Happy Mother's Day

Just in case....

Happy Mother's Day

Sorry we can't be with you on Mother's Day but we will be thinking about you! Love you!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! Enjoy your day!

We survived Greece!

After our long bus ride to Thessaloniki we decided to spend the next day driving to a special site in Greece. This was our original plan, but the car rental in Athens did not work out. We rented a car and took to the roads of Greece. I did some reading about Greece driving, and everything tells you to be a defensive driver because you might be the only person on the road with an actual license. The car was a little rough and needed new tires/windshield wipers  come to find out. Greece has a beautiful country with lots of mountains, and forest. Who knew? We wanted to see Meteora, Greece and driving there was our best option.

Little history on this place:
The word Meteora means literally 'hovering in the air' and of course brings to mind the word meteor. What created this rare geological phenomenon is one of the mysteries of nature and there are many theories though they remain theories and none have been proven. But as amazing a marvel of nature as these giant rocks are the buildings on the top of these are a marvel of man and seem just as miraculous and make Meteora one of the most spectacular places to visit in Greece.

We got lost a couple of times, and drive through some heavy rain, but we finally made it.

The only picture of the rental car, because Chris was embrassed by the car.

Some of Meteora

One of six Monasteries left at Meteora. Originally there were 24.

We dropped the rental car off at the airport, then flew back to Dusseldorf. Before leaving Greece, the piliot announced they struck a bird coming to Greece so they had to check the engine.  When we landed all the Greeks started clapping and cheering. Greeks fly much differently then Americans!

Friday we are driving to Southern Germany and maybe to Amsterda on Saturday. We fly out on Sunday at 11:55 am and arrive in Chicago at 2:05 pm. Our flight to Indy doesn't leave until 9ish. Our plan is to catch an earlier flight home! Cross your fingers that we don't have to wait in Chicago for 7 hours! We just might rent a car!

I can wait to get back to "normal" life.

We miss our children!

Greece

Greece has been a little rough. Athens is not very beautiful and is struggling since the olympics. We planned on visiting islands on Sunday, but it ended up being May Day, aka strike day in Greece. There were demonstrations and transportations and public places were closed. That day we climb a mountain to view the city of Athens. On Monday we took a three island cruise. The islands were very beautiful. One of the islands called Hydra was our favorite. The only means of transportation was a mule. Chris and I went for a mule ride. So in Greece there are dogs everywhere with no homes. When we were walking a blonde dog followed us the whole way up the hill. We stopped and the dog sat next to us. Maggie and Riley almost got a new brother. My suggestion for anyone traveling to Greece would go straight to the islands or have a travel agency help you plan your trip. Today's plan was to rent a car and travel northern Greece to see some amazing stuff. When we got to the car rental place the cost was about 500 dollars more than what we had plan. After a long time at the airport, and trying to make new airplane reservations nothing worked out. We decided to take a bus to the city we fly out of on Thursday. It was a seven hour bus ride and no bathrooms. The bathroom was a small whole in the floor!! I took a very long shower tonight! We arrived to the city around midnight and we were able to find a hotel. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

We are ready to come home! This trip has helped us (Chris) realize that we are getting old! The beds have been small and hard, and we wake up sore in places that shouldn't hurt. A couple of more days and we are Indiana bound!

Maggie and Riley's almost new brother

View from the top

The mountain we climb. On top there was a small church

Pictures of Venice and Rome

Venice

Eating pizza on the Grand Canal

Rome

Toss a coin in to return to Rome one day

Sea Bass Italy style

Half way to the top of the dome

Climbing

The view from the top

Venice

Venice, Rome, and Athens

Venice

The city to get lost in! We had an amazing place to stay! If anyone ever goes to Venice, let us know because we have a great place, (just hard to find at first). According to the Italian man who walked me to the apartment, Johnny Deep is remodeling next door.  But that was in broken English, so I could have understood wrong! We walked every square inch of the 120 islands. We never took a boat, we just traveled by foot. It is a good thing that we only have a pack, because we would be buying some cool stuff!  When I look to buy something, I think to myself “Is it worth carrying?” usually the answer is no!

