Greece - Day 1 (Thessaloniki)

Day 1 involved a lot of walking and a lot of eating. 

The view outside our hotel window. You can't see it very well, but there is a big castle on the hill in the background.

Our first official day in Greece was in Thessaloniki; the 2nd largest city in Greece. This was where Jason's meetings were going to be. We had a full day with Jason all to ourselves so we wore out our feet by traipsing all over that little city to see as much as we could. 

We began our day with breakfast at our hotel which consisted of our first boughasta (a sweet pastry made with phyllo), our first Pantespani (a sponge cake soaked in syrup) and a very large helping of fresh tomatoes, olives and feta. Not the most well-rounded breakfast but oh-so-tasty! 

Then we hit the ground running. First stop after our big breakfast - a bakery :)

Not just any bakery though, we were told that this was the bakery to go to and that we would smell it before we saw it and boy, did we ever! We got a few assorted sweet treats along with a Tsoureki loaf (a greek easter bread flavored with Mahlab; ground wild cherry pits). Atticus loved the tsoureki and is still asking for more tsoureki! 

(And, on a related note, is there anyone who can enlighten us as to what the sweet below is called? It had a glazed, doughy outside and was filled with cinnamon, sugar and walnuts. It was very delicious. Thanks!)

Of course, on our way to the bakery we continuously pinched ourselves at how awesome it was to be in Greece. We adored not being able to read any of the signs and took pictures of random store fronts merely because it was all in Greek. We have no idea what any of the signs actually said so we started trying to find similarities and provide our own translations (all of which were most likely terribly wrong :).

And after the bakery we took our sweets on the road to soak up the sights of the city and a little history. 

We wandered down to the sea and marveled at the large ships out on the water while we caught glimpses of The White Tower (which we stopped at later).

Then back up through the streets to walk through central market where we made sure to stock up on some oranges, bananas and strawberries (to counterbalance all our pastries :). 

The central market led us into a maze of outdoor shops and what felt like a completely different world. It was cramped, smelly and loud as we made our way through corridor after corridor of skinned animals which dangled from the roof with the internal organs ripe for the picking. Anyone for kidney? Jason sure enjoyed the look on Laura's face when a man tried to sell the girls a large, googly-eyed fish, by attempting to place it in Laura's hand. Honestly, it was a bit gruesome in the meat market section, but it was quite the experience to get lost in all those corridors!

I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of all the dead animals (besides, who would really want to see that?) so here is a picture of a very tame fish stall.

And after the market it was on to a few historical ruins...

The Roman Forum...

The Yahudi Hamam (double turkish baths)...

This was all on our way to arrive at the Aghios Demetrios Church (the patron Saint of Thessaloniki). This Church has been through a lot. The original site was built in 321 AD, then a larger Basilica a century later but it burned down so they built a larger one. That larger Basilica was turned into a mosque during the Turkish rule (1491) only to become a Christian Church once more in 1912 (liberation of Thessaloniki!). Sadly, the building was then burned down again in 1917. The existing building has now been functioning since 1948.

And there were plenty of other churches that we stopped to marvel at. Many of the church interiors had their frescos taken down and white washed during the Turkish Rule as they were turned into mosques. 

After tracking down some lunch we made our way back down to the sea side to visit the White Tower. It is easily one of the most recognizable buildings of Thessaloniki and has quite the history. Built in the 5th Century AD it was originally called the Tower of Lions, then it was dubbed the Blood Tower during the Ottoman rule because of the blood of the convicts that were tortured there. And finally it received the name of the White Tower in 1890 when it was white washed by a convict in exchange for his freedom. Now it houses a museum. 

While we were down at the seaside we also tried to go take a look at the statue of Alexander the Great, however, there was construction and we could only get so close...

So we picked out a restaurant on the water to eat dinner at later and headed to the other side of the historical downtown to visit the Arch of Galerius (built in honor of Galerius' triumphant return from defeating the Persians; quite the honor!) and the Rotunda.

At this point our feet were aching and we figured that we all deserved a break so we went back to the hotel where the kids actually took a nap - a very late nap but it gave us a chance to rest before heading out to a late dinner.

We went to a place called Mangio on the water and chose it because it had Mousaka - though most restaurants have it so it was really poor reasoning... It was a great pick though.

The kids loved the restaurant and the waiter, who made sure to recommend all some delicious food from the menu. 

We enjoyed our first Greek Salad actually in Greece, Roasted Beet Root Salad, Piperies me Feta, Tzatziki, Keftedes (Greek Meatballs) and an absolutely delicious piece of Mousaka. Oh, how delicious authentic Greek food is! We indulged and enjoyed every single last bite. Atticus asked to order Spaghetti, which we ordered for him, then he politely declined it when he saw the other food and proceeded to ask for every single olive he could find. And Milayla serenaded us through a good portion of the dinner. 

Seeing that it was Valentine's Day our waiter, Constantino, surprised us with dessert and Ouzo (which we politely declined; the Ouzo, not the dessert :). 

It was a good thing we needed to walk back to our hotel as we were stuffed. A very good day rounded off with a delicious meal!

Greece - Getting There

And we're back! 

