Puffing Billy

On about 5-7 hours of sleep, we all got up and raced out of the hotel so that we could make our 7:45am bus to a rainforest a mere hour East of Melbourne.  The Dandenong Ranges are temperate and qualify for rainforest status based on rainfall per year and a beautiful canopy of Mountain Ash trees.

Driving up to these hills feel like a mix of Napa Valley, Thousand Oaks, and the Blue Ridge Mountains. And once inside the curvy hill-country roads, it is almost the spitting image of the Blue Ridge towns that boarder Tennessee and North Carolina.  The towns in this area have been drawing in tourists for over 100 years and have developed into storybook villages with tiny shops that sell anything from chocolates to jewelry to tea to candles to soaps.  And, of course, no Melbourne-area neighborhood would be worth it's weight if it didn't have several cafes.

But before we made our way to a village, we were dropped off at a little nature area where we could partake in a Devonshire tea with scones, feed the Cockatoos, and hike into the tropical rain forest.

The tea and scones were great, but we wanted to get outside since we could sense that the crowds had not hit just yet.  You see, the tour companies all run the same basic packages at the same exact time.  At any given time, there might be between 3 and 5 buses providing the same basic tour agenda involving the same stops.  In fact, the tour buses all leave from the same area of Melbourne - Federation Square, not far from our hotel.  Travel times and quick pit stops might put one of the buses ahead of the others.  We were that bus.

So we hustled outside to feed the Cockatoos.

Gillian feeding the Cockatoos.  Three is heavy!

What a riot.  The wild Cockatoos come flying from all around the high canopy of trees in the forest to get their beaks around some free bird seed.  Aubrey is not a big fan of feeding animals, but the rest of us all had Cockatoos eating out of our hands.  As you can imagine, they have very powerful beaks.  And their claws are very sharp.  At one point my thumb was pinched and pried out of the way by the powerful jaws of one of these brilliantly white creatures.  My arm is all scratched up from their sharp claws.  But it was fun.  Once again, and just like the penguins from yesterday, the animals of Australia are bringers of joy as we were all smiling and laughing. 

These Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus) trees are big, tall and straight.
Ideal for the tall masts of large sailing ships.  

After that we hiked into the woods down some paths.  And while at first this place has the look and feel of North Carolina, once in the forest, you see just how different the plants and trees really are.  The Mountain Ash trees are upwards of 350 feet high.  That is really high.  Really, really high.  I could not get over how tall the trees were.  Most of the rest of the plants were completely foreign too.  And it sounded like a jungle - like something straight out of the movies.

Seriously, where is the Compliance Department?  Oh, yeah, that is a US thing.

Back on the bus and a quick ride to the Puffing Billy train.  Another brilliantly executed tourist trap, the Puffing Billy train used to be used by locals to get from the valley up to the higher villages.  It was restored about 50 years ago and now is run just for tourists.  It runs slowly up the mountain while passengers sit with their feet hanging out the windows.  Apparently, lawyers haven't caught up to this little endeavor yet.  Can you imagine riding on a train anywhere in America where you could even think of being this reckless?  But this fits perfectly well with the Australian culture.  People here are so friendly and somewhat laid back.  It is like being in a country entirely inhabited by surfer dudes.  Even while on the train, a local woman walking her dog took the time away from her earbuds to wave at every single car on that train.  She has probably seen that train 3 thousand times.  She has had to put up with flecks of coal soot landing in her yard.  And yet she had a big smile on her face as she waved at me.

Coal burning train.  

The ride was a mere 25 minutes.  Our bus driver had moved the coach bus up to the new village in order to pick us up.

From there we hit a village that I mentioned earlier before driving an hour back to Federation Square.

Yeah, we like fast food too!

We opted for a late lunch/dinner after doing some swimming back at the hotel indoor pool.  A little place called Rocket Burger seemed like a good option.  We got it "take-away" and ran it back to our hotel.

Outside our hotel window there are kids playing cricket.  I must say I have never seen that in the Twin Cities.

