Animals Abroad!

This is a special edition blog entry. It is made for all our furry friends (and thier human companions) back home. Especially Jeans, Camille, Xander, George and Hugo, who have enjoyed our other animal pictures so much,and Bailey,(the angel) Bennett (the newly appointed 'family' cat) and Oliver (Jess' favourite delinquent). We are still relaxing in Belfast with our favourite hosts. Today we went to the Belfast Zoo, Aladdin (the Pantomine) and out for a Pizza Hut dinner. The day of every kid's dreams (big kids too)! Do we have pantomines in Canada? Because they are SO much fun! Anyways, without furthur ado, here are some of our favourite European domestics!




This was from way back in Zandvoort in the Netherlands. This pup loved to play fetch in the water. He would swim out quite deep on a quest for the ball. Then he would return the ball to his owner, and shake off, sending wet dog water everywhere.








This is in the Cinque Terre, Italy. Italian kitties love thier sunbathing. This picture was even cooler, but Jonathan was taking so long to actually take the picture that those people walked in the way. Tourists!








This was a resident puppy of Pompeii. I guess Italian dogs like thier sun too. They slept all over the city, paying no attention to the tourists that invaded it.









These are our favourite Corfu-ian puppies, Lemon and Squirt. They have probably just discovered something extremely exciting (for them) like a hedgehog. As far as I am concerned, as long as it isn't another chicken, they can chase whoever they want!

Again, with Blogger ruining our fun. Don't worry furry friends, we have a whole folder of animal pictures for you when we get home! See everyone in a couple days!

Merry Christmas from Northern Ireland!

Well everyone, its that time of year again! Can you believe it? We can't. This is a picture of us getting into the Christmas spitit in front of the outdoor skating rink that have in London. We didn't actually skate, just watched from the sidelines. It seemed a much safer option. Skating is such a novelty that they charge ridiculous prices to skate AND those prices only allow you to skate for 1 hour! They have allotted times, so if you don't get on the ice right when your allotted time starts, you only get the remaining part of the hour! It was something like $25 per person, per hour to skate. More if you wanted the romance of skating at night. It was hilarious to watch people try to skate though. Nobody could! Every person on the ice was a worse skater than myself. (Now that is saying something.) Grown men were falling all over the place and everyone was grabbing onto the walls and wobbling along the edge and running into eachother. I would be an even worse skater than I am if I had to pay $25 for an hour of practice on a busy rink too, so I suppose you really can't blame them!


This Christmas we have the privledge of being with Jonathan's family in Belfast for the Holidays. We are having a great, relaxing time. We really appreciate all the things that Aunt Eileen and Uncle Trevor have done to make us feel so welcome here. Aunt Eileen must have some sort of professional experience in accomodating tired backpackers, as she seems to know exactly what we need. She even had fresh new toothbrushes out for us to use! And a washing machine! What luxuries! Anyways, we hope that everyone has a great Christmas and Happy New Year! We are looking forward to coming home and seeing friends and family next year. It sounds longer than it is, eh? (Haven't lost the Canadian 'eh')

ps. Thank you for the Christmas cards! It is great to get something from home when we are so far away for the holidays!

Blogger is letting us upload pictures now, so here are the London ones:

This is the British Museum lobby. It is the largest covered lobby in the world, I think. Its a couple football fields in length! In the middle part is a huge reading room open to the public. Actually the whole museum was free! It was pretty interesting, for a museum.
















Westminster Abbey. This isn't actually the front of the church, but the side. I always thought that it was the front. It looks wet all the time, doesn't it? We actually even had the chance to go to a service in side. It was beautiful. (As you would expect)












Wicked! What a wonderful wonderful 3 hours of my life! Too bad Jonathan wouldn't let me see it again the next night... and the next... and the next. Something about wanting to see other shows as well. How close minded! Do you know that Glinda the Good Witch actually smiled at me during one of her songs? Ya, we're close friends now.











For the Zehrs lady who wanted to see what the flowers that were sent to Ireland looked like. (aka: The Christmas flowers mom sent Aunt Eileen.)

ohhhh... awwwww















A photo of Big Ben (although the name Big Ben refers to the bell that you can't see, not the actual tower) that I imported in much to large, much to Jonathan's dismay.

















