Crete

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening....

Hope you are all well. David and I got back from our trip to Crete and it was wonderful. The weather was not the greatest. It was actually pretty cold and we had rain all day on Sunday. Not near warm enough to get in the water unfortunately.

We had an uneventful flight in on Friday morning and the weather was wonderful when we arrived. We met up with Vicki and Jason who arrived the night before and spent the day in the town of Chania which is a beautiful Venetian town right on the water. We had a great lunch and walked through shops and took lots of pictures. Greece has a lot of Venetian towns because they kept getting invaded by them.

On Saturday we drove through the mountains and saw tons of beautiful little villages on our way to one of the most famous beaches in western Crete. The sand has a pink tint to it from the broken shells and it is magnificent. Unfortunately it was super windy and pretty cold by the time we got there so we couldn't enjoy it as much as we wanted to. We had a nice picnic lunch (in the car) and then made the long drive back.

On Sunday it rained really hard for most of the day so we took the opportunity to visit the US Naval Base in Crete. It is a pretty small base but is has a nice commissary so we did a little shopping. Vicki and Jason came down to Crete for the whole week and they took the ferry and their car so we sent all of our goodies home with them.

On Monday the weather was wonderful. It always seems to be that way on the day you have to leave. David and I took a drive to another beach which you can tell from the pictures below was absolutely beautiful. We are really looking forward to going back to Crete when it is warmer so we can really enjoy everything it has to offer.

Check out the pictures below...we love our new digital camera by the way we can really tell a difference in the quality!

View of the pool from our hotel room in Crete

Beach in front of our hotel

Another view of the beach in front of our hotel

Me in the water in front of our hotel

Village of Chania and the old port of Chania

David in Chania



Me in Chania



David and I in front of the famous lighthouse in Chania

Greece is known for its pottery and there was a ton of really beautiful pottery on display in town


David forgot his tooth brush in Athens so this is him brushing his teeth in the parking lot of the grocery store after we bought him a new one (you would think this was his first time traveling :))

Here is a gorge we found on our way to the beach on Saturday
Us at the gorge

Pink sand beach



Look at how windy it was!


These are two goats. There are tons of them in Crete just hanging out.


Picture at one of the stops we took. Thats me walking


View of the sunset from our hotel Sunday night



Our last day in Crete and by far one of the most beautiful beaches we have been to yet.


How do you like my huge Greek sunglasses. Mine are in the shop getting repaired and these were all I could find!



View from the mountain of the beach

All for now...Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Love from Athens....

Hey Everyone! Hope you are doing well. Again not too much going on with us. David and I have been busy with work and I have been swamped trying to get all of my stuff in for my graduate school applications and now studying for the GRE.

The weather has been really nice. This past weekend in was in the 80s so on Saturday David and I worked on the patios and balconies. We scrubbed all of the bird crap (be thankful we don't grown olives in the US) off of the roof patio and sprayed everything down with the hose. They looked great when we were done. On Saturday night we went to Jason's birthday party and Vicki really outdid herself. It was fully catered with a live band and bartender. We had a blast and the weather was perfect. he whole thing was outside with the band on her roof patio.

On Monday we found out why it had been so warm when we saw all the sand. About twice a year when the wind is just right Athens gets a small "sand storm" from the desert in Africa. It was interesting to see and my friends who have been stationed in Africa say that is an everyday occurrence down there only worse. It wasn't like sand was blowing everywhere like you would think there was just a brownish tint in the sky and the air felt a little grainy.

This weekend I am going to study for the GRE and I want to go to the nursery to pickup some flowers for the patios just to give them some color which means David will also be going to nursery to pick out some flowers. :)

Well that is all for now. I know that I owe people phone calls back. Sorry I have not gotten back to you. With the time change, work and trying to get my grad school stuff together I have been swamped. I am going to try to get back to everyone this weekend!

I am also going to try to update the format of the blog today so let me know what you think.

Love from Athens...

Happy Friday!

Sorry I have not posted in a while there just hasn't been too much going on. Last weekend was very busy. We had people over for dinner on both Saturday and Sunday night. Greeks eat dinner much later than we do and on Saturday night our dinner guests didn't come over until 10:00 for dinner and didn't leave until close to 1:00. I was exhausted. They are a really nice couple and we like them so it was ok but I was dragging big time on Sunday.


Both David and I have been very busy with work and are really excited about going to Crete at the end of the month. We are all set with our hotel and our flights just need to reserve a rental car today and we will be all set. The weather was really nice for a while and then we started getting some rain and it is a bit colder in the mornings. It still gets into the high 60s during the day and will slowly be getting warmer and warmer.

Our new camera finally arrived today! I am very excited we have been waiting for it for over a month. So look for more pictures on the blog.

We are having people over for dinner on Saturday night so I need to plan a menu at some point. I have decided that I am going to make fruit pizza for dessert which I have not had in forever. David has never had it or even heard of it I don't know if that is because it is a Midwest thing or what.

I am not sure I have written yet about my graduate school adventure. I have decided to go to grad school online while we an in Athens and get a Masters in International Relations. I figure this is the best time to do it. There are a bunch of schools that offer the program and I have narrowed it down to two one in Texas and one in Vermont. I also have to take the GRE so I am starting to study for that as well. I am scheduled to take that here in Athens on 14 May so keep your fingers crossed for me.

We booked our hotel and flights down to Santorini for when Mom, Dad and Alison come at the end of May. I cannot wait Santorini is supposed to be the best island in Greece so it should be amazing. It is also nice to know that we have all of the logistics figured out and all we have to do is enjoy the trip!

Well I need to get back to work. Have a great weekend everyone!

Love from Athens.....