Greetings- It's been a busy month. I've been helping organize the upcoming big 25th Anniversary Reunion of the Wilderness Awareness School for Labor Day before I leave for the summer. It's going to be an incredible event with kids who grew up with Wilderness Awareness School returning and seeing what has become of these young naturalists (and old ones too!). If you would like to attend any part of this weekend, I highly encourage you to check out any of the events. www.wilderness.awareness.org will have information and the event is very inexpensive and held in Carnation, WA.
I'm leaving on June 4 for 6 weeks to Greece and then Turkey. I can't write much now, but will hope to find a cafe with internet at least once a week or whenever the muse inspires.
I hope mr. JF is reading this since he is one of my muses for this trip. Many of you have commented that you will check in, so I'll be inserting some discreet hellos in my blog just for you!
I'm incredibly grateful to take this summer off and explore an old part of civilization and connect with the landscape and myself without the distraction of work and home. Thank you all who have encouraged me and supported me to do this. I feel incredibly blessed to have so many, many wonderful, loving, bright people in my life. Especially my brother and his wife who are nursing my little dog who is recovering from knee surgery.
Until next time then, I'll be on the other side writing from someplace I can't even picture....
I just wrote for almost an hour and the internet cafe cut me off and I lost everything I wrote to you! Such is life, like a sand castle gone with one big wave before the photo could save it.
As I am learning with these travels, don't get too attached to plans.
I had a fabulous time in Athens. A lovely hotel at 50 Euros which is about as cheap as a nice hotel can be in the heart of the city (15 minutes to the big archeological Museum and 15 minutes to the Acropolis and Plaka). A hostel is about 15, but is a sleepless night and I'm glad to have had the modest hotel with big breakfast and rich, dark Greek coffee.
(Annie at the Parthenon)
The first day I arrived in Athens, I went to the museum which was much larger than I expected and thought 3 hours would be enough but there were 3 floors and many, many rooms. Not as daunting as the Louvre, but I walked around in astonishment at the level of quality of artistry the sculptures and painted pots had. Red pots that were 9 feet tall and painted with all kinds of spectacular scenes of gods and goddesses on them.
The sculptures were much more refined than the Roman sculptures I've seen before. 300 to 500 BC, pretty amazing tools they used, coins, weights, horse bridles and armour, not to mention extensive written language. I had no idea how incredibly rich the culture and civilization had been and seeing the artifacts made me wonder why we don't have this level of artistry today in our culture-- sculpture and architecture doesn't compare to what they had 2500 years ago.
Then, there are all the sculptures honoring the athletes. Gorgeous, gorgeous athletes. What happened to this athletic culture? Sure, we still have the Olympics, but these gods and goddesses were really in great shape and somehow inspired everyone to rise to their highest potential. I felt very inspired and awed after leaving this museum.
I hurried to get to the Acropolis before they closed and in the process got quite lost, which was interesting in itself. Neighborhoods that seldom see blond tourists like me. Before long, I asked a nice man where I was (other than Athens!) and he guided me in the direction of the Acropolis. Kind of embarrassing really, since the Acropolis is placed high up and a hill and most of the time if you look up, you can find it! But the good thing about this man was I asked him for a recommendation to a really good but affordable place to eat. He told me of a place in the Plaka near the Acropolis and after walking to the Acropolis and arriving 1 minute too late with very sore feet, I thought, "OH well, maybe I'll see the Acropolis tomorrow then and explore this Plaka."
Which is what I did, waiting to eat dinner until 8:30 or 9 when everyone else eats here. I found the restaurant (taverna), sat outside near some lovely Italian men, and had the most exquisite lamb with melted feta and potatoes and mystery sauce that made me chew slowly to savour each moment.
I'll post this now just in case the system shuts down again....
I set out and walked along the flurry of fish, meat and vegetable markets on my way to the Acropolis. Greek people selling fish is something different than Seattle's Pike Place Market. The fish merchants are much louder, much more passionate, competitive and a litte testy. I didn't dare linger too long in this warehouse, people were serious about their purchases and I didn't want to end up smelling like fish for the rest of the day.