Another day in the books.  Tomorrow we take in Melbourne for the last time before a 5pm flight to Brisbane.  Not sure I want to leave this town.  How can this foreign but familiar country improve on Melbourne?  The cafes, the friendly people, the appreciation of good food, the weather, and the balance of city with nature.  I just might need to come back here…or live here.

St. Kilda and Philip Island

Lifeguards using a Minnesota product.  Polaris!

Today is Monday morning, 6:30 am nearly.  You are reading this on Sunday (I assume you are reading it on Sunday, I guess it's possible you are reading this on Monday but then it would be Tuesday here...woah!).  So, what I am trying to tell you back home, friends, is that I am a voice from the future, a prophet, if you will.

I like my new found (and short lived) vocation.  I've always wanted to be the voice of reason from the future who says, "Calm down, I know you are panicking about tomorrow, but really, it will be okay."  So, I will function in that manner from now on.  Calm down, Christmas is coming, you are freaking out because there is still so much to do, but I'm telling you, it is FINE, the 22nd of December is looking good.  Days ahead are even better.

There, now don't we all feel better?

Yesterday (Sunday), we arose early and hopped on a tram to the lovely kitschy suburb of St. Kilda.  Our goal was the beach, but first breakfast at a little spot Jeff found.  Miss Jackson's was the name.  The breakfast was yummy and photogenic and we ate it all up.  I think I had the best thing:  cured salmon and poached eggs with "potted" avocado.  Crazy good.

But, the best part wasn't the food, even though it was amazing.  The best part was the man who co-owned the restaurant and was our server.  I don't know his name, why we didn't ask, I'll never know.  But he was an example of nearly every person we have encountered here so far.  He was kind, happy, funny, interested, talkative, warm...he was typical Australian.

Jeff and I have spent countless conversation minutes pondering over this one unique thing:  so far, we have yet to bump into a grouchy person.  It is nearly Christmas and back home, people are scowling because they can't find a parking spot, or short-tempered because they still have so much to do, or just curmudgeonly because they like it that way.

We wonder:  is it the sun?  is it the fact that they live in a beautiful location with animals that are loved the world over?  Are they free of the kind of fear we have experienced since 9/11?  is there something in the water?

The general joy is rubbing off on all of us.  The girls are getting along well, no one is really complaining even though we are pulling long days of walking or sightseeing.

I don't know why...but I'll take it.

After breakfast with our kind host (who gave us a guide to cafe's around Melbourne, his Christmas present to us, he said) we walked up to the beach and planted ourselves in the blazing sun.  (Australia has the highest rates of skin-cancer in the world due to the thinning of the ozone here, so we were properly sun-blocked up).  The beach was a typical public beach and is famous for the colorful bathhouses that line it (although we didn't get that far up the beach, so happy were we just to plop in a spot).  We saw maybe 100 jellyfish in the water and on the sand, so we didn't swim, even though a woman told me that the big jellyfish weren't the ones to watch for, only the small ones.  I had no way of knowing what qualified as big or small, so we avoided all of them (most poisonous animals in the world here, remember).  Shelby and Aubrey played in the sand, Jeff and I walked a little and Quinn and Gillian lounged.  Blissful.

Hand feeding a kangaroo

In the afternoon, we signed up for a tour to a place called Phillips Island about 120 km outside of Melbourne.  After grabbing some street vendor food, we loaded up on a bus for an eleven hour excursion to watch a Penguin Parade.  Yes, hold the phone, we got to watch penguins march up a beach with about three hundred other observers and it was great, but more on that in a second.

Roger our friendly guide took us to lovely spots along the way to Phillips Island were we saw beautiful rocky cliffs along the coast and watched surfers (met some chaps from the lifesaving club, a handy institution), met some Wallabys and Kangaroos and fed them a snack as well as looked at Koalas, chatty parrots and hungry emus.  We stopped for dinner in a little town on the beach and then made our way to the main event.

Philip Island is beautiful.  High cliffs.

It was the longest day of the year here in Australia yesterday.  On Phillips Island every day penguins march up the beach at dusk and make their way back to their little homes to feed their baby penguins and rest from long days of fishing and feeding in the ocean.  These tuxedoed creatures, are the smallest of the penguins in the world.  They were called Fairy Penguins until recently, but now are just called Little Penguins.  They are blue and white and adorable.

