Off to Ypres

On October 29th all of the Y9s took a bus ride into Belgium for a History trip. We've been learning about WW1 in History, so we got to go to lots of depressing cemeteries.

Fun! (I'm exaggerating)

The first one was for British and French soldiers - or people in the Triple Entente. There were loads of rows of graves - and lots of them were 'unknown unto god' meaning that they didn't know who they were. 

The second cemetery we went to was for the Germans. It was a lot gloomier (mass graves instead of individual graves, dark trees)

The last one looked a bit like the first one - the graves were the same, but there were less of them. There was one grave for a 15 year old. 

All of these photos are from the first cemetery. 

Memorial

Between the poppies, row on row

The Olympic Stadium

On the last day after Ariana and Max had left we went to see the Olympic Stadium that was used in the ancient times. It is the only major stadium in the world that is made entirely out of white marble. 

To find out more Click here

The Athens Gate Hotel

Our hotel was perfect distance from lots of good sites. The Parthenon, the Parthenon Museum, nice restaurants, loads of stores, the Olympic Stadium, Zeus's Temple, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and quite a few other places.

Ariana massaging Ashlynn, Ashlynn massaging Max, Max flipping through TV channels!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL 

The Parthenon!

When people think of Greece this is probably the first thing that pops into mind. The Temple of Athena - the goddess of Athens. 

It managed to survive through lots of hard times, though the inner part was destroyed, some of the columns are destroyed. the roof is gone, and all of the decoration is gone. But other than that - it's a pretty cool place.

Ashlynn, Max, Ariana and I standing at the back of the temple.

View of the theater that is on the surrounding hill

Front of the temple - you can see, there were lots of people.

View of Athens

View of a temple not far off, that we went to later that day

Into Athens

After a few days spent in a small town, we drove to Athens - the capital of Greece. 

Our hotel had a wonderful view of two ancient Greek sites. 

From the roof-top cafe we could see the parthenon

And from our window we could see Zeus's Temple.

  

Dog Domain

The same day we also went to a Greek castle and some other historic sites. At the castle there were loads of cute dogs. 

Castle. It was fun to see where the different parts of the castle were - eg the granary.  

There were two awesome cute puppies! We wanted to steal them and take them with us.

Max and Ariana videoing the other puppy.

The Massive Greek Theater - the real one!

Once the dads had figured out where to drive, it was easy to find the massive - 50 row - theater. 

The acoustics were amazing - Daddy dropped a coin at the bottom and we could hear it on the 50th row!!

Awesome photo

Max & Ashlynn

Open aired theater - beautiful view from the top rows

Massive Greek Theater!

We drove to another Ancient Greek Site, which Uncle Tony and Daddy told us had PERFECT acoustics and was a massive theater......... 

oops, here was the theater that we found - 19 rows - not allowed to go in.........

We were a little bit disappointed. 

First Greek Site

We drove back down the hill and ate lunch and then we went to the first Ancient Greek site of the trip. 

"Insert treat - Receive dog" quote of the day

Temple

Mosaic

Castle on the Hill

We took an airplane back to Athens then rented cars and drove out of Athens to a castle on a hill. There was a wonderful view of the surrounding area and we could see a beach and a ancient greek site. 

Castle on the hill

Wonderful view

Mamma Mia Church

On the second boat ride we got taken to the church where the wedding scene took place in the film Mamma Mia. We walked up to the top, where there was a church. The church in the movie was a set, so the church at the top was not the one that we'd seen in the movie. 

The hill that the church was on was pretty tall. We had to walk up loads of stairs (we counted 185!!)

Ashlynn & Max on the stairs

Second day on the boat

We all loved the boat ride so much that we asked if we could have another one. It was a lot windier that day, so the water was very bumpy. 

We went around the other island that day, so we saw different things. 

Of course it was still really pretty.

Our own private beach

Daddy making the first dive

Beautiful clear water

By the pool

We decided that while we were still damp, we might as well get in the pool. It was not heated, so it was really cold. The other strange thing, it was a salt water!

Jump!

Ashlynn and Suzzie

Swimming in the Caves

We got driven up to a cavern in a big rock. The driver said that there was a beach at the other end of it. 

Inspecting the cave from the outside...

Daddy wasn't afraid to jump right in

JUMP!

Ahhhhh - cold, refreshing and amazingly clear

Eventually all of the kids and dads were in the water.

Daddy and I went into the cave to inspect it. It got VERY dark, but it was amazing. True to his word, there was a rocky shore at the other end. With lots of persassion we managed to convince the others to come to the back of the cave. 

Lady of Leisure

Two of the awesomest days during the whole holiday were the days we spent on the The Lady of Leisure. This was the boat that was owned by the owner of the villa that we were staying in. He offered to take us out on a circle of the island. 

It was AWESOME!

All of us kids sat in the front and rode the waves!

Pics around the villa.....

Infinite Pool

Dinner at night outside

Reading at the villa

Uncle Tony burning alcohol

Ariana posing at the top of the VERY steep driveway