mission: greece days 3 and 4

right now i am awaiting a package that is to be delivered by the (in my opinion) unreliable and unpredictable ups man, and so as i listen to smooth french jazz of madeleine peyroux, i find it the perfect time to blog about athens.

even though blogging about this trip is taking me a long time to get through completely, i am finding that it is the only way to stay connected to the greek ways of taking my time. also, i get the chance to relive each moment one singular memory at a time, and i hope you are enjoying my process as well. patrick says i should write everyday to keep my readers engaged, and yet with everything else going on in my life right now, i blog when i can. thus i begin.

day three was all about the sight-seeing around athens, riding in

a mini-bus while stopping at the most significant ruins of the greek golden era. our companions on the tour were the ever engaging 10 year old lochlan and his wonderful mother linda from sydney, australia. our first stop on the tour was zeus's temple. in the middle of a green field, stands erect 15 of the original 104 columns of the greek god's temple. one has fallen down, making 16 in total. this is not a greek temple, but rather a roman structure built for zeus, and if you would like to read more about this temple click here.

we took our pictures for about ten minutes,and then were herded into our mini bus to continue the tour where our next stop was the old olympic stadium. our guide, maria, informed us that the greeks don't call it the old temple, but the temple that is made out of marble. everything the make is glorified, and of course the best. this st

adium is still used as a finish line for the yearly marathon, and is also used to begin the olympic games passing of the torch race around the world!

our final stop on the tour, was the acropolis (acro meaning edge and polis meaning city gives you the greek word for the site of the parthenon). along the way to the acopolis, maria pointed out many interesting sites around athens, such as the parliament building and the president's home. so we get to our destination, and hiked our way to check out the heart and soul of the greeks (when i say hike, i mean climb a lot of stairs, but it's not too exhausting). we learned that it only took 17 years to build the entire complex of the acropolis which includes the parthenon, the propylaea (gateway), the temple of athena nike, and the erectheion (another temple). the temples were beautiful to look at and all were very photogenic, but the views of the city were simply breath-taking. you could see the entire city of athens all the way to the sea port village of pireaus.

when we had seen everything and taken all the desired pictures, we headed back to our hotel. stelios, our trafalgar guide of athens, wanted to show us around plaka. stelios, in my mind, it your stereotypical greek man, just like the father from my big fat greek wedding. he gives you the entire history of the greeks along with the meaning to every word...ever without being asked. i found him very endearing.

so, even though we had ventured to this part of town already, we indulged him and gave him the chance to talk about everything that we saw. i cannot recount many of his stories, mostly because i zoned out and patrick was busy being entertained with the millions of stray animals and wanted me to take part in his excitement. (side note- there are no squirrels to be found in the city of athens, but in their place are hundreds of stray cats and dogs. i mean it, they are everywhere!!!) patrick and i were feeling quite hungry, and so as soon as stelios's plaka tour was over we headed to a cafe for some gyros! they are a lot different than the ones over here because the meat was not difficult to identify. however, they did not have many lamb gyros around, mostly chicken and pork.

we napped in the afternoon, checked out the acropolis museum, and then ate at an italian restaurant near our hotel. i think we needed something other that greek food that night. it was actually really good, so good we ate there again before we left. i had a farfalle pasta dish with shrimp and red peppers in a

tomato cream sauce while patrick had the cheesiest lasagna i have ever seen!

day four was a national holiday, and not just any holiday...THE holiday! it is the day that the greek celebrate their independence, march 25. this meant that everything was closed, and so we had little options for sightseeing. we began the day with stelios taking us to the military parade. it was so over crowded and so hot, i thought i was going to hyperventilate and pass out. thankfully i made it through the entire thing, and then patrick, linda, and lochlan and i took the metro back to the hotel. we decided that the metro system in greece is pretty amazing. it is clean and mostly made out of marble. i think that the mta should take note of this!

after some more napping and a change of clothes, and another round of gyros and tzaziki, patrick and i ventured out vis metro to faliro (i think) which is along the coast on the outsk

irts of athens and situated near the olympic complex. we walked along this one street and were amazed. the entire row was restaurants, one right after another. you could find any type of fare you wanted, from traditional greek to cuban to seafood! what i found interesting about these places were half of the restaurant was on one side of

the street overlooking the harbor and the other half was on the other side of the street. we deduced that the kitchen was on the non harbor side as we saw wait-staff lugging trays across the busy street. we were longing for some food but were not quite ready for a full dinner. so we settled on the haagen dazs cafe where we had a delectable dessert and freddo cappuccinos! between the view, the sweets, and my sweet, i was in heaven. it was so relaxing, and so perfect.