We made our way to the viewing stands en masse and waited.  There are no cameras allowed here, and they police that adamantly.  The penguins are known for being hesitant to make the journey across the sand, due to predators.  So, at dusk (a little after 9pm) a few brave penguins made their way to shore, waddled up the wet sand, stopped, tottered a little and then in what looked like a serious case of stage fright, ran off back into the ocean with their arms outstretched.  The crowds responded by giggling, it was a totally entertaining sight.  They carried on like this for probably fifteen minutes; running up the shore and then one would turn and hightail it back into the water.  Eventually, one brave penguin would totter a further step onto the dry sand and even the most hesitant would follow and begin their trek to their respective "cottages" that were all over the island.  They live in little dug out burrows or boxes made especially for them and these are really every where.

The penguins will hide under cars.  Careful!

Lots of fun.  People from all over the world were there and they had all been thoroughly entertained by these little creatures.  Everyone left there with a smile on their face.

We didn't get back to the hotel until midnight.  Another good day.

Saturday in Melbourne

 When Jeff and I first married he told me that he hated to travel.  He hated the time in the airport, the packing and unpacking and the being tired, waiting, all of it.  He didn't see himself as someone who wanted to spend a lot of time traveling, he told me, in our future.

He was the one who pulled hardest for this trip across the world.  It started a few years ago, when he told me that for Christmas we should go to Australia.  I drug my feet, I hemmed and hawed.  I LOVE to travel, I had whet my appetite for travel when I was in tenth grade on a family trip to Germany, I always knew I wanted more...but, Australia:  it was too far, too hard to do with children, too expensive, and--it turned out after I read some travel books--too hot in December.

I told him, "Let's wait a few years and go after the kids leave."  I imagined a month of wandering with packs on our backs and leisurely dinners.

"No," he said, "let's go now."

We have been in Melbourne now going on our third day (it is morning on Sunday here, by the way. If you are wondering how Sunday will be all you who are still stuck on Saturday, it's pretty good so far) and I am publicly announcing that Jeff was right.

This is an awesome place to visit, maybe in my top three of all time, and even better, an awesome place to bring children.

We got up yesterday and while Jeff blogged I ran gleefully around the hotel room and found a Nespresso maker (!) and a washing machine (!!!) in our room (which it turns out is not that uncommon, many hotels have standard small kitchens (ours does) and amenities for long visits).  So hooray for those things.

Meanwhile, Shelby looked on Urban Spoon on my phone and announced from her perch on her pull-out bed (the other three girls are in the room next door) that she had found a spot for breakfast for us all.

"Uh huh," I told her and stood at the sink and stirred my second cup of Nespresso.  I can see the city from our room and saw the modern architecture that dominates the skyline, so clean looking and modern.  The sky was brilliant blue yesterday (and is still this morning); the sun was up by 5:45 am.

Gilly Rocks the Go Pro

We got ready and headed out the door by 8:15 am.  We stopped at the front desk to ask how far away Shelby's breakfast spot find was and they said it was pretty far, but we could walk.  At that point, we were losing some kids, they weren't sure they wanted to walk so far but we all rallied and commenced our journey.  Gillian and I did run back quickly to the room to grab her new Go Pro (a camera that you wear strapped to your chest--it takes both video and still photos, mostly it is used for action shots--Gillian had saved up for it) and met up with our gang on a bridge just outside our hotel that spans the Yarra River and is loaded with locks like the bridge in Paris (can't remember the name)  it is pretty and is decorated with a huge mistletoe that hangs from the apex of the bridge.

And then we walked and walked and walked all the way to South Melbourne, really nearly a suburb of the CBD (central business district)  and by the time we got to the restaurant, just up a little street in a cute neighborhood that almost looked like downtown Edina, we weren't sure if it would be worth it.

But, Shelby actually found the best restaurant of the day.

