Namaste and Christmas Red: You Win Some, You Lose Some

Remember when Colin and I decided to start brewing our own beer? We began with an American amber, and - particularly considering it was our first attempt at homebrew - it turned out well. We held off on brewing a second batch because Colin was headed to Greece in the spring, but then he gave me ingredients to replicate one of my favorite beers (Dogfish Head Namaste) for my birthday. We were about to begin brewing when we realized that the optimal temperature range for the yeast was about 10 degrees cooler than our un-air conditioned apartment in the summer. So, we waited. Eventually, in October, our apartment was cool enough to brew.

This time, we did everything perfectly. We came away feeling confident that our beer would be delightfully refreshing and delicious--so confident, in fact, that we decided to brew another batch two weeks later, as soon as Namaste had been bottled. For that batch, we chose a red ale recipe and added hops homegrown by Colin's dad. Because it would be done just in time for Christmas, we dubbed it our Christmas Red.

Do you, dear reader, suspect that this is all foreshadowing for an epic disappointment? If so, you'd be right.

We waited patiently for four weeks until time to taste our Namaste. When the day came, we pulled out our special glassware and excitedly removed the caps. First impression: great carbonation! Second impression: beautiful color! Third impression: weird smell. Yep, our beer had soured. We gamely took a few sips before admitting that it was really pretty terrible (not at all like the sour beers that are so trendy nowadays) and pouring it down the sink. I didn't even get a picture. Over the weekend, we took it to the homebrew store down the street to see if they could diagnose our problem, and they jokingly dubbed it "Lacto Lemonade" for the suspected lactobactillus contamination that causes beer to taste acidic or sour. One of the employees told us she sort of liked it ("It's like lemonade!"), but I think she was just trying to be nice.

Anyway, after our Witbier Woes, we decided we'd better taste the Christmas Red just to see if it had also soured. It was still scheduled to carbonate for another week, but we opened a bottle anyway to assuage our fears. Our expectations were so low that we didn't even bother with proper glassware; we just grabbed a couple wine glasses that were drying on the counter and poured the beer on in.

Drumroll please...

It wasn't sour! It did have a different sort of aroma that may or may not be from the hops we added, but it's totally drinkable, and red, and carbonated. It may not be as good as our American Amber, but it isn't terrible. As for our current homebrew stats: win = 1 (Amber), tie = 1 (Christmas Red), loss = 1 (Namaste). It could be worse.

Christmas Red in a wine glass

The Highlight Reel

The trip to Rhode Island was one of the bigger adventures we had this summer (besides Greece, of course), but Colin and I jam-packed a ton of other things into our schedule, too. So, here's the highlight reel. This definitely isn't everything, or even necessarily the big things, but they're the things I found worthy of documenting with photos.

To start, an evening on the Esplanade. This is by far my favorite spot in Boston, and I spent as much time there this summer as I could. This particular photo was taken when Colin's brother Ross was visiting. We packed a picnic dinner and stayed until sunset.

Sunset picnic on the dock

Soon after, Colin and I spent a Saturday on Spectacle Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands, with two friends from SNRE. On our way from the T to the wharf downtown, we passed under a new art installation made of thousands of multi-colored ropes anchored to nearby buildings. It was apparently quite an engineering feat, but it looks magical!

Rainbow ropes floating over downtown Boston

I also spent a ton of time at the river on my own. I was hoping to take a stand-up paddleboard yoga class, but unfortunately - on the exact day I was scheduled to take the class - the levels of blue-green algae exceeded health standards, and CBI cancelled all SUP classes for the rest of the season. I was majorly disappointed, not only to miss out on SUP yoga, but also not to be able to take a paddleboard out and dangle my feet in the river on my own. Even though CBI didn't restrict individual SUP use, it's a lot less fun when you have to rinse off after getting wet or risk itchy rashes. Come on, Boston, get your pollution under control! I'm holding out hope for a better paddling season next summer.

A particularly beautiful day on the river.

I also won tickets to a Red Sox game from IEc. Colin, who really loves the Red Sox, was unfortunately in Connecticut on the day I won. I, who mostly just loves watching baseball, went for the hot dog and atmosphere. My seats ended up being in the middle of a clump of Toronto Blue Jays fans, but that was okay because the Red Sox won 10-4!

Seeing the Budweiser sign at the stadium always reminds me of Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

And that brings me to fall. The foliage in Boston was particularly beautiful this year. I had to take a work trip to Albany, NY, in mid-October, and although I was initially annoyed at having to drive seven hours for a two-hour presentation, it ended up being great. The leaves were at peak color, so I kept my face glued to the car window the entire trip. (I wasn't the driver.) If you have to drive from Boston to Albany, I recommend doing so during October.

