It came... we played.... we caught snowflakes!

It is still falling and a magical hush has fallen over our world.

All the branches all have a light frosting and it is crisp and cold and just beautiful.

Of course Niko insisted on playing and tried very hard to catch snowflakes on his tongue.




Our old 15 yr old husky cross loves snow most of all though, and no arthritis can keep her in when the world is white....


She truly is my dog...





Our little pussycat is not sure what to do after she catches the flakes, they do not act the same as a mousie.

"Where did it go???"


<

and curled up by the fire after the fun is the best way to while away a snowy, cold winter night of pure purrrrrrfection with two best friends.




The fire is crackling, "It's a Wonderful Life" is playing on the TV, dinner smells delish, and snow.....I am smiling!

THE SNOWMAN COMETH.....

I AM SOOOOO EXCITED.

The snow has begun.......freezing rain now becming light and fluffy snowflakes.......

I have 2 very excited sled dogs also.........panting at the door to go and play......well...if they insist.......

Go ahead, try and catch a snowflake on your tongue.....ya know ya wanna!!!!!!!!!!!

White Rabbit....

I'm late...I'm Late.....ugh....I am late for class.............I should be driving!

Congrats to Dab Gallery

I am super excited to see one of the great Vagina Warriors from our last year's cast of the "Vagina Monologues" follow her dream and create an amazing art space here in town.

If you are in Chinatown...don't miss walking into Dab gallery and taking in some local artists.

It is truly inspiring to see someone take an idea to fruition like this. Way to Dab!!!!!!!!!

Let it Snow....

I have all paws crossed...I have told all the furries to cross their paws and am hoping that we get tons of snow here.

We don't often get snow and it is even threatening to snow for Christmas...

Oh please...oh please....oh please........ :)

Greece....

I am watching the news and the rioting in the streets of Athens. The same streets where just 2 months ago, I was freely walking and enjoying so much.
I am reeling with shock and sadness thinking on the faces of people I got to know, who remain amongst this turbulence now.

I haven't written much of the people whom I met, and who changed my perceptions of the world.
It is so intensely personal and hard to put into words, but so very special and for which I am grateful forever.
My experience was so positive, even amongst being haplessly lost in the Acropolis....even with my taxi getting haplessly lost enroute to the hotel. The air, the life, the people, wonderful.

The people I met taught me so much about what being Greek meant to them. Something I searched deep inwards to understand, being from such a new world.

I came to understand that to be Greek was to be a surviver.
It was the ability to keep a language, an alphabet, an entire history and culture alive amidst foreign occupations, and not being able to speak their own language outloud for hundreds of years.

It was rooted in the family unit grandma to grandchild...generation to generation..... in little abodes around a cooking fire.
It came from the humble stones of home.

I met a woman who sold beautiful leather goods for her family. A family that has sold and made leather goods since the Turkish occupation. She had studied Greek philosophy and was so happy to share her thoughts over wine with me.

We talked into the wee hours of what she called " the Greek condition". Her dark beautiful eyes explaining much more even, than her broken English.
A struggle to survive against oppression, a desire to survive and to be a free people, a struggle that is still entrenched in the young people today; as we are seeing on the streets of Greece everywhere.

This energy that lays just under the surface, has exploded after a police officer shot and killed a young man, even though that officer has been charged with manlaughter by a government who has yet to deal with the riots in its streets and the bullying of a police force that began them.

That energy of survival against oppression and occupation, against injustice and corruption.......it has the energy to move mountains.
It is hundreds of years in the making.
It isn't just young men who are protesting, it is young women, older women....regular people like you and I, who feel the surge of injustice moving them to act.





To touch a piece of Greece is to feel that energy rippling through every molecule.
People have asked me why I need to run my fingers over old stones and ruins....this is why, to absorb some of that energy, to feel, to experience, to take in.....to learn from the past.


I hold Greece close in my thoughts now and forever, a connection to a land so far away and yet so close to my heart.
Such a special place, so unlike anywhere else, so.... well...
...so Greek.

Why do we enjoy this soooooo much????

Taking our animals and dressig them in completely innapropriate things for the holidays.
I can't help myself...antlers, elf hats, santa scarfs...count me in and warn the furries...
A couple of elves for the holidays....

WANTTTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!

What do you do when you want something soooooooo bad and can't have it???????? or at least think you can't have it?

Ask Santa??????? Talk to a mortgage broker??????

Sigh............I think I will do both and make a wish on a star!

the fandamily

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Naughty or Nice?????

Miss Lunassa La Fey has been causing a little spot of bother since she found us 2 and a half years ago.
We knew she was a special kitty and she has proven this to be the case but go figure, this being her third holiday with us, this is the year she would discover......



THE TREE!

"Hmmmm.....I thnk this might look better over dere?"





"umm...Nessa.......what have you been doing?





"I don't know what white fluffy garland you iz talkin about?"

our wild child has a story to share.....

Too bad her person can't figure out how to link to photobucket...anyone???? Help??????

the Most Wonderful Time of the Year????

I know that I am known to be a holiday enthusiast ( and so is my dog, Niko :) ) and friends will mock my need to get the tree up at the beginning of Decemeber.....but some years are better than others.

We went out and got our tree, not our usual thing, normally we go and chop ours down from an ostrich farm and leave a little growing for another year.

This year though, time got away from us so we went to the tree place...you know the one, where dudes in wader pants and fuzzy hair try to sell you the biggest tree available in a parking lot surrounded by festive lights??

Well we were not fooled, we got the second biggest tree available :)Brought it home and set it up in the dining room, for the first time. Usually in the living room...again, switching it up.

I was real;ly not happy where it was but stayed silent. Decorating last night, I stepped back and put my slippered foot into the dog's water bowl, spilling said water everywhere, reacting and banging my head on the overhead lamp, and spilling glue onto my grandma's birthday present. Sigh......okay hint taken, finish it in the morning.;
Comes the morning......I decide to move the tree.....scene of first tree...was up in front of irror and behind ceiling lamp



I know.... you are all thinking...NOOOOOOOOO.....DON'T MOVE THE DECORATED TREE...... and you would all be right.
I slid the tree and all was well.....


.... and then crash, it came down to the ground....almost.... I caught it by a small branch and prevented it from completely crashing to the ground. Whew....

I set it back up, crooked in the stand...adjusted the hanging lights and realized it would be like that for awhile.
D came home and I fessed up to my movng attempts ( he had warned me not to try :() and then we spent the evening, undecorating the tree, moving it and redecorating it.......It is much better now.




