Acropolis and Temple of Zeus

One of the most picturesque sites I have seen is the Acropolis. The large citadel in the middle of Athens is placed on a rocky mound with some of the most spectacular views of the city, hills, and coastline. The Acropolis was burned in my memory from my first visit to Greece in 93. However, since my visit, it has been better preserved and more tourist friendly.

Our boutique hotel was situated on the highest hill in Athens, Lycabettus (a word that we never mastered during our time there, which costed us a few dollars in wrong turns by taxi drivers) This meant that we had the best view of the city, Acropolis and Aegean sea. When I reserved the hotel I quickly looked up what was the best in the city and our hotel came up. When we arrived I wonder why there was all the hype. It wasn't until I opened the window and saw this that I understood. It was like waking to a painting every morning.

The view from our hotel

The Acropolis is a fascinating place full of history and beautiful architecture. The earliest artifacts date back to the Neolithic era (6th millennium BC). Since that time, various temples were built, mostly from the archaic period.

My very own Greek god in front of the Parthenon

The Propleala

The Temple of Athenia Nike

An accurate carving of Axel and me

The Erechtheum- Why is it when I see this, my head hurts?

Theater of Dionysis Eleuthereus

Its nice to have an artistic husband who can make me look way better than I am in photos.

Every evening, this was the view from our hotel. If I could have wrapped it up and taken it home, I would have. Think of all the destruction Asa could do on the Parthenon? All those weathered years have nothing on my 2 year old. Just give him 5 minutes.

Temple of Zeus

The Temple of Zeus is placed right in the middle of the city of Athens. It was built between 473 to 457 BC. It was placed in the ancient city of Olympia. It contained the famous statue of Zeus, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. It was over 40 feet tall. It is in the classical style of the Doric order. For some reason, there is nothing sexier than seeing my husband stand in front of this massive building. Seriously.

Several fragments from the temple were sent to The Louve. Its horribly tempting to head over to Paris next weekend. Ugh, I forgot how much I loved Europe.

Grecian Goodness

Axel and I just got back from the most romantic and fun-filled vacation to Greece. It was a last minute decision and I had less than 48 hours to plan our trip. I think the spontaneity made the trip even that much better. It was perfect. Honestly, perfect.

I have never been interested in going back to Greece since my last visit in 93. I went there with my parents and Athens seemed like a dirty, congested, chaotic city. We were able to escape to the Peloponnesian island, but it was a very chilly time of year. I never felt the need to return.

For some reason, when Axel suggested we leave for a romantic trip somewhere--anywhere--I thought of Greece. Without much thought, I booked the tickets, booked the hotel and within hours we were Athens bound. It was the best travel decision I have made so far. It was a much, much different Greece than I remember. The food was insane, the sites were spectacular, the people were lovely, the weather was divine, and the love was grand. It was the perfect symphony of senses that collided to make the most magical trip ever.

More to come....

Kiddo Update

The Bromley house is in constant motion lately. We have settled in school (just in time for the Eid holidays to begin), and found a fairly manageable routine. Ramadan wasn't so bad this year. Other than not feeding my children in public, it was nice to have Axel home early every day and not traveling. A lot of painting was done and we all have cinnamon tans from the hours spent at the pool. Not having McDonalds at 1pm is a small price to pay.

Xavier has had some serious wiggles since the summer began. As a result, we enrolled him in a hockey league. He will be playing twice a week and there are opportunities to travel. I am just glad it will be something that will tucker him out by the end of the day. I also enrolled him in gymnastics with Heavah once a week. I am hoping for fewer fights at bedtime.

When we took Xavier to the rink to buy the equipment we were greeted by the leaders of the league. It was shocking how nice they were. They were accommodating, friendly, and helpful. It was funny how strange it was to be around such a nice group of people. As we left the rink both Axel and I looked at each other and said, "Man, I love Canadians".

Heavah has been doing well on her check and xs chart. She can be remarkably good when she puts her mind to it. There are strong hints of independence and some hormonal attributes coming through, all of which I am not prepared for. No one told me these kids would end of having minds of their own. A tap on the butt will no longer take care of it. The complexity grows.

