Greece - Part 2 (Mom's version)

The update continues...for those who want to hear about our trip, or for those who are planning a visit.

After we left the Acropolis (back down the death-trap stairs with no guardrail!), we visited the new Acropolis Museum.

(Side note: One of the most impressive things I noted about Athens, and the Greek people in general, is their incredibly generous and tolerant attitude towards children. Not only are kids welcome everywhere, but bringing your children is encouraged in all manner of restaurants and museums. A perfect example of the Greek attitude toward children is the custom of not charging for children. Often restaurants and museums don't even charge you, or charge a nominal fee, for the kids. At the Acropolis Museum, I only had to pay one Euro for a ticket for myself...the girls got in free!)

The Acropolis Museum is an archaeological museum and was built to house every artifact found on the Acropolis from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. It also lies on the archaeological site of Makrygianni and the ruins of a part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens. The building itself is beautiful.

The coolest part is easily the glass floors that allow you to look down upon the ruins over which the museum was built. Maddie was a little freaked out and wanted to walk off to the side on the more solid-looking floor. We didn't spend long in the museum. There is only so much antiquity 12 year-old girls can take in one day. And I desperately wanted to see the...

National Gardens.

I love gardens. And if I travel and there is a chance to see a beautiful garden, then that's where I

want to go! So even though the energy of my sweet twins was flagging, we trekked back to the main square down town and walked the National Gardens of Athens from end to end. Greece is much more tropical than I would have expected, with a climate much like Florida. As a result, the botanical plantings reflect the long hot summers and mild winters. I did not expect to see palm trees, yet they were everywhere! The gardens were beautiful and I could have stayed for hours, but the girls had run out of steam. We made one last stop at the...

Greek Parliament Building to see the colourful Evzones perform the Changing of the Guard Ceremony in Syntagma Square. The guards wear traditional Greek uniforms and when they change places on the hour, they do an odd march that sort of looks like a dance. Here is a picture of the girls with one of the traditionally dressed guards.

Afterwards, we caught the shuttle so I could take my exhausted girls back to the hotel for a dip in the pool. But then I thought, why swim in a hotel pool when you can swim in the Mediterranean Sea?!?! And when will we ever

get a chance to do this again? So we walked down to the beach, and although it was a bit cold, there were many people, hotel guests and locals, taking an afternoon swim. It was beautiful and we watched all the cruise ships passing in the distance while the girls hunted for sea glass.

The end of our 2nd full day in Greece brought the biggest surprise. The conference Jamie was attending was hosting a big dinner and invited the families of all the conference guests. We were told the dinner was being held at a remote and private museum (The Vorres Museum http://www.sitemaker.gr/vorres/) and we would all be taken over on tour buses. We

had no idea where we were going, or how fantastic and unexpected our experience would be.

The tour buses dropped us off 40 minutes outside of Athens at a discreet entrance, a cobblestone walkway lit with candles that opened into a private courtyard. There was a harpist and other musicians playing in courtyard, an open bar and a beautiful selection of traditional Greek appetizers. The courtyard extended into a beautiful garden and then into a historic home that was converted into a small museum of Greek artifacts. We enjoyed the food and music and explored the area and rustic garden while waiting for all the other guests to arrive.

When dinner was announced, we were all led into the tiny house we had just explored and to our surprise, a secret door was opened to reveal an enormous modern art museum built beneath the home and into the side of the mountain. Several hundred guests walked through this "looking glass"-like door and meandered through dozens of modern paintings and sculptures. The

hallway ended with a giant gallery where an enormous banquet had been prepared amidst the artwork. Needless to say, we were all simply blown away by the magical hidden gallery and the incredible effort and generosity of the people hosting the conference who had arranged this dinner.

