Our Final Site

Karla is always on the ball! I finally got caught up enough to want to share some of our final moments in Greece - and she already had!!

I would like to add our Athens departure picture and the view from our Atlanta motel. Two things come to mind about this unexpected night in Atlanta - One is I always was confusing the date we were coming home and told everyone it was the 20th; two was Karla wasn't going to count having been in Georgia if she was only in the airport! What can ya say!

Doing this blog has been sooooo much fun, I have an idea that we will continue this effort to keep you up to date on how we are sharing this wonderful trip with friends, family and our school. So,

keep checking in now and then and we will talk with you some more.

Oh, just have to share this one more picture. Karla was so hungry for "American" food that we ordered pizza and salad for our last supper in Greece. Of course it was Greek Pizza!

Rats, can't figure out how to turn the picture!!

Our Final Site

We had the pleasure of meeting Bethlehem Georgellis, an author and illustrator from Australia. She has written two books for children featuring Zeus the Koala. Ms. Georgellis is one of the Greek Australian travelers we met on our tour. She took the myths from Greece and mingled them with the animals of Australia to create her books. She is working on a third book featuring Zeus theKoala.

We were 20 minutes west of Atlanta when the pilot turned the plane around. We headed back to Atlanta and the flight was cancelled. Something to do with equipment problems.....??? We had to stay one more night in Atlanta before finally getting a new flight out on Saturday. After 24 hours of no sleep we were welcomed by a comfy bed at the hotel furnished by the airlines.

Our last day was spent near Kalambaka viewing the monastaries that sit high up on the tops of unusual rock formations. Hundreds of years ago, the munks had to climb up ladders to get into the buildings. Some of the monastaries are now convents. We got to view the sanctuary and viewed the frescos painted all over the walls and ceilings. There were icons everywhere and very ornate chandeliers. Once again our guide explained everything perfectly. We couldn't take any pictures inside, but we have posted some photos of the outside. It is beautiful and breathtaking, but don't look down! We can see why they chose this spot to get away from civilization, but we are still in awe of how they completed such a place so high up.

Our Last Blog from Greece

Today is our last day in Greece. We aren't going to attempt to add pictures today, but will have hundreds to show you when we return.

We have met so many wonderful people! Our group was small--only 25 of us, so that made it extra special. About half of our group was from Australia. We learned that Australia has a large population of Greeks. Most of the Aussies were Greek Australians coming home for a tour of their home country. One of the Greek-Australians we met was a young teacher. We plan to keep in touch and possibly have pen pals. Another was an author/illustrator. We had the privilege of hearing her read the book she had written to us on the bus. We had our picture made with her and plan to buy several copies of her book.

Our tour director was the best! It was like traveling with a human history book. She was, of course, Greek and had the best accent.

Our bus driver, Nick, could take that large bus around the tightest hairpin curves!! Even when we were taking tight turns up high in Meteora, he handled that bus like a pro.

Last night we went back to the Plaka to have dinner--outside of course. Everyone eats outside everyday because the weather is so perfect everyday. We finally had Greek pizza and it was delicious!

We'll be headed to the Athens airport soon and will leave around 12:30 Athens time. We then have a 3 hour layover in Atlanta before finally getting to Tulsa around 9:45 pm Friday night. We are anxious to see our families--we miss them!!

Check the blog again in a few days and we may have added some pics of Kalambaka and our last day in Athens.

Adio,
Leslie and Karla

Our last stop before heading to the hotel in Kalambaka, was a brief visit to the site of the Spartan War. Sadly, it is now a highway area. There is a monument there now that was placed there by American Greeks. This picture shows Leslie standing in front of the monument just off the highway. There is a huge bronze statue of a Spartan holding a spear in the middle.

Today we stopped at the Gulf of Corinth for lunch. We all took a quick wade in the water. The water is beautiful and clear. We regret not trying the swordfish that was on the menu.

Here's Leslie standing in front of the stadium at the very top of the mountain. It was quite a hike--1 and half miles, but it was worth it. This stadium is a bit shorter than the one in Olympia, but the games they played were similar. The Romans added the seating in later centuries.

Here I am standing near the ampitheater in Delphi. We climbed up the mountain using the same "sacred way" as the Greeks. Ampitheaters were common near all of these gathering places.

This is a picture of our new friends from Australia and Florida. The people we have met have been very nice! Notice the spectacular view from our eating area.

Our Disclaimer

It seems the harder we try to get these blogs in their proper order, they have a mind of their own. We posted seven blogs in a row with a picture for each. Go down seven blogs and read up and they will be in order.
Maybe by the time we do our last post we will have it down.
We miss all of you and are having the time of our lives.

After the morning at the Olympic ruins we then had a rather long bus ride to Delphi. We found out the pronounciation for Delphi is "DEL PHEE".