to get back to our hotel, we took the tram this time to experience that form of transportation. what can i say, us new yorkers have to know how to travel around each place we go! it was a long trip, but relaxing as we got to see the coastline and parts of the city we hadn't seen yet. our stop was quite close to our hotel and so we trudged back to our room to relax. for dinner that night, we thought we would try some greek fast food at their nation chain called goody's. we got some burgers and fries, and were happy to not spend hours at a taverna for dinner (although greek life agrees with me, i am still very much american).

patrick and i ended our night watching madagascar in greek. it was funny, and the amount of commercials was ridiculous! the same 30 second ads were played over and over for about 20 minutes! i am not exaggerating. i tried to count them at one point, but by commercial number 40, i lost interest in the game and fell asleep.

this is beth signing off.

mission: accomplished.

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mission: greece day 2

day two began with patrick and i hailing a cab to the center of athens. as part of our trafalgar tour package, we stayed at the divani palace acropolis. we checked in around 1 p.m. and then headed out to explore the city. our first stop had to be food since we were getting hungry. patrick wanted to find the ancient agora (agora is the greek word for outside or open space) so we followed the map to that general area and stopped at an outdoor cafe called tepina. we had some traditional greek food including a salad with fresh goat cheese, bread with tomatoes and feta, and kebab that we smothered in tzatziki sauce. we finished our meal with a freddo espresso, which is iced coffee that has a creamy foam floating on its surface.

from there we explored the flea market and the old part of the city called the plaka. you can find all the greek souvenirs your heart could ever desire in this part of town. the buildings in here have a classical feel to them and are much more pleasing to look at than in the more modern places around athens.

after plaka, we hiked up a hill which led us to the acropolis, although we waited till our tour to actually go up to see the parthenon, and we also saw the ancient agora from above and took pictures. we wound our way around the streets until we ended up back at our hotel where we got ready to meet up with maria loi, a greek celebrity chef and personality, at dionysus zonar's acropolis. i think this was my favorite part of the whole trip because we had a great time with maria and the food was phenomenal! this restaurant could rival any upscale place here in nyc and it is a foodie delight. if you travel because you love food, or love food and travel to find it, go here!

we had a several course meal that the chef carefully prepared just for us! we began with salmon sashimi with a thyme sauce. it was fresh and a great way to start off the meal. then we had a traditional fish soup that was creamy, savory, and full of flavor. the next course was by far my favorite, crayfish in a fava bean puree drizzled with olive oil. in between these courses we enjoyed bread and goat cheese and olive oil. our waitress gave us butter at first to accompany the bread, but maria loi sent it back asking for olive oil instead...she said she hates butter. course number four was shrimp in a creamy rice, very similar to risotto. our main entree was a perfectly cooked angus filet in a red wine sauce topped with foi gras. last time i had foi gras i did not like it, but attempting to not be rude i tried it again, and surprisingly enough i enjoyed it. the meal ended with a vanilla custard tart and a delicious vanilla gelato.

throughout the course of the night, patrick and i met the head chef, the head of wait staff, and the owner of the restaurant. we tried to convince everyone that nyc needed!!! a greek restaurant like this one. we sang praises to the owner and chef urging them to come to us (i don't think we got too far with them on that idea. maria will have to work her magic to convince them any further). our meal was also met with a challenge by our waitress. she was telling us how whenever americans come to the restaurant they say how wonderful it is there and describe it as "heaven" or "it's view is like a movie." she then told us how she wanted to start writing all these things down and post them on the internet. so i told her i would come up with the perfect sentence for her. i looked out the window, taking in the breathtaking view of the parthenon lit up in all it's glory. i had also just eaten my steak that was so perfect, and thus i was inspired. my sentence was, "food that will melt in your mouth, and a view that will melt your heart." it took a total of 30 seconds for me to come up with this line, shared it with patrick, and finally with our waitress. well, you would have thought i said the most earth shattering sentence ever created! everyone loved it, and maria loi was deeply affected by what i had said. she told me that i understand the greek way of life, and she began to tear up. everyone wanted me to record my words, and soon the whole restaurant had a copy of my sentence. i didn't know how to react, and so i tried my best to remain humble about what i had said. it was fun, and i am honored to have had the chance to be recognized by maria and the staff for understanding the greek culture. so if you see a cook book with a title similar to this sentence by maria loi, you will know where it all began!

after our dinner was over (three hours later...i love greek time, it is so relaxing. you can stay at your table as long as you want. you will never feel like you are being rushed out of a place) we said our good byes to maria and staff. it was a delightful dinner full of fun and good conversation. thank you to maria and everyone at dionysus, it was the most amazing time we had in greece and we hope to visit your beautiful country again soon!

this is beth signing off.

mission accomplished.

