K. So...I haven't been the best blogger this past month or so--BUT I have an excuse. LOTS and lots of traveling has been taking place, here. It was one heck of an amazing and crazy time--that's for sure. Now, for both of our sakes, I am not going to tell about EVERYthing that has gone on during this time, but I will give an overview and touch on a few highlights.
First of all, Greece:
Our group left the flat to head for the airport at about 3:45 in the morning on March 7th to fly out to Athens. One-hour of sleep. After getting passed that first zombie-like day, the rest of the time was awesome. Highlights:
*Meeting Olin--One of the nicest, most knowledgeable and most energetic old-guys I've ever met. Apparently, he has been a tour guide for the Concordia-Luther Greece trip for 15 years or so. We were lucky enough to be with him for his final year. I asked him if he ever got tired of coming to Greece after this many consecutive years. His reply was: "No. You want to know why?--because of all of you." He continued to explain to me that it feels like a new experience every time, because he gets to see it through our eyes....What a great guy! Seriously. We gave a toast to him on the last night. I'm soo glad we were given a chance to meet him.
*Carnival: Yes, we did get to celebrate Carnival again--this time with bats. See, the way many people in Athens celebrate this time before Lent, is by walking around the streets at night and hitting people on the head, and/or the behind, with inflatable bats. Not always the most fun for the person getting hit--but, a great cultural experience...
*The Acropolis: Olin gave us a tour all around the place. He told us that it used to be a large meeting area back in the day that held lots of temples, etc. The area is situated along/on-top of a large hillside. It was a long way up to the top, but the view, alone, was well worth the hike. On the way up we got to see a small ancient theater, a large ancient theater, and an overlook of the city that just kept getting better and better. By the time we reached the top we could see all the way out to sea. Apparently, not much of the original walls of the Acropolis are left standing due to invasion, etc. --but, Olin did point out a few originals that had survived throughout time. The view of the city, the mountains, and the rolling Greek country-side was the best part for me at the top--but, of course, the Parthenon was another main attraction.
*Delphi: The next day we drove a really long way on the bus to this tiny town. The drive in itself was enough to make the trip worth something. SO beautiful!! I had never seen anything like it in my life. The closest experience I could think of was driving through the mountains in Wyoming and Montana during a family vacation--but that still doesn't quite compare. There were mountains, hills, valleys, and rivers everywhere you looked. I couldn't take it in fast-enough. As we got out of our bus and stepped into this amazing mountainous dream-world I thought to myself: 'Am I really here?'. Here, Olin first showed us the oracle-spring, Athena's temple, and remnants of an ancient "gymnasium" with a practice track. Then, he led us to this ancient town's main alter, treasury, theater, and stadium where they ran and viewed races! The people at Delphi definitely chose a beautiful spot to set-up their town--this seemed to be the trend for those ancient Greeks...
*Amazing food, coffee, and markets: Gyros with hand-made pitas and the thickest Frappe you could ever drink--in Greece you get the real deal.
*Kite-flying: Well, as part of the pre-Lenten, Carnival tradition, Athens celebrates with some paper and string. On the last day before Lent, food-vendors, musicians, dancers, and anybody else who wants to partake in the festivities, make their way out into the streets. Then, anyone who is interested is invited to make the trek up a hill-side and test-out their skills as a kite-flyer. Well, a few of us decided we better go see what this kite-flying business was all about. Am I sooo glad we did! The streets on the way up to the hill were so bustling and happy. Then, once we trekked up the hill, kites and kite flyers dotted the whole hill-side. Everybody in the area just looked like they were having such a great time! I just loved seeing so many people spending time outside and finding enjoyment in an activity that was so simple. Now, it's probably simpler if you actually have a kite that works. After finding a damaged kite, and performing a little pseudo-repair job, we attempted a little kite-flying of our own. While, this didn't get very far, we did come back with some pretty funny pictures. To make this event even better, the day was gorgeous--and so was the view from the top of the hill. We didn't want to leave. So, we didn't. For a good hour or so, all we did was sit-around on that hilltop...it was the perfect day. Definitely made me think of Mary-Poppins...
*Corinth: The day we went to see the remains of Corinth (called the "Agro-Corinth") in the mountains, was probably one of my favorite days on this trip. The original walls built by the Greeks had been torn-down and replaced by some Romans long ago--but it was still awesome to be standing on the same land as THE Corinthians had ages before. The remains of the city-walls were made of stone and circled the whole way around the mountain. Luckily, we were given a while to climb and explore all-over this mountain-side...I've come to realize from these types of trips that climbing and exploring are two of the things our group does best. I could have stayed up there for days. It was SO beautiful--and not just from one angle, either. The whole 360 degrees was unbelievable! You could see for miles and miles out over that Greek country-side...what a great time. Oh, I guess I should mention that this was the same day we went to Mycenae and this theater and healing place in Epidaurus--both very neat. Two experiences to note during these trips:
#1-Next to the temple sight at Mycenae we saw/heard a group of high school-age girls singing 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin in Italian. It totally reminded me of good times singing Disney songs with a number of my friends out there. I wanted to jump right in there and start singing along--but, I figured I would probably stick-out if I was the only one singing in English...
#2-This ancient theater that we visited in Epidaurus was really large and had amazing acoustics. These acoustics were supposed to be soo good that people in the audience were supposed to be able to hear someone whispering from the center arena. Anyone was invited to go down into the arena and sing a song in order to test out these acoustics. A few of us decided that this could be our big break--so, we went down and sang 'Build-me-up Buttercup' in front of a fairly decent audience. Another dead give-away as Americans...