I believe I have officially become my mother though, my mother who has a tree in every room of the house......my tree is decorated BEFORE hers this year...oh dear.

the holidays may kill me....

technology...ugh!

RIP my fair little pooter friend.
The computer that was my silver friend, my cyber voice, and keeper of my images alas, met an untimely moment with a tiled floor in Spain, and while it made it through my travels, for which I am ever grateful...it did not make it at home.


It has truly died......I am now trading it in for a new pooter but will miss my little silver buddy!

and can you believe....

I am siting on a train from Paris to London, all reserved seats, and a woman sits right beside me.

We get chatting, she asks me where I have been, I tell her Greece....she looks excited and says she has been to Greece....we remnisce together.

I say Spain,,,,
she says Spain...
I say the UK....she says the UK
i say Prague..(well you get the idea....parallel paths for sure).....we giggle

then she asks me where I am from, I say Canada

...she says she is from western Canada

I say I am from western Canada

....asks what city...

I tell her Victoria

she says she is from Victoria...

asks me whereabouts, I say Quadra and M.....she gets soooooo excited now, she also comes from my hood......we can't believe it.
I have not met very many western Canadians in my travels and this was right from my backyard.

We spent a lovely train ride comparing notes, sharing chocolate and giggling....the time went very fast and then we said goodbye.

These are the moments that make it all so special...the perosnal connections that come and then fleetingly go, but make permanent footprints on our journey

More to come...

Abigail Pussycat...1992-2008

About Abby- Abigail Pussycat.

She came to us a broken down, skinny kitten, living on the street, drinking puddle water and munching on bugs, tiny and sad , not knowing how to play.

She Showed up at Daiv's old apartment porch one Halloween night and meowed, the only time I ever heard her make a sound. She was meant to be apart of our lives and it was obvious she had made her choice. We named her Abigail after my favourite play "The Crucible"

We couldn't keep her in either of our apartments, so we decided to move in together.( Isn't that what all of us would do :)?)
It is because of Abby that our life moved in the direction it did, together as a family...she was the force behind it all. That was 16 years ago.

We discovered she was pregnant and her kittens were born, 5 in all...beautiful... but Abby got very sick, almost died and she and her kittens had to spend some long days at the ER til she came around.
She never let her kittens down for a second though...an amazing and generous mom.

We kept Flame.....the most intriguing of the bunch and I know Abby was grateful they didn't all abandon her.
I think that close touch with the spirit world changed her somehow.
She was simply the wisiest, bravest, most courageous soul I have ever known. There was a knowing in her eyes that trancsended her species and our realm.

After that time, we knew there was something even more special about Abby than we had understood. She was a sort of changeling kitty....she would appear and then poof, and then reappear , right where you were looking. Our Gray Ghost.


She rose above death, more times than I care to count, and it was years before she was finally diagnosed with triaditis.
Even with being that sick for moments in her life...she never lost her grace or dignity and would let us do anything we needed to help her...never a raised paw, never a harsh look. Right til the end.

She taught each of the new addititions to our house about love, interspecies especially :), and would seemingly host tea parties with neighbouring kitties in our backyard. Alway a Duchess...always the Matriarch, holding court. Her nobility was awesome.

Setting her free was an easy decision to make, because she made it, and she communicated with me that she knew her body was done, and it was time to move on. Little did we know she had kept intestinal lymphoma, a fast moving and hugely invasive cancer, at bay until I came home and spent a happy week, playing and snuggling and not knowing there was anything nearly so serious moving inside her.
She was so happy the day we went to the vet for the last time....she had a great couple of meals of some of her favourite food, we had napped together..snuggled up and she had spent the day before chasing butterflies and hanging under the butterfly bush in our yard with me.
Truly, hard to believe there was cancer right under the surface, it moves fast.

I will miss her soft, soft bunny fur and her eyes, but her energy and spirit lives amongst us and I am so ....so very grateful to have known this beautiful spirit in my lifetime.

Farewell my friend.... she leaves a legacy of courage and healing for other kitties in her wake.

and now the little things that made it all so special...

I spent a fair bit of time creating a broad picture to reflect upon here in this blog.
Now I am home, and the individual moments are what are sharp in my mind's eye.

The next series of posts will be to honour some of those people who are a part of the fabric of this European Tapestry.

( I do not have any pics from train stations as I did not feel safe to reach into my bag and pull out my camera.
You will have to use your imaginations as to the magical grey, cold, misty veil that hangs over a European train station at night., making the pavement glimmer like molten silver)

1st...Kosovo.
Standing in a train station in Cologne, waiting for a train to Prague, late...ugh very late in the evening, I am surprised by the amount of other people waiting for trains. I find out from a kind young man who speaks English, that all the trains are at least an hour late due to an accident on the tracks. He also confirms I have found the correct platform as nowhere does it say......Prague.
We start chatting and I notice an elderly couple are watching our conversation with smiles on their faces.

My new young friend also speaks a language they understand, and while he translates two languages, neither one his first language, we discover they are from Kosovo and very interested in Canada.
We all chat like old friends for about 45 minutes, talk of our homelands, of politics and survival. You can see thye have survived much.
This all results in this wonderful couple inviting me to their home in Kosovo and hoping I make it their after Prague, insisting we share their delicious home cooked picnic of sausages, baguette, cheese and flask of wine, I shared my patisserie, and they gave me their address and phone number.

I was unable to get there this time, but what an amazing gift to have known such a warm welcome and to have made such dear friends to break bread with.

You can go home again...

...and home is lovely. After the long...looooong 22 hours of travelling to get home, I was met with flowers, hugs and a new puppy in my mom and R's world and brought home....my furries were confused by all the smells all my things carry, but soon they were surrounding me and catching up for lost time..

D and I caught up and had a nice visit before the comfort of my own bed called......yay for my own bed!

Was that really two months?????

Chicago????

Well here I sit in World Business class on my way to Chicago…what you say? Chicago?
That wasn’t in the plan? Aren’t you supposed to be going home???

Well you are sooooooo right about that.
How on earth then, one might ask, does one go from an economy class ticket from Amsterdam to Vancouver and end up in Chicago in world business class?
Wellllll, it’s like this.

I checked in this morning, Wednesday November 5th at 11:00 in Norwich. There I am told my plane home from Amsterdam has been re routed through Chicago and I won’t be getting into Vancouver until 10:30 pm making me miss my flight connection from Vancouver home to Victoria. An extremely unsympathetic woman kinda shrugs her shoulder and says I’ll have to take it up with KLM in Amsterdam….hmmmmm…you’re damn right I will. I also find out I have been involuntarilly rerouted with a 5 hour layover in Chicago because they overbooked my original plane. I am steaming mad, but summon up a sense of humour and wish my dear friend a final goodbye…I will really miss her and Reading Room Cottage, and I know she is worried about my travel issues too.
Have I mentioned how much I do NOT want to travel through the states on the heels of the election?????

