Last Athens Post - Day #2

After all the pictures I took on the first day we were in Athens, the second day kind of pales in comparison! We managed to drag the children out of bed and down to breakfast in the morning. There is a 2 hour time difference between England and Greece but my philosophy is to just ignore it and operate on local time - especially for very short trips! The shuttle was running and we really enjoyed riding to the center of the city and not having to use up our waning energy just getting there! We walked over to the New Acropolis Museum to see the artifacts from the Acropolis. No cameras are allowed inside so my pictures are all of the exterior but you can imagine what's inside - statues and vases mostly!
I believe this is the name of the museum
the outside of the museum - you can see the Acropolis reflected in the upper left corner!
For all my Chi O's - Athena's owl!
The museum is built on stilts over open dig sites - it is really cool!
the floors are clear so you can see the ruins - even inside the museum - Aidan said he felt like he was falling - Emmy refused to walk on them initially but she got over it!
After the museum we walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe (very 80's I know) and had lunch. You know you can always get chicken fingers and fries! After a good lunch for everyone we headed out to the National Gardens which was really just an overgrown park. There was a good sized playground and the kids had a great time running around, climbing, swinging and playing with the local children. I think it was the highlight of the trip for them - sadly!
After the playground we caught the shuttle back to the hotel and took a little rest. Brendan found a great little (tiny) restaurant 2 blocks from the hotel - thanks Google! We were the only ones there and the owner gave us wonderful service. The food was delicious - I had braised lamb shanks. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and put the kids to bed.
In the morning we took the bus to the airport, purchased our last minute souvenirs and flew home. We were delayed an hour but the kids did great. We flew on Easy Jet and they have free for all boarding which is great for us because we only bought 4 seats but Emmy and Brendan sat together with a seat between them and I sat with Aoife and Aidan. Who is going to want to make us move over and sit with kids? So we got 6 seats!! Each of the kids took a little nap sometime during the 3 1/2 hour flight. I couldn't have asked for an easier trip!!! Up next - Ireland and France in April!

She's on the move!

Aoife is 10 1/2 months old - seems impossible that the time has flown so quickly! She's into anything that is on the ground and if you're a Cheerio you'd better run for your life! She loves to pull all the tupperware onto the floor and bang it together just as the phone rings! She says mama, dada and baby. She loves waving to herself in the mirror and clapping. She gets a little agitated when she waves at photos of herself and nothing happens - very cute! Aoife gets lots of attention from Aidan and Emmy. Aidan loves to make her laugh and Emmy has learned that she can get Aoife to drop whatever she has by introducing a new toy. She continues to be a good sleeper and is, thankfully, down to one nap a day! She is getting VERY fat and has an enormous belly as you can see from the pictures!

Athens post #6 - Mars Hill

After we came down from the Acropolis we walked over to Mars Hill or the Areopagus. It's an outcropping of rock that served as a high court in ancient times and was the site of Apostle Paul's conversion of Athens to Christianity. It has a beautiful panoramic view of Athens and the Acropolis. We could have sat here for hours in the sun.
This picture doesn't show how VERY steep and slippery these steps were - the girls and I came down another set.
Emmy sharing her snack with the pigeons - she had lots more but I ruined it by standing up to take the picture.

Marmalade!

I'll give you a break from the Greece pictures today! I made blood orange marmalade yesterday. It was so much fun and my second attempt at canning anything. My first attempt was strawberry jelly last year on my tiny stove in my tiny kitchen in Virginia. It was a disaster - the stove had so little power that the jam never got to the correct temperature and it cooked so long that the strawberries lost their flavor and color! I ended up with a runny, tasteless mess! ACK! This time was different - yeah! I borrowed a recipe from Alton Brown on the Food Network and here's how you do it:
- scrub 4 oranges and 1 lemon
- slice the oranges really thinly - 1/8 inch thick and cut into quarters
- zest and juice the lemon
- place the oranges, lemon zest and lemon juice in a BIG stainless pot and add 5 cups of water.
- bring to a boil over high heat, turn down to medium and vigorously simmer for 40 minutes stirring occasionally
- turn up the heat to a boil and add 3 1/2 pounds of sugar - stirring constantly
- here's where it gets a little tricky
- you need the mixture to reach 220 degrees so grab your candy thermometer and keep stirring over medium/medium high heat
- make SURE it doesn't bubble over - you'll have a huge mess that is very hard to clean up
- in the meantime bring a big pot of water to a boil and boil your jars, lids, tongs and ladle for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat under the pot.
- once the marmalade is 220 degrees it is ready to be jarred.
- take the jars out of the hot water with tongs and place on a clean towel
- ladle the jam into the jars and screw a lid on - be careful it's VERY HOT and will burn you!!
- once all the jam is in the jars and the lids are on tightly the Agriculture Dept says you need to process the jars for 10 minutes - that is put them back into the pot of boiling water making sure they don't touch the bottom of the pot or each other - put a rack or tea towel on the bottom of the pot
- remove the jars from the water after they have processed and set them upside down on the counter so that the orange pieces won't all settle to the bottom. once they have cooled for a few hours flip them upright and the orange rinds will settle nicely in the middle
- make sure all the lids have sealed by checking to make sure the center of the lid is sucked down towards the marmalade
- voila! enjoy on toast, crumpets, scones or, my favorite, pork chops (with garlic and whole grain mustard!)

Here's the link to the recipe on foodnetwork.com click here

Athens post #5 - The Acropolis!

I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to finally get the rest of these pictures processed and up! No excuses - beautiful weather has kept me from the computer and I made marmalade this afternoon while the girls were sleeping instead of working on the pictures - but here they are and there's really not too much to say. I think they speak for themselves although I'll give you some captions - enjoy!
The first view you have of the front of the Acropolis:
The back of the Propylaia - or entrance gate to the Acropolis - we walked through this to get inside:
This is as close as you can get to the Temple of Athena Nike - still restoring it!
Our first glimpse of the Parthenon:
The frieze - these are casts of the original carvings but we saw the actual ones in the New Acropolis Museum!
Us in front of the Parthenon:
Emmy!
Aidan!
The back of the Parthenon:
Heading over to the Erechtheion - you can see the famous Caryatid columns on the left side of the photo:
Columns in the Erechtheion:
the side of the Erechtheion - look how huge the columns are compared to Brendan and the kids!
Back side of the Erechtheion:
Caryatid columns of the Erechtheion:
I can't begin to explain how fascinating and exciting this visit was for me! Brendan and I both took many Greek Art and Archeology classes at Tufts. It's so amazing to stand in front of these beautiful buildings that I thought I would only ever see in photographs. I feel so lucky!!