First of all, we'd like to wish our dads a Happy Father's Day! We appreciate all that you have done for us and we love you very much! And Happy Father's Day to the rest of you dads out there too! We're on a plane right now heading your way - we'll be in the US until July 23rd. I have to work some in Atlanta, Jill's going to Mexico with her mom, and we're both going to visit my sister and her family in Houston (and finally see our newest nephew Taege) - so we'll be busy, but hopefully we'll be able to meet up with everyone while we're there.

We recently took a trip to Greece - we spent a couple of Days in Athens, took a boat to the Greek Island of Mykonos, went and toured another island named Delos, and then we went back to Athens for a couple more days. Let's jump right to it!

 

Athens, Greece:
We arrived in Athens at about 2am, so we slept in a bit then went and checked everything out that afternoon. It was really neat seeing the signs with Greek letters - I once knew the Greek alphabet, but I realized that I'm missing a few letters now. First stop, the famous Acropolis. This "Sacred Rock" contains temples that are considered the most important monuments in the Western world - they have had more influence on our architecture than anything else. The great marble masterpieces were constructed during the late 5th-century BC - that's a LONG time ago! It was amazing to see such awesome structures from the BC period.

I'll just mention some of the top sites that we saw in the Acropolis area. The Acropolis Rock is the highest part of the city, and has been used as a place of refuge, religion, and royalty since the Neolithic times. The views from below the Rock are really nice - it shows how massive it really is. Our guide book said to bring water when touring this area, but Jill didn't mention that to me until we were halfway up. And we quickly found out why - very nice day, sun beating down, no trees up top, and no water for sale - we felt like we were in the desert - well, it wasn't quite that hot - maybe we've grown accustomed to the cooler England climate.

As we winded our way around Panathenaic Way (the ancient route leading to the top), we saw the Dionysus Theater. This theater could hold 15,000 people, and it's the location where the tragedies and comedies of the great playwrights (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides) were first performed. You can still see engravings on the front row for priests of Dionysus. There was another theater, the Herodes Atticus Theater, as we turned the corner. This one was built much later, in 161 AD, and it still holds the Athens Festival during the summers.

We passed through the grand entrance of the Propylaia at the top of the Rock - to reach the summit temples, all must pass through this entrance. The Temple of Athena Nike ("Victory") stands on the right - it protects the part of the rock which is most vulnerable to enemy attack. There has been a temple to the goddess of victory at this location since prehistoric times.

The granddaddy of them all, the Parthenon, is on top of the Rock in the center with everything else surrounding it. To sum it up, this temple is awesome! It's the most intact structure that we have ever seen from this time period. It amazed us to see something so complete and massive that is over 2,000 years old. And the detailed carvings at the top were really cool. The columns were beautiful - we are trying to figure out how they got all of this marble up on this hill without modern equipment. We were very impressed and fascinated - well worth a visit to Athens! We finished up with a quick visit through the Acropolis Museum - we saw pieces such as the Calf-Bearer (a 570 BC statue of a man carrying a calf to be offered as a sacrifice to Athena) and the Parthenon Marbles (the detailed scenes that were depicted at the top of the Parthenon). Oh yeah, I got a "roll tide" while we were up on the Rock - I was wearing my Bama hat and the guy was from Texas.

Next, we went through the Agora - the ancient marketplace of Athens that was founded in the 6th century BC and served as the heart of the city for 1,200 years. This is where everything took place - religion, commerce, philosophy, where democracy was born, and where Socrates addressed his public. Paul gave his famous "Men of Athens" speech here on the Areopagos rock (see Acts 17:22-34). This was definitely one of the highlights for me - to be standing where one of the men of the Bible spoke - it was awesome!

Other parts of the Ancient Agora include the Stoa Baslieios (house of legal affairs built in 500 BC - most was destroyed when the Goths invaded Athens in 267 AD), Tholos (first Parliament), Odeon of Agrippa (theater built in 15 AD), Temple of Hephaestus (best preserved Classical temple in Greece with its frieze depicting the deeds of Theseus and Herakles), and the Great Drain (ancient drain that took the rainwater from the Acropolis, Areopagos, and Agora to the now mostly dry Eridanos river). We also ran through the Stoa of Attalos Museum and saw the Head of Nike (425 BC) among other things. We saw several turtles in this area - we didn't realize they liked the hot dry climate and tall stiff grassy areas.

