Trip to Athens, Greece - Day 4

On Tuesday we decided to go to the sea.  We took the train (as usual) to the last stop at the piers.  The station there was above-ground and quite nice.  Right outside of the station was a lot of construction.  We walked across the street and walked around the pier and looked at all of the Ferry ships and cruise ships that were docked.  We got to see one ship come in and dock and that was quite fun. 

At the station exiting the train.

Walking on the pier.  Looking at the schools of little fish in the harbor.

Looking out at all the ships.  Many were ferries that go out to the islands.

 

A cruise ship (Italian flag)

 

Lina posing more or less willingly.

These were smaller ferries, and we assume much faster than the normal ones.

A ferry parked and unloading cars.

After we had seen the harbor, we got back on the train and rode back a few stops to a stop near some of the Olympic stadiums from the 2004 Athens games.  We went to get on the trolley to go along the coast and out to the beach areas.  We had to wait for awhile for the trolley, but it was a nice day.  This area was much more rundown and the economic difficulties were more visible.  One of the stadiums was shuttered and in disrepair.

We took the Trolley almost all the way to the end of its route.  We got off at a public beach.  The beaches were more rocky than sandy (gravelly) but the kids all kicked off their shoes and waded, threw rocks, and generally had a good time.  We spent about 90 minutes kicking around at the beach and then walked from there over to the city area and found someplace to eat. 

We wanted to have one seafood meal, so we figured the day we were near the beach would be a good day to do it.  We were walking and saw an "all you can eat" fish place.  We probably should have known better, but we went in.  The food was okay, but not great.  The prices were also okay, but not great.  Everybody got enough to eat, though so in that sense it was a success.  We took the tram back to a subway stop and from there home.  On the way home we stopped for pastries (notice that there are only 5 of them.  I am trying to cut back) and went in for the night.  We had been from one end of Athens to the other by Subway and then by trolley.  It was a fun day and a nice change of pace after our long day of walking and seeing sites the day before.

Waiting for the tram (this was the wrong number!)

Riding (getting ready to go)

At the beach!  The light was soft and the day was warm.

Kids, rocks, and water.  That always equals success and fun!

Skipping rocks.

This was a beach club just down the beach from us - a bit fancier than the public beach.

 

Heading toward town for some food.

Night cap pastries for the ladies!

Spring break 2018 - Vietnam- Part III - Our Snorkeling Adventure

Friday was our last full day in Nha Trang.  We had moved our snorkeling date once Alexandra had gotten sick.  Nika was the last of the four children to pick up the stomach bug and she had to stay home from our last big adventure.  Poor kid.  She had really been looking forward to snorkeling on a real tropical reef.

We were picked up at the hotel in a van by Andrey, a Russian who worked for the snorkeling company that we were using.  We stopped along the way at a few hotels and picked up some more people, a couple, a family with a teenage daughter, and a couple of single folks.  We got down to the dock where there were a number of boats - fishing boats and other tour boats.  We waited for a few minutes until our boat was ready and pulled up, and then we loaded up.

On the way out to the reef (about an hour ride) we passed a number of small islands and had a beautiful view of the aquamarine waters of Vietnam.  All the other people on our tour were there to scuba dive, and so they were having some lessons.  We were kind of left on our own.

A boat like ours pulling up to the dock.

Heading out of the marina past the different boats.

The beautiful water and islands.

Sophie and Lexa gearing up.

When we arrived at our first dive spot, we all got geared up and jumped into the ocean to start snorkeling.  We were near some islands and the reef came up to within four or five feet of the surface in many places.  There were also some deeper areas.  There were dozens of different types of coral, and we saw about 15 different species of fish. Lina and I also saw a squid in one of the deeper areas.  The snorkeling was amazing and we had a good time.  Yulia had a few misadventures with her equipment, but eventually got things figured out and joined us.

We snorkeled the first time for about 45 minutes or an hour.  Once the scuba divers surfaced (they had seen barracuda in the deeper waters) we picked up anchor and moved to another area about ten minutes away.  In the second area we snorkeled for about twenty or thirty minutes and then spent most of the time on the boat.  Lexa and I jumped off the front of the boat and did a bit of swimming while we waited.

