Brazilian Bear

Or maybe not Brazilian, but found near the Brazilian Embassy (where the Diplomatic Choir is currently rehearsing). 

Meteora (Greece day 2)

We spent the second of our two days in Greece headed out to Meteora. Or Kalabaka and the surrounding geology. It was a full three hour trip each way, but it looked to dramatic to pass up. Here's the illustrated tourist map posted outside the train station. 

We headed straight north out of town into the dramatic looking hills/mountains/pillars.

I'm not much of a hiker, and it was a bit of a climb getting up to the monasteries. As in, the tops of those rock formations in the pictures above! But the scenery kept me going.

David was mostly taking the epic pictures from the top, but I grabbed a few:

In fact, most of my time at the top was spent drinking water and taking pictures of David taking pictures. He was excited about the camera. 

On the way down, we encountered both cows and goats. Those inspired selfies. 

And, a man on a motorbike informed us that his mother would make us the best food we'd ever eaten just 500 m down the road. We passed on that opportunity, but I did grab a picture of the sign.

And our google maps route down the mountain ended in a muddy slog across some grazing land - I don't even know how it happened, but it was scenic.

And that's Greece! :-)

Thessaloniki (Greece day 1)

Ever since I noticed that I had leftover vacation from last year, I've been meaning to use it, and this week is it - a combination of staycation and a short trip to Greece! I didn't even know Thessaloniki was a city. We picked it because google flight told us we could get there for less than 100 euro (for two of us) booking only a week ahead of time. Win!

After locating pastries, we climbed the white tower on the edge of the water. Awesome views.

One of the coolest things about the city is that there are ruins in the middle of it. I'll leave you to decide if it's better with or without the selfie!

We booked a tiny AirBnB with a really awesome view of the sunset. This is the best my phone could do, I'm hoping David got some better shots with his real camera. 

And, of course, the milk vending machine. Which made me think of this podcast episode - where I learned that in Greece, rules about ultra-fresh milk protect local farmers.

A walk in the park

It is cloudy and grey today, so my walk in the park was cheered by this snowman: 

And this strange elevated chair:

Birmingham (not Alabama)

Went away for the weekend to a choir retreat in Birmingham. Here are just a few pictures, presented without comment. None of the actual retreat, since that was more about people and music! 

Half a snow day!

Maybe you look at this and think "pretty," but I mainly think "I am not getting stuck in this, it's time to go home!"

Snow at JFK

My flights back to Berlin (from a meeting near Dallas) were delayed a total of five hours due to snow in New York. Flights at JFK were cancelled or delayed because there was only one runway working at a time while another was being plowed. 

I was torn between thinking "nobody should be in a plane in this weather" and "why can't they handle snow?"

The worst part was after landing on a runway that didn't look very plowed, we spent an hour in the Tarmac because there were massive plane traffic jams. I stared out the window at the winter chaos - motionless planes, but plenty of movement by baggage carts, plows, and other cars.

I made my connection (it was last call in the airport, but we spent an additional 40 minutes at the gate). My bag did not make the connection, and is still hanging out in NYC.