Arrival in Athens

We arrived in Athens a couple days ago (Tuesday). The flights were pretty standard. Except for once when we hit some turbulence and were jerked upwards out of our seats, then caught and returned by our seatbelts. A couple seconds and a couple screams later, everyone was fine. Also, Kirstie lost her luggage - the outcome of a baggage handlers' strike in Brussels. But it arrived the next morning.

Highlights of Tuesday: seeing the Sanners and meeting the youngest one Sofia. Sofia is a cute little 7-month-old girl... understandable with Kristin as her mother, but perplexing when you think of Brett. We'll throw some pictures of them on here later. So far we've had a blast hanging out with our good friends!!!... so far. They treated us to a Greek feast at a local outdoor restaurant on Tuesday night (picture below), and have been fun and generous hosts in every way. In the picture, Sofia is on the left drinking the 7up.

Wednesday we spent the afternoon at the beach. Apparently, every day in Athens is beautiful with sunny, clear skies. Exhibit A is below. We swam in the Meditteranean Sea and relaxed on the beach.

This was also the site of the first event in Brett's and my mano-a-mano heptathlon. Or pentathlon, perhaps... TBD. Anyway, in the spirit of this week's Olympics and being in the home of them, we decided we will take each other on in a few events. The first event was a 30-meter freestyle swim. A sprint for most; a marathon for us. I went all Lizak on Brett and rode his wave on the way down, saving my energy. He came hard out of the turn, but at about 20 meters, Brett was dog paddling and I had plenty left in the tank. As I glided past him, he tried to jump on my back and drag me down, but I don't know if he did this to cheat and try to win, or because he was almost drowning and hoping I would rescue him. Anyway, with about 5 meters to go I shed him off and slapped the hand at the finish line for the gold. Stay tuned for future events... we think they may be a 100-meter dash, some sort of middle-distance (400m or 800m) jog or speed-walk, a long jump, some sort of strength or throwing competition, and perhaps a couple more as we are inspired. To make excuses ahead of time, however, I injured my toe on a giant rock in the ocean during an exhibition race with one of Brett and Kristin's co-workers Carolyn.

Wednesday we also had some fun walking through Athens streets, riding the train/subway, and eating another gyro (delicious). This week, most people in Athens take vacations, so the Sanners tell us the city is relatively calm compared to its typical atmosphere. There are still a great number of tourists and we have crossed paths with a wide mix of people from countries around the world. In part, this is due to the high number of immigrants into Athens, but also just that it's a pretty sweet place to visit. Anyway, it's a good place for people-watching.

Here are a few pictures from today's tourist stops (most notably the Acropolis), with more pictures later accompanied with commentary on ancient and modern Greek culture and our personal reactions to these.

Sorry for the mid-riff exposure on this last one... we'll try to keep this blog a little more family-friendly in future posts.

alex