August, Summer Holidays, Naxos I

August means summer and summer means holidays!

Hello little one - we are setting off for Naxos with your cousins, your aunty Lilly and Grandad P and Granny Y.



Here you are with Mummy and Cousin E on the boat. Can you see in the background what's going on? It's the famous Hekatontapyliani church of Paros - they say it was built by St. Helena herself... (actually, you can't see it in this photo, Daddy likes to show off!).



We were on Naxos last year and after Daddy went back to Athens to get ready to go to France for the FSE General Assembly, Mummy realised that she was going to have a baby. You! Look at you now, one year on in your little sun hat...



Here we are with a very happy Daddy! We are on the back of the boat with the wide expanse of the Aegean behind us. You liked to be out on the back of the boat with the smell of the surf and the briny winds. You weren't too keen on the exhaust fumes from the Goodies restaurant, and to be honest, I don't blame you.





While on the boat, we had to change your nappy at some point and the nice steward unlocked the disabled bathroom for us so we could use the changing table in there. The disabled bathroom is very big compared to the other one and gave us plenty of room to manoeuvre and wash you with running water properly. Full marks to the Blue Star steward for this one.

On the left, you are lying on the changing table waiting to get changed. Here on the right, you can see how we set up your child seat so you could sit comfortably for the whole journey.



We spent the summer at Athina's apartments in the Plaka area of Naxos. It was our third time at Athina's rooms. She was expecting you and had set out a play pen for you and had put a friendly teddy bear in there for you. We called him Athinoulis.



This is a common sight in the Plaka area - can you see how the dog likes to be on top of the car?



Here is Mummy with the pram on our first day on Naxos as we headed to the world famous Cedar Cafe. Can you see how she positions the sling over the pram so the sun does not burn you. This is how we moved you around in the day. There is a funny video here with cousin E pushing the wrapped up pram:



It was quite a windy day, that one...

Our average day went a little like this: We would wake up and Mummy would feed you in the morning, then sometimes your cousins would come round on their way to the beach to play.

Here they are in our room both of them trying to get your attention with the wind-up music box.


And here they are all together with Aunty Lilly.

Sometimes Daddy would have to sit and work on his laptop - and you would help him by hanging on his shoulder:


You were a great help to Daddy, so much so that things he worked on in Naxos are still having results almost six months later.

Some days, we would all go to the world-famous Cedar Cafe for eggs and bacon or for cakes and coffee. Here is a selection of photographs from Cedar Cafe.



We were most often there with Aunty Lilly and Uncle Claude and your cousins:





Here we are all together at Cedars in a photo taken by Daddy's friend Lefteris:



Sometimes we would go to the supermarket in town and buy exciting things to eat in our rooms, all together. Here Mummy is preparing scrambled eggs with some eggs from real hens that one of the cleaning ladies gave to us.



We tried all sorts of meat cuts from the meat counter of the supermarket but our most interesting discovery was the Naxian cheese shop in the town. Very interesting indeed.

Sometimes friends would come and visit us. Here are some photos of friends who visited us in Naxos:

On the left is Daddy's boss Marianna, and on the right is Daddy's friend Lefteris. Below is Daddy's friend Margarita.

First trip on the Athens Metro

Hello little one.

Saturday 11 July was a big day for you little one.

Mummy and Daddy decided to go out shopping again, and although it was not your first time at the shops, it was going to be your first time on public transport and first time on the Athens Metro. The Athens Metro is a nice piece of engineering put together for the Olympic Games in 2004. Aunty Igor went on the Metro before it opened while she was a journalist with the Athens News (Greece's only English Language Daily Newspaper) together with the then prime minister Kostas Simitis. A lot of things have changed since then for everyone, but Daddy will not forget the excitement of watching the opening ceremony online and playing with the controllable webcam to look at the archaeological "section".



Here's a photo of you in your sling in the sun (see how it shines a little through the linen fabric) and here's a photo of you in the Syntagma station. Mummy is holding you so that Daddy can get the sling in order again.



In this last photo you are sucking your fingers in Ermou Street, the big shopping street of Athens. You can just see the Kapnikarea in the distance above your head. The Kapnikarea is a 11th Century church and Daddy uses it when he is taking guests around town to show how street levels rise and the basic concepts of archaeological stromatography.



Here are a couple of videos showing your first trip on the Metro: Going to Ermou and coming back…





In the evening we went to Granny Y and Grandad P. You sat while Daddy played Scrabble with Grandad P and Mummy helped Granny Y get the house ready for your cousins Alexandros and Esmeralda who are coming soon.