This time, from Roma!

Ciao!
When left off, we had gone to the National Archaeological Museum.

The next day, we went to Ύδρα, spelled Hydra, pronounced Eedra. It was a much different atmosphere - instead of cars there were donkeys, there were much happier people, and the only beggars were the vast numbers of stray cars and dogs. It wasn't really sad, though. They didn't look starved, and the combination of locals and tourists pretty much kept them well fed.

On the way back to Athens on the boat, we saw a riot in the Acropolis on the TV. Pictures of us coming in are above.

The next day we flew to Rome. The minute we stepped off the plane, you could tell Italy was a happier place. The man who drove us to our B&B smiled and waved at people as we left the airport, and the man who owned the B&B did the same (well, not the wave to people at the airport one mile away part).

The internet wasnt working, and we only just got it back. I'm way behind, so I'll just say για σας, I mean arrivaderci, for now.

Remember kids, aspirate initial plosives!

Continued

The iPpod messes it up, so only the text before the pictures is posted. I can't serem to access the stuff I wrote after the pictures, and I'm too tired to redo it. Basically, Caleb didn't get better, so Dad and I went to the National Archaeogical Museum, of which I can tell you of wheb we return.

Sorry, or παρακαλώ, about the ιΠονδ.

the Playmobil TooBadPark

When I last posted, Caleb was sick. He couldn't get the little food that was in his body to stay there - in other words, he spewed.

When Caleb <I>thought</I> he felt better, we got a Ταξι (ξ=x). After zipping through one-lane streets, we arrived to what looked like a warehouse where buff men moved boxes.

And as soon as we exited the taxi, Caleb spewed.

We went around the warehouse, and on it's side there was a door which led to the elevator. It was on the second floor where we found the FunPark.

On our right, there was a store which had probably everything Playmobil makes. On our left was a large room filled with a boatload of toys. We started by touring the latter room, in which all the toys were categorized by subject, and there were several display cases:

Waiting in a grassy field

Εφχαριστό, Efkharistó, and Thanks for reading.
Where we left off, I was at the hotel trying to stay awake. Fail. I ended up reduced to tears when I was awakened. It was worth it, though, for our first historical site to visit was the Areopagus, also known of as Mars' hill. It was the place for judgment of capital offenses, as well as the head of the ancient Greek Pentagon.

That was two days ago. Yesterday, after the complementary breakfast's hard-boiled egg was crushed to pieces by my best and worst little bro, we visited the most famous sites in Athens: first the Agora, the ancient market/Vatican, and later the most famous Acropolis, which had the Erechtheion and the Parthenon. Yea, the Parthenon. Here's a picture:

p class="mobile-photo">

Some history: that building was used for basically one year, for it was just one year after it's completion when Sparta conquered Athens. For those that didn't know, Greece has been one country only in modern times. Back then, each city was it's own country.

When we returned from the Acropolis, we went shopping for souvenirs and I got Greek Mythology playing cards. I don't play cards that often, but I make it a tradition to bye hem whenever I travel.

Today, we're supposed to be going to the Playmobil Fun Park for Caleb. Annoyingly, they actually have two in the USA, but both are in Florida. C'mon!

And the night before his special day, Caleb didn't sleep that much. Being tired, he didn't eat this morning. And he got motion sickness on the metro. So I'm writing this in a grassy field as Caleb and Dad look for food.

Hopefully Caleb gets better!

Χαίρετε, Kherete, and Hello!
We left Chicago at half past noon, and were in Atlanta two seconds later. Okay, it wasn't that short, but relative to the Atlanta-to-Athens flight it was teleportation. It was the shortest flight I've been on that I can remember, with the possible exception of Oahu-to-Maui.

After about thirty minutes at Atlanta (where they had these automatic trash sorting machines), we left the US.

After listening to a Language Creation Society podcast, I tried to go to sleep...to no avail. It was impossible to drift off into Dreamland for the simple fact that in our society, we (usually) sleep by laying down, with our legs stretched straight. There were other interruptions, e.g. Someone fainting and the showing of the Karate Kyd. So I finally gave up, and as of now it is 1:00 and I have to stay awake until at least six.

But back to the story. When we landed, I was disappointed to find that under every Ελληκά was an English; I wouldn't be the necessary translator that I had envisioned being.

We took the μετρό (metro) to our hotel, and on the way we had an accordion player come down the aisle with a girl I assume to be his daughter carrying a jingly cup. His son came down with a much simpler tune on the same instrument.

When we got outt of the metro station, it got awesome! The roads were too narrow, all the buildings were old, and there were bast numbers of both vendors and pigeons. And to make it better, everyone spoke Ελληνικά.

The down side: Europeans may have some things better than us at the New World, but there is one thing we got that they dont: healthy lungs. There is smoking EVERYWHERE. It's annoying.

Thats all for now, so remember to pronounce 'kh' like a velar fricative, not like an uvular trill!
Goodbye, Ya Sas, and Για σας!

Pictures from Eklutna

Stove

Us

On the Lake

For our first adventure, I'm going to tell you about how we went to Eklutna Lake.

We drove up to Eklutna, a long and skinny lake. We hiked along the north side and got to a cabin. It had a wood-burning "heater" - I geuss that's what its called. Caleb was obsessed with burning things.

We hiked across the lake to the south side (yes, we went across it - its frozen solid in the winter) to find a crude bench, as if someone else had gone across and made one.  The others said something about an owl, but I didn't hear anything.

The night was more hot then cold, and it when we woke it wasn't very cold unlike camping expeiriences.

On the way back to the cabin, we went on the lake instead of by it. Dad pulled everything on the sled that had been used for firewood, and I didn't have to carry a backpack.

Zoom in, and click on lines for more info.

View Larger Map