The Journey Continues...

Monday, October 12th: This entry goes out to Philly, Steve, and all those who have been waiting so patiently for our blog to be updated. As you can imagine our lives have been very busy lately...in the past month I think we've slept in at least 14 different hotels! It all started on September 21st as we embarked on Trip 1: Northern Greece. This 12 day trip took us through some of the most beautiful country Rob and I have ever seen. Some of the significant cities and sites we visited included: Vergina (Great Tumulus), Thessaloniki, Philippi, and the island of Thasos. I'm sure Rob would like to expand on this trip when he as more time, so I'll just tell you that it was a wonderful and exhausting experience. Highlights for me included the 3 hour wall walk in Thessaloniki with one of Rob's professors named Denver, the hike up to the ancient acropolis in Philippi, and the hike around the island of Thasos. Some of the things I learned during this trip include: A Krater is not a large hole in the ground from ancient times, it is actually a decorative piece of pottery (I'll include photos so you can see the gorgeous Derveni Krater). Also, bees and mosquitos are everywhere, and they'll get you when you least expect it. I woke up one morning with about 10 mosquito bites on my face.

After our first trip ended we had four days in Athens to rest and prepare our site presentations for Trip II: Deep Pelopennese. We're currently 5 days into this trip and tonight we're staying in Pylos at a sea-side hotel. Unfortunately, Rob and I have a view of the street in front of the hotel, big bummer. Tomorrow will be a big day for Rob as he presents two famous battles off the island of Sphacteria to our group, while my presentation will be on Saturday at the Byzantine palace of Mystras just west of modern Sparta. Wish us luck!

That's all I have time for now, I'll try to post some pictures before bed!