The Acropolis so far has been the highlight of my trip-- It's set so high up above the city and the tall, beveled pillars seem to reach to the heavens and proclaim strength and dominance. I'm sure the goddess Athena was pleased with this structure. The Parthenon, was majestic and trully amazing to have survived 2500 years with wars and earthquakes.
(the Parthenon and it's amazing marble columns)
(The arch by the Olympic Park with the Acropolis in the background)
I walked all around to various monuments around the Acropolis and visited Socrates cave (where he died). There were two other men who were philosophers like me, and we commented how we always had wanted to visit Socrates cave and here we were! We took pictures to commemorate our dream coming true.
I relished every archeological site I saw-- the Odeum (300 b.c.), this large theatre where Renee Fleming is performing in July! I'm tempted to come back for that, believe me-- but I think I'll just have to imagine it. It's the most amazing venue for Opera you could imagine-- I think 3500 -5000 people can sit and it's outdoors (it used to a roof originally-- imagine that.)
The other highlight of my day at the Acropolis was running into a woman on my way home to my hotel who was an archeologist.
Hello Friends,
I've been gone a week and feels like a month of living and traveling. I'm in Los, Greece which is a place I had never heard of until a few days ago while having a late-night talk with an archeologist I met in Athens. We both met while listening and watching some very bad kareoke performed at a Festival not far from my hotel. I had spent the day wondering around the Acropolis and Parthenon, my mouth open in astonishment at the amazing feats of architecture the Greeks had accomplished 2500 years ago. 500 BC, Marble towers with intricate carvings and somehow roofs on top-- one temple still had it's roof! (I took a nap there-- much to the astonishment of my archeologist friend).
The weight and height of the marble blocks and and the expansive design put the Roman ruins I've seen before in a much lower class. The other amazing thing is how these giant structures survived all the wars and earthquakes for millenia. In Kos, where I am now, there were amazing buildings here as well, but there were numerous severe earthquakes that leveled them so the reconstruction wasn't possible. There are still part of the ruins left that still leave me with Awe-- especially Hippocrates Asklepion (the first healing center where they had baths, herbal medicine and some kind of healers who consulting with snakes while dreaming...)
Sorry for the blip here--- i figured how to recover a little of the text I lost... yippee.
Anyway, I've got to close here and get to the hotsprings before too late.
Love to you all-- especially J.F. -- did you find yourself in this? I hope you write me, my friend-- you are my muse for writing in this trip as well as a whole bunch of you who I will mention from time to time... A.W.- thanks for the healing remedies, they are wonderful. And much love to J.T. and N.D. for everything, give Miss P a squeeze from me.
Hello Again, I'm sitting at an internet cafe (of course) in Patmos, with the Aegean sea just 15 steps from my chair. Pretty amazing place to be writing to you all. A large ferry is arriving in this little habor, dwarfing the small fishing and sailboats moared here. There are rickety, old-style moorages made from scraps of wood, old recycled pipes and odds and ends, put to use for the far end of town where the locals have their boats. Of course, the big yaghts are lined up in front of the tourist restaurants (tavernas). Children are swimming in front of me and it's surreal to think of Seattle in this moment.
I have been drinking in the "Patmosphere" here. It's a very sacred island and I spent the morning visiting the apocalypse cave where the Apostle John had spent much time and wrote about his experience there. Pretty amazing cave, rough black rock with big crystals imbedded in the rock. To preserve it's sacredness, they made it an enclosed shrine with all kinds of old orthodox art and relics. However, before they did this, the cave must have had a stellar view which is still obvious from the small windows they left in the shrine. No wonder John had such an experience there.
Actually, the monastery is also very old, sacred and famous. Very old and probably built on temples for other gods-- remnants remain of statues from these gods in the monastery. Many people make a pilgramage here to this monastery and when I arrived, I was so moved from the "patmosphere" that made me well up with emotion. My friend I met from Wales in Kos told me I must come here to experience this and he was right... Pretty amazing place. The monks were singing while I went through a museum up in the monastery and it was quite beautiful.
