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.