There were many other ancient areas and structures that we visited - I'll just create a summary list here:
Roman Forum and Tower of the Winds - the site of Athens' marketplace from the first century AD until the 19th century. The octagonal tower built by a Syrian astronomer is the greatest attraction.

Temple of Olympian Zues - Zues was worshipped on this site and 16 magnificent columns remain today (out of 104). There were also remains of old houses and Roman baths.

Karemeikos - the outer walls of Ancient Athens (478 BC) ran through here, and there are many old tombs of statesmen and heroes.

Filopappos Hill - nice pine-covered area with ancient history all around. The top of the hill offered great views of the Acropolis and the city of Athens. The birthplace of Athens (Pnyx) is also in this area, but my favorite part was Socrates' Prison.

Olympic Stadium - the site of the last summer Olympics (2004).

National Archaeological Museum - some of the items to note are the Thira Frescoes (16th century BC frescoes found buried under a volcanic eruption in Santorini), the Bronze Collection (including the famous galloping horse of 140 BC), and the Mycenaean Death Mask.

Some of our favorite areas for shopping and eating were Plaka (where we ate our first gyro), Syntagma (also contains the Parliament and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), and Monastraki. The Syntagma Metro Station also has a huge glass wall that preserves ancient layers of cities and tombs found while digging to expand the complex. There are over 150,000 stray dogs in Athens, and I think we saw half of them (lots of stray cats too). The good news is that they don't put any animals to sleep they just let them wander the streets. We also swung by the port in the Saronic Gulf, Athens University, and the National Library while we were there. Our hotel had a bar and pool on the roof, and we could see the Acropolis in the distance. We watched some of the World Cup up there while enjoying one of our new favorite beers, Mythos.

The people in Athens (all of Greece for that matter) are fantastic! They are some of the nicest people that we have run across in all of our European travels - always polite, friendly, and they would go the extra mile to help. The cab system was a little interesting though - apparently it doesn't matter if a cab is already occupied - people still hail it, and if the cab was heading in the direction they wanted to go, they got in and joined the others. One tip for any potential travelers to Athens - I don't think you're allowed to touch all of the ancient ruins even though you can walk right up to them - the workers would blow their whistles and run after people that put their paws on the ancient ruins. One last thing to mention before we leave Athens - Jill did an outstanding job planning this trip (as usual) - down to the last detail. She is a fantastic tour guide and I am very blessed to have her with me for all of these trips.

Mykonos, Greece:
We took a boat from Athens to the Greek Island of Mykonos for a little R&R - what an awesome place! Mykonos is an 85 sq. kilometer barren rocky island in the Cyclades. We didn't see many houses/buildings over two stories high, and almost everything was blue and white and square. Laying out in the sun was great because even though it was hot, there is a constant wind that keeps you cool the whole time (the wind blows 200-300 days a year). We enjoyed several beautiful sunsets, great food, and we went to our favorite dessert shop for a chocolate mousse almost every night. Our hotel was wonderful - it had double French doors that opened out to a view of the Aegean Sea. We couldn't have asked for a better location.

The town of Mykonos is really cool - it reminded us of Venice because it was a maze of streets in between all of the houses and buildings with shops and restaurants all throughout. Speaking of shops, not only were they open late (finally, a place in Europe with shops that stay open past 6pm - these were actually open past midnight), but there were lots of "high class" shops - this is a place where people from the "Main Land" come for their vacation. Jill was very impressed, and I have to admit, so was I - we couldn't believe that such a small island could have so many of these types of shops. The houses and buildings were very unique and although they were all white, they had very colorful railings and shutters - hard to explain, but the town was really neat and we had lots of fun wandering around and getting lost.

There is actually an area here called "Little Venice" - it's an area of bars and restaurants right up on the sea. We had the best Pina Colada we've ever had at one of these places while watching a beautiful sunset. We met Petros and his friends while wandering in the streets - who are they, you ask? They are pelicans - and they wander the street and actually let you pet them - very cool. One stepped on Jill's foot once (she was wearing flip-flops) and she couldn't get her foot out until he moved.

