things are better with a parrott

Honeymoon Photos - Santorini

Santorini!  Quite possibly the most beautiful & BLUE place on earth.  You will surely notice how crazy blue the sky is all of the photos.  Everyday was more gorgeous than the one before {except that one day it rained...}.  We stayed in the village of Oia at the very end of Santorini.  It was a happy medium between the super busy & touristy capital of Fira & the quiet, small village of Imerovigli.  For the first three days we stayed at the luxury Ikies Resort & it was amazing!  We spent our final week in a rented apartment down 160+ steps near the center of the village.  We spent the first three days relaxing & recouperating from Athens.  Everyday we did something new from visting the local winery, Domaine Sigalas, to taking a boat to the volcano, walking around & trying a new place to eat each day, & visiting many of the beaches including the White Beach, Red Beach, Baxedes, & Kamari.  It was the end of the torist season which was nice as it was not too busy & oftens we were the only people on the beach or walking around!

If you would like to see more Santorini photos, along with the rest of our Greek Honeymoon, you may view them on my flickr page. 

Happy weekend!

Honeymoon Photos - Around Athens

Happy Friday!  I missed sharing photos last week from our honeymoon, but I am back with a few little day trips we took to the Peloponnese includind the towns of Mycenae, Nafplio, & Epidavros, & Vouliagmeni, a beach town outside of Athens. 

First up, the ancient city of Mycenae in the north-eastern Peloponnese. It was one of the major centers of Greek civilization and a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece.  Myceane is historically significant because one of the kings, Agamemnon, waged the Trojan War {anyone seen Troy?}

Nafplio is a beautiful port city & former capital of Greece.

Epidavros was an ancient Greek city known as the birthplace of Asclepius the Healer {& son of Apollo}. The asclepieion at Epidavros was the most celebrated healing center of the Classical world.  We visited the ancient theater which is still in use today & seats 15,000 people!

Vouliagmeni is a pretty little beach town.  Most of the beaches are, in fact, cliffs & you have climb down to get close to the water.  Then you can either slide down the rocks or just jump off to get in.  I slid down the rocks!  We did a little bit of snorkling & you can see Rich floating around in the bottom photo.

Next week I will have the last installment of our honeymoon photos.  I saved the best for last...Santorini!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Honeymoon Photos - Athens

Happy Friday!  I thought we could take a little trip to...Athens, Greece!  We spent a glorious three weeks in Greece after our wedding in September.  We spent the first week in Athens & I would like to share a few photos today.

While in Athens we spent a wonderful week in an apartment we rented in The Plaka, the oldest neighborhood in Athens at the foot of the Acropolis.  Most of the streets are closed to vehicles, & it is full of shops & restaurants.  We loved being able to walk to the Parthenon & other historic sites.  We visited the Acropolis Museum & the National Archaeological Museum which were full of interesting ruins from the Acropolis, Parthenon, & other temples throughout Athens.  We visited various historic sites from The Ancient Agora to Hadrian's Library.  We ate the most delicious meals full of grape leaves, greek salads topped with fresh feta, & local fish in the tavernas.  I got hooked on Nescafe Frappes.  When we spoke with locals & some tourists they wondered why on earth we would spend an entire week in Athens.  What were we doing?  While we do agree one week was a bit much & 4 days would have been plenty, each day we were busy exploring the city.  We did rent a car & took a few day trips, which I will share next week.  In the meantime, I have a few more photos on Flickr if you would like to see.

Have a wonderful weekend!  I still need to carve my little pumpkins, but my candy is ready for those few trick-or-treaters we do get {for some reason, a large, dead-end hill is not appealing to the young ones...}  Happy Halloween!

Paris Deux

 

A view from inside The Louvre.  We spent two & a half days in the Louvre, spending most of our time in the Egyptian & Renaissance art.

 

A picnic in the Tuileries.

  

The Tuileries.

 

It took some planning to be sure we saw what we wanted at the Louvre!

 

 

The flower markets outside of Notre Dame.

 

Notre Dame.

 

The sleeping pigeons of Notre Dame.

 

Matching the marigolds outside of Notre Dame ever so nicely.

 

Musee de l'Orangerie home of Monet's Les Nympheas {The Waterlilies}.  This was one of my favorite places we went.  So quiet & beautiful.

 

Sainte Chapelle.  Absolutely stunning.

 

In Place du Tertre, the heart of Montmartre where artists set-up their easels & sell their work.  Artists such as Picasso, Modigliani, & Utrillo lived & painted here.  This was another favorite part of Paris.  I loved living in Montmartre for those ten short days.

 

Around Place du Tertre.

  

A view from atop the Arc de Triomphe looking at Sacre-Coeur.

 

Pere-Lachaise Cemetary where we saw the graves of Oscar Wilde, George Bizet, & Jim Morrison {of course}.

 

A view from Montmarte at dusk on our last night in Paris.

 

The last view of Sacre-Coeur. 

With that, our trip to Paris comes to an end *le sigh*.....

Paris

 

The garden at Invalides.

 

Moulin de la Gallette on Rue Lepic in Montmartre.

 

The street behind our apartment leading to Sacre-Coeur.

 

Sacre-Coeur at the very top of Montmartre. 

 

Le Metro at Abbesses in Montmartre - one stop before our Metro at Lamarck.

 

A boutique coffee shop in Paris...named after Rich...

 

Place de Concorde with the Champs-Elysees & the Arc de Triomphe behind me.

Inside the Musee d'Orsay, an amazing museum in an old train station.

 

My Aunt & me at Versailles.

 

Just standing in front of my gilded gates.  No biggie. 

 

How come I do not see this when I look up in my dining room?  {I suppose I need a dining room first.}  In the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. 

 

Jeff Koons had an exhibit at Versailles.  Personally, I was not a fan, but you can read more here.  This piece did make for a fun photo op in the Hall of Mirrors however.

 

The gardens of Versailles.

More photos tomorrow!  I wish I could share all {300+} photos with you...but then we would be here for quite some time.  Until...