August 21, 2022

Greek Villa

The following Tuesday was Pam’s day to bop around town and do all the hum drum things in life, like shop for groceries, visit the bank, etc, except in this situation in rural Greece, which brought a new level of curiosity. So after a comfortable breakfast, we departed the house mid-morning on our adventures. None of the stops on the agenda were very far away, but the roads in this part of Greece are not exactly meant for high speed transport, so the trips could take a little minute or two as they say. The general philosophy of the local Greek’s was reinforced in my mind as we drove about…

August 14, 2022

Archaeological Site of Mycenae and The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus

On Sunday, after a nice Greek breakfast, Emilio (Pam’s partner) decided we were going to go and check out the some of the antiquities of Greece in the vicinity. The weather had turned a bit to the worse and it was cold and rainy when we left the villa. I was thanked, yet again, for bringing the winter weather to Greece… LOL. The first leg was to Mycenae, which is referred to as the city of the legendary Agamemnon. As I know (or remember) very little about ancient Greek history, all I could do was agree. The 38km drive to the site took something over 1 1/2 hours, which should…

August 7, 2022

Transitions

I know I promised you the first glimpse of Greece, but life has interceded and for no other reason than to get this off my chest, we’re going to diverge from the core theme a bit. My relationship with my mother and father has been tenuous at best for all my life. My parents came together as the result of a child conceived out of wedlock. At the time, in 1957, the thing to do when this happened was to get married. In those days that was the result. Not so much nowadays. That child was me, and my creation was the beginning of 36 years of unhappy marriage for…

July 31, 2022

Greece!

So after my most wonderful day in London, the next day, I got up early-early and caught a Uber to Heathrow. The only good part of traveling at this ungodly hour is traffic in London is very light, unlike the trip when I arrived. Was fairly early getting to Heathrow, and being the ugly American that I am, I thought nothing of getting in the security line without removing all my toiletries and such. I’ve been a TSA Pre-Check forever and don’t even think about this kind of thing going to security. So, I got an up-close and personal meeting with a Heathrow inspector. I got the same one for…

July 24, 2022

British Museum

My first experience at the British Museum was in 2014, the first year that Melanie accompanied me to London for Oceanology. I must have been the only person on the planet not aware of the British Museum, so it was quite amazing to visit the first time. As I recall, we spent several hours in the Museum that day, and we have made it a point to visit every time we were in London. This time was much the same, but unfortunately, I was alone as Melanie had decided to stay home with her back issues. That was unfortunate, as I enjoy travelling with her and missed her on this…

July 17, 2022

The Abbey

After the show ended, I had a final day in London, perhaps my last, who knows, before flying out to Athens on Saturday. After a slow start, I had seen most of what I wanted to see, but today was the final wrap up. Westminister Abbey and the British Museum. I’m talk about the British Museum in a future post, but today is all about the Abbey. The place amazed me the first time I came here, oh so many years ago. And now the amazement continues. It’s as though time has stood still for over a millennia since it’s completion on 1060 AD. Like St. Paul’s, the staff at…