Now, I arrive in Amsterdam and am told to go to gate 6 transfer with my concerns. I do, and am met with a woman whose bun is so tight it is pulling her wrinkles out of her forehead…I am worried.
I explain what has happened and she looks coolly at me and says…”exactly what do you think I can do for you?” At this point I start vibrating with anger and dammit, that usually means tears and I say, I will need to re book a flight in Canada, possibly pay for a hotel room and I expect some kind of compensation as it was an involuntary reroute at a minimum or a place on my orignal flight, that I paid extra for to have a straight through flight, as an ideal.
She says again, “there is nothing I can do, here is your boarding pass, I suggest you hurry they are starting to board.”
I ask her if this was her daughter, what would she like to see happen, really… watch her sleep in an airport all night?... and she just glares at me without a response,a staring contest.
I ask to see a manager and she hands me a complaint form to fill out, no manger is called.

I walk away and the emotion of it gets the better of me…because I am soooooooo maddddd….but as it always does, this comes out as tears and I am riding an escalater, tears streaming down my face when a kind cleaning crew ask me what’s wrong in broken Englsih. I explain, they tell me that’s ridiculous, ofcourse I will get compensated and lead me to another transfer gate. I meet a lovely angel, named Wendy ( my mom’s name ☺ ) who sees the mess I am in, sees my flight is leaving in 30 minutes and tries to create a few miracles.
1…no way I am getting on my original flight, and she really tried,……but they will compensate with a very generous bank card holding Canadian dollars for me, she rushes this paper work through.

2nd….she checks to see when the last air canada jazz is from vancouver to Victoria and discover there is a flight at 11:45 I should be able to catch, and now have more than enough money to buy that ticket in Vancouver.

3rd….after bringing me water….stopping the loading of the plane to wait for me, organizing my paper work to rush through for the cash,…she escorts me to the security line, informs all of the crew what has happened and surprise, hands me my world business class ticket to Chicago, I am pleased…now this is an 8 hour flight and a little space, glass of wine and good food has certainly stealled me for the longer trip home. On my individual screen , I have watched Frasier episodes, Mama Mia and Sex in the City….a few old friends to help cheer my mood.

The crew have bent over backwards to be kind, the pilot came out to aplogize to me for what happened, and I am now still not happy about going through the states, but I have filed a large complaint, with the crew’s help, against the first woman who would have seen me sleeping at the airport in Vancouver before helping me in any way…apparantly she has a repuation. They all knew who she was.
Sigh…once again the kindness of people wins waaaay out over the cold unfeeling snatches, and it is that I will remember, even as I have to travel for 24 hours. Sigh….Now to break it to the family they will not be picking me up until 12:15 instead of 7:30.

Sigh. I think I will have a bit more champagne

Home again...away from home

I am back at the comfort and hugs of Reading Room Cottage and a bonfire and fireworks would have been the plan but for the rain and windstorm. Instead we stayed in and ate much fabulous food and drank mulled wine and caught up.

It is so incredible to think I will be home in Canada and not able to pop back back to Norwich anymore. it has been an oasis of tranquility in my travels that would have seen my trip be very different without my time here.

My family in southern London were spectacular also. They welcomed me as a long lost friend and made sure I had all the family history ( gossip..tee hee) and brought as many other family members round as possible while I was there.

England has really opened a whole new world of connections and family and a knowing that there is history ad roots out there beyond Canada, and who exist as friends as well as family who I coul go back to anytime and who I hope will come to us in Canada.

Sigh........Canada has so much I am thankful for, but it does not offer access to the kind of art, family members and architecture that Europe does and I will dearly miss that.

Ahhhhh family!

I have spent the last 3 days with my Grandfather's on my Mom's side, family in Liverpool. Having not met the gaggle of them before, I was very excited to connect further with my history and to learn about our shared family history.

I couldn't have landed in a happier, warmer and fuzzy group of people....ofcourse we are all related ( smiles) but what a gift to be here.

I met my great Uncle Cliff, my grandfather's brother, who is a lithe and sparkly man and who remembers much of the past and stories of my grandmother and grandfather when they were all young in Liverpool together.

I have made lifelong friends with cousins and 2nd cousins and travelled through the streets that my grandma grew up in. It is incredible to look at the person sitting across from you and recgonize pieces of your self in them.

We have been a small family collective in canada and now feel part of a much larger family structure.

I have slept much and talked even more.....tomorrow brings me travelling north through London again to meet my grandmaother's brothers children and such and I am excited once again for the connections and warmth and family that await.

One week til I am home.......mixed feelings about that....happy for home but oh so sad to see this journy end.

after getting all that off my chest ( see previous posts)

I am spending my last night in Paris and begining my last full week in Europe...sigh!

I have exhausted myself by spending all morning at the Louvre, some 5 hours...and really just getting from floor to floor is a marathon...up the stairs, down some stairs...up and escalator, over to the left walk though an arch......down an escalator...and that is just to get to the 1st floor! Whew!

After being quite blown away by both the art and the extreme rudeness of the masses....I walked through the entire tuilierries jardin to the L'orangerie, taking in a cafe au lait by a fountain mid route..( it is a good 40 minutes from end to end)

What the Louvre offers in palatial granduer that sometimes competes with the art, the L'Orangerie makes up for with its simplicity. To view the Nymphees series, in natural light, in a simple oval room......divine and perfect and 3 hours disappears in a blip.

I feel I have taken in as much as I can, and actually come out having experienced and walked through a lot.

Saturday
-Musee D'Orsey
-walk along the Seine and the Champs Elysee, people watching

Sunday
-The Seine, other side and patisserie stopover
-Arc de triumph, T'our Eiffel, Notre Dame, La Concorde Square, Pantheon, Jardins de Luxemburgh, Les invalides and more...
-dinner at a Moulin Rouge inspired tastiness....mmmmm....escargot!...outside cafe seats to people watch

Monday
-The Louvre
-la Touilleries Jardin
-L'Orangerie
-Louvre undergroung mall, for shopping people watching
-shopping at local market for tomorrow's train ride

and now have my feet up and am preparing a quiet night's stroll along the Seine...seriously can not get enough of that...and then to Liverpool Tuesday...

Ahhhhh, Paris....Je suis enchantement, merci Bouqous!

A little art lesson for gallery viewing….

