Greece

 

I just spent a lovely week in Greece. It's been on my list for some time now so it was a bit of a dream come true. My friend, Lauren, came with me and I could not have asked for a better travel buddy.

We started off in Athens. I almost didn't survive the flight. I caught a cold the day before we left (joy!) and when we started our descent my ear wouldn't pop. The pressure was getting worse as we got closer to landing. It honestly felt like someone was twisting a knife in my ear. I could handle the pain but I was terrified my ear drum would burst and we'd have to go straight to the hospital after landing. I was seriously freaking out. Lauren flagged down a stewardess (which I protested wouldn't do any good). The stewardess then brought me a cup of something and told me to inhale...sketchy, right? It smelled like vicks vapor rub so I began to inhale and sure enough, it eased the pressure. Crisis averted. Lauren saved the day.

We caught the bus to make the trek to our little flat. Unfortunately it was dark and we missed our stop, was scolded by a woman (we didn't understand a word, but judging by her face I assure you it was a scolding), and sweet-talked a bus driver into dropping us at our stop (they normally don't make stops on the way to the airport, only from).

The next morning we got an early start to beat the crowds at the acropolis. We left at 7:30am local time, which meant it was 5:30am London time. It was brutal but well worth it when we saw the crowds as we were leaving. We wandered around Athens until our little feet couldn't take any more, had some dinner and headed back to our flat.

The next morning we packed our bags and headed out to find church. I won't go into details but it was nothing short of a miracle that we found it. We were even early so we went to check out the Olympic stadium while we waited and were thoroughly impressed. Lauren knew a missionary couple serving in Athens so we visited with them for a bit and then after Sacrament meeting the sister took us to see Mars Hill...impromptu Sunday School, you could say.

 (Mars Hill)

We finally made our way to the ferry, where we spent the next 7 hours sailing to Naxos. I printed off faulty directions that told us our hotel was a 15 min walk from the ferry. So we trekked to the marker on the map only to find no hotel in sight. This nice woman at a grocery store called the number for us and discovered it was way back next to the ferry. We could have chalked it up to an unofficial tour of the island if it wasn't midnight at this point. But we made it back to our hotel and it was in the midst of these small winding streets between beautiful white-washed buildings. We were swept away as we walked through them to our utterly charming hotel. Well worth the walk.

In Naxos we went to the beach, ate yummy food, slept, watched movies at night, walked around the island, and made multiple stops at an ice cream shop. The second day I hopped on a bus to another part of the island to catch a boat that takes you snorkling (on my to-do list for the trip). I didn't learn until after we left that we needed to bring our own snorkling gear. A true greek tragedy. Lauren spent the day at the beach and had a great time but I think we were both excited for a shower and dinner at the end of the day.

On Wednesday we caught another ferry for Santorini. We were thrilled when it only took 3 hours to get there and we just couldn't get over the views. My cold was getting worse at this point so I took some medicine to help me with my cough and slept away half of Thursday and spent the other half at the pool reading. Best day ever. On Friday I rented a 4-wheeler and explored the island, tip to tip, and took a bzillion pictures. I couldn't talk Lauren into going with me (she doesn't trust 4-wheelers) but she had a great time reading by the pool.

 (Fira)

 (Lauren did not pose next to the accordion player...he scooted over next to her while I was taking the picture. Who wouldn't, right?)

 (Oia)

(Red Beach)

This is where the adventure begins. We were planning to catch at ferry at midnight Friday night. It was supposed to be a 10 hour ferry ride so we bought tickets for a cabin so we could get some sleep. Lauren went to catch a bus to check out some of the island and while at the bus station discovered that there wasn't a ferry leaving that night...it had left 12:30 that morning. A startling realization to say the least.

We quickly gathered our things and went to the ferry office. Goal: get to Rhodes by Sunday in time to catch our flight. At the ferry office they said there was a ferry leaving 3:40am on Saturday and would arrive 20 hours later in Rhodes. Although it met our goal requirements we both felt sick at the prospect of sitting on a boat for 20 hours. But we had no choice. So we gathered our things and found a spot with a great view of the island where we chatted until midnight then made our way to the bus station. We caught a bus to the port and then had to wait another 3 hours for the ferry to come. We joined the rest of the crowd and laid on the cement to try to get some sleep until the boat came. At this point we wondered how things had gone so wrong.

The boat finally arrived and I vaguely remember boarding. We found a corner and made it home by laying out our beach towels on the ground and immediately falling asleep. We were both amazed when we woke up 5 hours later. The rest of the day we read our books, enjoyed the sun as we passed island after island, and somehow the time just flew by. 

