Trip to Athens, Greece - Day 2

Our second day in Athens was a Sunday.  Normally we have been traveling or arriving at our destination on Sunday or in areas where there isn't a congregation of our church nearby.  In Athens, however, we were not traveling and there is an English-speaking branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so we planned on attending.  We didn't pack regular church clothes, but figured that people wouldn't mind if we showed up - and we were right!

We took the subway (after purchasing a five-day pass for each of us) and were able to find the church building without too much problem.  There was a bit of an adventure because the walk from the metro station to the church building took us through a Roma encampment.  We walked through without causing any problems or having any sort of confrontations.  

The church building was recognizable and when we entered we were met by a couple of missionaries - they need to keep someone in the lobby because there have been some issues of theft because of the neighborhood.  We did introductions and then met the branch president.  He and his wife are from England and were on a mission in Greece.  The church service was nice - it was fast and testimony meeting - so there were a number of testimonies.  One was by a young woman who was traveling around Europe with a friend - so they were in the same visitation boat as us.  The best part of the meeting was a baby blessing for a family where the husband was African (I think from Ghana) and the wife was Greek.  The blessing was beautiful and sincere and the little girl was darling!

It was General Conference in Utah so everyone was buzzing about the announcement that church will change from 3 hours to 2 hours.  We were happy that the rest of the church would finally be doing what we've been doing here in Kazakhstan for the past 4.5 years!  We only needed to change the days when we have Sunday School.  After the meeting there was a little linger longer with the English branch and the Greek branch that also meets in the building.  We were given a few cookies and had a nice visit.  We met some people who knew some of our members here in Astana - they are both defense Attaches!  

Walking from our apartment to the metro station in Dafni. Beautiful citrus trees lined our quiet street.

Outside the church.

After church we got off at the Syntagma station and walked around the botanical gardens.  We loved the quiet walks.  Some places reminded us of the parks we visited in Barcelona.  It was a bit shabby - but just enough that it had a charm to it.  Our favorite part was seeing the large nests of parrots who were busy stealing nest materials from each other, the tortoise we found on the path, the pond full of turtles, and just the beautiful quiet, shady peaceful feeling.

Palm trees in the botanical gardens.

More beautiful trees in the garden.

In the park.

We always do a lot of walking on our vacations.

Parrot nests hanging from the trees.

Parrots everywhere!

This bowery was a nice touch!

A pond full of turtles!

Turtles just don't care how they get their sun!

Enjoying looking at the turtles.

Our wandering tortoise friend!  Our kids named him/her Bob.

After we had walked around the park, we came around the side of the parliament building just in time to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  We have seen similar ceremonies in Moscow and Prague, but the one in Greece was very unique.  They wear distinct uniforms and the way that they march is really very interesting.  The ceremony was very nice and we were glad that we were there to witness it.

Tomb of the unknown soldier at the Parliament Building.

Changing of the Guard

More of the ceremony

Checking that everything was right after the guard was changed.

Lina watching the change.

After the ceremony we walked around downtown a bit.  The stores were mostly closed on Sunday (which was unusual in Europe, but nice in a lot of ways) so we got back on the metro and headed back to "home".  We stopped at another little restaurant that served Gyros and Pitas and had a nice lupper (lunch and supper).  Afterward we went to the pastry shop next door and the kids all had an ice cream - and Yulia did too. 

After that we went back to our apartment and spent the rest of the evening reading and just resting.  It was a very nice day.  We were very glad we had found the church and that we had a nice quiet Sunday.  We knew that we would be going hard the next day, so a quiet day was just what we needed.

Getting ready for more walking!

Rewarding ourselves after another long day!

So many yummy pastries!

To be continued...

Spring Break Trip to Sri-Lanka Part III - In which we venture into the Deep!

One of the big draws of Sri Lanka is the opportunity to see Blue Whales.  Yulia had scheduled us for a boat tour to go whale watching on Saturday.  We arranged with the hotel to have us taken to Mirissa to go on the tour.  We had to leave the hotel at 5:30, so it was an early day.  Our whale watching boat was a two-story boat that was about 40 feet long.  It was not a very fast boat, but it was okay.  We were some of the first ones that arrived, so we got seats on the top level of the boat.  We took Dramamine before we left to help with seasickness.

Got settled on the top deck

Lina is ready to roll. 

Yulia

These are a couple of other whale watching boats similar to ours. Most of them got really crowded. We were really happy we chose ours!

Fishing boats in the harbor

Leaving the island

Waves!

Well, the Dramamine did not work for everyone.  Sophie, who is our kid who gets carsick and seasick was the first to go.  Two of the other girls also threw up (Nika and Lina) and Lexa felt sick.  They all ended up laying down on mats on the deck for most of the trip.