Okay people…I have spent the weekend at some of the world’s most astounding art museums, The Mussee D’Orsey, The Louvre, The Orangerie, and I have a little museum etiquette guide I feel the need to share..

1: don’t stand in line if you have a museum pass and do read the small print, you will wait endlessly only to find out you could have walked right in the front door with pass….line is to BUY tickets…..( not me, others who complained loudly about this, I read the small print thank you very much ☺!

2: DO NOT, walk, stand, stop, block or otherwise impair the viewing pleasure of those people who are actually taking in the art with eyes, in order for you to snap a picture, only seeing the painting through the lense of your camera.

3: it is called deodorant people…say it with me….. D E O D O R A N T …..and I don’t care if you have been living under a rock for 6 months….when entering a sophisticated environment in close quarters with others, remember your pit stick please.

4: timing people, timing….take a few moments……..pick what you want to see and allow just a few distractions along the way to chosen area…….don’t keep twisting down corridors, ending up helpelssly lost and then complaing art viewing is tiring (not me… overheard in line) I mean really…it is leanoardo Da Vinco…how can that be tiring?

5: PLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE……
There is no need to fight, claw, scratch or otherwise maim art enthusiasts because all you want to see is the Mona Lisa and oh my god, we are standing looking at the rest of the art in the room and blocking your access to the mosh in front of her.
It isn’t even that great in person……

6: and finally…….take your time……be in the moment and drink in the sublime creations you are speeding past. These works of art were all created by a pair of hands……appreciate it for what it is and also recognize what it isn’t, you don’t have to love everything, just cause the guide books say.
.
This is the mosh in front of Mona I am talking about......see why deordorant is an important part of this equation....?

The Mona Lisa, or "what is all the fuss about?'

I don’t get it…truly, I am baffled…..after clawing my way politely through the mosh, and I mean….MOSH of people fighting for the perfect picture…forget about just getting to look at it with your eyes, the Mona Lisa is very anti climactic and it is really small.

The Louvre has all this amazing art, art that lives and breathes, with light pouring in dark and brooding…but the Mona Lisa is what we all hear about?

I found another portrait done by Davinci to be far superior…..vastly more interesting with subtler tones and lighting…
You decide for your self…here is the Mona Lisa..I have not altered the lighting at all..it is this dark…..





And here is the portrait of a woman also by Da Vinci…look at how the skin bretahes and has life….look at the focus of those eyes……….so I ask you…..which do you prefer?

My eyes are on overload but wow...

I spent the afternoon with a history student as a guide, taking a small group of the four of us through the main monuments in paris,La Tour Eiffel, Notredam, the Arc de Triumph, Trocedero Square,. Luxemburg castle and gardens....and much more...wowowowowowowowowow!!!!!!!

It is all and more than what you imagine and the art, theatre, music, culture, heritage and architecture really do leave one breathless.

I am now in a new district where I am staying for the next two days, the operas de halles area, bustling and still minutes form the Louvre....this eve calls to a brasserie for a quiche I think and then a walk along the seine and up the champs elysee.....sigh.....

Paris is unlike anywhere I have been, and the French people have been wonderful everywhere I have been, and allowing to sort out my French with them as still have not resorted to English for any quick transactions....woohoooo!

paris...Ooo la la!

I have arrived and already exploded onto the Paris scene, or should I say Seine, with great aplomb!

I am staying in the St.Germain district and then moving to the Opera de les halle this evening on the other side of the river and right by the Palais Royal.

The train came in late from prague..2 hours late.... and then involved having to exchange train ticket to paris as I had missed my connection, 4 long line ups til someone could help and much cursing under my breath. I finally got in around 3:00pm and ran to Musee d'orsey, ( after exploding all my clothes all over my petit boudoir, to find my cute paris clothes).....I took in the Picasso, Manet exhibit first and then lost myself in the familliar hues of the Impressionists....sigh....

I had an early night but not before a walk along the Seine and some baquette, cheese and ham.

I have not needed to use any English in my ordering transactions...yay.....and seem to be able to be understood and to understand what is being said and asked of me so far...yay for Mr. Bombezin and Mr. Macnalley-Dawes. I am actually really surprised at how much french lays just at the tip of my tongue.

Today I walked around gardens and pyramids at the Louvre, and am heading off for a guided tour through the main monuments of interest..

Tomorrow will be the Louvre, L'orangerie and we'lll see what else before I head to Liverpool Tuesday.

Prague...exquisite loveliness!

Prague is all that people say and more. Today I meandered amongst the seriously cobbled streets and breathtaking architecture, perfectly in tact. Nothing tattered or faded, all bright and beautiful and looking as though it could have been recently built, but ofcourse it is seriously old.

The people are not as friendly as other places I have been, but with the history of oppression, communism and the “velvet revolution”, it is no wonder really. The are polite, just very reserved. A bit disturbing to hear one of my fave others of the revolution, Milan Kundera, has been accused of informing on his peers 60 odd years ago to the Secret Police….I hope it is not true. Quite dissilusioning as he is one of the reasons Prague called to me.

Tonight I took myself out to the theatre and saw Theatre Fatastiquas’ “Themes on Alice Through the Looking Glass”. This was known as a black light performanc, these are much the rage arounbd here, and all is performed in shadow low light and blacklighting, to create an atmospheric show that is rich in subtext.
Mostly set to music, it is a little like Cirque de Soleil meets Theatre of the Absurd…but spellbinding. To describe the show???...hmmmmm…. a little bit like alice meets the chesire cat, eats eve’s apple and discovers her sexuality through the interactions she has with 20 ft white puppets, clowns who juggle in slow motion and a narrator type who sets the whole thing in motion.. Wonderful use of mixed media.

My neighbour ( seated beside me and alone also) chatted me up as soon as he sat down.
(Only I could be seated beside the one lone guy in the theatre who is looking for a warm body for the night…loolololol)…he was polite though, and I made it clear my friends at the hotel were expecting me so “no thank you, drinks in your hotel are not be possible”,
Grandma would say the women in our family all have “sex appeal” lolololol.
He was interesting to chat with though…from Columbia and very interested in theatre. Daiv would have enjoyed chatting with him…a bit like a man we once met in Puerto Vallarta who played classical guitar.

It is cold here but my layers are keeping me cozy and I am glad I picked up an umbrella and gloves in London. Walked across the bridge…so fairytale beautiful, and made my way back to the pension.

Tomorrow holds more wonders and theatre and then poof....I go to Paris.

What have been I been travelling about on you ask???? welll let me tell ya...

