When the girls were quite young, though not so young that they don't still remember, I told them that my big plan was to break the human record for longevity. I thought I should give a progress report... I've got ways to go yet. If I'm even to break the Canadian record, I've got a good 70 billion km to go. Marry Poppins said, "Well begun is half done." I guess I'll have to settle for the imortal words of the late, great, Karen Carpenter... "We've only just begun..."
Quester's Voyage -- Anwyn D
Those of you who followed my Honduras travels last March will know why it is that you can't see the little quester's mouth in the above photo. Poor guy. I hope he remembers to take his gravol next time :(
Thanks to all of my well wishers today (both human and automated). I am indeed having a happy birthday. You may be surprised to discover that I wish to share some photos with you today.
As they were leaving for school today, the girls alerted me to the great moon that was making trouble just across the street. I captured some photo evidence of her carousing in case I wish to press charges.
Quick Start to the Day
A little later, I found the sun being well behaved. I thought I should take pictures for contrast.
My Day is On Track -- Ouch!
Crop Science
Innovation Place
Once the 'golden hour' had expired, I had a brief chat with James and Matt. Matt was pretty sure I'd like this YouTube video. He was right. If you haven't seen any of the Epic Rap Battles, you should at least see...
After that little bit of enlightenment, I made my way home to roast some coffee and play with my photos.
Mug Shot -- 2 for 1
Here are the rest of the photos. FYI, 13 of the 19 photos in the Picasa gallery were taken with a new-to-me Pentax M 28mm f2.8 lens (circa '77-'82) courtesy a looonng-term loan from Brad Stover. The remainder were with my slightly newer Pentax 50-135mm f2.8 (c. 2008)
Caves Were Promised! stovetop espresso (of course) brad brought the tiny camping espresso maker that we gave him more than 20 years ago. We have used it on various hikes including in Italy. Now, in Greece :) Attempted Breakfast We tried and failed to get breakfast in Stoupa. There was only one place open (VERY local) and there was only toast on offer. Could also have been a language barrier? We got coffee and set off on an exploratory hike at the beach. Shoreside cave we spent a bunch of time carefully climbing our way out through razor sharp rock formations to the entrance of a cave. It is too cold to swim in at this time of year (without wetsuits) so we had to settle for a few photos from the outside . I amused myself by utterly exhausting my arms and shredding my hands while carefully climbing the rock formations. Another Cave? After searching for over an hour, through even more dangerous rock than this morning, and based only on a single google maps post, we managed to find a beaut...
The Venetian Castle of Nafpaktos On the road toward Olympia, for a strangely low price of 2 euros, we were free to wander the outdoor portions of a 15th century castle. Sadly not allowed on the battlements, but very cool, nonetheless. Bananas good Bakery As we drove, I stopped on the road to try and get a picture of a hovering hawk at the seaside. Not an amazing picture, by any means... Hawk of Good Fortune However, while stopped we checked out this nondescript shop along the roadside. Bakery of the Gods It looks like nothing on the outside, but has every kind of greek baked good that you can imagine. The prices were also really reasonable. I'm not sure who they were selling all of this to in the middle of nowhere, but what a lucky find. Olympia! We are staying at Hotel Pelops, a vintage hotel that feels like it is from the era of my grandmothers youth. Old, highly polished mahogany furniture with tiny wheels on the bottom, plates on the wall, ornate sh...
Getting out of Athens 10:30 Travelling light with no checked baggage has several drawbacks. Everything is carefully organized and it is a bit of a pain getting it back into place each time I use anything. I don't have everything I want with me. And the few things I have for clothing need to be washed several times during the trip. Honestly, I should have been okay with just washing clothes once, but it has been so cold (for Greece) that I've been wearing all of my long sleeve shirts and sweaters, so they get dirty and I don't want to wear shorts or a T-shirt. All this to say, we found a laundry mat and had coffee while we waited (twist my arm). I also too the opportunity to find the perfect photo opportunity to show you a standard street set up for Athens. I don't know if I mentioned the traffic in my last post, but it is bad. The streets can be incredibly narrow usually two cars wide, with a row of parked cars on one or both sides. Sometimes only wide enough for 1 vehi...
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