(at the Monastery in Patmos)
It's also such a small island, everyone gets around on scooters which is a pure delight on these windy, hilly roads that hug the ocean. I feel like a seagull and envy the local birds here. Though, they have a dangerous life with all the ferral cats on these islands. It's much like Hawaii. Ferral cats everywhere. Still, I got to pet a little kitten the other day. Not quite like holding my cousin's newborn baby, but pretty darn sweet to hold such a new life in my hands.
Each island has brought me in touch with very interesting people. N., the geologist from Kos was very kind to invite me to dinner with his friends in downtown Kos and drink the local wine, eat local food and talk philosophy. Some of my favorite things to do! I keep finding people to talk philosophy here with and it's pure delight for me-- the locals know a lot more than most of my philosophy cronies in college. I am humbled and jealous that the American culture doesn't have this kind of knowledge.
In Patmos, I have the pleasure of enjoying the company of N, a world-travelling journalist from Denmark. He has written many articles about Greece and knows a lot of history and philosophy. If colleges could design a learning program like this, students would be inspired to read and research what is in front of them!
So, tonight at midnight I take the ferry back to Pireaus in order to catch another ferry to Santorini, the volcanic island that shaped much of the islands of Greece and according to my geologist friend or is it my journalist friend?, this explosion could have wiped out Crete's earlier civilization.... I hope to see Crete if time allows....the oldest civilization in Greece.
Hello to J.F.-- my muse. Hope you and your mom are reading. Please write hello if you have... And to all of you friends, family and folks reading this for the first time. Sending you light and happy vibes from the loving Greek islands.... Annie
I arrived last Thursday via an all night ferry ride from Pireus (near Athens) with hopes of going to Crete to see Gnossis and old ruins and the great park on the west side of the island. Those plans are gone since the morning I arrived at Santorini, it was a very hot and windy day and the owner of the pension, Anna, suggested I rent a motorbike (scooter 50cc) to see more of the island.
Santorini is considered one of the most beautiful of the 3000 Greek islands, and it has dramatic cliffs from it's volcanic eruption at 1300 bc where it destroyed quite a bit of Crete and affected the geology all around the region. There is still a volcano in the middle of the sea near the island, but I haven't seen it. I spent the morning in the museums marveling over the 4000 year old vases and statues that were excavated from Fira, the main village where I have been staying for the week.
I took my little scooter all over the island last Thursday, to three beaches- two that were very touristy with hundreds of umbrellas and lounge chairs lined up on the sand for as far as I could see-- well, at least a quarter to half of a mile. The town of Fira, was full of tourist shops, fine jewelry, fine clothing, and any think you think you would like to adorn yourself with. I haven't been in such a touristy place before, even though I've been to a few islands now. To be honest, it's too busy here for me-- the beauty of the landscape, the 1000 foot cliffs, the white houses somehow attached to the cliffs with streets that make Provence look flat, well-- it's too many tourists.
So, I planned after my long day with a finale of viewing the sunset at this village called Oia, a ritual all tourists must do once-- even I agree. I planned I would leave the next day.....
So, I scooted at 7:30 from Fira to Oia on a very mountainous, windy road that had 1000 foot drops with views of little farms and white houses.... It was spectacular and scary. People drive like bats out of hell here. I'm a good driver and was pretty scared most of the day driving my scooter. Not only the speed of the locals, but the volume of traffic here makes a scooter really dangerous.... I planned after this sunset experience to drive right back before dark and eat dinner close to my room in Fira.
Oia was really beautiful, even if the town was created for tourists. It had a stellar view of the sunset, with enormous boats out in the distance. I'll post this for now and continue with another page......
Annie Thoe is an Assistant Feldenkrais Trainer and Practitioner in the Feldenkrais Method with 22 years of experience in bodywork. She has taught numerous modalities of massage therapy, supervised students and practitioners, and teaches locally and nationally. She is on the Board of Directors for the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, Washington. In addition to her outdoor naturalist study, Annie has an extensive background in martial arts, sports, and music.
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April, 2007
