New Canoe

Higgins "wanted" to go for a canoe ride as soon as we arrived at Walleye World, so TH could not get his new canoe off the top of the Jeep and into the water fast enough.  It functioned properly and was deemed fit for the Boundary Waters canoe trip with Heather and boys.

Au Revoir Paris

Saluting you from the Eiffel Tower. Or, was it just a windy day in Paris?

Henri de Miller's, L’Écoute, generally resides at ground level, famous for photo ops, but today it is on a pedestal most likely for safe keeping by the looks of the surroundings.  I believe that L’Écoute means listen or pay attention.  French speakers, enlighten me s'il vous plait.

 You can smell the history here.  Built in 1532,
 The Church of St Eustace, a crown jewel of late Gothic architecture is over 100 feet to the top of the arch that soars above the nave.  The picture did not turn out as the iPhone could not capture that height.

The organ in the sanctuary is the largest pipe organ in France, boasting some 8,000 pipes; some of them four, eight, sixteen and even thirty-two feet in length.  Paintings by Rubens.  Molière was married here and Mozart held his mother’s funeral, July 4, 1778   The Church of St Eustace was used as a barn during the Revolution.

A tomb designed by Charles Le Brun holds the body of Jean Baptiste Colbert, French minister of Finance in the 16th century.

 The biggest dump truck that I have ever seen.  Oliver would have liked this mongo construction project next to St. Eustache.

 The Château de Vincennes
GAB walked right over the draw bridge entering the castle without an invitation. (or ticket)

 We found a store with a famous name.

 Some folks pay to go up on top.  GAB's tour circumnavigates the Arc de Triomphe three times.  Her way of finding the Eiffel Tower quite possibly.

Mediterranean Diet

Bye bye Mediterranean diet, we're off to Paris for French Fries and French Bread.  Dinner in Paris tomorrow night.

Almost eating alone.

Dinner with a dog and ghosts.

Homemade bread and of course "GAB likes wine".

 Ending the Mediterranean Diet with the best chicken ever.

Yes RLA, Zara.

GAB Likes Wine

And there she is in Zagoras Greece.

Over the Mountain

It's beach visitation day for GAB, she's visiting beaches on the east coast of the peninsula. 

 Bubbie, not a fan of mountain bus travel, (have I mentioned that before?) went down the mountain to Volos.  Accomplished some R&D work visiting children's stores in the city. 

 Thinking of Oliver.

Just as I was making progress and learning the lay of the (shopping) land, ALL of the shops closed for several hours. The doors were locked and the streets people-less right up until 5:30. Then suddenly, everybody with their aunts, uncles and cousins filled the miles and miles of colorful coffee shops lining the streets.

Volos has to be the "city that never sleeps". 

Locked doors, but there are windows to be shopped. Look a fluffy Greek wedding dress for Nicole!  It "bare-ly" has a middle.

Betsy, look at the price tags for the little shoes!  In Euros.

 More tagging.

On the map above, you can see our ferry route taking us from Volos to the island of Skopelos.

Morning Hike

GAB is looking for a villa, so we are searching the village.

Daily door to door fresh produce delivery.  What will she cook first?

Oliver would have wanted to stop and spend time at this part of the hike.

Help choose the villa!

 Number one.

Number Two.

 Would it help if you peek in a window?

Number Three. We would all be able to visit at the same time.  Merry Christmas in Greece.

Number Four and there goes our Big Fat Greek Family Christmas.

 Current gas prices in case you were wondering.

 It was air your rugs day everywhere today.

Still Eating Alone. Portaria, Greece.

 Actually not all alone. Attack of the wine bug. Whoever wants the wine more wins.  As Oliver says, "GAB likes wine".

Off We Go Again

GAB spent a good deal of time working on a ticket home for me.  So far, no good fares.  She plans to go on to Skopje.  I am not a fan of more mountain bus trips.

Retuning our room key and leaving the Adrina Beach Hotel.
It is bloody windy, so hoping that the overpriced taxi does not blow off the mountain.  GAB is making sure that the ferry to Volos  is not cancelled.

Leaving Skopelos

 Ferry Out

 Right to the Saloon!  GAB thought that we belonged there.

 

Saloon 

 Night bus back up the mountain to two thousand feet. Lucky my white knuckles do not glow in the dark.

Likes To Eat Alone

Village to Village

 We came downstairs.

GAB's feather took us on a six mile village to village hike in Mt. Pelion.

 For whom the bell tolls. I now know that is for the dogs. The bell rings on the half hour and the Greek dogs can ALL bark in between the gongs.  ALL night!  Folks with hearing aids removed for slumber tend to be disbelievers of that fact.

Village drinking water comes down from mountain streams, then it is miraculously delivered to fountains of all sizes located everywhere.  We learned this at dinner when we watched the waiter fill our water pitcher.

Drinking water source; the same as in Peru. GAB says that it was the cattle in Peru that caused her Giardia troubles.  We have seen no livestock anywhere.  (so far)

Finding fences and fragrant flowers all along our path.

The taggers have not spared the mountains.  In a few more years they will have colorfully covered all of Greece, not just Athens.

 Stopped at the highest most cafe for Tzatzik and some bread.  Sadly, that is all that we could order since we were scraping for our last Euros.  Forced economy travel when plastic is no longer golden (accepted) and Euros tend to evaporate.

Now re-energized, we climbed up the very steep cobbles into thin air reaching our summit; the highest building in the village.  The rooftops in the villages use artfully chiseled slate.  Sitting atop many of the chimneys are carved stone animals or 

stylized black metal birds.

At mile post 5 (imaginary) there's a donkey waiting to carry me back the rest of the way.  Yay!  Actually we declined the use of donkeys in Santorini and did once again for fear of falling off, my being too heavy for the beast,  or possibly soiling the clean jeans. (white) There was cable car in Santorini, but just my two feet today.