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mission: greece day 1

the entire time i was in greece, i had no access to the internet (and to be honest, it was kind of nice being disonnected for a while. so now i get to recount all of the fun adventures patrick and i had in the big olive for the next several blog posts...hope you enjoy them!

day one began after a long overnight flight. this, in theory, would have been nice if i were the type of person who could sleep on a plane. alas i cannot (subway, yes any day of the week...plane never), and so i hazily made my way through customs and baggage

claim wanting so desperately to snuggle up in a bed.

anyway, our first stop on our trip was the westin at astir palace, located on the vouliagmeni penninsula, which about 15 miles

away from downtown athens. while we were waiting for our room to be cleaned, we were served some complimentary coffees and cookies and enjoyed soaking in the gorgeous view of the surrounding beach and resort property. the lobby of the westin is located at the top of a cliff, so we could see pretty much everything in the surrounding area.

after our coffees, we further explored the hotel, chilling out in some lounge chairs while listening to the soft lapping of the waves against the rocks. it was so serene, and so perfect i could have stayed there all day. but patrick wanted to check out more of the area, so we walked up a path and found a little field overlooking the agean sea. patrick climbed down some of the way, and i took this picture of him.

when we were finally able to go to our room, the first thing on my agenda was to take a bath, bubble of course, and the second thing was to take a nap. upon waking up, we felt refreshed, got ready for our dinner, set up by greek celebrity chef maria loi, and took another walk. this time we walked along the road and found some beaches (we didn't go to them because we had to pay and it was too cold outside), and finally arrived at our restaurant, ithake (pronounce ee-tha-kee).

dinner was lovely and the perfect introduction to greek cuisine, and the view from the restaurant was divine. we could see the resort coastline and with the moon high and bright, everything romantically glimmered. anyway, the food...patrick and i shared a nice salad and some calamari. my entree was a filet of grouper that was cooked to perfection and seasoned very simply. it was fresh and clean on my palate, and i ate it alllll up. our dinner was paired with a delicious white wine from santorini (and later on we got to see the vineyards there). dessert was a traditional greek pastry with honey and phyllo dough, but it wasn't baklava. similar but not the same. i think we were there for about three hours total because the greeks really value taking time to enjoy a meal, to be with the ones you love and truly enjoy the food and good times. this way of life could really suit me, and i wish that nyc was more like that at times rather than feeling pressured to leave as soon as my meal has been consumed.

patrick and i then left for our hotel, sauntering all the way back. the rest of our vacation was ahead of us, and i couldn't wait to experience more of this beautiful country.

this is beth signing off.

mission: accomplished.

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mission: greece

today is the day patrick and i are traveling to greece....opa! we are super excited about this trip, going to a place that is new for us and exploring all the great historical sites while enjoying everything that is relaxing. we are taking a tour through trafalgar, and it is a "free and easy" tour group, which means we get to just do and see the things we want when we want.

so the first half of our trip will be spent in athens. we will get to go to places like the acropolis, zeus' temple, delphi, etc. etc. then we will embark on a cruise around the cyclades islands, i.e. crete, mykonos, and some other ones i can't remember the names of right now. we even get the option of going to ephesus which is in turkey, and because we have heard great things about the once port town, we are totally checking it out.

after the cruise we have one more night in athens and then we will be heading back to the states. i will try to keep up with what we are doing day to day, because this trip will be the best adventure yet!!!

well it is time to do some last minute packing.

this is beth signing off.

mission: beginning.