After we ate dinner (all traditional Greek cuisine), they had a live band and some Greek dancers give a demonstration of traditional Greek dance. At the end, they invited guests to join them and learn the dances. Jamie and the girls just wanted to watch, but I could

not resist giving it a try. Again, would I ever get a chance to try this again? In these pictures, I am being whirled around by one of the dance instructors. I have no idea what I am doing, so it is a credit to this man's dancing skills that it looks so easy! I certainly could have stayed longer, but my girls were exhausted and I knew we had a long day of adventure ahead of us, so we took the first bus back to the hotel.

Next up: Day Trip to the Center of the World!

Our Trip to Greece (Mom's Version - Part 1)

Wonderful. Our trip was wonderful!

I have to admit to some trepidation as we were planning this trip. Despite Jamie's company defraying some of the cost, an international trip for four is not an inexpensive endeavor. I wondered often if the girls would truly appreciate it. Would they understand the history? Would they be bored? Would the jet-lag overwhelm them? Would they have the stamina to run around and see all the sites I had planned for us? Would the limo ride to the airport be the best part?

Getting There

I was very pleasantly surprised by what good travelers the girls turned out to be. There was little to no whining or complaining and the girls were up for every adventure I had planned for them.

Maddie was accurate about the flight. It's a loooooong way and by the end of the journey, everyone just wants to get off that plane. But we each had a stack of books and a stash of snacks to ease the trip. Our hotel was on the outskirts of Athens. The good news: it was beautiful and right on the water over-looking the Mediterranean Sea. The bad news: it was 45 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic to get into down town Athens. In the end, we loved it and it felt like a good trade off. Had we stayed down town, we could have avoided the extra shuttle ride everyday, but we would have missed the seeing the incredible sites on the coast where the hotel was located.

Going to the Dogs (and cats)

I am not sure what Athens municipal policy on stray animals is, but is safe to assume it's more liberal than what I am used to in the U.S. Everywhere we went during our stay, there were stray dogs and cats dozing in the sun and under tables. The girls were thrilled! Both are passionate animal lovers and stopped frequently to pet as many as possible. Jamie and I tried to discourage them, but despite Jenny's memory that we didn't let her pet them, both girls managed to get their hands on dozens of stray pets each day.

Here are some high lights from the trip as well as some tips for anyone planning a trip to Greece.

The Plaka

The Plaka is the downtown marketplace. It is something of a tourist trap, but as

tourist traps go, it is absolutely charming. I've been to many touristy places in my life and most are filled with ridiculous plastic objects and there is very little variation from shop to shop.

Not the case here. We found so many wonderful shops filled with lovely clothing, jewelry, shoes and hand-made items. There was junk too, but even that was fun. Every shop offered a collection of plastic miniature replicas of the most common Greek gods and goddesses. We ended up purchasing a classic pair of Greek leather sandals for the twins (I am still wishing I had purchased a pair for myself!) and several "evil eye" charms made from venetian glass and silver...earrings for Jen and a necklace for Mads. Greece is a very superstitious country, and many locals still believe the evil eye wards off evil.

This area of Athens was charming. The streets are cobblestone and wind so unpredictably that I was concerned we might never make it back to our hotel. The area is dotted with small, family owned restaurants and fountains. And then you look up and suddenly, there it is...

The Acropolis

It is stunning how the Acropolis rises right out of the middle of Athens, hundreds of feet into the sky, capped by the Parthenon and all its history. We looked up and saw it many times the first day, but waited until day 2 to visit it so Jamie could be with us. On the 2nd day, our primary goal was to visit this incredible landmark and one of the Wonders of the Ancient World.

There is one main gate located next to the new Acropolis Museum, but without a tour guide, we didn't know about that. And I am so grateful, because had we known, we would have missed our own private adventure. We ended up trekking up the side of the Acropolis, through a sort of residential neighborhood, built right into the side of the mountain. I was most amused by the signage. Here we are, walking towards the Acropolis, one of the wonders of the world and the single greatest tourist attraction in Greece, and here is a picture of the official directional signs to guide you on your way.

