Athens

We had an amazing 2nd Anniversary/Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend trip to Athens. It was really cool walk around ruins of buildings that were standing in 600 B.C. Some of the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Not so nice were the smokey restaurants and crazy drivers, but what can you do? The sunshine and 50 degree weather was also a nice respite from the cold, snow, and gray.


Day 1: exploring town and climbing Lycabettus.

view of the Acropolis from a street near our hotel

cool church

view from the top of Lycabettus

By the time we got to the top, we were hot--no coats necessary here!

church at the top of Lycabettus

Soldiers marching outside of the Parliament Building

Olympic Stadium

Arch of Hadrian

Day 2--exploring the Acropolis

theatre of Dionysos

on the way in to the Acropolis

restoration work was ongoing

at the Acropolis site

cool frieze

view of Mt. Lycabettus (what we climbed the first day)

view from a distance of the Porch of Caryatids--part of the Acropolis site

The Parthenon

restoration work

Greek flag flying over the site

Porch of the Caryatids

View of the Acropolis from the Thission, in the Ancient Agora

it was Carneval weekend--the celebration won't compare to Port of Spain but we did see a lot of children running around in costume and a street fair. We enjoyed some dough balls with honey.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

being artsy

glad we weren't around when that column fell

the parliament building

London flashback

Cathedral of Athens

baklava

the Acropolis at night (view from in front of our restaurant)

Day 3--Kerameikos and the National Archaeological Museum

we weren't allowed to take a picture with the bull, but we were allowed to take one of the bull

at Kerameikos

while on our way to the museum we discovered a cool fish market

Ancient Athenian pottery

cool finds at the museum

resting in our hotel lobby (sideways) before heading to the airport.

All in all, a great weekend!

The VP visits Munich

We got word that Vice President Biden planned to attend the annual Munich Security Conference, and Mission Germany mobilized, sending officers from Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg over to Munich to help out. Christy ended up supporting the visit as the Motorcade Officer for the VP's motorcade. It's a tiring job (starting at least 2 hours before the first scheduled event, remaining with the motorcade the entire day between movements, and at the end of the day sorting things out for the next day). But, I did get to see the VP's arrival and departure as well as take part in the Consulate meet and greet. Munich was swarming with VP's--we had 3 Congresswomen, Henry Kissinger, Ambassador Holbrooke, the Deputy Secretary of State, and the National Security Advisor, among others. Also scheduled to attend were 9 senators including Kerry, McCain, and Lieberman, but they cancelled at the last minute in order to be in Washington for the vote on the stimulus package.


The Arrival-- at 2 a.m.! It was cold, and foggy.
waiting for the plane to arrive

Air Force 2

Vice President Biden exiting the plane

zoom

about to get into his car (then I had to race back to my vehicle as the motorcade takes off rather quickly)

entrance to the Bayrische Hof, where the Security Conference took place

at the Consulate Meet and Greet-- our Charge introducing the Vice President

Vice President Biden giving remarks

Our CG, Charge, the VP, and Ambassador Holbrooke

Christy did get to shake the VP's hand, although unfortunately didn't have a picture opportunity.



The Departure

The departure was during the day at least, and while it was cold and gray, it had stopped snowing by the afternoon.

We heard traditional Bavarian music.

Two children freezing in their traditional Bavarian outfits

But they got their picture with the VP....


The Vice President bidding Munich farewell from the steps of AF 2

It was a good experience, but Christy was very happy to be back home on Monday night with David and the Moe cat. The diplocat was happy to cuddle on the couch with Christy and watch 24 on Tuesday night (we get it a day late on AFN).

The suitcase isn't going back to the storage unit yet.... Friday we depart for Athens!