The prettiest tree in my neighborhood.

And then, to wrap up fall (oh geez, it's getting wintry already...), was Halloween. This year was extra special because I celebrated in Austin, TX. One of my best friends from college, Yifan, decided to have her bachelorette party in the middle of the country to split the difference between her home (California) and her friends' (Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Virginia). She sort of randomly chose Austin as a fun city that none of us had been to before. Coincidentally, one of my best friends from high school, Beth, just moved to Austin, so I took an extra day off work to hang out with her before the bachelorette party. Much fun ensued:

Beautiful Texas fall day (it was 80 degrees)!!

Claire, Beth, and Will reunited in their new homeland.

But then, just as the bachelorette weekend was set to begin, Texas got one of its infamous flash floods. It poured for about half a day, completely closing the Austin airport (one friend who hadn't come the day before was diverted to Houston) and submerging major highways in more than a foot of water. And then, just as quickly as it all began, it subsided. Actually, it didn't quite all subside; click this link to see the usually beautiful Barton Springs Pool, and then check out my decidedly unbeautiful photo of the day after the flood:

See the fences and lifeguard stands that are nearly submerged?

Nevertheless, we had fun and still dressed up for Halloween. We decided to go as hipster Disney villains. I was Hipster Maleficent. I took this photo after I finished making her iconic horns and successfully attaching them to a slouchy hipster hat (another engineering feat). This is my evil/scary face. I need more practice with that... but I was super excited to wear glasses! I have always loved glasses and been disappointed that I was born with perfect vision. I was thrilled to have an excuse to buy no-prescription "fashion" glasses.

I am super proud of these horns--newspaper and tape for the win!

And there you have it: summer and fall in a nutshell. Life's been good.

A Day in the Ocean State

As I alluded to in my last post (and as you probably noticed by my lack of posts overall), the past few months have been busy. Work was busier than ever before, so I was working lots of late nights and weekends. Colin was busy with his dissertation and post-doc applications. On top of that, we were still getting settled in our new apartment, and we were starting to plan our wedding. We had also planned several trips to visit friends and family, which were certainly fun but didn't leave much time for anything else. Overall, this summer was great! Just busy.

I was going to just give you the highlight reel, but then I realized I had a bunch of photos from one particular trip when Colin and I spent the day in Rhode Island.

It started when Colin and I decided to visit his brother Ross, who was teaching the same program I did years ago--the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab. I hadn't been back to BELL since I last taught there in 2009, and Colin had never been to Providence. Both BELL and Providence have always held a special place in my life, and I was super duper excited to go back! We had also just started thinking about wedding venues and wanted to check out the Haffenreffer Estate (home of BELL) and another nearby venue on Mount Hope Bay as potential sites. So, with all these reasons to go, we picked a Saturday when Ross wasn't teaching and drove down to the Ocean State.

For the last half hour or so of the drive, my nose was pressed to the car window and I bounced with excitement at every landmark I recognized (and there were a lot). BELL looks exactly the same!

The BELL sign. When I first started as a student at BELL, it said "BELL Camp." After a couple years, the program director had the interns cut off the bottom plank with the word "Camp" in an effort to emphasize the academic nature of the program.

We hunted for crabs on the rocky shore, just as I did years ago.

The BELL beach

We even walked up the hill from the lodge to say hi to the former property manager, Rod. Rod was a huge part of BELL when I started as a student and continued to be throughout my years as an intern and instructor, although he's retired now. I still remember him taking me and a few other students out stargazing during my first summer there. I don't know many constellations, but the few that I do recognize (besides the Big Dipper and Orion), I learned from Rod. He insisted that I stand a step above him for this picture, to make sure that our heads were on the same level.

Me and Rod at his house on the Haffenreffer Estate

One of the big reasons I wanted to go back to BELL was to check on the tree I planted ten years ago in 2005. It was the summer after my high school graduation, and I was an intern. BELL interns worked closely with Rod, helping to take care of the property and the adjoining museum. That summer and for the next few summers after, Rod had each of us plant a tree somewhere on the property. Here's my tree now:

The deer also like my tree, which explains why its lower branches are so sparse and short.

I couldn't find a picture of my tree when I first planted it (I'm not sure I had a digital camera back then...), but here's a comparison of the few photos I do have. It's grown so much!! Look how little it used to be!

One of us grew since 2008.

I'm pretty sure it's a cedar, but all you botanists out there, let me know if you think differently.

