Athens

The hotel Kelvin booked - Classical Baby Grand - is quite funky and in the downtown core. This makes exploring by foot much easier. We had a very busy sightseeing day. Visited some monuments and bought 2 outlet converters. The one Kelvin's dad gave us didn't fit into the hotel's wall. The hotel even gave us a "love" room when Kel told them that we're on our honeymoon.

Things to do in Athens

Acropolis (Akropolis)

• this was a spectacular site to visit - a MUST do while in Athens
• the acropolis was within walking distance from the hotel so we went up to see it in the morning and then went back to Plaka to have dinner while watching the sun set over the acropolis, very romantic!
  
• the crowds are horrendous during the daytime but we managed to get some pictures with no people in it

Ancient Agora

• more columns, ruins...I'm beginning to think we should have done some research or reading before hitting all of these ruins to find out what so great about them...
  

National Archaeological Museum

• lots of traditional types of statues - with or without heads
• would probably take half a day to go through it word for word - we didn't have that much time so we ran around a looked at the highlights
  

Parthenon

• I like the symmetry...columns in rows is becoming a photographic theme :-)
  

We managed to crap a lot of the Athen highlights into the day and end it with a wonderful dinner overlooking the Acropolis.

freestyle cruising

This is the first time Kel and I have gone on a cruise - let alone one to Europe. How exciting! The ship is called the Norwegian Jade. It's quite a large ship so I can't wait to see what it has to offer. This is our home-away-from home for the next 2 weeks. We'll post more pictures later on. I must say, "freestyle" cruising is much different from the conventional cruise ships. Everyone is so laid back. I love our room stewards - Micheal and Zaldi - they're always so cheerful! Plus they call us "Miss Kim" and "Mr. Le". That hilarious as the minister at the Church had also pronounced us "Mr & Mrs Le" on our wedding day. :-)

The ship is super germa-phobic. They spray us with antibacterial stuff at every turn. We're not allowed to touch any food at the buffet either. Everything has to be handled by them. I guess it's for our own safety. Last thing we need is an "outbreak" aboard the ship. It's only a pain in the butt when you have to wait in the buffet line for the staff to scoop something into your plate. If you dare reach for the anything on the table - you'd get scolded at. :-)

Where are we going for the cruise? Here's the itinerary:

• START = Athens (Piraeus)
  
• Katakolon
• Corfu
• Alexandria (and Cairo)
• Iraklion
• Mykonos
• Izmire
• END = Istanbul
  

honeymooners

Thank you everyone for the SUPERB help and support on our wedding day. Who was tired Sunday?!!! KEL AND ME!!! My god - we left the reception - went back to Kel's house to entertain the out-of-town guests. Barely had time to take a shower and skirted off to Seattle. Kel was to drive to whole way but nearly killed us along the path so I pumped myself full of caffeine for the last leg of the drive. We got to our crappy hotel (Econo Lodge) where I hesitantly gave them keys to my car. I pray that it's safe in their crappy-used-car-sales lot they call a "secure garage". I was not impressed when the driver dumped our luggage out of the van and hitting me in the process. I was also checked by security at the door to the plane - quite surprising as they were mostly checking the middle eastern looking men. Kelvin wasn't there so he got off scott free. We boarded the plane but didn't get to sleep as we were squished in with a bunch of foreigners. Of all the seats to get - we get the only 2 with non-working video monitors. So being crazy-movie fanatics - we complained. They gave us $10USD (between the 2 of us) to spend at the next airport - there was a "work around" so they couldn't compensate us for the seats. The work around was for Kel and I to sit in different sections of the plane. Kel wanted to do it but I said no as this was suppose to be our HONEYMOON - meaning he can't start it off by sitting in another section of the plane for 10 hours. Once we flew over Europe the time/day changed - meaning we had very LITTLE sleep. We transferred in Amsterdam and were getting to the point where nearly 36 hours of being awake was starting to affect us. We arrived in Athens in the afternoon. Got to our lovely hotel with enough time to check the view, unpack and pass out. We woke up the next day. Duh! The next day we crammed in all the sightseeing possible.

reminiscing

Guess where I'm blogging from? The condo! After 2 crazy weeks of renovations, we've finally finished transforming this place. If it wasn't for the help of our families - we would have never finished on time. Big thank you goes out to our dads! They slaved away in this place more than we did. :-)

As I sit in this empty space and admire the finishings, I can't help but recount the memories. The first time Chicky and I moved in (almost 8 years ago), we were so excited and nervous. We had just made a major purchase and were literally moving onto another stage of our lives. It's come full circle and we're back to where things started. This time around it should be much better. :-)

Thanks to the folks in the building that have not secured their wireless connection, I'm able to hop onto my laptop and blog. :-) I've begun moving some of my stuff into the condo as KA is prepping her baby's room. We'll have to have everyone over to the condo after we get back from our honeymoon.

DIY

It was a do-it-yourself long weekend for Chicky and I. We finished painting the condo and began laying down the laminate flooring. Saturday was spent at the Miracle Flooring on Austin selecting and negotiating prices on various types of flooring. I'm surprise how much time it take to select the color and type of laminate that you want. Of course price was a big factor for us so we couldn't splurge on the engineered hardwood stuff. We hummed and hawed over carpet, tiles and countertops. There so much that we can do with the condo but it would mean living there longer to fully enjoy it.

While elbow deep in the renos - we haven't thought about the wedding at all. The only wedding task we completed on the weekend was getting Chicky's blood test done and buying the marriage license. We didn't realize that you can buy at at London Drugs - who figured. Thank you Betty for the advice!

It's now September and the busiest month for the Help Desk. I'm swamped with work and the tasks are adding up. Chicky and I meet Rev. Sandra Nixon on Wednesday. It'll be the first time meeting her so I'm looking forward to it. I have my wedding dress fitting on Thursday. I didn't have time to look around for shoes so I rushed out today and bought a cheapy pair at Le Chateau. They felt alright in the store but only time will tell if they'll last me all night! My family has been great help with running some of the wedding errands. Kim Anh picked up my favor bags and guestbook today. It looks better in real life then what I had selected from the websites. As you can tell Chicky and I rely heavily on the internet and computers for the wedding tasks and communication. :-) My excuse is: we're being environmentally friendly and saving trees!

The next couple of weeks will be very tight with trying to complete all the renos and finishing off some of the wedding things. I'll post pictures MUCH later...