Breakfast

Called St. Ali, it was a ramped up version of The Good Earth, wholesome superfood breakfast offerings that were almost works of art to look at.  Aubrey ordered the coconut yogurt with apricots and some kind of grain, Gillian and Shelby got some pancakes that looked almost like english muffins with macerated berries and chia seeds, and it went on like that.  Delicious food and healthy, too.

We decided to stay down in the area and walk it over and eventually land in a open air market to sample some dim sum for lunch which our hotel front desk had recommended.

We walked and all the girls hit 10,000 steps on their little fitbits (given by their grandma for Christmas) by 10 am.

We wandered over past adorable row houses, many with ironwork facades that looked almost colonial British, even like being in Charleston, SC.  We hit a park called the Albert Park Lake and Reserve and just laid on the grass and soaked up some sun until we got restless again and then walked over to the Melbourne Sport and Aquatic Center:  a huge complex with pools and squash, tennis, basketball courts.

Black Swan??

Then, we made our way over to the outdoor South Melbourne Market but stopped at a couple of shops while Jeff waited outside on a bench with his new friend, Carol.  Carol was in her sixties and chatted with Jeff about a half hour updating him on the area and some history.  Jeff can talk up a storm with anyone, and it turns out, Carol could, too.  She said that in January and February, Melbourne is unbearably hot.  Best time to visit is in the fall (March through May)...good to know for the next time we will surely be coming back.

Melbourne for the most part has been clean, busy and friendly.  There are lots of streets that are packed with people, especially near our hotel in the CBD, but it is a jovial friendly place, people are smiling and warm and ready to talk and ask questions.  Many people asked us where we were from (we said just south of Canada and when they prodded more, told them Minnesota...they pretended to know where that was, so kind, they were).

One thing I have noticed is the plethora of tshirts that advertise a United States sports team or city...probably 60% of the shirts I saw yesterday were sporting US logos of some kind.  The gal at one of the shops told us that everyone watched so much US television, and that is why she had heard of Minnesota (from what?  the polar vortex coverage from last year?--we didn't ask).

Shrine of Rememberence

We grabbed some pretty good street food from the Melbourne market and then headed up to the Royal Botanical gardens by way of the Shrine of Rememberence.  Mind you, Gillian was videoing much of our journeys by Go Pro and people were pointing and talking a lot about the kids who was walking around with the camera strapped to her, but we will have some rocking videos when we get home.

The Shrine of Rememberence is a memorial to the slain (69,000) from World War I who were New Zealanders or Aussies.  It is a lovely place and has a beautiful view from the balcony...which is where I noticed that we didn't have Shelby with us.  No one had to announce our name over a PA system, though, because I ran back down the stairs from the balcony and found her crying on the bottom stair and tried to cheer her up by joking with her that she is the only kid who has been lost in two hemispheres and continents.  Lucky girl.

We entered the Royal Botanical Gardens and took in the beauty there.  The plants are beautiful and most unrecognizable...I read in a book that Lisa Lindborg recommended to me by Bill Bryson...that 80% of the plants and animals in Australia exist nowhere else.  We have seen vibrant green birds fly by and ducks, swans and all of them never seen before in the wild by us...plus the plants in the gardens.  It was beautiful there.  We had probably walked ten miles by then, so we took it slow and sat down on a grassy hill with other groups of Aussies and watched the world go by.

Australians love parties so far it seems, there are big groups everywhere gathering having picnics, at the pubs that line the streets and generally having a good time.  It lends to an atmosphere that is distinctly un-Minnesotan...everyone is your friend, no one a stranger.

After our long walk, we went back to the hotel to rest a half hour and then we decided to walk more to get dinner.  Only ten more blocks, we said to the kids, and they didn't complain...there is so much to look at, musicians in the streets, shops to gaze in through the window and interesting architecture and people...I'm proud of them.  Quinn and Aubrey walked nearly the whole night arm in arm.  The best.

We had a mediocre dinner in a tourist trap, and we were all a little bummed about it but rallied and found a gelato place near the hotel and ended the day on a sweet note.  We walked about fifteen miles by fitbit calculation yesterday.  Our feet were sore but we'd do it all again.

