so the shop keepers are a little surly and the food/hostel rather pricey. We had two nice days there, though, exploring the biggest castle I have ever seen and playing on the pebbly beach looking across to Turkey. The castle was built by the crusaders, the Knights of St. John, and the kids had a ball on the high walls pretending they were the two French guards from Monty Python's Holy Grail. When they weren't doing this, they were running around in one of the many grassy moats pushing around big stone cannon balls. The castle is so huge the entire 'old town' is contained within it. While on the beach I found the most amazingly, perfectly oval and smooth as satin pebbles; I couldn't contain myself and had to take some away with me - thereby breaking two rules I have for the kids: never take nature away from where you find it and don't gather heavy mementos of your trip when you are carrying a backpack. Needless to say they're weren't very pleased with me.


One of the exacerbating problems with the expense of Rhodes was that while on the ferry from Athens I had my wallet stolen. Anna had fallen in a deep, deep hole on the pier in Athens (something we probably wouldn't find at home....) and seriously hurt her leg; I feared she broke or sprained it. She's ok now, but in the panic of taking care of it my wallet was open territory evidently. To a seasoned traveler, which I should be by now, this shouldn't pose much of a problem, except....I was really careless and had put all our euros taken from the bank that day in my wallet, along with my English credit and bank cards. We lost 500 euros! And we had NO money till we found a bank on Rhodes, 14 hours on an overnight ferry away, and it would be Saturday! Fortunately, I had our passports and an US credit card in a different place. On the upside, because there's always an upside, the crew took pity on us and gave us a big berth in the crew's quarters and let us eat in the crew's mess with them. (The boat was full and we originally only had regular seats for the whole night). Also, now on a more limited budget we can't see as many ruins in Turkey, and instead of galavanting off to some other country for a week or so, we get to spend more time in London, never a bad thing - perhaps walking through the parks and picnicking on Primrose Hill! The kids, and admittedly I too, actually are rather happy at this turn of events.


We left Rhodes, catching a ferry to Patmos. And it was here we spent a relaxing week, although a cold front hit and we were a little chilly. Not many heated rooms out here on the islands. Everywhere we went people were so surprised to see us on this tiny island, "Tourists?! There are tourists on the island?" To which we'd always answer, "yes, now can you please help us find...." Except usually we'd do this by smiling and pointing because our Greek hasn't progressed much beyond hello, thank you, please and good morning. Patmos is famous as being a pilgrammage site because St. John the Evangelist was exiled here in 95 ad by the Romans, and in a cave here he wrote the book of Revelations. We walked to this and it was quite a moving place, and in the 1000 year old monastery above it on the mountain we saw a 5th century copy gospel of St. Mark! We spent 5 days wandering the shepherd's paths, checking out all the animals around (Michael and Anna learned what 'pecking order' meant from a bunch of active chickens, were woken up by roosters at 5am, and loved all the curly horned and bell ringing goats everywhere. Our pension was a short walk from the town and we came to spot all the sites along the way: the brightly colored boats in the small harbor, tons of cats, the laundry man, the bakery where we got special Patmos cheese pies. Each evening we wandered into the little town, to the little square, to the little cafe where I would get a big glass of port and the kids would get a big mug of hot chocolate. We were here for Greek Independence Day (from the Ottoman Turks after over 300 years of domination, for you quiz folks out there!), all the children came out to dance in the square dressed in traditional clothes. Interesting!


We've had to take a detour south again to the island of Kos because the boat we wanted to Turkey isn't sailing for another couple of weeks. Flexibility being our strong suit lately, we've had an interesting weekend on Kos which has so many crusader ruins, along with Greek and Roman, they are just everywhere you look. So many in fact that you can just wander and climb all over 2000 year old walls, columns and even mosaic floors!! The people on this island have been the best yet, so generous and friendly! We're staying in a pretty challenging, as far as amenities go, room in a lovely couple's house. The man keeps giving the kids candy, fruit and kisses. Our next room boarder is a nice man from Pakistan who is here on a UN visa painting houses for $60/day. He came in via bus and boat from Iran/Turkey. He makes us Pakistani tea in the morning. His English is somewhat limited...."Iran very nice, China very nice people, America - Bush: bomb, bomb! So lovely Mr. Barack, so good Obama" To which we heartily agreed!! Quite an education for Anna and Michael.....


