greece plus 2

I have spent the past 10 days traveling around Greece with my parents. It has been great to see them, although it has taken some adjusting to travel with two people especially after four months doing whatever I want, whenever I want. The other major surprise has been how much having them here has made me miss home (although it might have been worse had they not come to visit). Somehow having a piece of home here has made me think more about my room, the smell of the air in New Mexico, and the blue of Colorado skies more than normal. Nevertheless, we have had a whole lot of fun and explored Greek ruin after Greek ruin. On our metro ride in from the airport, my dad got his pocket picked and it was interesting to feel like I should have been able to protect my parents from this sort of thing. Sort of like the shoe was finally on the other foot, and now I wanted to keep them out of harm's way.

Perhaps their thoughts might be of interest. Here are some notes from my parents:

Jane: Greece is fascinating and I am so happy to be visiting and catching up with Scott. We started out the first night in Athens with a Greek salad and moussaka, which we haven't had again! Got that out of the way, and have discovered that the Greeks make all kinds of excellent food, including fresh creative salads and fantastic ice cream. The highlights have been visiting the ruins, whether from 2600 BC at Knossos or from 1715 in Napflio. The Roman sculpture at Delphi was astounding and the size of the temple of Zeus in Athens was awe-inspiring, even though only 12 giant pillars out of 204 are left standing. The color and size of the ocean is beautiful. One surprise has been the extremely mountainous terrain of Greece. We even visited a town like Breckenridge up near a ski area! All in all, it's been a wonderful experience to be here, soaking up the ancient culture, modern cities full of zippy scooters and Smart Cars, ruins high on cliffs with spectacular views to the ocean and even to Turkey, and walking for miles, it seems, in search of the perfect cafe for a meal or a coffee. We'll treasure the time spent with Scott and hope to reconnect with him when he's in Mexico later in the year.

Bruce: So much to see and absorb. Zeus abducting Europa...an early lesson in pickpocketry on the metro...Grand Master of the Order of St John...Suleman the Magnificent...the Acropolis of Lindos and the perfection of the Parthenon...why democracy first here and why in 600 BC...Alexander the Great and the Oracle of Delphi...the Ring of Minos and Pax Minoan for 1500 years...Hania and memories of the Navy. And what is "extra" virgin olive oil, anyway?