Mykonos, Greece June 2, 2010

I believe Mykonos is one the most beautiful places in the Greek Islands. It is located on the Aegean Sea and we spent the morning walking the narrow pathways that were built to foil the pirates. It just confused the tourists!

Here is Bonnie and I just doing the touristy thing of walking around and taking lots of pictures.

Then we made our obligatory stop for something to cool us off. I found most of the wine is red or white, no fancy names. And all the reds were outstanding and very inexpensive!

Here is Gene taking a break from shopping. Yes, that’s a Smirnoff Ice, but in Europe there is vodka in it. Yummy! Notice Gene’s bag slung over his shoulder? He bought that in 1998 when we were in Puerto Vallarta and he takes it on all vacations as his shopping bag.

And here are the famous windmills. We had to search all those windy passage ways to find them, but it was worth it.  

In the afternoon we decided we were going to take the bus to Paradise Island. We rented chairs and umbrellas. I did walk into the sea, but it was so cold! We have a picture of me in the water, wearing a bathing suit, but I won’t bore you with that picture.

Here is Bonnie walking along the sidewalk to the bus stop after sunbathing. We are heading back into town to catch the ship. Notice that even the apartment buildings are the blue and white colors.

And what would it be without a whitewash church. Church of Paraportiani.

Athens, Greece

When we docked in Athens on June 1, 2010, and we had the choice of going on an expensive excursion to all the sites or renting a taxi cab for the day. We opted for the cab and here is a picture of our driver. He was fabulous!



Here is the Parliament. We were told to stay away because they were having protesting going on and it wasn't always safe



One of our stops was the Acropolis. We spent most of our time here, walking around the amazing ruins.

It takes your breath away when you stand on a hill and look down towards the city and in the middle of town stands pillars. The next picture is a close up.

Ecuador

People that know me know I LOVE broccoli! I can eat it everyday and pretty much do. I save it for the last thing to eat on my plate even! Now you are probably wondering what broccoli has to do with a traveling blog. Well, Gene is researching Ecuador for a place to retire and last summer we met a woman from Ecuador that was visiting friends. Somehow the subject turned to broccoli and she mentioned it was one of the main exports of Ecuador. However, they don’t ship to the U.S., but I was ready to hop a plane and camp in the broccoli fields! Here are some fun facts about broccoli.

Interesting Things About Broccoli

Broccoli has been around forever. It was a favorite of the early Romans but did not make it into Europe until the Sixteenth Century. Never that popular, interest in broccoli has exploded in the past 20 years as people have been trying harder to eat healthy.

Broccoli is planted as a seed and is harvested 3 to 4 months. Virtually all U.S. production comes from California, and it is available year long.

Broccoli is actually a flower. Many of those green little buds would have blossomed into yellow flowers.