Last Saturday night was the worldwide Earth Hour, I remember hearing about it before I left the States, but here it was a BIG deal. Advertisements all over the TV, posters up, people talking about it. At 8:30 pm all the lights went out for one hour (well, almost all the lights - some bars stayed up because Greece was playing in the World Cup versus Israel). Everybody came out into the town plaza with candle lit lanterns, so romantic. We had our flashlights...left a little to be desired. The moon was just a SLIVER, and the night sky so beautiful with lights out on our island and along the coast of Turkey just 5km away. We were wondering if you all participated? Anna walked around the plaza marveling at all the people, of all ages, out enjoying themselves and laughing, singing, dancing together. She kept saying, 'this would never happen in Los Altos, where could this happen? We don't even have a plaza!'


Speaking of stars, I have never seen starry nights like these here on the Aegean islands. Even high up in the Sierras, nothing like this. Anna realized it walking back to our room one night. 'Look at the stars!' she exclaimed, and she was right. I could see them all, like I've always pretended to before: there was Orion, the 'W' of Cassiopaeia, of course the Dippers. We spent the walk talking about how now we understand how the stars were so important to early navigators at sea. They were SOOOOO clear, like a roof just out of reach. I don't know why, but I wasn't going to worry about the 'science' of it, we just have been enjoying it.

Ok, off to catch our ferry to Bodrum and onto Turkey!

Central Greece

We returned from our brief stay in the islands to take a trip up north to visit Delphi and Meteora. On the ferry back to the mainland we discovered a great opportunity for quiet hours of homework, time to catch up! We did a quick turn-around in Athens and prepared for our 2-day 800 km trip to take in 2500 years of history. I was going to rent a car, but I thought it would be easier to relax on a bus and let someone else drive the maze of highways in and out of Athens. I'm glad we did because the tour guide was great and we learned so much. First stop was Delphi, temple of Apollo the God of Light, and started in the 6th century BC. Found out it's called Delphi because Apollo, after choosing this site on the hillside of Mt. Parnassus, needed some priests to take care of his temple. He set out after a ship he saw passing, turning himself into a dolphin. He evidently convinced the sailors to give up their life at sea to hang out in his temple, running the whole oracle thing along with the chanting and visioning priestesses, and since the Greek for dolphin is something like 'delphinus' the name stuck on the whole temple complex. Another interesting tidbit of information we learned was that inside the temple itself, in the priests' quarters they found writing on the wall that reads: 'nothing to excess' and 'kindness is rich' - advice still useful today. Anna and Michael particularly enjoyed playing in the ancient theatre, much to the other tourists' delight. There were, as usual, lots of cats roaming about the ruins so Anna and Michael were also interested in them; I swear there is every color, size, shape of cat here, so the two of them are constantly and happily engaged in cat classification schemes.

After a few hours at Apollo's sunny spot, we got back on the bus and drove four hours to Meteora. Along the way I was surprised to find Greece so mountainous a country, and snow-capped to boot! Obviously, my geographical knowledge really leaves much to be desired, we had to climb and descend quite a few passes, and drive through numerous fertile plains. This is such an incredibly beautiful place. I had the pleasure of sitting next to a professor from Spain whose speciality is olive growing - he was in Athens giving a lecture. He had taught at UC Davis and I had traveled in Cordoba where he's from, so we had a great time talking about the differences and similarities of Meditterean-type lands around the world. He was a friendly font of knowledge and I learned much about the flora of Spain, Greece, California, and a little about olives too.

We finally arrived in Meteora and reached our hotel. It was snowing gently, it was cold. But as we stepped off the bus and looked up, the cliffs of the Meteora were just above us, swirling in and out of view in the low clouds. Inside the hotel we found a roaring fire, comfy couches and time to do some homework before a delicious four course dinner. Early the next morning (a sunny one!) we were back on the bus ready to explore the Byzantine monastaries. Ascetics from northern Greece came here in the 13th century to live in the caves carved into these amazing columnar (is that a word?!) rock formations. 100 or so years later they decided to start building monasteries on the tops of the peaks, and no one is quite sure how they originally did it. For hundreds of years people and goods were pulled up to the top in net baskets - very scary prospect, we saw the winches and baskets... Nowadays some of the monasteries can be visited by stairs built in the 20th century. Inside we were shown 600 year old icons and intimate churches filled with the ornately decorated stories of Christ's life and the early church. Particularly engrossing were the narthexes where the non-baptized would have to wait, surrounded by the images of martyrs' deaths until they felt faithful enough to take on the Christian belief for themselves. While I was captivated by these images, I was wondering if they wouldn't actually scare a non-believer off; I mean being rolled over a series of spikes while being tied to a wagon wheel would not make me jump to join the group of the sufferers. Michael was thrilled to find his angel Michael all over the place, complete with wings, halo, sword and shield. And, or course, there were more cats, even on these craggy peaks 2045 ft. in the air.

