The trip would be beginning soon so I needed to charge batteries and make sure the original battery was suitably juiced

The next day, our electronics in place, we gathered the packed bags

said good bye to the fish and Josephine and posed for a family picture as the limo that would take us to the airport was being packed. Once there, we recorded the corridors and the flight information as Suzanne got one last cell phone call which amused Ben who was carrying the food from the news stand and Sarah and Jane waited for their sandwiches and the board said that it was almost our flight time. Sarah and Ben sat together as did Suzanne and Jane but my seat was alone so I had to take this self portrait before picking up the Apple Juice box dropped by the child in front of me before my own meal came which looked only slightly better in the light.

Because of bumpiness, the bathroom sign was illuminated the next morning as they brought our breakfast though Ben slept through until we got to Belgium and took the obligatory phone booth picture before entering the customs zone and on the other side getting drinks with which to celebrate Suzanne's birthday at this cost before heading to the cafe to get a salad and sandwich or two while Jane enjoyed her waffle before we made our way to the Olympic gate and as the flight was going I took these scenes from out the window (because I had that setting on my camera) since Greece was in our immediate future as Ben and Jane slept even as the food came but as the cartoons played Ben slept even as we flew through cloud formations observed the signage through another airplane photo and eventually made our way down to the ground and to baggage claim where we learned about 51,808 words of Greek.

Next thing we knew, we were at the hotel looking at the view of the Acropolis and Parthenon from our balcony

and exploring our room and elegant bathroom and the beds in the kids room next door. even as we had our first Loutraki water as I recorded the bathroom door and set Jane free to take her pictures of our environment

including Ben me and herself in these self portraits plus the welcome screen. After a picture of Jane with appropriate backdrop we headed off through the cows of Athens

past the Subway (in Greek) to the place where we were going to have dinner and so after registration photos of Jane Ben Sarah Suzanne and me we began to study the menu and order milkshake bread beer tsatseki another salad a Greek salad and another salad souvlaki pasta and still more Greek salad (unfortunately our eyes were bigger than our stomachs or perhaps we were trying to follow the Greek tradition of leaving much of our food). On the way back home, we took the obligatory phone booth pictures which created frustration with the Greek system of phone cards and their technical difficulties as Jane and Ben watched in amusement though all of couldn't wait for a good night's sleep.

The next day we began by admiring the view from our balcony along with the view below before going to the breakfast room where this scenery accompanied my plate of food to my amusement as this plate belonged to Jane, Suzanne had this one and this one belonged to Sarah while this was the food that Ben chose before I went off to get these pastries and this dessert that seemed to involve clotted cream.

After viewing the swimming pool, Sarah Ben and Jane dressed as tourists (they were) as we began our walk through the streets of Athens passing monuments that led the way until we ran into these folks who gave us pseudo-directions to the Acropolis but the sages had given us good advice so we were prepared to accept the cautions as we made our way up the stairs for these views of the agora in front of the city and then a focus on the ancient agora and the city before Lycabetus hill where we were staying and a view back to the scaffolding holding up the Parthenon as the kids posed with Suzanne and then Jane, Ben and Sarah posed as we looked up to the Parthenon and then we took pictures of Jane, Ben and Sarah then Jane then Jane, Ben and Sarah and Suzanne before focusing again on the agora

the town the hill and the acropolis with viewing of the Parthenon and then these pictures of Suzanne and the landscape before we followed the path and the stairs down so that everyone could join me at the bottom and learn the story of Aeropagus Hill and take a look at the post office where I made this movie P1010373 by mistake before capturing the gathering folks buying stamps as we headed to buy tickets and a snack that had no chips but did involve liquid refreshment that the others drank as I watched the entrance and then watched as they completed

so that we could enter the site and pass the Temple of Hadrian before taking a few pictures of Sarah, Ben and Jane against impressive backdrops as we framed part of the city behind Hadrian's theater.