Also just for fun, here's a photo of me with my fellow BELL intern Steph in 2005. Rod dug up this photo when Ross mentioned me to him earlier this summer. This is from "Interns' Night Out," the one night when we were freed from our responsibilities and Rod would take us into Bristol to get dinner, a movie, or whatever we wanted. He took this photo of us in front of an old house in town.

I was 17 in this photo. So young!

After chatting with Rod for a while, we walked through the woods to the best swimming beach. The trail through the woods had been one of my favorite spots to go as an instructor during my time off. It was always quiet (a blessing after hanging out with 30 high schoolers!), and sometimes there was interesting wildlife. Most notably, I remember the time I walked under a tree at the edge of the beach, startled an osprey or something sitting up top, and caused him to drop his freshly caught, half-chewed fish at my feet.

For the next phase of our Rhode Island adventure, we drove to Providence, but not before stopping for ice cream in Bristol just as a quick summer rain storm rolled in. Once in Providence, I played tour guide. We stopped at the garden outside the Urban Environmental Lab, which was where most of my environmental studies classes were. (They now have a flashy new building.)

Sunflowers outside the UEL

We also saw the main green, my favorite outdoor study spot on the quiet green, my dorms, and Thayer Street. We ate dinner at my all-time favorite Indian restaurant, Kabob and Curry. It was delicious, as always. Then, as we were driving out of town, Ross happened to say, "Hey, I've been wanting to go to WaterFire. I wonder if it's happening tonight?"

It was.

WaterFire, so pretty.

It was a full lighting, which meant there were street performers, vendors, creepy music--the whole shebang. We parked, extended our Zipcar reservation, and wandered along the river eating Del's Frozen Lemonade for another couple hours. I think the only Rhode Islandy thing I didn't manage to do that day was drink coffee milk. We'll just have to go back soon.

Greece: The End

Oh my gosh, things have been so busy lately. I can't believe I missed almost two entire months of blogging, and I also can't believe I still haven't finished sharing stories from Greece! Now that I finally have a moment to catch my breath (update: actually several very short moments... this post has been in draft form for weeks...), let's rectify that.

So the last phase of my Greek trip was extra special because Colin's parents joined us for a few days of joint vacation. Colin and I had just gotten engaged, so it was fun to be able to celebrate with them in person - in Greece! - so soon after the fact.

Colin and I arrived back in Athens the evening before they did, so we walked around the city a bit (Colin did some work, and I did some shopping) and then met Colin's advisor Panayiotis for dinner and drinks near our hotel. He was excited about our engagement and shared stories of his own wedding the year before. In Greece, weddings are huge events involving the entire town and everyone you or your parents have ever met. Panayiotis acknowledged that he and his wife had had a "small" wedding with only 400 guests because his wife's family was still so exhausted from hosting her sister's wedding of 1500 guests shortly before. Colin's and my eyes grew wide. I'm pretty sure I don't know more than 100 people to invite anyway, and if 1500 people showed up, I would hide in terror. At least a crowd that size probably wouldn't notice the bride was missing.

Stuffed tomato and pepper for lunch in Athens. I love love love stuffed tomatoes!

Anyway, the next morning we took the metro back to the airport to meet Colin's parents and hopped in our rental car for the six-hour drive to Kalambaka, the town nearest to the Meteora World Heritage Site. Colin's parents were so jet-lagged that they napped in the back while entrusting Colin with the driving and me with the navigating. I'm happy to say that we made it relatively uneventfully, although it was not easy going. Once you get outside of Athens, directions in Greece tend to go something like: "Take the road towards Chalcis, but before you get there, turn onto the road toward Lamia. Then drive to Karditsa. And when you get to Kalambaka, turn right at the second town square next to the post office." Not exactly something you can enter into Google Maps. But Colin's dad had tried, bringing print-outs of Google's directions with him. Unfortunately, those maps were pretty unhelpful. We never did find a better map to buy, either. So Colin and I did a lot of "Have we gone far enough towards Chalcis? Is this the turn to Lamia? Or should we go a little further before turning off? Oops, I'm pretty sure we're now in downtown Chalcis. Better turn around." And then, when we finally made it to Kalambaka, the directions to the apartment we were renting were terrible. We totally missed the turn by the post office and ended up driving the stick-shift car up a more-or-less vertical hill before realizing that we were on the wrong road.

Once we arrived, though, it was awesome. Giant sandstone cliffs tower over the town, which is in the middle of an otherwise very flat plain. The town was small and walkable and had more than enough good restaurants to keep us happy for the few days we were there. And, Meteora was unlike anything we had ever seen before.