Hilarious. And not particularly helpful at times. But totally charming. We ended up climbing to the top on a far less traveled path and had a much richer experience as a result. When we finally summitted the steep hillside, we joined the rest of the hundreds of tourists who had entered via the main gate. It was crowded and somewhat dangerous, yet stunning from every angle. In the US, every national treasure is heavily guarded, surrounded by glass or rope, with painstaking effort taken to ensure the safety of the tourists and accompanied by brochures and signs to explain exactly the details and history of the site you are visiting. Um, not the case here.

We wound our way up the steep steps with not a guardrail in sight. Jamie and I marveled about how many tourist must fall every day on the way up. The girls opted to skip the steps altogether and scamper up the rocks on the side. There are virtually no guards at the Parthenon, only a few college students with whistles. Jump on a 2000 year old treasure and get carted off to jail??? Nope. But someone will blow a whistle at you!

There are no signs, no barricades, no brochures. In a way, it's very refreshing. I was amazed by the sheer volume of marble remains...so much that often it is just piled up around the base of a temple and partitioned off by a single thin rope. There are dozens and dozens of Ionic and Corinthian capitals stacked in pallets as if to say, "Look! We have so much history here we just have to stack up the extra in a corner! Please don't stick it in your purse and walk off with it." (Oh that I could have carted one of those home to put in my garden!)

We spent about an hour at the top, examining Athena temple and the other smaller structures and then made our way back down to the museum area. It was incredible to see such an amazing intersection of history and architecture and I was pleased that the girls seemed to enjoy it and soak it all in, even though they did try to pet all the stray dogs on the way up and down : )

More to come! Stay tuned...

Greece - Day 2!

Our 2nd Day in Greece

By Jenny!

On our second full day in Athens, Greece, our family started out at the Plaka, the Greek

market place. We stopped at an ancient Greek Starbucks! After we got breakfast, we headed to the Acropolis and Parthenon. It took a while to get there because when we asked for directions, we got “That way…about ten minutes!” While it really took half an hour. It was pretty confusing! We went up narrow stairs and down small corridors. In my opinion, the best part was all the stray cats sleeping in the sun! I tried to pet all of them! But sadly, did not succeed. *sigh*

When we finally got up there, it started to get interesting. It was really high up, and we weren’t even at the top yet! There was a really big crowd and it was hard not to get jostled. We found our way up the steps pretty easily. This time there were stray dogs everywhere! Again I tried to pet them and again, I did not succeed. Mom and dad said “No!”

The temples were extremely amazing. When we were walking through the ruins, we found

we were able to sit on some of the ruins. So naturally we did. We found some carvings of letters in one of the blocks and that was really cool. And just before we left, Mom found, all stacked up, the top parts of pillars. I don’t really know how to explain it. All I know is that it was incredible how it was left there, all stacked up with no one to guard it.

After visiting the temples, Dad left to go back to the conference and Mom, Maddie, and I went back to the Plaka. We went shopping and wandering. Then we had lunch. We stopped at this sunny outdoor restraunt. We ordered lamb on sticks, pita bread, and Coke. Then we went to Greece’s new Acropolis Museum. It was HUGE! In some parts of the museum, the floor is glass, and you can see the ruins that the museum was built on!

Mom wanted to see the National Gardens, so we left the Plaka and headed for the gardens.

We wandered through the gardens, trying to find where the “ Changing of the Guard” took place. The “Changing of the Guard” is exactly what it sounds like. The guards change places every hour but they also do this funny sort of dance in front of the Greek Parliament building. We made a mistake and went to the back of the building where there were two guard dogs. I was a little scared then. After we found the right place and went back to the hotel, we went to a dinner for my dad’s company.

We got all dressed up and went to the dinner.

The dinner was held at an art museum and we ate in a gallery. Before dinner, we wandered around in the museum and looked

at the paintings and sculptures. One painting that creeped me out was a crazy picture of a doll’s head. In the end we were all really tired. So that’s the end of our second day!