 

We spent our last day in Rhodes before we caught our flight home. As we were getting ready I hear Lauren in the bathroom:

'Oh no. Oh no! I cut myself!'

'Shaving?' I asked.

'No, on the wall.'

What?? 'Is it bad?'

'Yes, it's really deep. Oh, it's really bad.'

'Are you okay? Are you going to pass out?'

'No.....oh, maybe.'

Don't worry. She didn't pass out...completely. Once we got her sat down I started to tend to her 'gash.' It was on the elbow so looked deep but didn't hit any bone or muscle. Lauren was panicked that she might need stitches (actually, I think she was more terrified at the thought of going to a hospital in Greece) but once the blood was gone the cut didn't look so bad. I have to say I made quite a good nurse and quickly declared all we needed was disinfectant and butterfly bandaids...a regular procedure at the Wells household. I left Lauren lying on the bed and set out to find a pharmacy but decided to first see if they had a first aid kit in the hotel. They had a disinfectant and regular bandaids. Close enough, I thought. So I cleaned the wound and made a sculpture of bandaids around the cut to hold it closed.

So, between my ear drum and Lauren's gash, we had saved each other's life. A truly epic trip.

June

I'm determined to catch up so sit tight, this could get long. The last month has been super busy with with visitors. Gwen came the second week of June. Although spending a lot of time in Europe (her mother is French) she had never been to London, so I had the pleasure of introducing them.

After working in the London office on Friday we went to see the crown jewels in the Tower of London and then wandered across Tower Bridge, past London Bridge to The Globe, and walked across the Millenium bridge to end at St Paul's Cathedral. Our little feet were so tired but we then had to rush to catch Les Mis. I had been dreaming of seeing Les Mis in London for some time and although it was amazing I really missed Alfie Boe :(

The next day we woke up and went straight to Borough Market where we ate yummy bread, cheese, fresh juice and...oysters. This was a first for me (oysters) and I'm still not sure how I feel about them.

 

We then explored Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery (my fav). After eating the rest of our goods from Borough Market on the steps of the National Gallery we continued on our mini walking marathon to see Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Fortnam & Masons and Harrods. Sadly, Gwen hopped on a plane the next day to head back to Geneva but it was so fun to have her visit!

Kayce came to visit later that week. Although I had to work while she was here we made the most of the evenings and weekends. The second night she was here we went to see Once and I fell even more in love with this music...and was just loving all the Czech.

That weekend we headed for Amsterdam. I saw this deal for a 'Rail&Sail' package from London to Amsterdam. This consisted of a 2 hour train ride+8 hour boat ride+another 1.5 hour train ride. Sounds fun, right? Well, as much as I love trains and boats, I was pretty exhausted of both by the end of the day.

That night we went to the Van Gogh museum which was open late for the weekend. They had an awesome DJ and the art was just incredible. This was prob one of my favorite things we did all weekend.

Saturday morning we went straight to see the Anne Frank house because I had heard that the lines get pretty crazy. Although the line was pretty long, it wasn't the worst part. It was rainy and cold and oh so windy. I quickly bought an umbrella off a street vendor. It lasted me 5 min before it blew inside-out. This super nice couple next to me tried to help me fix it but the umbrella had none of it. So I let it sit there all mangled above my head...better some cover than none, I thought. Then this nice man from the museum came out to lend a few umbrellas to people standing in line. When he saw my destroyed umbrella he handed me one. This one was much sturdier and showed promise. Indeed it was sturdier, it lasted a whole 6 min before flipping inside-out by the wind. I felt terrible. But I looked around and found comfort in the fact that I wasn't the only one who had destroyed the museum's umbrellas. We eventually made it inside and I loved being able to see this house that I read about so many years ago and see the diary itself.
 

Afterward we wandered through the city, took a boat tour of the canals and just enjoyed the sun that finally decided to grace us. I have to admit that I wasn't sure how much I'd like Amsterdam but I was pleasantly surprised to find it quite magical.

The next Friday Lauren and I went to see The Taming of the Shrew at the Globe. This is one of my favorite plays and the weather was perfect. It was the longest day of the year so we also had daylight through the whole play. I loved it so much that I don't think I'll ever go back. I just can't imagine ever topping it.

The next week Meggan came for a few days. She really wanted to go to Bath and Stonehenge so we rented a car and went out. Although I had already seen both I was happy to go back with the prospect of nicer weather. It didn't disappoint. We had a great time wandering through Bath and this time Stonehenge was still open when I got there so I finally got to take a closer look.

Isn't England just beautiful??