Catching up. First stop, Greece.

I just realized how long it has been since I updated the blog. It will take a few posts, but I hope to get caught up by the weekend.

Our biggest news is that we just returned from a wonderful trip to Athens, Greece. We left on Wednesday, October 1st, and flew back to Dubai on Sunday, October 5th. It was a quick trip, packed with fun (and exhausting) sightseeing. The kids had a week off from school for Eid, which is the celebration at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Eid is a big family event for Muslims who travel to be with loved ones much like we do at Thanksgiving. Since we could not travel to be with family, we decided to just travel. Greece is about a 4 hour plane ride from Dubai.

We flew out of the Dubai Airport on Emirate Airlines which was quite an experience. Even the airport in Dubai is a high-end mall. I could have bought an Hermes scarf, gold bars and Coach bags.... but I didn't :-) Flying on Emirates was a true pleasure. The seat back entertainment center was far superior to any other I have encountered, and we were flying coach. Emirates provided the kids each with a puppet, activity book and colored pencils. Between the great movie, tv and game choices and the other things the flight attendants handed out, my kids never even opened their backpacks for additional things to do. Kudos to Emirates. I will definitely look to fly them again.

We arrived in Greece, and after a long wait on the passport control line where we had a nice conversation with an older gentleman and his wife from L.A., we were greeted by the tallest taxi driver I have ever met in my life. While he drove us to the apartment, he entertained us with his motorcycle travel tales. We were grateful he didn't smoke in the cab and didn't drive nearly as crazily as we had heard Greek taxi drivers normally do. Whew.

The apartment that we rented was lovely. It was a family owned building where they rented the bottom and first floor to travelers, and they had apartments on the second and third floors. Eleni and her family were gracious hosts. She gave us a detailed tour of the apartment, and we quickly settled in. My favorite part of the place was the deck overlooking the quintessential Greek neighborhood. Alex liked it, too.

We were gung ho on our first full day of our Athens adventure, and when we were ready to head out the door, we went straight for the Acropolis. Let's say that climbing the Acropolis with a 7 year old and 4 year old was not the easiest task, but they made it to the top with minimal complaints. It was very crowded with cruise ship excursions, but it was amazing to look around and think about the history that surrounded us. The kids found things like drain pipes, snails, and Greek writing on fallen stones the most interesting. At least they enjoyed it. After the Acropolis, we strolled the flea market and Plaka. Then we headed to a fabulous playground at the National Gardens where there was an unusual abundance of tortoises. We topped the day off with a sightseeing tour on The Sunshine Express which was a small train that took a 40 minute ride all around Athens.






So, we managed to run the kids into the ground the very first day of vacation which we should have known, would hinder day 2. Despite their tiredness, on the second day we charged off to the National Archaeological Museum which was easily the kids' least favorite thing in Athens. Alex only wanted to see the Egyptian collection of the museum, and Tyler fell asleep while I held him walking around. Although Alex and Ty were pulling on us to leave the whole time we were there, I was enthralled.

After the museum, we rode the metro to Piraeus to check out the ferries leaving for the islands. Then, we rode the metro back to the playground at the National Gardens. Before we loaded onto the metro one last time to go back to the apartment, we caught the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square.


On our last full day in Athens, we smartly planned to minimize the walking we imposed on Alex and Tyler. We had been outside walking all day, every day for two days. That day, we started by taking a cab to Lycabettus Hill, the tallest point in Athens, where you look down upon the Acropolis. There is a funicular train there that rides through the mountain. Our cabbie drove us almost to the top, we enjoyed the view, then took the train back down and chowed on some ice cream in the station. Then we flagged another cab to take us to the outskirts of Athens to the Attika Park Zoo. We had a perfect day to hang out at the zoo with blue skies and a gentle breeze. Although it was not as big as the Bronx Zoo, we had a great time watching the chimpanzees, white lions, giraffes, and myriad of birds. Despite initial concerns that we would not be able to get a taxi back to the center of Athens, everything worked out. We went out for one last authentic Greek meal at a local taverna that night. Yum.







All the Ogurs give Athens a big thumbs up. Tyler even told us he is going to live there when he grows up. Now we just need to convince Alex that boat rides are safe, so the next time we visit we can take the ferry to some of the Greek islands.