Today we head to see some penguins and a beach...more to come.

Janna's notes on getting to Australia

Melbourne:  Janna's notes.

Jeff is writing now a great blog for this beginning of our trip, but I wanted to put in a cent or two while he is trying to upload his pictures.

First of all, we are here, it is summer, the days are long and while in Melbourne I wouldn't say it is hot, it is not cold.  The sun is shining, oh joy.  OH JOY!

Catching some rays in Federation Square Melbourne.  Vitamin D never felt so good!

The flight over didn't live up to the horrific expectations we had.  It was actually pleasant and I am considering offering myself up for marketing a product I've stumbled across called No Jet Lag.  I found it at AAA after I heard someone who travels overseas a lot recommended it.

This stuff works.  We were a little tired after 25 hours of travel yesterday but managed to explore the city and eat a late late lunch and then walk some more (Jeff will fill in the details about our adventures)...I did fall asleep at 7:00 pm Melbourne time, but we all woke up at 6 am this morning, Melbourne time.  Voilà.

We can't believe we are in Australia.  To travel all this way and get off a plane and see landscape that is familiar (so far) and hear our own language is a little confusing.  I mean, we just spent a lot of time in a plane to get to a place that feels like Florida...weird.

We are here now and excited to tackle this new continent.  We are so blessed.

Planes, Trams, and Automobile

28.5 hours.  31, if you count from the time we left our house in Edina - that's how long it took to get to Melbourne, Australia.

This is Jeff.  It's 5am Saturday morning - which means two things: 1. It's Noon yesterday in Minneapolis (still don't really understand that), and 2. Team Northrup has done a pretty good job of getting on Aussie time already.

Janna has been adamant about us taking these little pills she got at AAA called No Jet Lag.  I am impressed.  Every two hours since we got on the first plane, she placed a pill in the palm of our hand and we chewed them until they dissolved.  I have no idea what is in them.  Maybe Janna is a drug dealer and has gotten us all addicted to some kind of narcotic?  I don't know.  But I never really felt all-nighter tired like I have on other overseas trips.

So here is the Edina to Melbourne trip in spark-notes style: SUV to MSP (Thanks Stu), Plane to LAX, Shuttle to different terminal, shuttle to plane, Plane to Sydney, Customs, Shuttle to different terminal, Plane to Melbourne, Bus to transfer station, Bus to Quay West hotel.

We left Minneapolis at 5:15pm and arrived in Melbourne at 11:45am.  Apparently, and even tho I we didn't see a sunrise and sunset during that time, we lost an entire day of our life.  We fought, we cried, we ran, we slept, we hugged, we laughed.  A normal Northrup day.

Once at the hotel, we did one of the most glorious things a human being can do: bathe.  Janna drew a hot bath.  I showered.  I am telling you, when you have lost an entire day of your life over the Pacific Ocean, a hot shower never felt so good.

But enough about that - Melbourne.

Sandridge Bridge

Our hotel is close to the center or Melbourne.  Like most cities in the world, it is on a river that quickly leads to the ocean.  We haven't seen the ocean yet, but the river is nice.  The city has a modern, European feel to it.  Kind of like some of the Swiss cites we visited - but without the cathedrals or centuries-old architecture/hot spots.  More like Toronto.

We started walking the city as soon as we were cleaned up.  And knowing full well that our sleep cycles were likely still thinking it was 7 hours later in a (the) day, we wanted to get out an walk the city - in 70 degree sunshine.  Friday afternoon in Melbourne has a cool vibe to it.  Not sure it is always like this here, but it feels European.  The people are less fat than in the US.  There are a lot of Asians here and fewer blacks.  The white people are mostly fit.  The men were predominantly sporting Euro-cut suits with no ties, black wing-tips, and and nice dress shirt with two buttons undone.  The women often wearing little dresses that, if you asked me - a guy - appeared to be dinner party casual, but I think most of the women we saw were working.  There are more people smoking than in the US, but not quite as much as Paris.