Atop the cliffs are old monasteries, around 600 years old today, which is old in some respects but so very modern compared to much of Greece's history. Nevertheless, they are fascinating. When they were built the only way up was via ropes and ladders, which, I read somewhere, "were only replaced when the Lord called them to be broken." Geez. I guess the old monks hadn't heard that line about God helping those who help themselves. Colin wondered how visitation rates to the monasteries increased immediately following a rope breaking--if you're interested in getting advice from a monk, the time to do it would be as soon as that rope was replaced! Now, thankfully, there are roads winding their way to the top of the cliffs. On the way up, you also have a great view of numerous caves in the sides of the cliffs. Way back when you could only access the monasteries by rope, misbehaving monks were sent to live in the caves as a punishment, and their ropes would be withdrawn until they had time to think about and repent for what they had done. (Worst time-out ever.)

Six of these monasteries remain today, still inhabited by monks and nuns. We visited four of the six over the course of two days.

This is the Holy Monastery of Varlaam, the first that we visited:

The climb up to Varlaam

Yes, we had to climb all those stairs to get to the top. And we had to do so in long slacks (the men) and knee-length dresses and long sleeves (the women) so as not to offend God's or the monks' sensibilities. For tourists who forget, each monastery has a room full of sarongs that you can tie around your waist and/or shoulders to cover up.

Beautiful stonework at Varlaam

Next, we drove a few minutes to the Holy Monastery of Grand Meteoron, the largest of the monasteries. That monastery is, true to its name, grand.

Courtyard and fountain at the Grand Meteoron

It also has an entire room full of the skulls of its previous residents. I think that was the most disturbing part of this trip: I was not previously familiar with the concept of religious relics, and each of these monasteries proudly displays the severed hands, fingers, collarbones, and heads they have collected over the years. I will spare you photos of that and instead give you this nice scenic shot looking back on Varlaam from the Grand Meteoron. Notice how precariously the monastery sits atop the cliffs!

View of Varlaam from the Grand Meteoron

The next day we saw the Holy Monastery of Saint Stephen, which was attacked by the Nazis during World War II when they believed it was harboring insurgents. The Saint Stephen monastery was the first we saw that was inhabited by nuns, rather than monks.

One of several rose gardens at Saint Stephen

We then went on to the Holy Monastery of Saint Barbara-Roussanou. This one, too, is inhabited by nuns and has beautiful gardens. Unlike the others, this one is accessible after a short walk through the woods. The entire time we were walking, we were going downhill. I had this sinking feeling that we would just have to climb up extra stairs to make up for all that downhill progress. It was true. But it was worth it.

Beautifully manicured garden at Saint Barbara-Roussanou

That bridge is the modern entrance to the monastery. But do you see the rickety ladder hanging next to the tree?

So, four monasteries in two days, plus the chance to see a new part of Greece and hang out with Colin's parents. It was a fun trip!

Four monasteries are visible in this photo. Can you find them all? (Answer: Roussanou in the foreground, Varlaam in the upper right, Grand Meteoron just above and to the left of Varlaam, and St. Nicholas, which we didn't go to, at the bottom of the cliff, just above Roussanou in the photo.)

After our two days in Kalambaka, we retraced our steps back to Athens. The drive was easier on the way back, mostly because there are plenty of road signs pointing you back to the capital. We had one last dinner all together at a fun garden restaurant in the city, and then the next day I hopped on a plane back to the U.S. Vacation was much too short, but then isn't it always?

And then, only a few days after Colin returned, Greece missed a payment to the IMF and its economy spiraled downward. We had seen some indications of the fragility of the economy while there, but it was shocking to hear stories of places we had just been falling into chaos and despair. And then the European refugee crisis exploded a couple months later, and the news was filled with photos of refugees stumbling ashore on the beautiful island of Lesvos, where we had just vacationed. That was hard to see.

Greece is a wonderful country and will always hold a special place in our lives. My heart hurts to see how the region is suffering, after all the fun and lighthearted times we had there this summer.

Greece: The Middle

For the second part of our Greek adventure, Colin and I flew from Naxos to Lesvos, an island just off the coast of Turkey. Although Lesvos is one of the largest islands in Greece, it's pretty sparsely populated. The airport is in the capital city of Mytilini, on the far eastern edge of the island, within sight of Turkey. After Colin and I landed and picked up our rental car, we pulled over on the side of the road to snap this photo of the Turkish coast across the water:

View of Turkey from Lesvos. 