What Have I been travelling on ( as of my return to UK )…well let me tell you….can you believe I have figured out all this and not been left behind ( anti jinx)???

1 plane to vancouver from victoria
2 plane to amsterdam from vancouver
3 plane to norwich from amsterdam
4 plane to asturias spain, from stansted uk
5 plane to stansted uk from asturias, spain
6 plane to athens, from stansted uk
7 plane to santorini from athens
8 plane to stansted from athens

1 donkey

1 flying cat to crete from santorini

1 overnight ferry to athens from crete
2 ferry to hydra island from nafplion
3 ferry to stepsis island from nafplion

1 riverboat on norfolk broads
2 riverboat on thames
3 riverboat on prague river

1 train to london from norwich
2 train to cheam from london
3 train to london from cheam
4 train to sutton from london
5 train to london from cheam
6 train to cheam from london
7 train to london from cheam
8 train to brussels from london
9 train to cologne from brussels
10 overnight train to prague from cologne
11 overnight train to zurich from prague
12 train to paris from zurich
13 train to london from paris
14 train to liverpool from london
15 train to london from liverpool
16 train to woking from london
17 train to london from woking
18 train to norwich from london

metros and buses I have attempted

1 bus to nafplion from athens
2 bus to athens from nafplion
3 athens metro system ( lots of back and forth, easy)
4 nafplion bus trip to epidaures
5 nafplion to ferry for hydra island
6 buses around London..lots, really easy to manoever about and see the sights from
7 trams and metro in prague…still figuring out

1 rental car santorini
2 rental car santroini
3 rental car crete

more than a few taxis have saved my butt from planes and train stations, except for dude who got lost in athens and cab napped my souvenirs....

more trains to come! :)

aboard a train....

I am sitting on a high speed train ( ICE) on my way to Cologne, and pleased I made a quick connection with a kind woman on the platform who assured me that even though it said Frankfurt…my train was really going to stop at Cologne first…OI……the little things one learns as one goes along. It does not say this on my ticket or on any of the other info I have so once again, I am glad I always ask several people, if I am in the right place.

I am excited to be back in new and curious lands, with new and curious accents though. There is something very comfort in hearing your own language spoken, but it is much more a feeling of adventure to lose yourself in the sea of new voices around you that happens in a foreign environment.

So far my school french has seen me without the need for English to find my platform, train connections and other small details. …however…I do not have any Czech and am grateful the hosts where I am staying are English, in Prague.

The weekend went by in a whirlwind of all things Royal and English.

I arrived by train from Norwich into Liverpool St. Station……got befuddled as I did not know you need your train ticket to let you off the patforms through a gate and whew…after a small scramble through belongings, found it and got released…lol. D was waiting for me and we found somewhere to stow my luggage ( a long queue, with a very slow moving attendant….yeesh) and then we bussed about and made our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum. What a glorious setting for a museum. There was much that was fussy and we quickly scanned past, but the exquisite art nouveau/deco pieces, and the paintings and drawings we took in were amazing.

I am once again blown away by just how much art there is hanging int the world and am determined to see as much as I can while I am here.

Sunday was a day on my own and I was off to discover the Thames, and some of its sights.

Rode in on a train and then bussed about thanks to clear instructions from D, I found my way to St. Paul’s Cathedral……….it is really impressive…truly, even if old churches are not your thing….this one is spectacular and come one…how great is Christopher Wren as a designer?

I then walked across the Thames to the Tate Modern and wandered aimlessly at first…it ois big and industrial feeling…b ut once I found the materials floor I wanted….I welcomed my new friends, Kadinsky, Miro, Monet, Picasso , Pollack etc.

One room of Austrian postwar ( don’t mention the war ☺ ) art and film, was extremely disturbing but worthy of attention…gripping visuals of destruction and bodies….hmmmmm..

I left the Tate and found a seat by river listening to classical guitar music being played, chatted with a handsome Italian man and then found the Globe theatre.

The tour was a little disappointing in that, there was nothing new offered ( well it is Shakespeare I realize so I am not sure what I was expecting) but the space was amazing and easy to imagine the bard and his local actors doing their thing amongst the regular folk and prostitutes…lolololololol..no wonder actors get a bad wrap.

The river then called and I answered with a boat ride up the Thames to the Tower of London and while it was too alte to get inside, I did take in a very cool Tower Bridge exhibition on the design and construction of the bridge. I alsowalked loooooong around the Tower of London and to the entrance where death row was and the tortures and beheadings and all manner of ghoulish things we inflict on each other on dark and gloomy towers.

I feel I had a fast but good taste of what London had to offer and even managed to see Buckingham Palace and Hyde park while the changing of the guard was happening, enroute to train station today

It is a jolly ol’ town, but I wouldn’t want to live in London...whew....exhausting! ( pics to come)

Train and bureacracy..just shoot me, train lesson for my readers

Well...the week of the train saga continued from ridiculous to the absurd.


I ventured into London and stayed with a friend, D there just outside London on the train ( lots in a future blog on what I got up to)....and while it was lovely there and toodling about London, the big concern were my tickets to prague and the lack of tangible evidence they existed.

I went into the office, as advised to do, on the Sunday...also advised they would be open and the internet said open etc...etc...you can hear where this is going...
IT WAS CLOSED!!!!!!!!. I was soooooooo mad, but I called the call centre number posted on the closed door,( yay cell phone working) and managed to convince a nice woman to let me atleast book and put on hold my tickets......whew....she did thanks to having a UK zip ( thanks reading Room Cottage) I leave London at 17:59...whew...

I planned to go back into london again ( trains each way..then a bus) Monday morning....get tickets...run back to house on train bus etc..pack and have a visit with another friend and then leave for 4:00pm on train, bus again and get started on trip to Prague....whew...okay have plan will travel..good!

Come to Monday morning, I am up and out and at the door to office at opening time 9:00am.......ummmmm they can't book anything til 10:00??????? WTF????? Sooooo I get a coffee and wait.....finally I am in the office.. yes they have my reservation...all is processed and now paid for, and I am going through paperwork......WAIT A MINUTE......WHERE IS THE LONDON TO BRUSSELS CONNECTION>????????????

Yup, that's right....the woman on the phone who read all the connections out to me that I wrote down, read them incorrectly and instead of leaving London at 17:59, I was supposed to be leaving Brussels at 17:59, meaning I would need a connection umm in an hour from London.

OH MY FREAKIN GOD!!!!!! I just wanted to cry, I was sooooo frustrated after almost a week of trying to sort this part of the journey out. I sat dumbfounded while the agent tried everything, including spending the night in Cologne.etc...etc....nope....no way could it happen.......realizing I needed to push the whole thing back to depart on Tuesday and heavy hearted, I called D and told her my woes and my need to stay one more night in her hospitality...sigh...the kindness of people makes it all a little easier...