Next up: Mom's version of the trip. Hint: I was not as focused on petting stray dogs during our trip ; )

The Trip to Greece

It’s Maddie writing this time. I have never written a blog entry, so this is my first time. Well, here goes!

Our trip to Greece was so far the coolest place I have ever been to. Like, I have never ridden to the airport in black limousine. That was our ride.*

It was huge inside, even bigger then how it looked from the outside. For once in my life, I was glad that it took a while for us to get to the airport. After stuffing all three suitcases into the trunk, and even the front seat, we sat down inside the limo and drove away from our house, Jack and Brady waving as we went. (Boy, you should have my Aussie Shepard’s reaction to being left behind ).

Inside the airport, we came face to face with the worst part about traveling in an airport. The lines. But as we were traveling to a different country, the lines were a bit shorter because not that many people go to London in the fall, at least, not as many as the amount of people going to Florida. We quickly found our gate after going through security, and when the women announced that it was time to board the plane, I had know idea how long this plane ride was going to be.

When you are flying to another state, like from New Jersey to Georgia, it takes about two, maybe two and a half hours. But when you are flying from New Jersey to London, it’s a whole other story. That plane ride was six and a half hours straight, and even thought there were T.V. screens on the back of each seat, I was waiting for the plane to land so that I could get off and never come back. I didn’t even want to think about the plane ride home. On the last hour of the last plane ride, I just kind of snapped. I needed to get off, and fast. As soon as the plane landed, I hurried off. We met up with a woman named Chris, a friend of dad’s from his work. When we got all of our luggage, and had gotten into the taxi, we sat enjoying the sights from the windows of our cab.

(Mom is interrupting this post to point out that we actually got on a 2^nd flight from London to Athens, which Maddie either does not remember because she was asleep or she has blocked it out because no active 11-yr old wants to be cooped up on an airplane for 2 consecutive international flights! Now, back to Maddie.)

Our hotel was called the Divani Apollo, and when we screeched to a stop in from of the hotel, mom checked us in, and we went on up to our room, number 111. As soon as our luggage was set, and our bathing suits were on, we took the elevator down to the pool. It was huge (and cold), and we chose a couple of chairs, sat down, and hung out there for a while. Actually, after mom and dad had had their nap, we decided that we were all hungry, so we sat down at the pool side restaurant, and ordered our food. It was really good food, and we all had an early bed time, so that we would be ready for the day ahead.

The next morning, we split up. Dad had to go to a thing with his work, and Mom, Jenny, and I went to the Greek outdoor market called the Plaka. The ride to the Plaka was very long (at least to me it was) , and it was kind a bumpy on the hotel shuttle, so I was glad when we finally arrived. There were people everywhere, and we actually got to see a little glimpse of the Changing of the Guard at the Embassy. We walked all around, admiring the pretty necklaces, beautiful scarves, and Greek shoes.

There was even a large Lego store, with a life size Lego sculpture of a famous basketball player. (At the airport on the way home, we saw a life size Yoda Lego sculpture.)

After walking through the twisting streets for a while, we sat down to eat at a small restaurant. We ordered a plate of chicken and pork Souvlaki.

It was great, and they had french fries on the plate as well. In Greece, pretty much all of the potatoes are French fries, literally. I was really full by the time we left the restaurant. I was looking around the winding streets when I spotted something in the corner of my eye. It was a man sitting on the ground with a wooden board and a bag full of what looked like squishy, colorful little balls.

