We arrived in Venice today after an uneventful flight from Athens.  Athens was really great, and we’re glad we listened to Thomas and added it to our itinerary.  The heat has followed us since Morocco, and Athens did not disappoint.  It was 102F on the day we arrived, but thankfully, Venice might be breaking our streak.  There was lots to see in a pretty small area, so we were walking a bit again.  Frances hadn’t actually melted in Rome, but she almost did in Athens.  We took advantage of the cooler hours in the morning and in the evening, and saw tons of ancient sculptures, columns and rocks.  It turns out that Athens is the oldest city we are going to see on this trip (we thought it was Malaga at 2800 years old – but then added Athens which has been continuously inhabited for at least 7000 years), and it did not disappoint.  We saw pottery that dated back to 4 millennium BC!  The video starts with the view of the Acropolis from our apartment, the view from the Acropolis Museum (across from our apartment), then the Acropolis itself followed by the Panathenaic Stadium (a 4th century BC stadium – restored for the 1896 Olympics and remodeled for the 2004 Olympics). Then some miscellaneous other old places.

This is our last day in Rome. We made a last minute addition and are headed to Athens tomorrow. Finished up our stay with a trip to the Colosseum today and it was really great.  The video starts off with the Castel Sant’Angelo, then the Vatican and the MASSIVE St. Peter’s Basilica. After the ice cream you see the Pantheon with the sun streaming through the oculus. Then we went to the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill and then the Colosseum.

Just arrived in Rome this afternoon after a flight from Marrakech. Morocco was interesting – exotic, full of strange odors, crowded, hot, beautiful and dirty (littering is NOT frowned upon). It was the most “different” place we have been so far. While Essaouira was a blend of old and new – the old walls and the Medina mixed with kite-boarding/windsurfing and dreadlocks, Marrakech was how I pictured Morocco in my mind. We stayed near a huge square filled with vendors selling every kind of food imaginable, monkeys, snake charmers with cobras, calls to prayer from the nearby Mosque, horse drawn carriages and people trying to get your money in many varied ways. Surrounding the square was a HUGE maze of narrow alleys, where we only got lost once… for awhile (when we found our way out Thomas commented “We made it out alive!”). We stayed in a beautiful Riad down one of the alley ways – it was an unexpected island of tranquility in the chaotic medina. This is the first place you see in the video. The second place we stayed was a little out of town and we just chilled there for a few days. It was down a bumpy “road” a little ways past a field of garbage. The surrounding area was dry, dusty and not that attractive. We passed through a gate and WOW, suddenly we were in an oasis with lush green surroundings, a huge pool and ICE for our drinks. This is the last place you see in the video. It was pretty awesome and we did a lot of nothing for the few days we were there. Now we’re trying to plan our Rome adventures – see you soon.

We just left Essaouira by bus yesterday, arriving in Marrakech to 106 degree heat. Luckily, the humidity is low so it only felt like 105. Essaouira was really great.  We explored the old city walls along the ocean that were built hundreds of years ago to defend the city. It’s nickname is “Wind City” and we could see why. Frances thought it should be called “Cat City”. We stayed in a Riad (traditional Moroccan house) in the Medina (the walled part of the old city) with it’s maze of little streets – no cars allowed. It was a nice change after the traffic in Barcelona and Paris. We also got to ride camels, although Frances thought they were a little too tall. We ate camel meat and pigeon – even Thomas and Frances. We just happened to be here during the start of Africa’s biggest world music festival. The video shows some of the parade that marks the start of the festival. Hope everyone is well – we’re staying that way so far.

Frances was the only one of us that really wanted to go to Paris … but, boy, are we glad she did. Paris would have been the first city we would have dropped from our itinerary, but after our short time there, we would all love to go back. We strolled along the Seine, had a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower, and walked the streets of Paris for miles. We ate the best chocolate ice cream EVER. Thomas and Ed especially enjoyed a riverboat cruise we took and the kids tried duck confit and snails. Again, we found our apartment right next to a bakery and ate our weight in croissants. Contrary to what we’ve been led to believe, Parisians were very nice, helpful and spoke great english (better than our french). Next … Morocco.