Greece!

So it is October break at the QSI American school.  Being an American visiting professor I went ahead and cancelled class this week and we all headed to Greece. Why Greece?

When we first announced our year in Slovenia both girls were pretty negative on the concept.  A whole year away from home!?!  Missing eighth grade and sixth grade?!?  One way we tried to combat the blues was to promise that each gal could choose a place to visit/vacation in Europe.

Georgia knew her location right away: Greece!  Georgia has been obsessed with Greek Mythology since kindergarten.  She's read all of the original myths, as well as the Rick Riordan modern day versions, and loved them all.  Her long time favorite goddess has been Artemis.  Don't believe me?  She dressed as Artemis Halloween, 2012:

We call the moon Artemis.  When it's a full moon Georgia will say "Artemis hunts tonight!"  So expectations were high for Greece.

In all honesty our first impressions were sort of sketchy.  Athens is a crowded, noisy city that is packed with speeding motorcycles and honking taxis, none of whom stop when you cross the street.  And it is WAY poorer and noisier than Ljubljana, which is quiet and calm and almost Scandinavian in its attention to design and quality of life.

And yet, once we got to the Acropolis, all was forgotten.  We walked up through narrow, white washed alleys:

And when we got there Georgia lost her mind.  Here she is hugging herself with joy:

She was super generous in her enjoyment of the whole thing:

Dahlia was likewise amazingly patient as we walked through ruins and went to museums packed with old statues, jewelry and pottery.

We followed up Athens with Mykonos and Delos, the ancient birthplace of Artemis and her twin brother Apollo.  Here's Georgia at their birthplace:

And of course we tried to work it out for Dahlia too.  We let her choose our accommodations on Mykonos, and because it is the OFF season, Dahlia selected (and we could afford) a pretty fancy beachfront resort.  Here's Dahlia enjoying the fruits of her labor:

Indya and I even snuck in two different hikes up to island mountains, with the most amazing 360 degree views of the Aegean and the Cyclades:

But the star of the show has been Georgia.  As she swam in the (freezing cold) Aegean she called out "Dreams do come true!"