As a result of Heavah's good efforts, we took her to our favorite Japanese restaurant. Oishi Sushi has the most killer udon noodles to the point that I rejoice in all of Heavah's good deeds merely because I know I am a day closer to eating at Oishi again.

Sedona and Asa are home a-l-l day long. I avoided paying the 4K to put Sedona in school for one semester (not even 4 months). I have been trying to teach her at home and she has a few neighborhood friends she plays with. To be truthful, I just love having the kid around. She is hilarious and so pleasant. Plus, her relationship with Asa is special. I feel like I can't take her away from him too soon. They play too perfectly together. Why stop a great thing?

Asa is so full of character lately. I can't seem to get mad at him for anything he does. He is destructive and active, and yet equally as hilarious and loving. I do believe he has successfully peed on every carpet in my home. Somehow I know he won't be wearing a diaper to high school, but all the evidence speaks otherwise. We adore him and despite the fact that he has colored on ever surface of our home, he is still a favorite.

Yes, those are my hobo children without shoes at the supermarket. Who has time to do a shoe check before they leave the house? Obviously, I don't.

On a separate note: Axel and I are going on a spontaneous trip to Athens, Greece tomorrow morning. I haven't been there since I was 16, and I am excited to experience it with Axel. I intend on eating gyros and salads with plenty of feta cheese. The Acropolis is calling our name....

More Oil Paintings #???

Here are some more. This is a close up of an oil on a larger canvas based on some chinese crane paintings. Cranes are supposed to be a symbol for long life. When shown among pine trees, the crane symbolizes determination, wealth and power. When two cranes are shown together, it is the ultimate depiction of longevity. The whole picture. I am getting better at trees. Or at least I keep telling myself that...
This is Terah and one of the kids. It was taken from the Klimt picture 'The Three Ages of Woman" but I liked this section of it the best. I changed the background and tweaked the picture to try to make it look more like Terah and one of my kids. Oh, and I added some clothes...
My first oil attempt at the great Japanese painter Katsushika's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa". This was his most famous of his "Thirty six Views Of Mt. Fuji" he did on wood blocks. Go google the real picture. It is breathtaking. I say first attempt as I want to do this one again in water color. This is one I want to get right. Go look at his and then mine. The man was a master at creating a feeling.
An oil/acrylic of a Japanese woman. Honestly the painting looks better than the picture. It is weird how some paintings I make I don't really like in real life, but when I seem a picture of it, I love it and vice versa. I wonder why that is.

This is another VG I did a while back and just never put on Terah's blog. It is very large. I tried another way of doing his kind of thick globbed on painting. I thought why pay so much money for the oil painting (it is really expensive here), why not paint the picture with cheap acrylics so the painting is done as far as where the thickness of the paint is and then just add oil paint on top of that? So I gave it a shot, and honestly it worked pretty well. Surprisingly enough, I almost liked it when it was just white. It made me want to try it again and I will some day.

Next I am working on my biggest canvas. It is based on a few pictures Klimt did including his "Tree of Life" and another woman painting he did. I am on a Klimt kick lately. I want to do some of his birch trees after this or maybe some watercolors. I just bought some watercolor paper that is big and I think I will give it a shot. It has got to be easier than the oil painting and it will be a lot more like drawing, which I have always loved doing...

When baby powder is NOT intended for babies

Asa strikes again!

I don't ever recall my other kids wreaking so much havoc like Asa. It is like a superpower. Somehow Asa has a special built-in destruction detector that goes off and he can't resist. Once he finds his mess of choice, he is capable of performing the largest mess with the smallest quality.

Maybe this mutant power comes from all the contaminated Nepali water he sucked back as a baby. I knew there would be consequences...

Forgiveness

Heavah's pet was found in an undesirable position this past week. Ants were fed, tears were shed and letters were written:

Lucas the Tortoise may have a few things to say to her when he meets her on the other side, but these letters of deep regret describes her remorse and lessons learned.

Note to self: never leave a tiny tortoise in a plastic bin in the 125 degree weather.

Dinner Anyone????

This photo was taken from an Indian menu I got in Dubai. I love mango with my barfi. How about you???