It's Christmas time in Trafalger Square! The Christmas tree is apparently donated to London ny Norway. There were carols every night just on the steps in front of the Art Gallery, which you can see there.









We had more pictures, but apparently this is all Blogger will allow us to upload for the time being. We'll keep trying though.. for our fans!

Smart Londoners Don't Feed the Pigeons!

London. A city we weren't even planning to go to, ended up being our longest stay. There was just so much to do in London, we stayed all week! The National Gallery had a great assortment of the favourite Masters, from Manet to Picasso. The British Museum led us through Greek, Assyrian and Roman civilizations. I am not even going to ask why Britain has all these Masterpieces from other countries, or the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon because I got to see them for free!

Although I still maintain that 'Wicked' is the best show (ever), Jonathan really enjoyed Monty Python's 'Spamalot'. 'Spamalot' was based on the movie where King Aurthur and his knights wind up in a hilarious search for the Holy Grail. The Blue Man Group was a really different messy kind of experience with 3 bright blue men. Hence the name, I suppose. The Nutcracker was the first ballet that either of us had ever seen. We really enjoyed it. The music was really well done (or so Jonathan says) and the dancing was incredible. What I didn't realize is that the ballet is funny. They had costumes (not tu-tus) and were quite amusing. Don't worry though, the Sugar Plum Fairy was wearing a typical stiff tu tu like ensemble and her Prince was most definitly in tights. They were unbelievably graceful.

One of our favourite days on the enitre trip actually occured in London. Well, to be more accurate, about 25 minutes out of London in the company of my long-lost and found family, Jean and Trevor. We spent a wonderful day together drinking tea, eating at a great English pub, visiting family and learning about my Frost past. It turns out that I have some very creative family in England. Jean showed us her beautiful paintings and her daughter gave us a neat Christmas bag that she had made! (It wil be avaiable for showing upon my arrival home. Advance tickets can now be purchased.) The beautiful scarf Jean gave me (that she knit herself) turned out to be a vital piece of clothing in the cold London days to follow.

As was the case for the whole trip, we had wonderful weather in london (well, by London standards). It was grey and cloudy, but no rain! Despite the lack of snow, London provided some Christmas cheer. There was a huge Christmas tree in Trafalger Square and every night there was a different group of carollers singinng. Regent street was lit up with lights and cartoon characters. It is also the home to what must be the biggest toy store ever! 6 floors of toys! As Jon made a B-line to the boring boy floor, I watched employees show off magical magic markers, hover craft things, jewerlly sticker and magnet makers and amaze with magic tricks. How can boring X-Man figurines (Jonathan's floor) compare with real live Princess goodies, including dress, crown and your very own Prince Charming? (So I added the Prince Charming part in myself..but believe me, for a price Im sure this store could provide that too). There was a whole floor devoted to cuddly stuffed animals, some of which were life size! Like a little boy who's Christmas wish came true, Jonathan was able to pet a life size pony! (Jonathan's allergic to horses.)Don't worry, I documented the magical moment so we can later blow it up and frame it for him!


Sorry about the lack of pictures but Blogger won't let us upload them to the entry. We'll keep trying!

Wicked!!

For those of you who don't know, we are in London! It is great! We have made it our (expensive) mission to see a live show each night. (To benefit you at home, of course, as we will be more than willing to recount every detail in January). To date we have seen the Lion King, Wicked, The Nutcracker, and, tonight, the Blue Man Show. One show that I can't wait to praise, however, is Wicked. It was so so so so amazing! I don't know how much of my opinion is based on the fact that we saw it front row, but either way: I loved it! We waited in line for about an hour as the box office releases 25 front row seats for 25 pounds every day at 10am to those willing to bear the cold outside in line. We were front row, just left of the centre! Jon is laughing at me becasue I am just as excited to write about it now, as I was to see it. The music was incredible (soundtrack for Christmas, anyone?), the acting was great, the costumes and props amazing. Again, I am out of adjectives...and time. Anyways, go see Wicked! (or atleast the website)

http://www.wickedthemusical.com/

What We've Been Up Too...