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mission: wedding part 3

ok, i have soooo been slacking on my blog lately, and i apologize for not yet sharing with you all about my sister's wedding. there is no excuse, but i would like to say that i thin the sunshine has cleared up my cloudy thoughts and am now able to write about my sister's wedding day.

so i last left you the night before the wedding with the bridal party and some friends singing and dancing. i tossed and turned for a good while, thinking of all the things that i needed to do to help tori have a most perfect wedding. finally, i drifted into deep sleep only to be awaken five hours later by a very excited bride. tori bounced into our shared hotel bed, grinning widely (well i couldn't see the grin, it was still dark in our room, but i could hear the grin) exclaiming,

"i am getting married today."

so i was up because i immediately joined in her excitement.

"yeah you are!" i yawned.

we talked and shared some sisterly moments before we turned on the tv. then we all began to get our showers so that we could have a girls breakfast down in the lobby. it was a very relaxing morning, and tori was as calm as she could be. before long, the hair stylist came to make us look beautiful. tori was first, and her hair looked absolutely stunning. it was beginning to feel real. my eyes began to mist as i watched her transform into the princess she al

ways wanted to be. flashbacks to our youth began to flood my mind, playing with barbie dolls and dress up, but i kept it all inside, taking new mental photographs for this time and place.

time was going by so quickly, but we all had everything going like clockwork. we were trying to stay on time as much as possible, and with the help of tori's maid of honor, marie, telling us all how beautiful we looked, everyone felt happy and ready for the rest of the day. when mom arrived to the hotel, tori wanted to begin getting dressed. mom, marie, and i helped tori put on her beautiful gown, which was ivory with silver beading and a gathered a-line skirt. she looked like belle from beauty and the beast. after mom went downstairs, the rest of the girls put on their lovely blue dresses and then gathered around my sister to spend time praying for her and dylan. it was my favorite moment of the day.

next on the agenda was heading to the church on time!!! the limo driver came to pick us up, and was he ever the most attentive driver i have ever seen! he would not let anyone else help him with getting tori in and out of the stretch suv. this made it easier for her though because it had just snowed and he didn't want her dress to get all dirty.

so we get to the church, and we waited in the chapel room until the ceremony began. dylan's mom, terry (hi terry!!!!), came to see us all and she pointed out that th

e sun was shining, just for them! the excitement began to really build up and then, it was show time.

tori could not have looked more beautiful, and dylan could not have looked more in love! i watched his face as he saw tori in all of her bridal beauty walk down the aisle to meet hi

m, her groom. the ceremony was perfect and before we knew it, they kissed and now my sister is mrs. dylan albright!

after taking loads of pictures, inside and

out (boy was it freeeezing) we ventured over to lucien's manor for a great party. the hall was beautiful and, with romantic candlelight centerpieces, enhanced by blue lighting over the dance floor, everything was breathtaking. before the reception actually began, i have to tell you that i totally wiped out on some steps there. my arm was sore for days, but my pride was hurt most of all. dylan's best man dave kept making comments to me the rest of the night, but i deserved them.

the reception then commenced as the party was announced. dave and i irish jigged our way in, and i have to say it was the best entrance ever! tori and dyl then came in and danced. from there speeches were made, food was eaten (the most food i have ever seen), the dj got the party going, dances were danced, cake was cut, and goodbyes were made.

it was a wonderful wedding, and probably the most fun i have ever had as far as wedding goes (the fun factor even beat my own wedding). much love and blessing to the happy couple!!!

this is beth signing off.

mission: phew...accomplished.

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mission: wedding details part 2

after the rehearsal dinner at charlie browns, tori hopped into the car with lauren and i, and the three of us were on our way to the residence inn. the rest of the bridal party, as well as a few more friends, were waiting for my sister's arrival, and when she stepped into the room, she was excited to see it decorated just for her. we put on our pj's and donned the bride with a hot pink bachelorette sash, tiara, and a classy penis lei. oh yeah...it was time to party!

we began the night with tor opening up her lingerie presents right away because my mom was there for only a limited amount of time. marie, tori's maid of honor, and i came up with a game for the purchase and opening of the gifts. each girl was given an adjective, such as "vixen" or "bridal beauty," and we had to buy a piece of lingerie according to that word. we thought that this would increase the variety of fun things for tori to wear on her honeymoon. then! she had to guess who bought her what based on the adjective that was labeled on the package. i have to say that everyone did a great job buying for her and it was fun watching her try to guess the person behind the word (she got most of us right).

after the presents were opened and admired, we began the real party. this was not a typical bachelorette party because we did not have any real plan to go out. marie and i thought that it would be fitting to have a dance/ pajama party where girls just want to have fun! and that iswhat we did. we celebrated and toasted tori's final single night with sparkling wine and schmirnoff. tori had to drink hers from a penis shot glass...once again, super classy.

