A trip to Greece

The kids are now both in college. We wanted a family trip before they went off, given new schedules. 

So we took two days off post the labor day long weekend and decided to visit Greece. It was a quick trip with tickets on Turkish airlines. San has taken a liking to Turkish airlines after her previous India trip on this airline.. My guess is all those hours of watching Turkish soap operas has had an influence as well. In any case, we flew in and out of SFO to Athens with a stop at Istanbul. Both sets of flights were nice! We actually got vegetarian food pre booked. That helped!

It was a quick trip given the travel time. Two days in Athens, Two days in Santorini and that was it.

Needless to say, there are two opposing points of view in our house. As a child I wanted to see the world but given how we grew up, had to wait for a long time to start traveling. Going to Pallavaram from Mylapore was a vacation trip. Given our kids are growing up way better off, want them to see the world for real, instead of in National Geographic magazine. So we push for all these trips. The kids on the other hand just want to say put in their bedrooms. Sleeping in their "own beds" is something they cherish. Guess college beds are of low quality? The usual feedback is "leave us alone! we just want to relax and rest at home". 

We can be persuasive to say the least. So off we went and packed the trip with non stop activities which invovled a lot of walking on a daily basis to see things on all four days. 

Never got to blog about this trip before given the hectic work schedule that followed right after coming back. Blogging took a break. Given we have already finished our next internaltional trip this week, time to capture what little remains in my memory of that trip in photos, words and videos!

Given the time difference, we pretty much lose a day for traveling in. Once we landed in Athens and got out of the airport, it was almost 8PM. San had done her research and found that a taxi to Syntagma square (where our Air BnB was) would take an hour and the public bus system would take us there for 6 euros a ticket right from the airport. So we walked to the bus stop and took this bus 95, if I remember it right. It took 55 minutes to get to the square. From there we walked with our four carry ons and backpacks (we mandated one carry on per person so there is no waiting at airports, we can all fit in one Uber if necessary.. these are new travel policies that have been implemented and they work for us now!)

We had a nice apartment one block behind the square which had an amazing view of the Acropolis with the night lighting! We pretty much went to bed after the long journey. 

The next morning, we were treated to amazing views from our window!

The girls had booked a "cooking class". I had only vaguely heard about this in passing. So it was a shock to me that the first thing they wanted to attend a full morning class. We were to drop them at 9 AM and pick them up at 1:30 in the afternoon. The place was called "The greek kitchen". We had breakfast in the square on the way at an amazing place called Zoubourlou. The food and service was amazing. Sadly the kids had to rush off to class and San and me packed the rest of the breakfast to go! Strongly recommend this place for an early breakfast. The pancakes they made for me and the hot cocoa were amazing! The family loved the vegetarian pies!

Then the kids walked off to find their place. We tried to use maps to find them so we could get our phone back. Turned out they were already on a walk to the market place with the Chef's to buy the items for the cooking.

We saw a large group of budding chefs including ours and quietly grabbed our phones from them. That is when we realized that the two of us had time to kill by ourselves. My recommendation was to go on a hop on hop off bus tour and we took it. It starts at Syntagma square and has 15 stops on the way. Takes 2 hours and is 20 Euros a person. We sat on the top deck and enjoyed views of all the city sights.

Got myself a new Athens cap! It was already too hot early in the morning!

We did not get off the bus at all. We were going to see some of these places the next day in detail. The headphones they give on the bus didn't have enough volume to understand anything that was being said. So we just watched and took pictures.

At the end of the trip we decided to stop in the old market square in Monastiraki. We also found a pizza and pasta place and had a nice lunch! 

Once the kids had finished their cooking and eating what they cooked (we were not invited, so they got some leftovers packed for San to taste.. it was interesting to see stuff wrapped in grape leaves!). All four of us then went shopping in the square for a short time.

the place is called the Agora flea market.. we loved walking through the shops!

There was a custom T-shirt shop that caught my interest and I got shirt with the Pythogras theorem on it! 

Then it got pretty hot for early September! So we came back to the hotel and got an hours rest before our evening program. 

A video compilation for the first part of day 1..

The good news is that we were all still smiling as we hit the elevator back to the apartment!

Our next action was an all evening to late night tour to the temple of Poseidon. That post follows..

You cannot help being happy here..