Rome

We took the train from Venice to Rome; once we got off the train we found our way to the hotel. So our hotel elevator was very very small. We both had our packs on and the bell boy took us to our room. I said we would take the stairs, but the bell boy said no. Chris and I were stuck on the lift with our packs. I never took that lift again!  We spent the rest of the day walking around Rome. We would just walk until we run into something special. We started with the Coliseum and the Ancient Ruins. Chris needed a nap, so we found our way back to the hotel. The rest of the night we spent walking and sightseeing. The Spanish Steps was such an amazing view and a very beautiful church. Walking around Rome, we found a free wifi area, so we were able to call home with skype. Modern technology is great! I usually talk to my dad everyday after work, so it just different only talking to him once in the past 2 weeks. It is weird to be so disconnected from our life at home! It sounds like Maggie and Riley are okay, hopefully they won’t be to mad at us when we return.  After talking to our parents and Charlie (our neighbor who watches out for us and the house), we had dinner in Trastevere.

My lovely dinner was sea bass, unlike most American restaurants; my plate had the entire fish. Chris could not believe what he was seeing, and refused to try it. There are some pictures with the fish! It was good, but next time I could do without the fish’s head.

The next day we got up early to go the Vatican City.  We started with the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.  It started to rain a little, so we had a nice lunch next to the Vatican. After lunch it stopped raining and there were no lines for St. Peter’s Basilica. We toured the huge amazing church and listened to a mass. We left the church and went back in line to climb the dome of the church.  We climb another 550 stairs to the top. Chris said they lied to us because they were much larger steps.  It was a beautiful view of Rome, and it was worth the climb.  I think by the end of this trip Chris will automatically take the stairs!

Rome was great but there were a lot of people. I think I am getting old because it has really bothered me when I am standing in a line and people just cut in front of you. This happen yesterday in the line for the Vatican, but it wasn’t young people it was old! There were so many times yesterday that old ladies tried to run us over to see something, or cut in line! We were at a Holy place, and I would think you would want to be on your best behavior.

Our flight out of Rome was at 6:40, and we left the hotel at 4:45. Chris made me promise never to book flights that early again! We arrived in Athens and took the bus to the city. I found our way to the hotel. The plan is to enjoy Athens for 2 days, and then we are renting a car to drive to Thessonilki on May 5. We will stop and see stuff on our way there. This could be interesting because the language and road signs are in Greek! This might be the toughest language barrier! We will fly back to Germany and hang out with Rob until Sunday when we fly back.  

Tell next time!

Map? Not Venice

When you read about Venice, they say everyone will get lost. That is so true! We got off the train around 9. We walked with the packs for about three hours until Chris decided to do some laundry. I walked the streets of Venice looking for our hotel. Finally some guy notice I looked lost and decided to help me. The funny thing is we walked past the place about 3 times. The place we are staying in is like an apartment and you check in at a resident's house. The guy walked with me to the apartment for 20 minutues and then I had to go find Chris! I never felt so lost before plus I had no money to get back. Venice is beautiful with lots of streets to get lost on. After we found our apartment again we just wonder the streets for hours, and had a beautiful Italian meal. Drinking wine is cheaper than drinking water! Also if you want to get into churches you have to wear sleeves and it cost money to use restrooms that are not clean! You have to love that America has tons of clean and free toliets/water! Well as long as Chris does not pick the place!

Tomorrow Rome!

No pictures today, we are at an internet cafe.

South of France and Switzerland

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. The past couple of days we have traveled through the French countryside and Switzerland. Paris is great, but the France countryside is better. You get a good sense of what French life is like. Towns are unique with lots of history and culture. The boys decided it would be best not to take national roads instead we took countryside roads. We were able to run across many different castles and churches. For most of the drive we were in Dijon country and champagne country. There were tons of yellow fields of dijon. On Easter Sunday we came across a castle and went to a wine tasting festival. There were 15 wines to taste for 10 euros. Chris enjoyed his time in the wine cellar. Then we started to head to the Swiss Alps.

We stopped in Bern for the night and headed to Interlaken for the day. This is a city between two beautiful lakes. Chris and Rob enjoyed taking every back road the could find, especially in the Alps. They decided to take a side road as we headed up the mountain a sign stated mountain passes are closed on the road, but they decided to continue on. About an hour later we come across snow blocking the road. So back down the mountain we go. It was a rough ride for me. Switzerland is very beautiful and the people are very kind. Right now we are staying in Brescia, Italy and will take a train to Venice at 6:00 am. We will spend the next two days there then head to Rome for two days. Saturday, our Greece adventure starts. Here are some pictures of the past couple of days. Pictures of Chris at the wine tasting will come later!

We had to go back to the Eiffel Tower because we forgot to take a picture in front of it.

Driving along the French countryside.

Swiss Alps

The road was closed on the mountain pass, and we had to turn around and go back down the mountain.

 

Chris got his snow vacation, and now it is time for the beach!

Arrivedeci

Jill & Chris