+39 Pizzeria

There seem to be an oddly high percentage of restaurants here.  Maybe we just walked the perfect storm of places to eat, but maybe Aussies in Melbourne are like Parisians - they appreciate food and prefer to have someone else make it for them?  Not sure, but we saw hundreds of clubs, cafes, diners, restaurants, pubs, bars.  The sharp looking, business professionals all taking in beer or wine.  Long lunches.  Late lunches.  People were eating inside, outside on the sidewalk, upstairs on roof-tops or mezzanines, open air cafe's, basement walk-down restaurants.  I mean, it just seems like everywhere you turn there is a restaurant.



We found a Punch-style pizza place with real Italians working the floor.  Everything was delicious.  We  love food, and Janna's simple rule has never failed us - find a place where lots of other people are eating.  It seemed like weeks since we had had something that tasted like it was real - not packaged or cooked up in a plane microwave.  Yum.

Federation Square

We walked a good percentage of the river near our hotel, the City Centre, and Chinatown before we ended up on some lawn chairs that were set up in a modern-archticture place called Federation Square.  Weird but kinda cool, the chairs were set up on the brick ground all facing a stage with a huge jumbo-tron screen above it that had trippy lava-lamp-style images flowing thru it while a red-bearded, Euro-suited, could-date-my-sister-looking hipster was spinning vinyl records.  The images on the screen were run by a woman seated at a table next to the DJ with three Mac laptops and a big monitor facing her.  I can only guess that she is some kind of "artist" and that is her medium.  Quinn and I were mesmerized.  The music was like jazz, soul, nina-simone, deep-track-ray-charles, smooth rap, lounge, mo-town, all wrapped up into a soothing, psychedelic, sound bath that washed over us while we sat in these chairs that faced the sun and the stage.  I don't have any idea why someone would stop and sit in those chairs, but we did.  I don't know what kind of visual and sound art they were offering, but we were all locked in.

I knew we had to leave when I started to feel tired - sitting there in lava-lamp heaven listening to vinyls that are sold in only the hippest of retro music shops.

We went back to the hotel.  Aubrey, Shelby and Gillian wanted to swim in the hotel's indoor pool.  I brought my kindle, but found myself dozing off.  The clock said 6:30pm.  No dinner for us tonight due to the late lunch.  My sleep-fighting got worse.  I tried to text Janna back at the room, but got no response.  She was a victim for sure.  Quinn was up there too - a goner.  I was so envious - my body wanted to sleep.  I sat there following a simple patter: watch girls in the pool, thoughts drift off, head bobs up, watch girls in the pool, etc.

Finally at 7, I told them we should go.

By 8 we were all asleep.  Day 1 (or is it Day 2?) in the books.

Cruising the Aegean

Okay, trying to recap the last three nights will be a challenge since there is sort of a jumble to time and place and events going on in my head.

On Tuesday morning we visited Ephesus, Turkey.  Totally worth it.  Best site I have seen yet.  Again, someone stole the important stuff, but it doesn’t matter.  It is the most well preserved historic site we have seen.  It is vast and expansive and amazing.  I would go back. 

Home

That’s the thing.  Those of us who talk about this keep saying either they would or would not go back somewhere.  There are so many places I still need to visit, so re-visiting a place requires a different level of special-ness.  Ephesus has got it.  Istanbul, too.  Before those places, I was happy seeing it all one time and tucking the memories away in my brain.

We only had about 20 minutes back to the port in Kusadasi and it was a relief to get off the prison, I mean bus.  We boarded a ship and set sail for the Greek islands.

Our first stop was Patmos that very afternoon.  Patmos is obviously not too far from Turkey, but is a Greecian island, of the Apostle John fame and the book of the Revelation.  We saw the cave John is purported to have written his visions in, which reminded me of trudging through the Orthodox Church in Bethlehem.  We also visited a monastery.  The island is charming and remote (8 hours by ferry from Athens) and our sweet guide told us we should pick up some Patmos cheese pie in the village.  I found some and took it with me to dinner and shared it with our Australian and Argentinian table mates.  It was good (it stands to reason that all the food we have found for ourselves is gigantically better than the tourist stop slop we have been forced to choose from), really yummy.