I then booked the same trip, 24 hours later including the London to Brussels part...gotta hold of my lodging, "the Castlesteps" in Prague who graciously did not charge me for the cancelled night and found me for me for the extra night on the end of the week....


I tell ya.....everwhere else I have been has been smooth and without incident....until England...all this nightmare because they wouldn't take my credit card on the phone and note to all.....you have to book your tickets in person at the regent St office to get anywhere out of London internationally, and the office IS NOT OPEN SUNDAY, no matter what they tell you.

Just shoot me!

and we're off...

Tonight is my last eve in Limpenhoe, I have laundered and sewn pieces needing a needle and thread, patched my poor old purse....scrubbed and am rested....

Tomorrow I am off to London for weekend, and then the train awaits ( we hope....gggrrrrrr train people) and I finally get to see Prague.

So exciting.....the castlesteps is where I will be.literally staying at the castle's steps ...a few days there and then I am off to paris...sigh......so many museums...so little time.... and will be wrapping up in Liverpool with family, members I have never met before....very enthusiastic about seeing them...

Soooooo farewell ol' Norwich and my friends here....I will be back!

rail europe..kiss my......

Honestly, I have been trying to book my train trip from London to Prague and Prague to Paris for 3 days. It turns out that English beurocracy being what it is, the only way for me to book it, is to go in person and sort there...only trouble is, it is about 2 and a half hours away from where I am staying....dumb....stupid....grrrrrr!

Other than that, I bought a chapeau and a scarf for my travels as it is colder here.......very stylish... and had my hair done...was a little frazzled after fun in the sun.

English......

I am back in the heart of Norfolk , in Reading Room Cottage and falling in love with the rolling Norfolk hills, the people and landscape all over again. It is really nice to be back although, even with the sun shining, it is colder than Greece...lololololl.

As it has been the Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, we got a pumpkin and I am using my friend Sarah kramer's cookbook once more "Vegan A GoGo" and making pumpkin curry soup today. A nice taste of fall!

I am settling here for a bit this week, and tripping about to London and surrounding areas before heading out early next week to Prague by train and then through Paris before coming back to London and planning for home.

Home....hmmm....hard to believe I am thinking about home already....it has been a wonderful whirlwind of adventures but as home looms out there...I am not ready to leave yet but I will at the end of 2 months........I will be really happy to get home, but......well....Europe is wonderful!

I know I will be back!

Epidaures......wow!

I spent my final day in Greece at the Ancient site of Epidaures. One of the best examples of an ancient theatre that exists in the world.

It was so unbelievable, amazing.....energizing, peaceful.....otherworldy.

I sat amongst the rows and rows of seats watching and feeling the vibrations and thinking on the theatre performed there...."Lysistrata", "Elektra", "Oedipus" for example.

i was also surprise dby the fact that this was a healing centre and had a hospice....all those years ago. the Greek people are remarkable!

After sitting in the theatre for ohhhh about 90 minutes and moving from place to place, I took the bull by the horns, deciding to fulfill a lifelong dream to perform in an Ancient Ampi theatre and walked carefully down the time worn stairs to the centre stone of the orchestra where I opened up and sang "Wearing white feathers as I fly"

The sound that came back to me was better than any monitor I have ever been in front of and the energy that fill the space is visceral, tangeable and breathtaking.

The small crowd were very appreciative and I met a few peeps because of the singing to walk through the rest of the ruins with. It brought happy tears to my eyes....I have been smiling all day.

I have had a dream come true today.......an amazing....extraordinary experience that will stay with me forever......thank you Greece........you have not dissapointed.!

ASK ME WHY I AM TIRED?????

because stupid, noisy, young neighbours on the other side of the,might as well be paper walls.....decided to get rowdy ( wink) at 3:00am...I am pretty sure there were wooden utensils being used as the slap and tickle sounded much more like a good thumping with the screaming to match.......crap...........They have been noisy this whole time , I think they are Dutch from the accents, but I was up at 7:00 for my ferry and I did not sleep well.

I think they must have finally heard me say "fuck" really loud about 4:00 as it got quieter then......Fuck in any language seems to be understood ...just FYI...it is not boring! :)

a beautiful day...

Today was another lovely sunny, and hot day spent on a boat travelling to Hydra and Spetsos islands.

Hydra was gorgeous, no cars allowed, only donkeys for transporting goods about.

I also met a great couple from new Zealand who joined me for the day. So nice to have company and in English :)
One more day here and then off to England and Paris etc......exciting!

Check out this gorgeous sunset from the boat on the return voyage....

meanwhile, back in nafplion....

I wandered amongst the cobblestones today, looking for the national Museum, only to find it and discover it was closed....grrrr...

However, i did enjoy some of the beautiful sculpture and architecture that make this place so special.

All around it is a bit like a town held in time from its glory days of being the capital. The Gov't buildings are well maintained, even though often not in use and the monuments and statuaries are glorious....a few examples for you are the castle on an island in the harbour...




and a woman holding a man, need to find out more about that one but I really liked it.

changing gears

Well, as I have been discovering, the shoulder season in greece often means "closed for the season" and after a few frustrations of museums and sites being closed, I have rethought my travel plans and am flying out of Athens Saturday to England and my friend's cottage to reorganize my train plans to Paris etc....it does not close for the season!

Nafplion is beautiful as is greece but it is time to move on to a little more life that does not run on a season.

Sooooooo next stop Limpenhoe! Ho!!!!

I am sitting on the ocean front in Nafplion having arrived by bus from Athens this afternoon. Met a nice woman, turned out was an English actress, possibly famous…??? We chatted through the trip and then she was off with friends.

My pension while lovely is at the top of a steep incline of stairs and made of marble so I am carefully treading along while looking for internet connections….hee hee hee, I thought I had one beside a hotel, but alas even though it shows I have access, I can’t get on the interent….drat, foiled by the man.

Nafplion is a lovely old town, once the Capital of Greece before Athens. There is a huge castle at the top of my pension and I am surrounded with history.

Tomorrow I am debating a bus trip to Epidaures or a sailing trip. I guess it will depend on the weather.

I had my first really lonely moment this eve..sitting in my room, wondering where all the peeps were hanging…and then gave myself a good talking to, got up and came down to waterfront where the friendly waiter who assisted me this afternoon, remembered me, brought me my “usual” tee hee….Mythos beer, and has been very chatty. Amazing what a little pep talk of “get off your ass Kimmee” can accomplish. No more lonely feelings!