As we watched, he took one of them out of his bag and threw it onto the wooden board. To my surprise, it didn’t bounce off the way that I had thought it would. Instead, it appeared to have melted. As we stood there, the ball began to take it’s own shape again, until it had assumed it’s natural form. Jenny and I instantly walked over and watched him again and again, until mom walked over. We immediately began to beg for one. Mom watched him for a moment, and then decided that we would really enjoy this, so Jenny and I picked one out, and mom got them for us, along with buying one for Brady too. (We played for 15 minutes straight back at the hotel). Well, by the time we had got back to the place where the hotel shuttle was going to pick us up, we were all really thirsty. We bought two waters and ice cream and waited for the shuttle. When it came, Jenny and I fell asleep, and I awoke when we were about halfway there. I watched the beautiful scenery (but I also saw a lot of graffiti-covered buildings), and when we got back to the hotel, I wanted to fall asleep right then and there, but we walked down stairs and ate dinner.

When we ordered the dessert, though, I could have stayed down there for years. It was delicious, and after we finished we went up stairs, got into our pajama’s, and went to bed.

THE END of DAY ONE!

* Mom's note: The Farmer family does not routinely (or ever!) travel around in limousines. I wish! Could you imagine arriving at the local Shoprite in a limo? The truth is, because of Jamie’s travel schedule with work, they provide a ride to the airport for any of his business related trips. Occasionally, when demand is high, the transportation company runs out of standard black sedans, and they send a limo. The girls were so excited that for a minute there I thought perhaps the whole trip was a waste and maybe we should just ride around in the limo for a few hours and go home. They flat out loved it!

Prelude to a Field Trip (and Oh! What a field trip!)

When we decided to homeschool the girls, a big part of that decision was the ability we would have to go on fun field trips and maybe even travel a bit.  Little did we know the opportunity that would come our way.  Roughly a week before the start of the new school year, Jamie (daddy) was asked to speak at a conference in Athens, Greece.  We didn't hesitate for a moment!  We scoured the internet for the cheapest flights we could find and asked a dear friend to watch Jack and Bay.

As part of our curriculum for 6th grade, we are studying history from early man through the fall of Rome.  A study of Greece is part of our fall schedule anyway.  What could be a more amazing field trip than actually going to Greece?!?!  I know...it just could not be any cooler!

To supplement our regular assignments, the girls had to research present day Greece and report on the capital, currency, president, form of government, etc...  I also asked them to make travel brochures highlighting all the important historical sites they wanted to visit as well as pinpointing some restaurants and shopping locations we might want to check out.  

Next, I checked out a copy of Homer's The Odyssey.  Then I returned it to the library the next day!  While I don't believe a study of Homer is beyond the girls intellectually right now, it was beyond my ability as a teacher to add this difficult material to our already packed schedule.  Instead, I checked out an abbreviated version that hit all the highlights.  

Finally, we cooked a Greek meal (lamb, cucumber salad, spinach, couscous) and rented a few videos on travel to Greece.  We love the PBS series by Rick Steves and it gave us a wonderful look at what we could expect on our visit.

When the limo finally pulled up to our house on Oct. 3rd (yes!  A limo...but I'll let the girls tell you about that!) we were packed and ready to go.  Over the next few days, I will encourage Maddie and Jenny to tell you all about our trip.  It was an amazing experience.  We are all still a bit jet-lagged, but I can't stop thinking about what an incredible opportunity it was.  I'd love to go again!

Rockin' Field Trip to the Aquarium

Reason #4982-6 why homeschooling my kids this year rocks:  week day field trips with no crowds.

Last year I started squirreling away a little money to pay for our field trips this year.  I didn't want to waste the chance to visit all our local (or not so local) hot spots, but that can get expensive.  My plan was to purchase annual passes so we would have the freedom to visit these places, not once, but as many times as our schedule would allow.

Today was our first trip to the Adventure Aquarium outside of Philadelphia.  Both my girls are fascinated by the ocean and sea creatures; Maddie so much so that she has decided to make her living as a marine biologist some day (specifically, as a dolphin trainer at Sea World).  

We have visited the Aquarium a few times before, but only on weekends when the lines are long and it is so crowded you can barely see the exhibits.  This week, we went at 1pm on a weekday.  It was empty!