Usually the family visits the happiest place on earth aka Disneyland during Thanksgiving and celebrate the parents birthdays. This year, we were not sure what was going to happen during thanksgiving. 

Both the kids were new college bound.. the older one for a masters and the younger one starting undergrad.

At the end of summer we knew they were both going to be in Southern California 2 hours apart in two different UC's. 

So we made a plan on the long weekend to go visit both schools, hunt for housing for the older one, look at the college for the younger one to see how she will fit in and as an added bonus, given we cross Disney, dedicate one day for Disney as well. 

The college visits were not much.. they were empty and deserted as it was a long weekend and in hindsight it was a bad idea to show the kids deserted eerie large open spaces and collosal buildings. Does not help form a good first impression. Still that is where they ended up and have settled in. Both of them got hit with health issues and local hospital and ER visits within a quarter. All that seems to be behind us. This post is about our Disney visit.

Given we have almost been there every alternate year for the last 24 (this blog probably has enough entries to make a parade evolution video), this maybe just "yet another Disney post". 

We did smile all day, have fun, go see the latest Star Wars show. You have to see it. It is just too amazing for words (there are small bits in the video.. but not giving anything away so you go see it for yourself)!

Enjoyed as many rides as possible in one day, but didn't sit in the cold for fireworks. We saw it on the way to the parking lot. We had dinner reservations for a mexican place right outside the gate but within the Disney walkway to the parking lot. So we rushed to have dinner, then watched the fireworks and walked back to the hotel. 

Here are a few memories for later.

The kids wanted to go to Plant power, a burger chain which was apparently the place to be for Veggie burgers! So went with them and ate fries while they enjoyed the burgers as an early evening snack.

We also got to eat at a small Indian restaurant right next this place called Star of India. That place did not disappoint. It was very good snacks and amazing ginger chai!

We did some shopping including my first visit to a thrift store to buy things! The kids had made a reservation at a fancy place, Osteria La Buca (in Melrose) for dinner and we enjoyed that as well. The candle lights were a special touch!

We also got to eat at a place later in Santa Barbara called Masala Spice. That was also good. Finger licking good. 

Have always failed at these pictures that they take.. so we never end up buying one. Someday, I will stare at that camera and smile. The family was mocking me for a good hour after this. "Even Disney is giving us something for free and you mess it up!"

and the parade.. we always love this parade of old and new Disney characters.. they make it so much fun!

Our visit to a sea of storm troopers! We were talking about the possibility of "storm trooping" being a minimum wage job, now that the kids are older and our conversations in Disney seem to be different every now and then.. then the kids hit me with some snarky comment to put me back in my place, so we can all be just kids again and enjoy the rides!

A picture with the main star of the place. We stood in line for more than an hour to get this picture!

and the final fireworks!

and a video as usual!

our smiling faces say it all..

There was a picture of the girls in a tea cup that brough back memories from a different tea cup ride in San Jose downtown.

Kids are all grown up.. but happy to see them still be kids in tea cups!

I am happiest when my girls are all smiles.

This place is priceless!

Given almost every trip has a bittersweet ending for me recently, this one also did. Here is a public service annoucement. Always wear sunglasses when driving back from LA back to the bay area. Yes, the sun is in your face when you drive back and your eyes are wide open after a few hectic days in theme parks or otherwise. The wind is almost always kicking up crap on 101 North when you are near the San Antonio de Padua mission exit. Something went into my eye. It took me a good week to get better after washing and treating it. 

Wear those damn sunglasses..even if you think you don't look good in them. You can thank me later!

Walking past the clouds - The Rose peak hike

My wife, by default can convince me that everything she asks me to do, is going to be good for me.. and fun!

Usually she is right. It just takes me some time after I have done what she has asked me to do.. to realize that it was good and fun.

This weekend has witnessed yet another such event. 

We hiked Rose Peak on what was supposed to be a cold cloudy Saturday. We usually hear horror stories from people who have tried this hike. Exhaustion, dehydration, injuries, folks being air lifted by helicoper etc. etc. 

It is a very difficult hike with lots of ups and downs and paths where the trail has been cut through by running water (easy to twist ankle or fall) and 90% of it is open with no trees or cover. Doing this in summer would be really tough. That was one reason for jumping at the chance. There are the cows in the early part of the trail. The land has been leased for grazing. Invariably you have to hike around the cows, especially if there is a bull on the path. We encountered two and walked around.