Just across the water is a lovely little armarment/castle dating back to about the 1500’s…..a small shuttle ferry will see me visit it tomorrow and then I am definitely leading towards a sailing trip. A good way to meet peeps and be chatty while cruising this beautiful ocean.


The pension is run by a delightful woman, Elene, who welcomed me with a hug, and many kitties about the place all seeking some extra attention. They really need better spay/neuter programs in greee…so many baby cats calling for a boy! Poor little things.

I am here until Sunday and then have made the decision to start winding my way across Europe by train.

I know it is cold everywhere else, but I am starting to long to see other types of architcture and European environments. Greece however holds the key to the sun, so we’ll see……..

There are a lot of archeological places to get to while I am here…..Ancient Corinth, Mycenae and Epidaures…all will be visited by the time I leave.

Ha, found an internet bar on the water so I sit and post whilst listening to greek pop music and the ever present sound of worry beads........sigh....much better than my room.....

Laters...

MTV launch in Greece, and I was there...

My first dinner alone, and I sat with a book and beer when beside me, two black clad roadie types, sat down and started talking in Dutch.
They commented in English about my meal and the conversation was off...we all had dinner together and it turned out they were working for MTv setting the tv stages for a big concert at the Olympic Stadium including REM.



Hmmmmm Athens and a huge concert and an historic stadium all at the same time??? Count me in batman.

They went back to work and I went to my hotel to get clear metro instructions to the Stadium.
Found it no problem after a 40 minute ride and 2 changes and got to front of stadium only to discover it was a noisy football game, not a concert......OH NOOOOOOO...there are two Olympic stadiums..a new one and an old one......ofcourse the old one was the one I needed and is a 5 minute walk from my hotel...far from where I was at the "new" stadium....

meanwhile EEEEEEEKKKKKK the rabid football ( soccer) fans were getting out and I had to share the metro, squeezed between fans singing and chanting...ugh.

I did find my way back to the "old" stadium and finally found myself in the ancient space, right in the thick of things...
I thought I had missed it, but turns out it was just getting going.

I met a lovely sidekick to spend the evening with. A young woman, kindred spirit, and we giggled and danced the evening away together. Thanks very much to Xenia, for sharing a great party.


After my highs and lows of Sunday in Athens, the evening offered the kind of magic you dream about when planning a trip like this.

Ohhh and did I mention the concert was free??? The whole evening cost me 80 cents for metro :)


The Kaiser Chiefs began, followed by a young singer from Australia and finally REM..they did not disappoint. Whoot...so fantastic!!!!!!!!!
What an exciting place to spend my first night in Athens......trulky magical, a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget.!!!!

Bumbling Through Europe

So I have been to the Acropolis. I couldn't help myself, it was 8:00am,had very little sleep, I went looking for coffee and I saw it....high on the hill, and I felt my feet trekking......

It was amazing.....breathtaking, and packed...holy crap. I am so glad I went so early, I actually had some areas on my own but not so by 9:00.


The ferry remained uneventful but not the taxi ride to hotel.
My non english speaking driver, the one who I had another driver explain where I was going, get a total for trip and also showed the address I had written in Greek by another Ferry passenger....spent 45 minutes helplessly lost in the streets around the Plaka.
Popping in and out of the cab, talking to newstand people, stopping strangers on the street, her really couldn't find it.
I made him stop, threatened another taxi, and finally..tada....he found it. Honestly, welcome to Athens at 7:00am.
He wasn't a bad man, just truly lost, maybe first week on the job?

Unfortunately because he rushed me out of the cab carrying my luggage, he left a bag of souvenirs I was sending home in the trunk of the cab. Sigh......I am hoping the parcel karma fairy will show good concsience and drop it off here....there are a lot of yellow cabs here phoning him does not seem to be an option.

Now as a day full of "highs and lows" ( sorry couldn't help my punny self...lololool))...I also managed to come down the other side of the Parthenon and get totally lost in the Acropolis. Did I mention it is huge? Did I mention I am pms'ing? Ugh!

I arived at the museum, very cool and statues..also cool, but nowhere near where I needed to be.
3 guides later ( they all gave me differing directions) and 90 minutes of hoofing around ruins lost, I stopped a NewYorker on the street who had me sorted immediately. Whew... I am telling you it has been a big day.
I came back to the hotel, got my room and promptly passed out for a few hours.

Now fresh as a daisy, I am staying in the Plaka this afternoon and evening.

The good side??? I did manage to figure it all out, "march on Kimmee."...still pissed about the package though.

Thus far.....

I am sitting on the ferry to Athens….2 hours having passed quietly, and 7 more ahead.

So, I am taking the time to muse over the last month and think on the some of the moments that have shaped this adventure thus far!

To begin, I would not have believed the ease of moving from one place to the other. Granted I am in the shoulder season, but travelling amongst the Euro-countries is astonishly straight forward.
In one day, I was in Spain, England, Athens and Santorini……..that is amazing to this Canadian, wide open spaces…travel far to get off the rock… girl.

England was exactly what I hoped it would be.
Full of warmth and humour, made more so by my wonderful host at reading Room Cottage who shared her countryside with me and introduced me to my first castle.

That was something…walking up the hill in Norwich and seeing the castle, high above standing guard over the picturesque town.
Breathtaking. The pub fish and chips didn’t suck either.

Along with that was Victoria weather…blink and it changes, I felt right at home…lolololol.
My friend and her furries await me at the end of my journey as well and I am so grateful to have that familiar comfort to bookend this trip with.

Spain offered the comfort of a soul mate friend and her family, and the incredibly beautiful countryside of Northern Spain. I had no idea it would be so green and lush.
Really everything was exciting and new, and the tastes….mmmmmmm…. Fabados, ciders, vermouths, wine, pimenton and scenery…. extraordinary.
The Gigon harbour sea twinkling its greeting and the mountains answering.
Honestly the best thing about Spain though was getting to do all that with my friend and her family. Not a moment slipped un-celebrated and made special and the laughter flowed easilly and often.
We climbed up to see 4th Century churches, high above the district of Oviedo…..these structures have withstood the test of time and send out a vibration that speaks to its history, architecture that is beautiful. More time running fingers over stones. ( smiles)

It is hard to write about my feelings of Greece so far.
It has been such a dream for so long and it has not disappointed, still pinching myself that I am here.
Santorini and its cliffs of white and blue, the sea, the ruins and the sunsets…..add in friends from my hometown to share it with and truly a magical dream come true.
Our host at Stelios Place was a huge part of what made Santorini special. A ready smile, nothing too much trouble, including picking me up at the airport at 6:15 am…I would return to them again as returning to an old friend.