Nika and Sophie, the seasick buddies!

Lina and Lexa

We saw two huge pods of dolphins (with at least 50 dolphins in each) who were very playful and social and who stayed near the boat for about 10 minutes or so.  We were out on the water from 6:30 until just after 1:00 p.m.  We were far enough out that land was not visible and we were out in the sea lanes so we saw a lot of big container ships traveling West from Singapore and China.  We were fed a nice breakfast (that was wasted on some of us) and snacks of fruit and crackers and a bottle of coke during the day.  Overall it was a pleasant day - hot and sunny.  The ocean was quite active, but not violently or overly so.

Beautiful reflection!

Dolphins!

This one got very close to the boat.

We did not see any blue whales on our trip.  Our captain told us when we got back to the harbor that he had information on where to find the whales, but it would have taken us 2 or 3 hours to get to them, and then we would have to return to shore.  He said that some other captains would stay out for 12 or 13 hours, but he wouldn't.  We had the opportunity to go out again the next day for free.  The girls were willing[1], but we opted out.  We gave it a shot and we had a nice adventure.  The nature of life is that sometimes you don't get to see or do what you want.

Back in harbor

Harbor

Some of the zillion fishing boats in the harbor

We were given a coconut (King coconut) and a straw when we got off the boat.  The coconut water is quite refreshing.  After drinking, we got in the van back to the hotel.  The driver pointed out a colony of bats hanging in a tree (they were big ones!).  He also showed us the pole fishermen out fishing.  We stopped at a sea turtle hatchery as well.

King Coconut is sweeter than the regular coconut

Huge bats hanging off the tree.

A couple of pole fishermen. They mostly do it in early morning.

At the hatchery they hatch the turtles so that tourists and fishermen and locals won't dig up the eggs.  Six species of turtles lay their eggs on the beaches in Sri Lanka.  The hatchery also rehabilitates turtles who are injured in fishing nets, so we got to see some larger (adolescent) turtles that were 10-20 years old.  The turtles don't lay eggs until they are around 30!

Eggs buried at the hatchery

Two week old sea turtles

They are super active and super cute!

I think this one was a 7-year old rescued turtle.

And another one.

Eggs of different types of turtles that come to Sri Lanka's shore.

It was a nice little detour and one that we hadn't planned.  When we got back to the hotel, we swam and napped and generally just relaxed for the rest of the day.  We had accomplished the one thing we had really planned on doing in Sri Lanka successfully!

Relaxing at the swimming pool at night.

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[1] Especially if they could do it without throwing up.

A trip to Aquarium

Aquarium "Duman" in the summer

Back at the beginning of February  when the weather was a bit dreary and the kids didn't get to go out to play in the snow much because it was either really cold or really windy, or both, we decided to take them to a local aquarium for some entertainment. We've heard that it was relatively small but had a good selection of fish. It was actually a good size aquarium in my opinion, probably not as big as Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas but of the same level. The Aquarium is located in the entertainment center “Duman” and is the only aquarium in the world that is located over 3,000 km away from the ocean. They have more than 2,000 of sea inhabitants from different parts of the world.

One thing that I haven’t encountered anywhere else is the way they do the ticketing. They issue you a sort of credit card on which they put the money for your pass.  And then when you go in you have to swipe that card which will open the gate and let you in. Interesting!

Sophie and Lina looking at some fish

Spencer, Nika, and Lexa 

Room with the fish of Kazakhstan

Nice crew!

We really liked the aquarium. They had a nice selection of fish found in the rivers of Kazakhstan along with a lot of tropical fish, and even an alligator (maybe it was a crocodile, I do not remember). Then they had a long and winding tunnel with sharks and sea turtles and other creatures. It was pretty impressive.

This poor alligator didn't have much space at all.

A tank with piranhas 

Sharks or catfish?

Going through the tunnel.

Cute clown fish!

The sea turtles were big!

At the far end of the aquarium they had a viewing room where you can watch the feeding of the sharks. When we were there they already fed them for the day, so we didn't get to see it but the kids liked climbing up the stairs to the second story of the viewing area.

The shark feeding viewing area.

When we were going back through the tunnel again, we saw a mermaid swimming with the turtles!

The little mermaid!

Doesn't it look like I am the only one who is having fun?! For the record, everybody had fun, just not everybody had fun posing for the pictures!

It was a nice aquarium, not too small with a lot of things to see and not too big so the little kids don’t get tired. We had a great time! And of course our kids couldn't pass this great opportunity for goofing around! 

Lina and Lexa 

Nika looks way too happy considering the situation

Poor shark will have some digestive problems!