Home Sweet Home

Sometimes when I say that I'll post in a couple days I really mean that I'll post in a month. Better late than never, right?

On our last day in Greece, Bren and I visited the temple of Zeus. It was actually a little anticlimactic, but beautiful nonetheless. Then we headed for the USA!

I'm a very listy person. Here are some lists I made on the plane ride home:

• What I miss about Utah:
• Toilets that are completely free and have lids
• Drinking fountains
• SPACE!
• Family (skype just doesn't cut it sometimes)
• Church that is so close
• Understanding what everyone says (the best thing about the airport was being able to overhear conversations for the first time in a month)
• What I will miss about Europe:
• Sitting on the street every time I eat at a restaurant
• Breathtaking moments all the time
• ...that's all I put on this list. Funny!
• What I learned:
• Hospitality! Stephan, Lloyd and Elizabeth were so sweet to Ale and I. They each spent time, money and effort to make sure that we had a good experience... when WE should have been the ones showering THEM with thanks!
• I learned about myself: 
• I am a dancer. I think in dance and I miss it.
• I like to spread my stuff out. It reminded me of when I used to take up a whole table in the library back when I lived in the HBLL.
• I have an insatiable curiosity.
• I need church.
• History is way long, and humans don't learn! We keep reverting back to our same erroneous ways. The pride cycle is real, everyone.
• France really does have the best croissants ever, and Yogurtland has the best pistachio-flavored frozen dessert. Even better then Venitian gelato!

I love our world!

18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the ^abenefit and the ^buse of man, both to please the eye and to ^cgladden the heart;

19 Yea, for ^afood and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to^bstrengthen the body and to enliven the soul.

20 And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to ^aexcess, neither by extortion.

My eyes were pleased and my heart was gladdened on this trip! I'm so happy to have a Father in Heaven who simply wants us all to be happy. I'm also grateful for an earthly father who likes to hike with me because there is so much beauty in this world, even in my own backyard. I saw some BEAUTIFUL things abroad, but there are sights in Centerville Utah which are every bit as beautiful!

The day after Brenna and I arrived in Utah, we went to the Highland Festival with our family, where our cultural experience continued...

I just found these pictures from Google, but I wanted to take pictures of everything at the festival because Ale trained me to become a true tourist.

I'm so happy that I was able to experience Europe with two of my best friends, but it is good to be back with the family. No matter where I go, I know that I will be loved by these fine people. We are a bagel family! 

I may not ever go to Europe again, but just in case, I refuse to say goodbye forever. So...

See you later Europe!

Action-Packed Athens

 This is what our sleepover looked like last night:

One Grecian urn.

Two Grecian urn.

We had a toga party in Athens and watched a youtube clip of Hercules! I know you're jealous.

Today we spent a lot of time in the acropolis museum, where we saw statues of Hercules. The museum is built on top of ancient ruins. Ruins are exposed in random places in the city...it's so cool!

Acropolis

After spending about 3 hours in the acropolis museum, we went to see the real thing! The acropolis is just a big plateau-esque area where ancient structures are located. There are huge walls surrounding the Acropolis, some said that the walls were built by cyclopses because they are so big. Throughout history, the acropolis has been used for several things: marriages, living, worshiping, drama, etc. I couldn't even keep track of the history because so much has happened there!

The first building we ran into was this huge theater. It looked as if it was being prepared for a performance tonight! There were stone-colored cushions on the seats, and the orchestra chairs were in place.

This is from another building on the Acropolis:

This is the theater of Dionysis! I am so happy I got to see it. It was the first stage to host the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. They are the people who invented comic and tragic drama. And, according to my knowledge, this theater was significant in the history of dance as well. Dance went from being ceremonial and ritualistic, to being performance-driven. So basically I have a job because of this theater!

 

Parthenon
We made it to the Parthenon (which is in the Acropolis). It is in the process of reconstruction, so artists were walking on it, working on restorations.

Pieces of stone waiting to be puzzled back into the building.

 

Beautiful, right?

Roman Agora

Of course Bren wanted to see the agora that was built when Rome was in charge, so we went to see it. Everything was within walking distance from our hostel so it was really close.