The food here was incredible - cheese is a huge part of their meals - just about everywhere serves cheese balls, and lots of items have a little "feta" mixed into it. We went to a great place that served gyros on more than one occasion, and our favorite dinner was at a restaurant called Alegro (salmon in shrimp sauce - delicious). Two other Greek dishes that we enjoyed were the fish svauki (spit-roasted for hours) and moussaka (eggplant, lamb, potatoes, tomatoes, wine, cinnamon, and topped with bechamel).

We rented a four-wheeler one day and we went exploring all over the island. Helmets are not only optional, but 99% of the people don't wear them at all. And with the narrow streets with sharp curves, it's crazy not to wear them. We drove to Paradise and Super Paradise beaches - very nice resorts, but bathing suits are optional - bottoms too - women AND men. We also drove to Elia, Ftelia (hidden beach in a desert-like setting), Tourlos, and up the coast to Agios Stefanos. It was actually scary at times - cars zooming past around the sharp curves, but the views we got to see made it all worth it.

A few more things to mention about Mykonos - tourism has boomed over the last 40 years, and it was the first of islands to gain world fame. During the winter, the entire island pretty much closes up - lots of people move to the mainland and work there for the summer. The Paraportiani Church was built in the late 14th or early 15th century, and it is actually a complex of five chapels - check out the pictures - it's a very unique, beautiful church. There are tiny chapels all over the island - and I mean everywhere - I bet we saw over 100, and they are all small, white, and have different color rooftops. Finally, there are still some windmills left from the original 15 - they, along with Little Venice and the Paraportiani Church, are the most written about and most painted part of the island.

Delos, Greece:
From Mykonos, we took another boat one nautical mile south to the now deserted island of Delos. The ride over was so rough that the refrigerator behind the snack bar came open spilling everything out onto the floor. I didn't know if we were going to make it, and once we got there, I just wanted to stay. If Jill would ever teach me to float on my back I would be less worried about things like this. The way back was probably worse, but I kept my eyes closed - Jill said that we tipped over so far one time that the water came up to our window.

Delos is deserted today, but it was once one of the most revered religious centers of the Greek world (it's in the center of the Cyclades). It began to be inhabited around 2800 BC, and legend connected it with the birth of Apollo, god of light and prophesy (Homer talks about this in his "Hymn to Apollos"). There are ancient ruins all over the place - you can still see the foundations of houses (most from the 1st century BC made of granite and schist stones), marble columns, toilets, ancient theater, and lion statues from 700 BC. You can see the remains of lime plaster on some of the walls of the houses - these were old paintings, and this method was invented here and then brought to Pompeii.

The "more elite" people had courtyards in the middle of their houses, and many of the marble supporting columns still remain. Some of the courtyards had mosaic tile floors, and some of the remains can still be seen today. The Ancient Theater was built in the 2nd century BC, and it could hold 5,500 spectators. The Sacred Lake lies to the west of the Lion Terrace (where our favorite lion statues are located), and it has been dry since 1926. Nearby lies the circular rock pit where people would burn offerings for Apollo. Delos is the only deserted island that we've ever been to, and it was an awesome experience.

Other stuff:
So, did you skip to this section or did you read all the way through? Here is the "other stuff" that we've been up to. We took a train down to Portsmouth Harbor a couple of weeks ago, and we saw the birthplace of Charles Dickens, went through the D-Day Museum (home of the Overlord Embroidery containing scenes of the D-Day invasion), walked along the boardwalk, and went up for some nice views in Spinnaker Tower (Jill actually saw it as we were flying out today).

My co-worker (Regina) and her husband were in London not too long ago, so we got to meet up with them for a pub and dinner - great to see you guys! Speaking of work, I was recently promoted to the Director of Global Customer Support. I'll be in charge of all support efforts from our company as well as the two companies we've recently acquired. I'm very excited about this and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity.

Congratulations goes out Cooper and Anna Brooke - Addison Louise Johnson was born on June 1st, and she weighed in at 8 pounds and 1 ounce. She was 19.5 inches long, and we are looking forward to seeing her while we're in the US! We're looking forward to seeing all of you while we are in town! Check out the updated pictures of Greece - Athens, Mykonos, Delos - and Portsmouth. Until next time, we love and miss you all - take care and God bless!