We crossed a rather spectacular bridge moving from the pennisula to the mainland. It is called "The Bridge". It was completed in 2004 just in time for the Olympics in Greece. The first person to cross was the runner with the Olympic Flame.

It is one of the longest suspension bridges.

Karla's husband Lyle is big into fitness, so here is Karla in front of the Olympic gymnasium. This particular area was where the wrestlers had their matches. They were not timed and could last the whole day until dark when the referee would then decide the winner.

We weren't sure if we could have Ramsy out at the Olympics, but he raised such a fuss, we let him run. Guess who won? Here is a picture of him and I with his Olympic flag after the race. He faired better than the original athletes as they only received a laurel wreath crown.

We've have really been working out for this big day! (Tehee) Here is Karla in the correct starting position- the one used at the original Olympics. Looks a little odd to us but the athlete had a rope stretched in front of them until the start. When it was dropped, they took off.

Just for your information, because the service is very unpredictable, we are posting each picture one at a time. May look weird, but we won't lose as much this way!

Okay, one of the biggies! We are at the site of the original Olympic games. Whoa, an Iowa farm girl and one whose not been east of the Mississippi at the original site of the Olympics!

This us a view looking down on the stadium. As you can see there were LOTS of people 'enjoying' this site with us. Imagine that! The right bottom corner of the picture is the tunnel that leads in and out of the stadium. In the picture center right you can see the ruins of the area where the judges sat and across from that another small stone where the Olympic flame was burning.

We toured the ruins of the acropolis at Mycenea. They had a 150 foot shaft that people would crawl down to get water when they were under seige. Can't understand why Karla didn't want to go down to see?!

Mycenea - Tombs and Ruins

Here we are in Mycenea! Our first visit is to the Beehive tombs. They are called this because of their shape. You'll just have to endure our photos when we get home to see what is inside!

Finally at our hotel outside of Nauplia. A beautiful seaside with an amazing ruins of their fortification - 999 steps up. We chose ice cream instead!

We had great fun at the amphitheater at Epidauruas. I even sang my special version of Happy Birthday to one of our bus mates! The acoustic were great.

Early wake up (6:15 am) to leave for Corinth. We both really loved all the history and the great ruins.

Greek dinner and dance at a restaurant on the Plaka in Old Athens.

Leslie with Trafalgar buss at the stop for lunch after we had been at Corinth and on our way to Nauplia.

Karla mailing post cards. Keeping in touch with those who made this wonderful experience possible. Fund for Teachers (Hi, Carrie and Perrin), Tulsa Community Foundation (Hi, Stephanie) and Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence (Hi, Dayna). Be looking for your postdcards.

First "Real" Day in Touring Greece

Wow! We've been to the Parthenon. It is huge. We seen the Temple of Zeus. It's huge. We saw the stadium where the first modern Olympics were held. It's huge. Later today we will go to the coast and learn how the Agean Sea got it's name, then back to town for a traditional Greek dinner and entertainment. Here are some photos of our day so far.

WE ARE IN GREECE!!!!!!

Miracles never cease. We are jet lagged and hyped up all at the same time!!

As others have found out, internet service is not free. But, for a few Euros we have bought some time to share this wonderful experience with all of you back home.

It's sad to say that the very first thing we did when we got to the hotel, was to lay down and close our eyes! But we got up a couple of hours later and took a brief walk. The pictures of the Parthenon are the result of our walk. We can even see it out our window.

Since our time on the internet is timed, please forgive any typos in my haste.

Practicing

I'm here at Panera practicing how to log onto a wireless network! Wow, never thought I could do it. Hope it is this easy in Greece.

Twenty-four hours from now we will be at Tulsa International waiting for our flight to Atlanta. I will see if we can blog from there - practice, practice, practice. When we get to Atlanta, our connection will be so short (54 minutes) that I won't be able to blog you then.

Pray for us and our families we leave behind!

Check and Recheck

We have our passports in hand and as the Visa commerical says, "....snacks $15.00, batteries $28.00, memory sticks $37.00, tour of Greece PRICELESS! We are nearly ready!

We have added a picture and this is our second blog. Miracles never cease!

There are no guarantees about internet access in Greece and we are taking a brand new netbook, so be patient and we will try our best to keep you "blogged"! (Is that the right term???)

Preparations

Our time is drawing near for our departure to Greece. Much is still to be done. We meet tomorrow (Tuesday) for our final shopping trip for necessities - batteries, memory sticks, video tapes....

Karla has done a trial packing - all her liquids fit in her quart size bag and all her clothes fit in a carry-on bag! Yes, we are only taking carry-on bags.
I, on the other hand, am still working on both.

We will see how this blogging thing works. Have just decided today to try this. We will keep you posted as we go!