Once we were done, we were fed an excellent lunch with different fixings for ban-mi sandwiches as well as rice and other delicacies.  Once lunch was over, we sailed back to the marina where we disembarked and were shuttled back to our hotel.

LIna adjusting her mask.

Lina and Spencer talking about what they saw.

Lina and Spencer snorkeling

Returning to the boat.

Yulia smiling after a successful snorkeling run!

Twins drying in the sun.

Another boat at our second stopping spot with the island in the background.

Lexa sunbathing.

Lexa getting ready to jump.  The sea in the background is so beautiful!

Lina catching some sun.

Lunch is served.

One more view of the water with some small white-caps for contrast.

Returning to the marina.

We found Nika at home doing okay, so we cleaned up and then went out to the small market near our hotel to do some souvenir shopping before we went to dinner.  We had a nice evening walk and a nice last night enjoying Nha Trang.

The little alleyway souvenir market near our apartment.

Summer Trip 2017: Day 6 - River Tour and Model Trains

Our third day in Prague was planned to be a bit lighter.  It was our hottest day so far with temperatures above 90 all day.  We walked first to the Old Town Square and saw the oldest working astronomical clock in the world.  On the hour two doors open up and the twelve apostles cycle around (6 on each side) and death pulls a bell that rings throughout.  It was very neat to see.

On the Old Square 

This is the church we think looked like Hogwarts

Waiting to see the clock strike 10.

The astronomical clock.

After that we walked down and saw a sculpture at the public library that is made out of books.  The sculpture is neat on its own, but it also has mirrors at the top and bottom, which make it like an endless well of books that is fascinating.  We stopped by the Marionette theater, but it wasn't open, so we didn't buy tickets.

Book sculpture from the outside.

Looking into and down the sculpture.

We walked from there to the Charles Bridge, where we spent about twenty minutes listening to a group consisting of two violins, two cellos, and a percussionist (with a box she sat on) playing pop and rock songs.  We decided to take a river tour, so we went and bought tickets.  On the boat tour we saw the sights and sipped lemonade.  It was a beautiful view and a nice way to avoid the worst of the heat.

On the street.  This was where they made the tower cakes.

Walking in the city.

Statue of Charles

Group of musicians playing pop and rock songs.

Ladies on the bridge!

The bridge was built in the 14th century and the sculptures were added in the 18th.

More sculptures.

Yulia on the bridge.

Police women on horses coming over the bridge.

View of the city (and Prague Castle) from the bridge.

The bridge from the boat dock where we began our tour.

Waiting for the boat.

Settling in for the ride.

Swans on the river.

Neat sculptures on one of the bridges we passed under.

Enjoying the tour

Sisters sipping lemonade on a boat.

From the river tour we went looking for the Franz Kafka head statue.  We found two statues of men peeing instead by the same artist.  It was pretty funny (and the girls were all appropriately embarrassed and shocked). We found a nice little cafe and ate lunch and then got on a tram to go to the model train museum.  There was a bit of miscommunication between Yulia and me about who was responsible for knowing how to get there.  I remembered.....mostly..... how to get there.  It turns out we went one stop too far.  We ended up at a mid 19th century cemetery that was being restored after years of neglect.  Yulia and I left the girls and Ramona there sitting in the shade and went and found out where we went wrong.  Once we found the museum, we came back and got them.

A canal.

Peeing statues outside Kafka museum.

Lunch

The museum took up two basement floors of a shopping center and had an impressive collection of model trains with scenes from all over the country.  There were also busses and trains that the kids could get into and pretend to drive.  In addition to all the model trains, there was an entire section dedicated to models of all types - aircraft, cars, military equipment, racing cars - that was quite impressive.  The place had the advantage of being cool and dark and we spent two hours letting the kids be kids.

Details of one of the train sets.

Large view of the train set up.

Watching the trains.

Model race cars.

The girls driving a tram

We ate at the McDonald's next door and took the tram home.  It was a nice third day with plenty of interesting sites seen.

Evening thunderstorm outside the window.