Lindos, overlooking the Port Paul where Paul likely arrived

We sailed further south and stopped at Rhodes the next morning for the day.  We went to Lindos on Rhodes saw some more ruins and it was the tipping point for me.  I made it through the guide’s lecture but then, couldn’t make it down the steep hill fast enough.  It was a beautiful town, it was an awesome site, but I think I can’t listen anymore.  I just can’t.

We moved on down to the ancient city of Rhodes and walked around a bit there because it was closest to the port and we could go back and forth from the ship.  It was a cool city in which people still actually live. You have to have a special permit to have a car there, and even then can only have it if you live within the city walls.  Bonnie and I grabbed some tea at a little spot for the free wifi and watched different members of our group strolling by happy with packages in hand.

Map of the Ancient City of Rhodes

Yesterday it was Crete in the morning.  We visited the very very ancient Minoan Palace of Knossos.  But, I was D.O.N.E.  The progression of my symptoms were thus:  I first had the hand wringing, then I moved on to the swaying of the body back and forth, then I began the pacing.  I lasted an hour.  I would be terrible in a hostage situation.  I think, upon reflection, that what I was experiencing was withdrawal.  At first, I thought I had just discovered over the course of this trip that I am a really bad listener.  This was not exactly a new idea, but I didn’t think I was that bad that I couldn’t stand around for an hour and listen to the history of the Minoan’s.  Come on, that civilization rocks.  They pretty much started everything, it turns out.  Or at least, a lot of things.  Anyway, they are old…actually, I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t listening.  On a normal day in my normal life, this experience on the island of Crete would have blown me away.  But, missing my family took priority.  On the cruise ship, there was no wifi.  I take that back.  There was wifi if you wanted to pay something like 1.90 euro a minute.  A minute.  I can barely formulate a text in that time.  So, I had a burning yearning in my soul to touch base with Jeff and the girls, hear from my sister and so on.  I ditched the group and they are way smarter than me now and I am automatically disqualified from the Jeopardy Minoan Daily Double because I found an awesome cup of coffee and even awesome-er free wifi at the museum café for about 20 beautiful minutes.  The jitters totally subsided and even though no one was awake when I was on, I got to read the notes that had been sent the night before and send some new ones.

at the Knossos Palace

Back on the boat.  I haven’t said much about the cruise ship because there is not much to say.  It was a great way to get around the far flung islands.  Our leader on this trip mentioned that we should have been thinking of the ship as an upgrade from a ferry boat.  That explains a lot and enough.  The best part of the ship was meeting people from all over the globe who were on the same mission as us…see this part of the world. 

After Crete, I must not neglect to say that we arrived in Santorini.  The arrival was beautiful, because of the turquoise blue waters and the steep cliffs of the volcanic island.  From a distance, it looks like there is snow on the top of the cliffs, but as we approached we saw it was crisp white houses perched like birds on the rims.  We took a shuttle to Oie (pronounced eee-ah) and wandered this photogenic town gasping at the blue roofs and white homes that cling to the side of the cliff.  Couldn't be a prettier town in Greece, I think.  We grabbed a quick coffee in a little spot overlooking the water and reveled in our good fortune of being in Greece together with new friends.  I would go back to this place, for sure.

Santorini

Santorini

We have docked now and are on our last leg at Athens.  There is so much more to say and think about, but I am ready to get home and my mind has turned to that.  I will try to blog again the last day of this journey, but we will see. 

What can I say but I am grateful.  Each night as I have fallen asleep on this trip I have been reciting a prayer:  Lord, you who have given me so much, give me one thing more:  a grateful heart.  That is where I want to land every night as I drift off to sleep.  There is so much to be grateful for and the inconveniences only seem trifling and sometimes even a reminder of the good things I am missing.  What a gift. 

Until later.  

Touching base

Hello!  We are now on our cruise ship for a couple days and I will post again later.

Ephesus rocked. Greek islands so far are just what the dr ordered. Sitting at a little cafe now in Rhodes utilizing free wifi.

I'll be back soon.