Ancient Agora
Then we went to see the Ancient Greek agora. It was cool to just walk around the city and see things from every century since 500 BC. That was basically all we did today.

This is right outside the ancient agora. I love it, but it's sad that someone tagged it with graffiti.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus
This attraction closes at 3 PM! Who does that? We arrived around 6 PM today, so now we are planning on stopping by tomorrow on our way out of town. But even if we don't see it up close, it's beautiful from outside the fence.

National Gardens
After taking a power nap, Brenna and I walked through the national gardens. There is a mini zoo in there!

Do birds kiss? Because I'm pretty sure that's what was happening here.

This one walked right up to us. Sorry sir, but we have no food for you!

Peacocks are so in right now.

...so are Greek children with adorable curly hair.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
We walked by here on the way to dinner, just in time to see part of the changing of the guards!

Night Life
After eating at the same place yesterday (because it was so good), and turning down a date with our waiter (I may or may not be stretching the truth), we walked around looking for gelato. Just a couple of kittens, out for a night on the town! It took us a while to find some, but that's ok because we enjoyed wandering the streets of Athens, singing Taylor Swift songs. We finally found some and ate our last serving of gelato for a long time! We saw the acropolis lit up at night as we enjoyed our delicious frozen treat. Now we are safe at the hostel, ready for a long day of travel tomorrow. Actually we're not ready yet. We have tons of packing and showering and partying to do.

For all you devoted readers out there, I will have one more post in a couple days. So look for it if you're into reflective sort of things.

Loch Sloy!

It's Greek to Me

I decided to go to Greece on a whim, and it has been on the back-burner of my mind ever since. As it approached, I became more and more nervous about my decision to go there. I was hoping that Brenna would be ok with it, and I was hoping that both of us would like it. Thankfully, Brenna and I are having a blast! I can't even count how many times we have turned to each other to say "My life rocks!"

Santorini Islands
As soon as we stepped off the plane, we saw a new alphabet. But fortunately, a familiar alphabet is right underneath all the Greek pretty much everywhere we go!

Hotel
This place is so cute! We had a room to ourselves, a deck, and plenty of towels (which is a luxury for sure). The receptionists drove us to and from the airport. It has been so nice to not worry about transportation!

The View
Bren and I were just walking around town when we first looked over the cliff. It took us by surprise because it came out of nowhere, and it was so beautiful that we just couldn't help but smile! We stayed there for a while because we enjoyed the view so much.

If you are skilled at Where's Waldo, you can spot about 10 islands at one time.

The City

We visited this church. Most families on the island are mixed between Catholic and Greek Orthodox, and Catholics are a minority.

Tour of Santorini
Santorini is an Area which includes 5 different islands. They suffered a bad earthquake in 1956, and everything was rebuilt. We went on a tour of the islands! I think our guide was a little dramatic, but he said that everything basically exists for the tourists. 15% of the original city remains, but it's all in museums now. So everything, both old and new, is there for the tourists. Brenna and I are really stimulating the economy in Greece. That's our contribution to the world!

We started off hiking on a volcano.

Then we swam to some hot pots. They weren't very hot but it was still fun!

Then we went to another island for lunch and napping on a roof.

We finished up the day in Oia, where Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed! This is what we did there:

Baklava, a Greek Dessert. Neither of us liked it.

Brenna just spent a month in Italy, and she STILL wants spaghetti!

I opted for a Greek Salad. It tasted better than it looks!

We found the cutest bookstore in the world!

Moving On

Santorini was beautiful and we miss it already, but today we came to Athens!

Our new hostel. We miss our old one, but we can't complain because we have the room to ourselves!

My first time seeing an orange tree.

 

Stephan told me to try Risotto in Italy and I never did, so I ordered it in Athens and it was amazing!

Brenna went for pancakes.

I love how churches are everywhere in Europe! This is the second one I've seen in the middle of a shopping center. I also saw a chapel in a train station. Catholic churches feel different than LDS churches for me, but they still bring peace to lots of people and I respect that a lot.

There are stray dogs and cats everywhere. The dogs are huge and the cats are skinny. Go figure. Brenna is LOVING it!

Tomorrow will be packed with seeing ancient, famous stuff. We are so excited!

Antio and Loch Sloy!