Seeing the choppy waves off the coast of Mytilini made me nervous. Colin and I love snorkeling, and the water was definitely too rough for that. Luckily, though, we weren't staying in Mytilini. We had planned to drive first to Vatera, a small beach town on the south shore of the island known for its long sandy beach. We would spend one night there before driving to the small town of Skala Eressou, on the western coast of the island, for three nights. As we found out, the south and western coasts were much more protected, and much better for swimming.

Driving through Mytilini was the worst part of the trip. Our map wasn't very detailed, and the streets became super narrow and steep as you moved away from the sea. Not to mention the one-ways! Needless to say, we got lost. We drove in circles, finding our way back to where we started by heading down the hill back to the water. Eventually we ended up on the right road and made it out of the city. From there, it was an easy and beautiful drive across the island to Vatera.

Lesvos is much less touristy than some of the other large islands, and since we were there before summer tourist season began, the small town of Vatera was practically deserted. The town has one main street along the beach, with only a handful of tavernas and hotels. We saw only a few other tourists while we were there. That was fine with us, though, because we had the gorgeous beach all to ourselves!

Beautiful, quiet beach at Vatera.

We were in Vatera for one night, which happened to be the night before Colin's birthday. That meant we spent the first half of his birthday hanging out on the quiet beach, snorkeling, and eating lunch at a cafe on the sand. The water in Vatera was unbelievably blue and clear, although we didn't see much in the way of sea life. Also, the (pebbly) sand was unbelievably hot! We were out on the beach in the morning but still couldn't walk more than a few feet without our shoes. At least the weather was better than on Naxos! Anyway, after swimming for a while and roasting our toes on the sand, we headed back to our hotel for lunch. The hotel was a family-owned enterprise with a cafe on the beach as well as a full restaurant for dinner. We had a tapas-style lunch of Greek salad, saganaki, and dolmadakia (stuffed grape leaves). It was all fresh and homemade and delicious.

Dolmadakia and Colin's espresso fraido (iced espresso) on Vatera beach.

Saganaki with peppers and tomatoes.

After lunch (and an obligatory beach/birthday ice cream treat), we hopped back in the car for the drive to Skala Eressou. Luckily the island isn't too large so the drive was only a few hours, and it took us through some really pretty scenery, from mountains and massive olive groves to a huge inland gulf. We found our hotel easily and immediately headed back out to the beach. This beach was rockier than Vatera and, despite it not being peak tourist season yet, there were many more people out and about. Still, it had a quiet, laid-back feel. When we had researched Lesvos to plan our itinerary, Colin and I kept seeing Skala Eressou advertised as "quirky and counter-cultural." I'm not sure I totally got that vibe, although perhaps compared to typical European beach towns it was. Either way, we loved the town and were happy to spend a few days there.

Skala Eressou beach

Since we had several days, we had fun trying different restaurants. My goal, knowing that we would be headed far inland for Part 3 of our trip, was to eat as much seafood as possible. The first night we also had to check out the local beach bar advertising homemade chocolate cake because it was Colin's birthday, of course.

Birthday cake! Happy 29th!

We had also talked about renting paddleboards since Colin had never been before. On a long walk down the beach to scope out snorkeling spots, Colin stumbled across a huge water sports enterprise with plenty of paddleboards. He came back to tell me, and we walked down the beach to their hut. Sure enough, they had tons of paddleboards, kayaks, windsurfers, and sailboats. We kept walking because we wanted to snorkel first but made a note to come back.

The snorkeling spot that Colin had found was the best we had ever been to. The water was freezing so I didn't swim as long as Colin did, but we both saw tons of colorful fish among the rocks and coral. Colin also saw an octopus! (I was sad to have missed that.) The snorkeling spot was at the end of the beach away from town, which seemed to have been unofficially designated the nude beach. By that point, I was used to topless beaches since even the city beach on Naxos has its fair share of topless sunbathers. In the U.S., a nude beach would have been evidence of a "quirky, counter-cultural" atmosphere, but in Europe that's just normal.

By the time we walked back toward town, it was late afternoon so we decided to save paddleboarding for the next day. On our way back the following day, we decided to walk along the road instead of the beach because the water sports hut was so far away. And it was a good thing we did, because we happened upon a sight that made Colin's herpetologist heart sing! As we crossed a bridge over a small stream, we looked down to see hundreds of turtles swimming alongside eels. More turtles were sunbathing on the muddy banks. We couldn't possibly count them all. Here's a photo of just a very small portion of the turtle extravaganza:

Turtles and eels, oh my!