Our next stop was the Temple of Athena Nike but first we captured some views and then we climbed further up on the Acropolis looking over the city as the Parthenon itself came into view and impressed us immensely

as did the temple opposite with the maidens holding it up and the general scenery on the acropolis but we kept taking pictures of the buildings which impressed us

alternating with pictures of those who gathered then back to buildings and the Greek flag, the people the building people structure

a view of the work trailer and the outside of the museum and the ground before Jane got earnest about taking many pictures of the Parthenon

and then added me to the scenery

having me show the way

so that Benjamin would know where to look

as he posed with me before the great building as the museum was calling us down these steps to see instructions that we seemed to not be able to follow completely.

The museum had a remarkable collection of friezes and statuary large

and small before we got to some directions that we could clarify as we entered the terra cotta rooms

where we seem to have broken a few rules before getting back to legal photography

and then to the archaic horsemen of the acropolis who were described and then seen as the statuary continued

with the friezes and the wall hanging after which we saw the maidens

and headed outside where Ben posed with his hat in hand as he and Jane took museum building pictures (no restrictions here)

and a few self portraits as Sarah read before Sarah joined the picture and they captured the lens cover Jane and Sarah and another image of the lens cover before deciding to trace my journey back from the WC

Once away from the museum, we went to the end of the Acropolis and took photos of our hill and the modern city of Athens below and then Jane took a number of pictures of Suzanne and me against this marvelous backdrop

before returning to photos of the modern city of Athens

in all directions

and then a few final pictures of the Parthenon as she watched us walk down to the next structure standing above the city until we found the temple and Sarah and Ben. We did extensive coverage of the temple

its doors and columns

inner sanctum pillars

and a self portrait along with these 2 pictures of me as we made our way away and Jane captured this panoramic view from where she stood

and the city below

using previously undiscovered features of the camera to the amusement of this gentleman as we made our way past the final views high above the city and some final columns at which I posed

and followed the path off the Acropolis rock

being ever cautious as we made our way past the lions and the trees to the exit beyond the temple of Hecate as Sarah and Jane prepared to lead us to the ancient agora (where we hoped our phobia would not come).

On entering the Ancient Agora, we began with the Tower of the Post-Herulian Wall and then the Church of the Holy Apostles (here's the church) where this is the ceiling and here is the mosaic floor admired by Suzanne and Jane as the windows (note how small they are because glass could only be created in very small pieces) amused Ben while Sarah stood by a pillar and we saw the church in the distance but first admired the town bell that was near the start of the path and the map that told us some of the history as we looked down on the city and then made our way to the Temple of Hephaistos where the columns the view through the back the view up to the Parthenon and the columns down the sides

made us wonder why the guidebooks were not impressed with this structure. Jane, Ben and Sarah used this facade as a backdrop for these sibling photos before we visited Emperor Hadrian and read about the great drain and the Odeion of Agrippa and Gymnasium (aka the Palace of the Giants) and from the land looked up to the Parthenon before Jane posed with the statues and we followed the panathaneic way described here to the Stoa of Attalos where there were many remarkable statues

and busts and a fountain that enabled filling up water bottles before seeing this portrait of a man (probably Aleius Verius) with the gang sitting on a bench all agreed to bid farewell to the goddess make our way past the recycling bin and into the flea market area to look for various things but first we had to study the menu and decide that Suzanne and Jane Sarah and me could start putting this olive paste on our bread at the Dioskoiroi (Kafe Metedopoleio) which amused Ben especially as Sarah's iced tea arrived with Suzanne's cappuccino and Jane and Ben's milkshake. We had some sanataki tsatsiki Greek salad and French fries and admired the bottles outside the rest room which came to life with the flash.

After lunch, we made our way to Flea Market entrance past the barkers selling the fruit and the status of the archbishop to see some cows in Syntygma Square

before going back to the hotel to begin the Seeger experience.