mom then left us and from there we all danced, laughed, and sang at the top of our lungs for the next couple of hours until we realized we better head to bed and get our beauty rest. we turned the music off and talked a bit about the next day's events when we got a phone call. marie picked up the phone and chatted with someone from the front desk. apparently people were complaining about the noise level from our room (or so they thought), and marie was asked if the noise was bothering us. she replied with a, "noise? no it hasn't bothered us at all...thank you." we all cracked up, feeling we did our job at having a super fun night with the bride!

now, i cannot share some of the other exciting details of the night...what happens on bachelorette night stays there!

this is beth signing off.

mission: accomplished...and details part 3 still to come.

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mission: wedding details part 1

i cannot believe it has been over a week already since my sister became mrs. dylan albright! i also cannot believe it has taken me this long to actually blog about the event, but as my husband, employer, and myself know, i have not been on my "a" game this week. so i am finally ready to share the fabulous details of a most beautiful winter wedding.

the wednesday night before the wedding, patrick and i headed down the pike to stay at my sister's apartment, for the following day we had a lot of last minute things to do! we spent the night playing rock band, and tori's friend, sarah, came over for a bit to chat. the boys (dylan, his best man dave, and patrick) went out to celebrate one more time together before the big day. we girls took it easy and went to sleep at a reasonable hour.

thursday was a whirlwind of a day. tori and i began it with a doughnut run to dunkin, which became disappointing because tori's had mold on it! she was too disgusted to eat anything else for a while, so we got ready and headed out to five below to buy some last minute gifts. then, we headed over to walmart where tori got a nail fixed as i shopped for a list of makeup, pantyhose, and other girly items, making sure we were using our time wisely. after our shopping, we took the time to get a sandwich from subway, also located in the walmart. that place kept us a little more sane because it was a one stop shop for sure! however, the time was flying by, and i knew that i had to get over to the residence inn to set up for tori's bachelorette/ lingerie party. not only that, i had to get myself ready in time for the rehearsal at the church!

when i dropped the walmart items off at tori's, i had to catch up with the boys to find out their plans. patrick told me he needed our car to take to the reception hall, lucien's manor, so that we would have a ride home from there the following day (we were all going to be in a limo to the the church and then to the reception, but not afterwards...so that became a dilemma). i told him i needed the car because it had everything in it for the party, and i didn't want tori to see it until later that night. our argument was going nowhere, until dyl solved it for us and decided that they could drop the car off at lucien's after the rehearsal dinner! great...i was off.

now, i was running 30 minutes behind my schedule, and my brother, josh, called me on my way over to the hotel. he told me to calm down and to remember that this was not my wedding (never thought that, but it was sound advice nonetheless). he made me laugh, i felt better, and i ended up having plenty of time to set up for the party. lauren, my sis-in-law, came over to help me add the final touches to the room, which was a lovely two bedroom and bathroom suite, perfect for five girls getting ready at the same time! we made it looked pink, and girly, complete with a bachelorette sign, 3 dozen pink roses, and fun games already to play.

i then got ready as quickly as i could, and lauren and i headed over to the church where we had the rehearsal. it was probably one of the funniest rehearsals i have ever been to. old man rivers (the assistant pastor) stood in for the head pastor who would lead the ceremony on the wedding day. he told us many unnecessary and slightly strange stories throughout the night. my favorite was when he was a youth pastor and the kids would call him daddy, and then when they got older they would call him grandpa. now, i thought that was a little odd...i have never referred to a youth pastor as daddy, but i guess that is what happened to him. hmmmph.

my mommom said we all acted horribly up there, but it was just too funny, and i think we kept the whole family as onlookers laughing. it was free entertainment for sure! the wedding crew then ventured down the street to charlie browns for a wonderfully fun dinner. i had the steak and mashed potatoes. i couldn't finish my meal, nor could my sister, so joshy came over and took both of our plates only to return them completely clean. he then polished off two or three pieces of cheesecake for his dessert. good thing he didn't have to worry about fitting into his outfit the next day. it was a good time with never a dull moment, and tori and dylan were chraming hosts. the bridal party and the parents were given their gifts by the happy couple, and then we were said goodbyes to head over to start the real party!

part 2 will recount the bachelorette party. stay tuned.

this is beth signing off.

mission: accomplished.

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