When we got to the water sports hut, people were already out in full force. There seemed to be a windsurfing class underway, and several more people were taking out sailboats. It seemed to me like the CBI of Lesvos--they had buoys marking the boundaries of where you could sail/paddle, staff zooming around in motorboats to help capsized or otherwise overwhelmed sailors, and tons of equipment for general use. The whole thing appeared to be run by Australians, too--but we had noticed that Skala Eressou tended to be pretty international and full of ex-pats from various places, so that wasn't too strange.

For various reasons, we began to believe that we were interlopers at a private resort. That would explain why the hut was so far away from the main Skala Eressou beach, and why we couldn't find pricing information for rentals. We also noticed an awful lot of matching beach towels. But we had stopped by the previous afternoon and asked about the paddleboards, and our conversation had gone like this:

Staff member, noticing us standing around aimlessly: "Hi! Can I help you?"

Me: "Actually, yes. We were just walking by and were curious about taking out paddleboards. We wondered how it works."

Staff member: "The boards are over there, and life jackets and paddles are over there. Just grab one! Stay between those buoys out there. You might not even want to go out that far because the wind's blowing offshore, you know? But if you get stuck, one of our guys in the boat will come help you out."

Me, purposely not asking about prices because it seemed to good to be true: "Great, thanks!"

So Colin and I decided that they knew we were interlopers and didn't seem to care--either because there was plenty of equipment, or because it was off-season, or because the marginal cost of two more paddlers didn't matter. We decided that it was, in this case, better to ask forgiveness than explicit permission, so we dropped our things on two lounge chairs and went to get paddles.

I am so glad we did! The water was calm in the morning, so both Colin and I were able to stand-up paddleboard without falling in. It was noticeably harder than paddleboarding in the Charles River, even if the water was calm for the ocean. We paddled out to the buoys and back along the shore until we noticed the other boats heading in for siesta. We returned our equipment and dragged our lounge chairs into the shade under an umbrella, where we ate lunch that we had brought. We then walked down the beach to snorkel while we waited for siesta to end. When it did, we went back out on the paddleboards a second time. By then the wind and waves had picked up so it was harder to stand, but we had fun nonetheless. Although we are 100% sure that we crashed the private resort, we are very appreciative to the staff for letting us (or ignoring us).

Windsurfers, sailboats, and kayaks at Skala Eressou.

We ended our trip to Lesvos with another seafood meal on the water--sadly, my last seafood in Greece. Overall, we both loved Lesvos and would love to come back. But vacation wasn't over yet--Colin's parents were about to hop on a transatlantic flight to Athens, where we would meet them for Part 3 of our adventures. So Colin and I headed back to our hotel to pack for the quick drive back to Mytilini and flight to Athens the next morning.

Fresh calamari and Greek beer for dinner in Skala Eressou.

On the plane from Mytilini to Athens, looking down over the inland gulf on Lesvos. 

Greece: The Beginning

As I mentioned before I left for Greece, my trip was divided into three sections. Colin and I started out on Naxos, his home base. We then flew to Lesvos, a new island for both of us. Finally, we picked up his parents in Athens and drove inland to Meteora. This post is about the beginning of our trip, on Naxos.

I had been to Naxos two years ago, so it was sort of familiar territory. Nevertheless, waking up on my first morning there and stepping outside to this view was fantastic:

View of the port of Naxos from up on the hillside.

I actually ended up sleeping until about 11:00 on my first day because I was so exhausted from the trip over. My transatlantic flight left Boston at 4:45 pm and arrived in Frankfurt at 5:30 am, which meant that sunrise came only three hours after sunset, and I didn't get much sleep at all. It was hard to stay awake during the few hours I was in the Frankfurt airport, but I discovered that Lufthansa offers free coffee and tea stations at almost every gate in the airport. So I'd get a cup of tea, sit down, read a little, then when I started getting sleepy, I'd walk a few gates down, refill my tea cup, and repeat. But because I got such an early start, I arrived in Athens at 1:00 pm. The ferry left for the islands around 5:30, and didn't arrive on Naxos until close to midnight. The last hour or so of that ferry ride was torture! I'm pretty sure I could've slept standing up. So anyway, when Colin finally prodded me awake at 11:00 the next morning, we decided to skip breakfast and go straight to his favorite gyro place for lunch. It was so delicious. I ate as many gyros as I possibly could on this trip.

Then Colin showed me around the island--most notably, to "his" castle. Last year, Colin discovered that an old Venetian castle had been renovated and turned into dorms for visiting researchers. He moved in and has called it home ever since. But since he discovered it after my visit two years ago, I'd never seen it.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but Colin's castle was much nicer than I imagine most ancient castles are. For one, it was light and bright with no dank dungeon in sight. This is an old kitchen from the museum part of the castle:

A restored kitchen in Colin's castle.