This is in Aegina on one of their cool rock formations that they call a beach. The water was so clear and blue I thought that any moment a dolphin would start jumping around.








These are bags of pistachios from the pistacho capital of the world: Aegina. It is a Sarconic island about an hour from Athens. There are pistachios everywhere. For pistachio lovers it would be like Belguim was for me! Delicious!








This is a famous Santorini sunset. The sun is setting right over the volcano that once ruined the island, but is also the reason Santorini is so beautiful.











This is one of Santorini's black sand beaches. It is 9km long!













Jonathan, like Frasier, specializes in dog-human relations. On our walk along Santorini's black sand beach we picked up 7, yes 7, stray dog friends. They trotted ahead of us mostly, except for the suck up who heeled beside us for almost 2 hours. It was crazy. They even listened when Jon called them all over. Although, he was standing right in front of a dumpster, so they may have thought that he was going to throw them some bags. They chased cats, scared kids and drank salt water. It was great! If you ever come to greece, bring dog treats, you'll never be lonely!








This is Santorini's Red Beach. It is actually red! There is a cliff behind the beach that is red too. The 'sand' is mostly smooth round red rocks, but there is a little bit of red sand too.









This is Oia in Santorini. It is the most beautiful places on the island. Everything is white and perfect. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so good that day, but it was still incredibly beautiful.








Look at the view this kitty has! He probably doesn't even appreciate it!









If you knew how mnay pictures I had like this, you would...actually probaly not be shocked. Its alot.











We are cute in Oia.










Don't worry, he doesn't jump. Another friend we picked up along the way.











Beautiful Oia.














I couldn't help it.












Another cute stray. They put food around Santorini for all the stray animals though. Its the Greek version of a humane society. The abundance of food really only translates into an abundance of poo on the sidewalks.





Our first view of Santorini up on the Caladera cliffs from the ferry ride in. The cliffs were so colourful, the houses so white; it was love at first sight.











This is an exciting picture, because it is the first time that I "swam in an ocean." By swimming I mean running into the water, falling backwards, getting a mouthfull of salty water, and running out before I could get eaten by a shark.



In Paros,.one of the Cycladic Islands, we rented a little 5-speed car and toured around the whole island. It took a tiny while for Jonathan to get used to the 5 speed, but a little practice in a beach parkinglot, and we were cruising with the locals, singing along with Greek music on the radio. Paros had quite a lot of beaches. Like in Finikoundas, we were usually the only ones there.





This is the beach opposite the harbour in Paros. It had weird looking ducks and a really yappy stray dog that chased cars and followed us around. Maybe there is some Urban Legend among stray dogs that if you follow someone long enough they will feel bad and adopt you or something.









This is so typically Cycladic that I had to post it. Can you believe that they still have such beautiful flowers in Decemeber? Everyone has them, too. Maybe it is a requirement. If so, its a good one.








This is Paros' windmill. Alot of Greek villages have windmills like this one. They are very picturesque, as you can see.

The Pelopennese

Being in the Pelopennese is like travelling back into a different time. It is incredibly beautiful both scenicly and culturally. Since our time there went pretty much perfectly, we don't really have any stories to tell, so we figured that we would jsut explain some pictures.

This is us, hanging out on our private beach, waiting for the sun to set. There were kilometers of wide sandy beaches and we were the only ones enjoying them!






This is Finikoundas' port. It had bright fishing boats that bustled in and out at sunset, bringing back what we assume to be smelly smelly fish.









This is Finikoundas. It is one of the most beautiful places that we have been, right at the tip of one of the peninsulas that extend right out into the sea. This beach is actually made up of smooth rocks.






This is me on the dock in Pilos. I had to post it because my hair looks so nice, and let me tell you, that doesn't happen often over here. The sea and the rocks in the back are neat too though. They jut out of the ocean randomly in Greece, and it is really stunning.








This is Pilos again, but the town side. Aren't we cute? Pilos wasn't even a planned trip, but due to the lack of public transportation in Greece, especially on Sundays, we ended up here. Not at all a bad place to end up.



We had alot more pictures, but apparently Blogger doesn't want to upload them for us. I guess you will have to wait till we get home to hear about Jonathan's "Save the Eel Foundation" (We are currently accepting donations).