We had a lovely trip to Greece. We feel pretty fortunate to have been able to spend so much time all together while seeing some very fascinating places and meeting all sorts of new people. To get all the photos and details up on the blog, we'll be posting in order of each day starting with the fun of getting there - day one!

Since we were flying in the early evening, it meant we had all day Monday to make sure that everything was ready to go and to give the apartment one last clean (it feels so much nicer coming back to a clean home!). After a short nap we headed for the bus, then it was onto the tram.

While on the tram, Milayla, who was in the carrier gagged on a hair and threw up all over herself and Laura. Boy, was that unpleasant for both parties involved. Thankfully, we made it to the airport with enough time to get it all cleaned up in time for Laura to get sick. We were really off to a great start. 

Check in and security went smoothly (short of our back pack needing to be tested for drugs...) then there was nothing to do but wait...and wait...and wait. Our flight was delayed (not by too much though). So we went for a walk through the overpriced duty free where Atticus decided to open a very large bag of overpriced candy in the split second we were not looking. Well, you break it, you buy it...

When we boarded the airplane Atticus was beside himself with how exciting it all was. He could not believe that he was really on an airplane! It got even better when they brought him food. Both kids stayed awake for the first flight and we arrived safely in Zurich where we had a 2 hour layover. 

So we perused the shopping, enjoyed some salads and enjoyed some laughs about the funny things they had at the shops; like a 5kg Nutella. We had Atticus hold it for a photo, to remember just how big it really was. 

Then we found a spot to watch the airplanes land, unload and get prepped for their next flights. 

Unfortunately, when the hour began to get very late and the kids were getting tired, watching the airplanes was not warding off the crankiness as we would have liked. Thankfully, our gate had been announced so we headed off in that direction only to discover a lovely little play area for the kids! The last hour before our flight flew by as we all ran, jumped and laughed in the little play area.

Milayla was beginning to get so tired she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open so she sat on the side lines with Daddy and giggled at all of Atticus' antics.

When we finally got on the plane, Milayla was asleep in Mommy's arms before we even took off and slept for the entire duration of the flight.

Where as Atticus was just too excited to sleep...

Atticus stayed up and colored in his NASA notepad (yes, really...) to pass the time and dutifully fought the urge to fall asleep.

We arrived in Thessaloniki at 2am and were very grateful that we reserved a taxi service to get to our hotel. Our taxi driver was already waiting and greeted us in an enthusiastic, animated, way and even spat on the girls. It was awesome. 

We checked in at the hotel to find out that our suite had only one bed and a baby cot. Milayla got the cot, Atticus got to jump in bed with Mom and Dad. Despite our exhaustion when our heads finally hit the pillows shortly before 4am we were all very excited for the days to come!

Little Moments - Milayla

Hanging out with Milayla is such a special treat. This girl has so much kindness, joy, intelligence and determination all wrapped up in one itty bitty package. Her laugh and chatter are infectious. Here are just a few little details that we love and want to remember about Milayla as a little baby.

-arm stroking while cuddling: when she cuddles up she will rub your arm. Perhaps it's from all those times we have rubbed her back?

-dancing: Boy, does this girl love to dance. Her door jumper is rarely used for jumping as she is usually tapping her feet away to the music, performing the running man or twirling in circles.

-"walking": Holding on to Mommy and Daddy's fingers, Milayla has made huge progress in the first steps of walking. She even bravely tries to let go and stand on her own (she usually tumbles pretty quickly, though that does not deter her from trying again and again).

-tumbling and laughing hysterically like her big brother: Atticus is going through a phase where he likes to spin until he is so dizzy that he falls over (with dramatic emphasis), then he will giggle uncontrollably. Since Milayla can't spin she will just do the tumble part and will lay herself down from sitting position and start giggling about it. She is pretty convinced that it is the funniest thing ever which makes it pretty funny to those  that get to witness it.

-stroking hair while praying: Not just any hair though...Atticus' hair. It's sweet, but a little distracting during family prayer..

-page turning in books: There is a big smile that accompanies each turned page.

-"hello" smile: her hello-smile seems to take up a good portion of her face. It's beautiful! Such a lovely way to be greeted.

-"camera" smile: Milayla is pretty proud of her camera smile. It consists of her tucking her two little bottom teeth behind her top gums and spread her open mouth into a forced, sort-of smile. It is adorable!

And of course, here are a few photos from the iPhone archives of Milayla!

Valentine's Day

Two very lucky kids received some lovely red envelopes in the mail just in time for...Valentine's Day!

They were both so excited to get such special cards from Great Grandma & Grandpa Hochstein. Atticus very proudly showed off his mail to Mommy and Daddy before ripping into the envelope to see a lovely Valentine that he now displays on the window ledge and he shows it off every chance he gets.

Milayla really took the time to savor every little moment of opening that card. (she's sitting in the laundry basket because that's where she likes to hang out when laundry is being folded :). 

She looked at the envelope, studied it and smiled for pictures. 

When she opened it she smiled for more pictures...

then studied the little bow... 

and finally held up the card to show Mommy for a photo. Milayla even gave her best 'Camera Smile'. 

What a fun surprise! A big thank you to Great Grandma and Grandpa for the lovely thought; it sure put a smile on each of these little one's faces.