On our 6 hour journey back to Athens three things of note happened. We ran out of money, well cash actually. And we weren't the only ones - cash machines are few and far between in the countryside, and I hadn't been able to get to a bank since before the trip to Santorini 6 days earlier. So it was a lunch of dry bread and bananas swiped from the breakfast buffet, with some sticks of gum thrown in for dessert. My kids are so great, no griping at all, just being the consummate travelers eating oddly and carrying heavy backpacks.

At one point we had to stop abruptly for a train passing the highway, you'd think there would be more warning. Luckily though, we stopped with a perfect view out of the bus window of a church with a stork nest on the top of the cupola! I've never seen one, and always wanted to! It was HUGE! Alas, no stork in sight.

And the other interesting thing was that I lost count of all the shepherds I saw. I'm not sure I've actually ever seen a real shepherd before, out with his dog, staff, and sheep. I started seeing them while driving around Naxos, and now all over Central Greece. I think it's so cool, one of the oldest jobs in the world; I keep getting all excited everytime I spot one and hit the kids to look, even waking them up. I then tell them all over again how cool it is, one of the oldest jobs in the world. And they groan, tell me they know, that I keep telling them, and now stop hitting them.

Well, they're pretty great, except they get mad at me when I get overly excited and try to give them a history lesson over and over again - especially when it's the same one over and over again.

Poll answer: It was the god Poseidon who fought with, and lost to, Athena on top of Athen's Acropolis.
And, if you're interested in getting another view of our trip you might like to read Anna's blog: www.AnnaWangstrip.blogspot.com It's fun to read; she's got a different take on things, not always in agreement with me and she's much more concise.

Greek Islands - part 1

I somehow managed to get the kids up at 5:45, packed, washed, and raced to the ferry terminal, and we caught our boat to Santorini. We had just enough time to buy three round donut like things covered in sesame seeds; they're sold on every corner and seem to be the breakfast-on-the-go for the people here. I've been told over and over what we are umming and yumming about, but I can't seem to catch the long name that just rolls off everyone else's tongue. Naming it doesn't seem to matter, we just get in line with everyone and get handed the warm bread, and it's delicious! On the ferry we sat next to a couple from Canada who quickly became my living heroes. I want to be just like them when I grow up: they have been coming to Greece for 25 years, starting when their three children were babies! They have their favorite village they return to, as well as exploring all over Greece. They travel every winter for two months. They were so informative and relaxed, gave us all sorts of information about where we must eat and what we must do, and they proceeded to teach Michael the Greek alphabet and how to decipher all the signs we see. He was fascinated, as was I; while he was decoding words like 'good morning', I was learning the etymology of 'psychology' and 'idiot', and they weren't quite what I had always thought they were! Needless to say the 8 hr trip flew by, and the seas were calm.

We were on Santorini for two days, and it was a little odd. We were there just before the tourist season gets rolling, so many of the stores and cafes were closed, but there was a frenzy to get everything ready. Lots of hammering, painting, cleaning. I'm not sure I would have taken my children to this island in the middle of the Aegean if I had realized it is still an ACTIVE volcano, and on the edge of the biggest caldera on Earth! Our best time was spent taking a boat to the growing islands in the middle of the caldera; we toured the black lava paths, found the place that is still steaming with sulphur gases, Michael found the perfect piece of small pumice as a memento, and lots of climbing and lizard spotting was accomplished. But the afternoon was not over yet, we still had to get back onto our beautiful wooden sailboat and visit the the 'hot springs' - which really suffer a misnomer because the feeling was much more a luke warm one. And this after jumping off our tall boat into the gorgeous blue, and freezing, waters of the Aegean Sea and then swimming 50 or so yards before clamoring onto the mossy, mushy rocks. Anna was so brave and jumped right in, but I was dismayed because she wouldn't wait for Michael.

