in Halkidi,Greece

Crete tomorrow. the 2 days in Arachova were special..spending time with Frosso and her grands Efrossini and Dimitri. met her on first trip to Greece and have kept in touch since. she is one of those very special beautiful generous rare souls who one connects with occasionally and is a treasure forever. also we spent a day in Delphi which i will write about later. Chris did a magnificent job driving the van thru impossibly narrow steep and winding places...and seems to have kept his sanity and sense of humor..

tonight we are in a 4star hotel with AC and WiFi and i hope Chris is getting well deserved rest and a cold Mythos beer. tomorrow 5pm we fly from Athens to Hania Crete and taxi to Vamos for 3 weeks to rest up from our vacation. nothing planned for ancient sites, museums, miles of walking, etc. just chill out, see friends, and enjoy a bit of raki. bravo

Mavrodaphne Winery

One of Jim's goals here in the Pelopponese was to visit this winery. the wine he loves is dark red and sweet and not easy to get at home... costs a lot more there when he can find it. the first wine was produced here by a Bavarian, Achaia Clauss. he established a village here where people lived and worked on the vineyards and winery. this is an immense estate, with gigantic barrels around all over the place. we had a wine tasting and then short tour, which included a building containing more than i could count barrels of fermenting wine. the ends of some of the barrels were engraved in honor of various important people who had visited. there is even a barrel of the first wine produced in 1873! well, that's hard to believe... but that's what our tour guide told us... They also make a wonderful Moscato... be still my heart... also a sweet after dinner wine. so.. back in the tasting room, purchases were made and both Jim and Chris left carrying several bottle of both Mavrodaphne and Moscato. wondering how much of that will actually make it back to US with us. the story/myth goes that Mr. Clauss was madly in love with a young beauty named Daphne who had beguiling black hair, so named the wine and winery Mavro- (Greek for "black") and Daphne for his lover. sweet story. i'd have loved to have seen this establishment in its prime... must have really been amazing. they do still grow the grapes here and make the wine, but only 1 family lives here now. i wish there were a way that Jim could get a start of some of these vines... but besides them being "protected" for this area, it would be impossible to get them thru customs.

p.s. we've almost finished a bottle of each.

in and around Patras, Greece

some photos here of the Odeon, in an archeological museum (prob. the best i've seen thus far).... ancient spindles and spindle whorls, mosaic of Bacchus stomping grapes, lots of wonderful mosaics from floors of rich folks homes in the Patras area, gold jewelry. seeing all the mosaics just made my knees weak! they still retain so much color and detail after being buried all these many many years. someday, i'll try doing something in mosaic. actually, some would make great knitting patterns. if you'd like explanation of any of the photos, just ask.

left out of the last post

here's the photo the Zylie commented on "a LOT of detail, gramma"

Greece - Pelopponese

today we went to ancient Olympia and it was awe-inspiring. i fantasize what it would be like to be at an archeological dig and actually find something... even as small as a spindle whorl or bracelet or ring or surgical tool... all of which we have seen in museums. and then to uncover something like a column of Hera's temple!

anyway, had fun with the kids and grands, took tons of photos and just wish i could find a way to caption them. when i get back home, there's a trip to the apple store and possibly a purchase. i just know there has to be a better way than this. i hate this frustration feeling!! aaargh...

so, below there is a mother's day phot of my wonderful son and me. also, a photo close-up of a big building block which shows that they used shells and such to make those big stones. i could even see the skeleton of a crab! how cool is that? and there is one of a statue in a museum that my grandgirl confided to me "there's a LOT of detail there, gramma" which she repeated several times. when we got to the area where the races were held, Alex ran the 220 meter distance... and i got the olive branch crown (or whatever it's called). he did get to wear it, too.

also, a pic of the bridge we see from our balcony, Medusa, mosaics (and it amazes me that the color is still so good). i can see lots of patterns for knitting in the museum pottery and the mosaics.

and tonight.... exhausted... walked miles today and yesterday and just about every day since we left portland..., but airports don't count as anything but torture. after airports there have been miles of interesting sights and sites.

random

some photos from Denmark

will 'splain em later

for some reason unknown to me (but frustrating!!), i can't scroll down to put words beside the individual photos, other than the top 2.... so, below is an example of the many "fart" and "fahrt" signs we saw around Denmark.  as we were driving back to Hamburg, Soren graciously stopped the car, got out and took this photo.  he, too, enjoys that 6th grade potty humor.



this is Chris and Soren.... 25 years later.  seemed to be a happy reunion.  and i was delighted to have my sons... bio and semi together again!

this is Birthe who has a yarn shop and dyeing business near Silkeborg.  she graciously let us interuppt  her busy life so we could fondle her lovely fibers.  of course, Kate and i both bought fibers/yarn because it was beautiful!  i need to find her card, but think the business is called Garn Gallerie (will add link later)

waiting....

in Munich airport waiting for flight to Athens, meet kids there and drive to Peloppenese
for week.  will see if i have internet access there and will get some photos up.

Soren picked us up in Hamburg, went to Sonderborg and stayed in uncle's house.  spent monday at the original legoland... fun, long day, lots of people and kids went on all those scary rides that would cause me to pee my knickers.  i went on carosel with zylie and on water slide with jim.... innertube
down huge wet ramp thing, ending in giant splash.  fun!

had fabulous week with Soren....excellent tour guide!  and he and Pia are wonderful hosts... and make great meals.  and their kids are adorable.  also got together with his dad, Jens, and brother, Carsten.

all for now ..cant deal with any more tappy thing.

Hamburg

we arrived here last night after about 26 hours of planes and airports.  soooo tired!  had a nap when we got to the hotel, then downstairs for dinner, which i managed to stay awake for and think i got thru it without embarrassing myself... and then... aahhh.. bed, sleep for about 10 hours.

ou t all day today in Hamburg.  details and photos later.  bedtime again.  zzzzzzzzz