We have been postponing this hike for some time now, trying to wait for right conditions. Our friends wanted to do this hike with us and the weather report suggested a near perfect day for this hike, and before we knew it, there we were packing the hiking backpacks. 

When we parked our cars at the trailhead, it started drizzling. Showing me the weather forecast saying "see, there is no rain in the forecast", doesn't make it better when it is actually raining! The forecast was shown as proof that the rain at the start was some kind of anomaly. The rain gods however didn't seem to have gotten the memo from the Weather app folks. 

Initially you walk along the creek. We did not see much water but what appeared to be ice or salt on the rocks in the middle of where the creek would be. Being curious, we went down to the middle of the dry creek to check it out. Turns out, this is wood debris that has been mushed to a pulp. This settles and wraps on the rocks like a mesh cloth. Guess this must be how the Egyptians discovered Papyrus!

The early part of this trail we have already been through.. on our way back from the Little Yosemite trail. We got to see the "W" tree again!

This should have been an under 8 hour hike by our usual standards.

Cloudy conditions are always good. We took 2 1/2 liters of water each and drank only a liter or liter and a half. Please note, there is no drinking water available on the trail anywhere! 

However, we took 10 1/2 hours!

The big reason was that it was raining for a good hour on our way up. I was wearing cotton track pants (most synthetics give me allergic reaction) and the wet pants made it very difficult.  

For the most part we walked the Ohlone Wilderness trail. We have passed by Hawk's nest on our previous way back on Little Yosemite but could not get a "bench photo" because an old couple were having their lunch on the bench. At least that is what I remember... this time we got the photo.

The 32 degrees inshirt from Costco may keep you warm, but is not waterproof either.. 

Then the rain stopped, but we walked up through the rain clouds and ended up above the clouds. As we walked through the clouds, the visibility was very poor, so we had to walk as a group so no one takes a wrong turn. During this time moisture kept condensing on our face and running into our clothes which was also an interesting challenge.

If you do this hike on a cloudy rainy day, wear all waterproof gear! We saw only two people on the 18+ mile trip. A guy who caught up with us 4 miles in and decided to turn back. He asked us "why would you want to go to the peak in this weather?".. we answered "so we can say we hiked it!'.. He shook his head in disbelief. When we reached the top, a girl ran in. She had come up in half the time and was planning to go down in half the time as well. 

At the top, we not find the geological survey marker to take a picture. There was very poor visibility as well. We did sign the six peaks book to show date and time we made it.  Had chai and packed sandwiches standing up (no place to even sit as everything was wet and slushy) and started the hike back. Hot chai never tasted so good ! My fingers were freezing and were numb when we got to the top!

It was going to be a race against time as sunset was 4:45 PM and we started at 2PM. Our original plan was to be make it back by 5 latest. However given the ups and downs, we found it difficult enough to come down. We were doing 25 minute miles for the first 5 instead of 15 minute miles like we expected. 

One of our friends had just bought new shoes in REI to check them out for a later hike. Turns out the shoe was too loose as well as heel heavy, and it ended up being very painful. She had to use all her will power to walk the last 5 miles. My clothes were still wet. Guess cotton takes a long time to dry, if at all. To top things off, twisted my ankle trying to speed up. Fortunately San had two advil's in her backpack. Took that and kept walking. Trying to compensate for hurting ankle, my hamstrings and ITB pulled up. When 2/4 people in the group can walk only slowly, we knew it was going to be a difficult few hours.

We were treated to a glorious sunset, but didn't stop to take too many pictures. We were really scared of walking downhill in slippery conditions in the dark. Walked as fast as we could.

There was some light till 5:10. The last hour and 20 minutes we walked 3 miles in the dark, with a flashlight and the light in my headband. We managed to avoid stepping on all the lizards and salamanders, as well as frogs and bats on the floor! That also slowed us down.

Did take video clips almost every mile on the way up and down. Here is the compilation..

We were just glad this hike was behind us!

That said, I would like to do this hike again, on a not a partly couldy, cool non rainy day so we can get the views and walk faster. Now that we know the terrain and what it takes, we might do a better job!

For now, I am taking advil regularly and resting to get back to the normal routine. 

Rose peak has been ticked off the list!