After a quick lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, where our waiter, 

Jeff, amused the girls and spoiled them by refilling their Coke glasses far more often than I would have liked, we made our way to the Aquarium.  

We looked at every kind of fish, gazed at the sea turtles, 

shrieked at the scary sharks, pointed at the clown fish,

 touched sting rays, pet the bamboo sharks, poked the star fish, laughed at the sea lions and watched the penguins paint.  Yep, you read that right.  The penguins paint at our Aquarium. 

 The staff concocted an outrageous idea to dip the penguins feet in paint and let them waddle across a canvas.  Then they sell the paintings and proceeds go to fund wildlife rescue operations. 

 We just happened to be there as they were setting up. 

The penguin keeper mentioned that this is something your average penguin at the South Pole would not get a chance to do.  Um, ya think?

We had an incredible time, and didn't even make it to see the hippos or the shark exhibits.  

But guess what?  We are homeschoolers with annual passes, so we'll go see that stuff next week!

Creative Writing and Art...Isn't it ironic?

When I first started telling people I was planning on homeschooling the girls, one of the first questions everyone asked was, "do you feel comfortable teaching that math?"  That math is the rather challenging math program our township uses that frequently has parents pulling their hair out all over town between the hours of 5 and 8pm on any given night.

Yes.  I was a bit concerned about teaching math to the girls.  I like math, but it has never been my passion.

My passion, obvious to anyone who knows me, is creativity.  Art and creative writing were the areas where I excelled as a kid. I don't know if I have any particular gift, I just know I love it.  I feel alive when I am painting, drawing, designing or writing.  I thought teaching this to my girls would be a slam dunk.  No problem.  Easy as pie.  A cinch.  A no-brainer.  You can see where this is going...

It turns out, math has been a pleasure to teach.  The material is straight-forward and objective.  There is a clear beginning and an end.  There is only one right answer.  Everybody knows what is expected of them.

Creative writing and art?  So subjective. So many right answers.  And when the writing or the drawing is wrong somehow, it's often hard to explain why.  There is no formula to follow to make the correction.  

Still, some of our most spectacular moments over the past few weeks have involved riding our bikes to the lake and setting up easels.  Even though I have struggled to explain "vanishing point" and "perspective" in a way they can understand, it is still an uncommon pleasure to 

lean over your daughter's shoulder, paint brush in hand, and show her how to poke a puffy little cloud into her landscape in a way that looks more realistic, and less like the cartoons she is used to drawing.  With the sun shining and the dog at our ankles, it ceases to matter if we "get it right."  Thankfully, there is no formula for spending time with your kids...

Sometimes Math Can Be Fun...

In addition to all the fun stuff we get to do during the week, we are also actually doing a little work!  But "work" is a funny word.  The attitude of the person doing the work determines how much "work" is actually involved.  Almost anything that sounds like work can be fun if you make an attempt to make it so.  (Okay, so probably not scrubbing the toilets and a long list of other stuff, but hear me out here!)

I don't think you could say math is my girl's favorite subject.  They don't dislike it, per se.  And they don't struggle with math at all.  I just don't think it thrills them.  Since I get to be the teacher this year, we are trying to make math fun.

We have a giant blackboard in our library downstairs and one cozy, reading chair.  Before homeschool, I used the chair only to listen to the girls practice piano in the afternoons.  But now that we do math lessons on the chalkboard, a friendly competition has broken out (read: big fights) over who gets to sit in it and who has to sit on the floor.

This week we stumbled upon the idea of competing to sit in the chair.  Two girls, two math problems on the board, whoever solves the problem correctly first gets to hightail it into the chair (which is often occupied by our Aussie Sheppard, Satchel, who thinks he is being homeschooled as well).  This resulted is speedy math solutions and peals of laughter.  For the time being, math is fun.  

Next up:  I'm eyeing that great big, bare driveway outside and a bucket of sidewalk chalk.  That might put a nice spin on our upcoming Algebra lesson.