After wandering around a little we went to the beach, as one should do on a sunny day in the Greek islands. The water was chilly but calm and clear and good for swimming and snorkeling. We ended up doing a lot of snorkeling on our trip, and although this particular beach wasn't the best spot for sea life, it was good nonetheless. (I've never seen a beach I didn't like.)

St. George beach on Naxos

 Colin also took me lizard-catching (on the morning of our engagement!):

Got one! Note that he's trying to bite my finger.

On my last trip to Greece, Colin taught me the mealworm method of catching lizards, where you lure them in with a mealworm tied to a fishing pole, and then lift them up and into a bucket before they think to let go of the mealworm. This year, Colin had me try the noose method. It was kind of like lasso-ing a lizard--definitely harder than the mealworm method, but I figured it out and caught several.

Of course, we also ate a ton of fresh seafood while on the island. I've decided that squid and mussels are my favorites, but I really like octopus for the fun factor. These octopus croquettes are from a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant out on the end of the wharf. The waiters there always look surprised when tourists show up, which is usually a sign of a really good restaurant.

Grilled octopus croquettes.

That restaurant also makes delicious stuffed squid. It's tender and juicy and stuffed with cheese and veggies.

Stuffed squid with roasted potatoes.

We also ate a bazillion Greek salads. They look very different from "Greek salads" you'll find in the States and are much better. This one was from a restaurant called Metaxi Mas that is tucked away into the "labyrinth" of Naxos. The labyrinth is the old, winding system of paths through downtown, where the sidewalks are narrow and you can easily get lost without ever being more than five minutes from the ocean. Metaxi Mas is another of our old favorite restaurants, and it's where we went on the night we got engaged. It ended up being particularly perfect that night because we were able to sit outside on their small covered patio as the rain rolled in.

Greek salad with a huge block of fresh feta.

We also checked out some ruins, like the ancient Portera next to the harbor. This is probably the most iconic spot on the island of Naxos. The Portera is connected to the main island by a narrow walkway, meaning that you also have a great view of Naxos.

Colin and me at the Portera.

View of Naxos from the Portera.

After our first couple days, though, the weather quit cooperating. We had a couple tremendous rainstorms, and the days were windy enough that we were never able to take the sailing trip we wanted to, or to take Colin's kayaks out again. We ended up having a great time hanging around the town, driving to the ancient Temple of Demeter, and ferrying over to the nearby island of Paros, but it wasn't quite the same. On our last day, we showed up at Captain Panos's sailboat at 8:30 in the morning for the second day in a row, hoping to go out for a day trip on his sailboat. And again, for the second day in a row, he had to cancel due to weather. He must have had a change of heart when he saw our sad faces, though, because he offered to take the four of us who were waiting on a quick, couple-hour sail around Naxos and Paros. We jumped at the chance!

The sail started off nicely enough, with blue skies and relatively calm seas. We drank hot tea and coffee, basked in the sun, and even tried our hands at sailing. After about half an hour, though, the wind picked up and the sky grew dark and it became apparent that we were sailing into a rainstorm. Captain Panos docked at a small port on Paros and we sat in the cabin below during the downpour, watching the rain come down in sheets. Eventually it lightened up enough for us to sail away, and we headed for sunnier shores--or more specifically, a swimming hole. We all jumped in, but wow, was the water freezing! The first mate, Michalis, took the water temperature after we were all safely back aboard, and it was 21 degrees Celsius, or not quite 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

On our way back to Naxos, the wind really picked up. Captain Panos and Michalis invited us up to the bow to "ride the waves." We each clutched the furled sail and the handrails as the boat pitched, like a roller coaster, over the ever-growing waves. It was a little bit terrifying and a lot of fun, and I don't even normally like roller coasters!

And then, shortly after Captain Panos dropped us off back on Naxos, the storm rolled in. The harbor was filled to way more than capacity with boats seeking shelter from the storm. We'd never seen so many boats wedged in so tightly. Colin and I - and pretty much everyone else on Naxos - spent the rest of the night walking from restaurant to restaurant, trying our best to stay out of the rain. When the rain finally stopped, we climbed the hill back to our hotel to pack because the next day we were flying to Lesvos, where we hoped the sun would shine for Part 2 of our vacation.

Colin on Captain Panos's boat, moored in the Naxos harbor.

Running/Raining

Before I jump into stories about Greece, I wanted to share a quick story about another epic rainstorm.