Well, I could say even more about this Greece-excursion, but, there are so many more places to talk about! This was just the beginning of my "Month of Travels"...Up next is: Turkey.
Don't get out the cranberry-sauce just yet, folks...
First of all, Greece:
Our group left the flat to head for the airport at about 3:45 in the morning on March 7th to fly out to Athens. One-hour of sleep. After getting passed that first zombie-like day, the rest of the time was awesome. Highlights:
*Meeting Olin--One of the nicest, most knowledgeable and most energetic old-guys I've ever met. Apparently, he has been a tour guide for the Concordia-Luther Greece trip for 15 years or so. We were lucky enough to be with him for his final year. I asked him if he ever got tired of coming to Greece after this many consecutive years. His reply was: "No. You want to know why?--because of all of you." He continued to explain to me that it feels like a new experience every time, because he gets to see it through our eyes....What a great guy! Seriously. We gave a toast to him on the last night. I'm soo glad we were given a chance to meet him.
*Carnival: Yes, we did get to celebrate Carnival again--this time with bats. See, the way many people in Athens celebrate this time before Lent, is by walking around the streets at night and hitting people on the head, and/or the behind, with inflatable bats. Not always the most fun for the person getting hit--but, a great cultural experience...
*The Acropolis: Olin gave us a tour all around the place. He told us that it used to be a large meeting area back in the day that held lots of temples, etc. The area is situated along/on-top of a large hillside. It was a long way up to the top, but the view, alone, was well worth the hike. On the way up we got to see a small ancient theater, a large ancient theater, and an overlook of the city that just kept getting better and better. By the time we reached the top we could see all the way out to sea. Apparently, not much of the original walls of the Acropolis are left standing due to invasion, etc. --but, Olin did point out a few originals that had survived throughout time. The view of the city, the mountains, and the rolling Greek country-side was the best part for me at the top--but, of course, the Parthenon was another main attraction.
*Delphi: The next day we drove a really long way on the bus to this tiny town. The drive in itself was enough to make the trip worth something. SO beautiful!! I had never seen anything like it in my life. The closest experience I could think of was driving through the mountains in Wyoming and Montana during a family vacation--but that still doesn't quite compare. There were mountains, hills, valleys, and rivers everywhere you looked. I couldn't take it in fast-enough. As we got out of our bus and stepped into this amazing mountainous dream-world I thought to myself: 'Am I really here?'. Here, Olin first showed us the oracle-spring, Athena's temple, and remnants of an ancient "gymnasium" with a practice track. Then, he led us to this ancient town's main alter, treasury, theater, and stadium where they ran and viewed races! The people at Delphi definitely chose a beautiful spot to set-up their town--this seemed to be the trend for those ancient Greeks...
*Amazing food, coffee, and markets: Gyros with hand-made pitas and the thickest Frappe you could ever drink--in Greece you get the real deal.
*Kite-flying: Well, as part of the pre-Lenten, Carnival tradition, Athens celebrates with some paper and string. On the last day before Lent, food-vendors, musicians, dancers, and anybody else who wants to partake in the festivities, make their way out into the streets. Then, anyone who is interested is invited to make the trek up a hill-side and test-out their skills as a kite-flyer. Well, a few of us decided we better go see what this kite-flying business was all about. Am I sooo glad we did! The streets on the way up to the hill were so bustling and happy. Then, once we trekked up the hill, kites and kite flyers dotted the whole hill-side. Everybody in the area just looked like they were having such a great time! I just loved seeing so many people spending time outside and finding enjoyment in an activity that was so simple. Now, it's probably simpler if you actually have a kite that works. After finding a damaged kite, and performing a little pseudo-repair job, we attempted a little kite-flying of our own. While, this didn't get very far, we did come back with some pretty funny pictures. To make this event even better, the day was gorgeous--and so was the view from the top of the hill. We didn't want to leave. So, we didn't. For a good hour or so, all we did was sit-around on that hilltop...it was the perfect day. Definitely made me think of Mary-Poppins...
*Corinth: The day we went to see the remains of Corinth (called the "Agro-Corinth") in the mountains, was probably one of my favorite days on this trip. The original walls built by the Greeks had been torn-down and replaced by some Romans long ago--but it was still awesome to be standing on the same land as THE Corinthians had ages before. The remains of the city-walls were made of stone and circled the whole way around the mountain. Luckily, we were given a while to climb and explore all-over this mountain-side...I've come to realize from these types of trips that climbing and exploring are two of the things our group does best. I could have stayed up there for days. It was SO beautiful--and not just from one angle, either. The whole 360 degrees was unbelievable! You could see for miles and miles out over that Greek country-side...what a great time. Oh, I guess I should mention that this was the same day we went to Mycenae and this theater and healing place in Epidaurus--both very neat. Two experiences to note during these trips:
#1-Next to the temple sight at Mycenae we saw/heard a group of high school-age girls singing 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin in Italian. It totally reminded me of good times singing Disney songs with a number of my friends out there. I wanted to jump right in there and start singing along--but, I figured I would probably stick-out if I was the only one singing in English...
#2-This ancient theater that we visited in Epidaurus was really large and had amazing acoustics. These acoustics were supposed to be soo good that people in the audience were supposed to be able to hear someone whispering from the center arena. Anyone was invited to go down into the arena and sing a song in order to test out these acoustics. A few of us decided that this could be our big break--so, we went down and sang 'Build-me-up Buttercup' in front of a fairly decent audience. Another dead give-away as Americans...
Well, I could say even more about this Greece-excursion, but, there are so many more places to talk about! This was just the beginning of my "Month of Travels"...Up next is: Turkey.
Don't get out the cranberry-sauce just yet, folks...