I miss my husband dearly, but at that moment I almost started crying for him, right there in the middle of the Mediterranean: I was going to have to jump in that cold water, get wet and swim across the open water to sit in a mud bath so that my son could join his sister. And swim back! This is not my job as a parent: I scratch backs, I don't do cold water swims. But one look at Michael's sweet, trusting face and I took his hand and jumped with a whoop and a smile. I solved my problem of getting back, for I had barely made it over to the hot springs with the two of us, by pleading, as maturely as possible in the frigid, mossy water, with a nice young man named Kevin to help Michael back to the boat. And still...we had more fun ahead. When we got back to the pier and prepared for the scary tram back up the face of the caldera cliff there were instead donkeys waiting for us! A boy of about 12 picked Michael up and plonked him on a donkey, said 'No problem' and the next thing I knew Michael was being whisked up the cliff by a very fast donkey with the bigget ears I've ever seen. Anna and I followed a little later, and despite the incredible views that just kept getting more incredible, I was worried Michael would be scared. Ha! When we finally arrived in the narrow streets of the village, Michael was laughing and wanted to walk down the steep path to do it all over again.

We left seismically active Santorini for Naxos and became enchanted the minute we landed on the island. We of course had to stay at Hotel Anna, across the square from the Orthodox cathedral; as we unpacked we heard the deep chants of the priests in their evening service. I made Anna and Michael explore with me in the dark the narrow and winding paths leading up and up to the medieval Venetian castle. I was excited and felt like I was in Disneyland - but it was all REAL - and Anna and Michael were terrified and clinging to me because of all the ghosts they felt lurking around. The next day I decided to rent a car because I wanted to find the small church Drossiani in a village in the center of the island. What a great thing to do! Anna was a highly competent navigator of our tin can with wheels, and Michael helped from the backseat deciphering the Greek signs. We only had to back up once, 200 or so feet down a narrow road hugging a cliff, because we had dead-ended into a village where only walkers or donkeys could go. We found the church, one of the earliest in Europe built in the 5th century, and still in use. Unfortunately, the woman who had the key wasn't at home and couldn't be found, despite the villagers best efforts at locating her for us. We spent a lot of time just soaking up the atmosphere in the orchard and courtyard of the church, Anna making daisy chain crowns and Michael playing Jedi knight and me simply resting in the sun. We then had time for more driving adventures and managed to get ourselves to the Temple of Demeter; my Greek ruin fantasy came true and we had the whole place to ourselves, just the three of us roaming around the ancient columns in the middle of the fields. If you ever have to make a choice of which Greek islands to sail to...no choice here, go for Naxos over Santorini. It is gorgeous and there are days and days of wonders to explore. We only had one day, so it is yet another place on my list of those to return to.

Things we've noticed about Greece so far: there are many, many cats wandering around and the kids love it!; almost all of the men have these loops of worry beads they play with all the time (it's driving me batty, as those of you who know my displeasure with noisy little sounds can imagine), it's like someone forever shaking the backgamman dice before they roll, but they never roll, just clicking and clacking - everywhere we go!; the food is thick here - thick yogurt, thick honey, thick coffee; cars drive fast; gyros are the BEST and CHEAPEST food around; and the people are super friendly and helpful.

Athens

Hello! We've had a wonderful day in Athens, and have changed our plans slightly. We're off to Santorini tomorrow, then back to the mainland in a few days to tour around up north a bit and return to Athens to see more of this incredible city. It seems people have always told me that Athens didn't impress them much, 'see the Acropolis and get out', but we've had a great time. Of course we hit the Acropolis first, just a short walk through the alleys (with speeding motorbikes!) behind our hostel. But we've also been wandering the labyrinthine streets around the old section of Plaka, talking to sweet old ladies in Constitution Square and the kebab seller on the corner and the donut seller on the other corner (I've learned how to say 'please' and 'thank you'!), stopping at every Greek column we stumble upon, marveling at the tiny beautiful churches squeezed into the narrowest of streets, spending hours in the amazing Cycladic Art museum (who knew what beautiful and graceful sculptures people were carving 5000 years ago?! They all looked just like Henry Moore's and Picasso's!). And also just in time catching the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - these guys in their adorable traditional Greek military 'uniform' put the Ministry of Silly Walks to shame! I have never seen anything so funny in all my life.

