Athens, Here We Come

One thing we find completely delightful is the fact that here in Greece folks utilize their rooftops...there are actually staircases leading up to the roof.  They are also very trusting...there are no rails of any sort...on this particular day when Brad and Victoria were up on top of the academic building (I snapped this shot from one of our two balconies), there were students relaxing, reading, etc. up there.  I really think I could get used to that...beautiful view, refreshing breeze, inviting sunshine, renewing quiet...not a bad combo...

Yours truly blogging away from above menioned balcony...

On Saturday morning, the Bible College hosted several youth groups from nearby villages for several hours of fun, games, food, and worship...we hung around and had absolutely the BEST time, even though many of the youth didn't speak a word of English!  This has been a new experience for the kids to be in a culture where English is not the first language.  They have done brilliantly!  A cultural note here:  The youth groups came from 12 noon to 4pm.  First, for 2 hours were the games, then LUNCH AT 2 PM!!  Lunch BEGINS anywhere from 2-3:30 pm here in Greek culture, then supper begins anywhere from 8-10:30pm.  For all my late night friends, now HERE is a culture you could seriously get into!!  They are a late night culture and S-L-O-W to move in the mornings...

Yes, water balloons were involved...see our adventurous Daniel...

For lunch that day they prepared souvlakis, and we gobbled them up!!  Daniel is eating souvlaki, and Brad is eating souvlaki on pita (also known as a gyro) with french fries, tomatoes, and a delectable sauce called tzatziki, which is made of yogurt, cucumber, and garlic.  I could drink the stuff. It's that good.  For weight reasons, it is certainly a good thing that we are here short term...

After the youth group celebration, we headed into Athens, and THIS was our first view of the Acropolis and the Parthenon, just outside the metro...again, my emotion surprised me...

The Acropolis rock was an easily defended site and has been in use for nearly 5000 years.  It is essentially an enormous rock right in the heart of Athens that boasts 3 contrasting temples and a monumental gateway.  More on this to come, but here is the Parthenon, one of the world's most famous buildings.  The Parthenon was completed in 438 BC as a temple to Athena. 

 This would be none other than the Acropolis Museum, as the words so plainly depict...

Dinner was at an outdoor cafe.  Our friend Robert came with us into the city centre to help us find our way a bit.  He's a great guy from Bath, England, and offered to spend a couple days with us showing us the ropes in Athens...what a guy...

We were feeling adventurous for dinner...Victoria tried the stew, Daniel tried spicy cheese balls, Caleb and Brad just couldn't pull themselves away from the pork gyros (with the tzatziki sauce), and I, well, I tried none other than yogurt and honey, which, I might add, was quite tasty...

...and here it is...yogurt and honey...mmmmmm....

We have just hooted and hollered over Brad's "cup-ette" of coffee.  There was about 3 swigs of coffee in this cup.  He wanted to say, "No, I'll have the adult-size cup, please."

So, we went for gelatto afterwards.  I keep asking exactly what gelatto is, but no one seems to know...at any rate, it was sweet, cold, and yummy, so we were happy...

Just as we were getting back on the metro to return home, we caught this glimpse of the Parthenon by night...beautiful, really...

London Memories...

Daniel, quite the budding photographer, snagged this shot of Big Ben...

Here it is again with the Parliament Building to the right, along with two dashing young men...

The London Eye...takes just under an hour to go around one time.  Do you see the way the pods are perched on the OUTSIDE/TOP of the wheel?!?!?!  GUARANTEE only 4 Greens will be headin' up...

River Thames...

So, for the record, just how long ARE the buses over here?

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre...hard to tell, but it does have a thatched roof.  This one, still used today, is an exact replica and in the original location as the one in Shakespeare's day.  Cool.

This one gives a little better view of the stage.  There was a trap door both above and below the stage, which the kids found immensely intriguing, and then where the people are standing was actually (in Shakespeare's day) where hundreds of people would stand throughout the entire performance.  If the people didn't like the play or the performing of it, they would throw fish and rotten vegetables at the actors.  The one benefit the boys said for standing thruout an entire play would have been for better aim with the veggies!  :)

Mmmmmmmm....