I was surprised at how small the island was and with a rental car, we traversed much of it.


In spite of the fact that AkriTiri was closed….Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…I did spend time amongst the ruins of Ancient Thira.
Amongst all the rubble of a culture that disappeared after a voclanic eruption destroyed most of the island; this peak, high above the sea, managed to remain and with it, its extant evidence of another time, incredible intellect and innovations we would not even be dreaming about in the west for a long time to come.

My favourite thing seems to be the round columns and structures.
The rubbles needs a good imagination to visualize the life there and I spent many moments sitting, fingers running over stones, creating a world long gone by in my mind’s eye.
The round stones though, they could only have been created by hand, the chisel marks, the smooth surfaces…….it gives me goosebumps thinking about…..and the world they were fresh and new in, obvious for all to see and imagine.

Crete is the freshest and offered the most diversity.
Heraklion is a busy port that has not honored its past as well as other Greek locations. Beautiful Venetian architecture being dwarfed by modern, unimaginative construction interferes with the ability to truly appreciate its history. Spending one night there, I was more than ready to move onto Chania….but not before making iot to the Palace of Knossos.
Okay, so what heraklion lacks in history, is made up for by this incredible excavation and restoration.

Green stone processionals lead you through different wings of the palace. The structures rich in colour and architecture, fresoes recreated and hanging ( the originals in museums), the colours and vibrancy of the people who inhabited the palace, clearly visible…and it is huge.

The energy amongst this place was bustling and peaceful at the same time.
A must see for anyone even remotely interested in our history.

Chania saw my friend and I a pair as our other travelling companions had top depart early to head back to turjey due to challenging ferry schedules. Disappointed we moved on without them and checked into the Anastasia Pension.
3 exquisite rooms in a Venetian home, renovated with integrity.

The harbour of Chania is unbelievable. You could be standing in any moment in time within Chania’s history. The architecture intact and beautifully repurposed.
For example, what was once a Turkish Bath House, now a fantastic restaurant “Tammam” and the holes for the steam rooms still visible.

We spent ages wandering cobblestone alleys, discovering hidden places and doorways of such beauty that I have more pictures than I can remember taking.
We also travelled by car up the west coast, as far as we could go to Phallasarno. A whote sand, cerulean blue sea, oasis, complete with the ruiins of Ancient Phallasarno for us to explore. ( too bad I had to go pee like a racehorse though…not many bushes in the ruins)

We watched a goat herder, chase an escapee group of his mountain goats out of an ancient cave….that really was the highlight for me…lolololol.

The end of the week took us to Rethymno, a smaller and not quite as quaint version of Chania but offering its own rhythm and history. We climbed in spiral wind and 30 degree heat, up into the castle Fortezzo, high above the harbour…..sand pelted us but the views and the stones worth the ancient spa scrub.

Many of the highlights of this week have involved tastes of the local foods.
The spices, combinations and sheer luxury of spreading out a meal over hours is such a rare thing in canada.
Included in the cost of dinner would be; basket of yummy bread, some form of amuse-bouche, our main entrée, caraffe of grappa and a sweet something to end with. Usually for under 30 Euros between us including wine. Really really good food.

Back in Heraklion today, readying for Athens and S’s trip home to Victoria, we found ourselves at the centre of a celebration for Crete’s soccer team. Winning a huge game today, the black and white clad fans spewed out of every café, taverna, alley and restaurant, singing team songs and joyful beyond words. I am really glad they won, I am not sure what that energy would have been like if they hadn’t.

I said a bittersweet farewell to my friend who has been with me since I started thinking about coming on this trip and who shared two weeks of it with me, and then boarded the ferry bringing me to this point.
Alone, in a sea on Foreign voices, I sit here.
I am excited about making it to Athens fianlly and trekking alone through museums, plakas, and ruins.

It is good to be on the road to the Parthenong and the Acropolis. Whew……..will I feel like I really am awake and not dreaming then?.......

sigh....:)-friends

Well I am looking at the end of my travels with my friends from home.
One more night and Saturday I will be hitting the overnight ferry to Athens.

I am excited at the prospect of seeing the Acropolis, Plaka, Parthenon etc.........and really excited to be venturing forth alone, meeting what comes head on, but it has been so wonderful to have home pals close these past two weeks.

I am now in Rhythymno, Crete, a smaller harbour than Chania, but not without its charms.

Today we busted out of ambience and went for beachy resort place to lay our head and oh joy, there is a bathtub. I know it is a little thing, but only having, handheld at waist, showers for 2 weeks, it is huge for me.
Tomorrow however, we move to a traditional place with smashing ambience in the old town.

Last girl's night together...thank heavens for friends!

Crete.........breathtaking.

I am sitting in a taverna on the ocean front in the harbourside of Chania's old town on Crete.

This place has survived Turkish Occupation, the 2nd world war bombings and muc much more.
it is a place steeped in history that you can smell, touch and viscerally experience with every breath.

We began in Heraklion Sunday evening and then moved on in a little rental car, "putt putt" and came to this place.
We are staying in a fantastic old Venetian styled building dating back for 100's of years. Coved ceilings, a fireplace of marble and 3 rooms, sleeping, kitchen and living room that looks out onto one of the many pedestrian only, cobblestone strrets.
It is heaven.

We did go to the Palace of Knossos before leaving Heraklion and this place was magic.
Excavated with one man's impetus, the site is full of conatiners, frescoes and architecture...much for me to run my fingers along :)

Now however, we are very much transported to old world Europe and all that it offers.
The food is amazing.

We spent today travelling to an ancient ruin in Phallasarna and the white sand, cerulean blue ocean that was hradly disturbed by other people. there are certainly benefits to travelling during the shoulder season.

I just can't get enough of this place.
We also visited a monastery that has construction dating back to its roots in an acroplois to Artemis. The monks moved the stones from that place to the spot they are in now and the threashold stones that are worn, the doors and the smell of incense is heady and beautiful
It must be a wonderful place to be a monk these days.

S and I are venturing out for dinner to an bombed out builidng ( 1941) that has been reserected as a courtyard restaurant wioth live music, and great ambience. The vione covered walls and venetian ruin of a building is spectaculr.

Last night we were in an old Turkish bath, now also a restaurant and had amazing food...lots of flavours of European influences in the cooking here.

We move down to the south of Crete tomorrow and the weekend sees me saying farewell to my friends and embarking alone to Athens and the pellopenese.


It is amazing to have seen a month go by already.....will write more as I go....