As I've mentioned before, I have a small group of running buddies at work. We started out running together more than two years ago, and over the years the group has dwindled. A couple people faded away due to injuries or new babies. One moved to California (that was Dave, my Olympics teammate). A couple others continued running, but on their own schedule. After all that, the only two people from our original group that were still running together regularly were me and Leah.

After two years of running and two 5ks under our belts, Leah and I began talking about doing a 10k. (Leah's Kenyan, so she keeps hoping that she'll turn into a marathoner one day.) We talked about running a 10k so many times, but we never registered--until last month when Leah accepted a PhD position at Michigan State. Knowing that she'd be moving in August, we decided we had to go for it, ready or not. We found the one Boston-area 10k happening during the summer - the Boston Athletic Association 10k through historic downtown Boston - and signed up. In many ways, it was the perfect race for us: convenient, flat course, in the middle of the summer before Leah left, early in the morning so it wouldn't be too hot. In other ways, it was less ideal: the race was two weeks after I returned from Greece, which meant I wouldn't get much training in, and it's billed as "one of the fastest 10k courses in the world," drawing elite marathoners who can sprint a 10k in 20-something minutes. Leah and I - and two IEc principals who also decided to give it a try - were solidly in the group of amateurs striving for completion rather than speed.

So two weeks after returning from two weeks stuffing myself with seafood, I set out to run 6.2 miles. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd ever run 6.2 miles continuously before then. Leah and I run 4-5 miles every Friday so I wasn't too concerned about my ability to tack on one extra mile, but I wasn't quite as prepared as I'd hoped to be.

Then last Sunday morning, we woke up to a torrential downpour. Before I even left my apartment, it was raining. Before the race started, I was soaked. We had water squishing out of our shoes, water running down our faces (I wore a visor not to keep the sun out of my eyes, but the rain!), and goosebumps on our arms because it was only 65 degrees. It was such a silly moment, standing at the starting line with thousands of other runners, freezing and drenched, doing this "just for fun."

But fun it was! How could it not be, in such ridiculous conditions? Our group of four IEc-ers stuck together until the very end, and the camaraderie among the whole cohort of nearly 6,000 runners was incredible. The course was an out-and-back loop, so shortly after we hit the 1-mile mark, we could see the elite runners sprinting back to the finish on the other side of the street. Cheers erupted as the wheelchair racers passed us first, then the elite men, then the elite women. All the while the rain was driving downwards, and the puddles had grown so large and deep that BAA volunteers were stationed near the biggest ones, directing us around them.

Around the 5-mile mark, I began to pull away from the other IEc-ers. Leah joined me for a while, but by the time I saw the "800 meters remaining" sign, I was on my own again, pushing myself to run as fast as I could with what energy I had left. It was awesome to round the final corner between the Public Garden and the Boston Common and see the finish line ahead, with fans cheering. I sort of felt like throwing up by that point, but the emotion of the moment made me want to jump and skip and cry instead. The dedication of those fans--impressive. I can't think of many reasons I would willingly get up before 8 on a Sunday to stand in a cold downpour.

Anyway, I finished in just under an hour, which is what I had been hoping for. More than that, though, I felt like this was the first race where I paced myself appropriately. I often start out too fast and have to slow down or walk, which is frustrating. Alternatively, in the last 5k I ran, I ran too slowly and was frustrated when I finished with tons of energy left. This time, I ran progressively faster as I went along, and only felt like throwing up for the last few hundred meters. (Gross, I know, but that's how running goes for me. I've never actually thrown up, and I usually feel amazing 30 seconds after I stop running. Knowing that Meb throws up when he runs, too, makes me feel better.)

Here are my results--404th out of 859 in my division (25-29 year old women)! That's solidly in the top half.

To make the day even better, all four of us finished in under an hour! Leah finished in 59:47, and Rachel and Henry finished in 59:53, which was much faster than they expected. We joked that we were running so quickly we needed to watch out for hydroplaning.

Here's our soggy but happy team after the race:

Leah, Henry, Claire, and Rachel--almost ran fast enough to run between the raindrops.

And here are me and Leah. I'm going to miss having a regular running buddy when she goes to Lansing, but I'm glad we ran this last race together. 10k crossed off our bucket lists! Next up--half marathon?!

P.S. Part three in the Epic Rainstorm Series looks like it's going to be taking place tomorrow, on Moving Day. Yep, Colin and I are moving into our new apartment tomorrow, and the forecast looks a lot like the forecast for last Sunday. Mother Nature, if you're listening--send our rain to California please, thanks.