The highlight so far had to be though, when after finally arriving at our student hostel (quite an education in itself for Anna and Michael with all the 20 year olds running around excited they can drink and spending their parents' money - you should hear their conversations!), Michael was trying to move the light over his bed so he could read himself to sleep - he's working on the BFG - he pulled the whole thing off the wall. Flashing lights and sparks! Loud sizzle and boom! And all the lights went out. All over the place. They managed to get the lights back on in the hall, but not in our room. The nice man at the front desk taped the loose wires to the wall above Michael's head, patted his head to stop his crying (needless to say he was a little freaked out, but at least not electrocuted), and sent an electrician around today to fix it all. Fortunately, along with the umbrellas I had purchased two flashlights in London, and Anna read two chapters of the BFG to Michael as he cuddled up next to her, sniffling softly. Tonight we're headed out to prowl the neighborhood's cafes and mingle with all the other tourists and few Greeks who are out enjoying this mild Friday 13th evening. Hope we make our early, early boat tomorrow!

First week in England, #1

Hello from Oxford! We've had a great first week in England. On Saturday I reminded myself how to drive on the left side as we zoomed north to Cambridge (with only one mistake; unfortunately it was onto a major road, fortunately there was nobody there to meet us head on and Anna's yelps got us back on the 'right' side again!) We had a great evening visiting our good friends the Zeitlyns, Anna was so happy to be back with her best buddy Isobel. Sunday found us in London for church, a Japanese lunch (yeah, I know, but the kids really miss Tokyo too so they begged me when they saw the tonkatsu in the window), and an afternoon perusing the Greek collection at the British Museum. We wanted to prepare ourselves for exploring Ancient Greece, and I thought I'd show the kids what would've actually been on and inside the ruined buildings we'd be visiting...except that it's all in England now. I think the British Museum will become a very good friend during our stay here.

Sunday actually started at as a beautiful, breezy day - all blue skies. This lovely Spring-y weather continued as we walked down Oxford Street window shopping. Despite the sunshine I thought we ought to buy some small umbrellas for our trip for it was raining in Athens this week. We dipped into a store, chose three bright colored umbrellas, and just as I was handing over the money, I kid you not, thunder clapped and the windows on Oxford Street rattled. I had brought on the rain gods with my purchase. We just made it onto the red double decker bus headed for Holborn (British Museum site) before the skies opened.

I was getting a bit grouchy by this time: expensive lunch, long lines in stores, getting late, rain - harumph. We hopped off and the breeze now felt like a gale, rain slashing sideways, dark sky, and I couldn't hear or see a thing in the storm surrounding us. I just hoped Anna and Michael were following behind me. Pushing and cursing my flimsy, but happily-colored, umbrella in front of me to block wind and rain I guessed which little streets to turn down headed for the museum. We were trying to stay as dry as possible, each man for himself, moving swiftly and heads down. I didn't even notice the black cab racing down the narrow street until I heard Anna cry behind me: too late, I looked up just in time to see the wall of water fly at me, heard Anna cry again as she was hit by the wave, and clever Michael saw the whole thing coming and had just enough time to duck and cover with his umbrella or he would've been swamped head to toe. At that point we just stood there, the three of us, momentarily shocked, soaked, umbrellas hanging down at our sides, and all there was to do then was laugh. Being caught in a London rainstorm can can create quite a precious memory. We finished our walk to the museum, smiling and grouchy no more, asked some dry soul waiting under the grand portico to take our photo, and dried off as we wandered through centuries of Ancient Greece. As we left the museum the sky was blue and the air breezy.

We rested for a few days, then came to Oxford to visit my sister and her children. They're here on sabbatical for the semester from the University of Georgia. Maria and Sarah stayed home from school so we could enjoy a day out in Oxford together. We climbed up St. Michael's Tower, the oldest building in Oxford, built in 1040AD. Michael was a bit nervous about being up in such an old thing, but as we visited the tower's church he perked up and was pleased with his patron saint's church. He especially enjoyed the beautiful stained glass windows. I think he likes the warrior angel aspect of it all - St. Michael's sword was quite captivating. We ate lunch in a 14th century Pret A Manger (yummy sandwich shop, I think they have them on the East Coast now?), walked around the Bodleian Library (Anna was fascinated by all things Shakespeare that we kept running into to), prowled bookstores, and finished the day with a pint at the pub Eagle and Child, haunt of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. And it really feels old and true, like they could walk in any moment! I thought it'd be all touristy. All in all, a wonderful first week to our trip, full of friends, family, history, tea and Cadbury's Flakes!

Next stop: Greece!