So, we went to the Museum of Natural Sciences, where we had heard that they had the last remaining dodo (bird), in stuffed form, of course.  So, ladies and gentlemen, may Victoria present...the dodo!

Also in this museum is an extensive dinosaur museum (note tail over our heads).  Note of interest here.  We went to this museum on a school holiday (BIG mistake)...any guesses how many people had been thru that day?  500?  1000?  Are you ready?  We were told (by the lady up front with the people-counter) that by 1pm, more that 20,000 people had been thru, and we decided that they were ALL still in there when we were there! 

The kids loved this silhouette of Sherlock Holmes.  The mystery of this photo is getting it to face the right direction on the blog.  Oh dear. :)

This ranks as one of the best things of our ENTIRE trip...

Winston Churchill's wartime bunker underground.

Group hug before the Vintzels headed home...

Lambing Season at Wimpole Estate

Frolicking lambs were the order of the day when we visited the Wimpole Estate, a sprawling National Trust property southwest of Cambridge.  This working farm boasts of many rare breeds of farm animals, and the day we visited, there were over 100 (!) ewes about to give birth.  There we all stood looking at each other:  the very pregnant ewes ready to have their babies, and the watching public, wanting them to have them.  I don't know who was more disappointed when their babies did not arrive that day...

These are some of the pregnant mamas during feeding time.  Do you see the black one in the MIDDLE of the round feeding trough.  We're still wondering HOW a VERY pregnant ewe landed in the middle of the trough--giant leap?  good buck in the seat of her pants?  using other sheep as stepping stones?  Funniest thing...

Every time I see this picture I laugh.  This entire breed of sheep needs their bangs cut!  I just laughed and laughed.  In order to even see to walk, they had to kind of flick their heads a bit to expose their eyes...reminded me of that muppet with the long crazy hair... :)

The kids got to practice their milking skills...not too bad...

Rudyard Kipling's daughter, Elsie Bambridge, was the last owner of Wimpole, and she restored the house and grounds to their original glory.  There was much to see and do, but we spent the entire day on the farm!

And a good time was had by all...

Museums, anyone?

Meet Sedgwick.  We guessed that must be this planteating Iguanodon's name, as he greets all visitors to the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences here in Cambridge.  Also in this museum we were fascinated by a monstrosity of a hippo found a few thousand years ago here in Cambridgeshire.  We decided hippos have just always been...well...big.

This "supposed to be swimming" Plesiosaur is not supposed to be headless. (I'm in discussions now with our photographer to ensure there'll be no more headless plesiosaurs in this blog.)  He lived during the Jurassic Period, along with his other friends from Jurassic Park.

The museums here are intentionally kid friendly.   They are very interactive and have dectective-type activities specific for each museum.  In fact, in Westminster Abbey in London, I found myself following along with the kids kit, as opposed to the adult one, but that's a story for another day...  The bust above Caleb here is Charles Darwin.  Since he is a graduate of the University, there are many of his collections around town.

So many things seem grand here.  For example, this entrance to the Sedgwick Museum...really, concrete sculpted into animal shapes?!?

The pull was just too great...in between the Science Museum and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Fitzbillies Bakery just called my name so longingly...aren't these adorable frog cupcakes?  Makes me think of Kermie. :)

Our friend Janine, from the Netherlands, joined us for this part of our Museum Tour.  She'd never been to Mr. Simm's Olde Candy Shoppe, so we popped in and bought a round of giant bubble gum balls for all.  We decided that no one must have bought any of their giant bubble gum balls in YEARS. :)

One of the highlights of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology included materials collected on Captain Cook's voyages of exploration, like this 14-metre-high totem pole from Canada.  (He brought this back ON HIS SHIP?!?!)  We smiled at this, as Brad's sister Kristie and family live near Cook Inlet (named after Captain Cook's exploration) in Alaska.  Ahhh....a sweet reference to home...

We just giggle and giggle that everything over here stops for tea time.  I'm growing quite accustomed to this tradition, actually.  So, never mind that we'd already hit a bakery and a candy store...it was tea time! :)