Our Paris Adventure...

Nate and I landed in Paris last Tuesday, June 24th. We stayed with Nate's friend, Nick, who lives in Paris. We visited Paris for three days and crammed in a lot of sightseeing! It was very tiring, but well worth it. As you can tell from the pictures below, Paris is a gorgeous city! Nate and I would love to go back again some day.

On Wednesday, we took a bus tour that stopped at all the major tourist spots in Paris. Our first stop was the Louvre. We could have easily spent an entire day at the Louvre, but we only spent a few hours.

The Louvre was extremely busy with people from all over the world. The biggest attraction was the Mona Lisa. There were so many people crowding around the painting, that we could not get very close. Below is the best picture we were able to get of the Mona Lisa.


After the Louvre, we went to Notre Dame. The cathedral was beautiful inside, but it was hard to get a good picture because it was so dark inside.



After Nortre Dame, we went to the Eiffel Tower. There was a huge wait to go to the top of the tower, and we really didn't feel like climbing ths stairs in the heat, so we admired the tower from the park below it. On our last night in Paris, Nick took us to a place where there was a great view of the Eiffel Tower. We saw the Eiffel Tower light show at midnight, it was amazing.


Of course, I couldn't visit Paris without going to the Moulin Rouge!

Tales From the Beach

Nate and I have been to the beach everyday since we came to Karpathos. Today it was almost too hot to go to the beach, but we took our SPF 60 sunscreen and went anyway! It was nice to cool off for at least a little while. Here are a few pictures from the beach we visited today. This beach is called Xenona and is only about a half mile from our house.

We have visited a few different beaches this week. One of my favorites is Arkasa, we went there yesterday. Here is a picture of a new friend that I made at the beach. His name is Toby and he made me miss my puppy, Zoe, back home.

Nate and Kalli at Arkasa...

Kathryn and Yanni's Wedding

Kathryn and Yanni were married yesterday, June 14th. They had a traditional Greek wedding here in Karpathos. Nate and I had never experienced a traditional Greek wedding like this before, so we had a lot of fun! We learned a lot about Greek wedding customs and traditions. I hope the photos and comments below will give you an idea of what Kathryn and Yanni's special day was like. It really was a great day. Congratulations Kathryn and Yanni!

Karpathian brides typically get ready at their home. Kathryn had a hair and make-up lady come to the house to get us girls ready for the wedding.

Around 6:00 PM, friends and family started coming over to the house to bring gifts for the couple. Traditionally, the bride's home is decorated for the family to see. The people come to the house to escort the bride and her family to the church. We has almost 30 people come to the house before the service. We all walked down the street together to take Kathryn to the church where Yanni and the guests were waiting.

One of the many pictures taken at the house before the ceremony.

Walking from the house to the church- the bridal parade.

The wedding guests outside of the church, waiting for the bride to arrive.

The ceremony was a traditional Greek Orthodox service. The service began at 7:30PM and lasted about one hour. The relatively small church was packed with about 200 people. The bride's family stands up in front with the bride and groom throughout the entire service. Since I was the matron of honor (koumbara), I stood right next to Kathryn. She did not have any bridesmaids and/or groomsmen like a typical American wedding.

In the picture above, I am performing my koumbara duties and changing the stephana (wedding crowns) for the bride and goom.

After the ceremony, we all went to Amoopi Restaurant which is owned by one of my cousins. The restaurant was right on the beach and had all outdoor seating. It was the perfect setting for an evening reception. The reception dinner was the traditional wedding food: tomato/cucumber salad, rice, lamb, and potatoes. The food was excellent. The Greek dancing started right after the meal and lasted until about 2:00AM!

Karpathos!

We finally made it to the island of Karpathos! We took a small airplane from Athens to Karpathos. Eventhough I'm not fond of tiny airplanes, I must say that the flight was fun. There was gorgeous scenery throughtout the flight... the beautiful bright blue sea, blue sky, small islands, cruise ships, etc. The small plane does not fly as high as the larger jets, so we were able to see the beauty below us. The pilot pointed out several Greek islands as we flew past. The pictures below were taken from the plane window, some might be blurry.

When we landed in Karpathos, we were greeted by many friends and family members. Many of them made a special trip to Karpathos for Kathryn's wedding. It's hard to believe that the wedding is tomorrow, June 14th. Seems like we've been waiting so long for the wedding day to come, and now it's almost here. I will post pictures of the wedding as soon as I can. :)

The Greece Trip Begins...

Nate and I left for Greece on Sunday, June 8th. We met his parents at O'Hare airport and flew through Germany to Greece. We were in and out of airports for 48 hours and in flight for a total of 13 hours. Finally, we made it to Athens. This picture from the Athens airport makes me laugh. My family never travels lite, we had way too many suitcases!

Nate and I stayed in Athens with his parents for two days. The rest of my family went down to Karpathos to prepare for Kathryn's wedding on Saturday. Since it was my in-laws first time to Greece, we had to take them to the parthenon and acropolis. We also went on a tour of Delphi, which was about 3 hours north of Athens. Delphi was really amazing! We saw the remains of the temple of Zeus and also saw the oracle of Delphi. Below are some of the many pictures we took during our stay in Athens.

The Theatre of Dionysios

Kalli at the parthenon

Nate, the God of Athens

Sunset on Athens. What a huge city... 5.5 million people!