Oh the places we’ve been and the sights we’ve seen, memories to last a lifetime.  We find ourselves back in beautiful Victoria after six months of traveling the world.  What a fantastic journey we have been on.

Planes, trains, boats and bikes are but a few modes of transportation that we have sampled along the way. We’ve also walked over 2300 km or from Victoria to Winnipeg!

The time away has given us both time to pause and reflect a lot about our life’s journey and what the next chapter will bring.   I’m so glad I got to do this with my best friend. The memories and laughter that we shared will forever bond us together no matter where our paths lead from here.

Cheers and thanks for stopping in!

Paris

Ah the romantic city of Paris.  A time to be full of joie de vivre!   The usual tourist attractions beckon us but as usual we take great pleasure in wandering the streets and savouring the sights we stumble across.

Our very last day we took the train out to Palais de Versailles, a place I have wanted to visit each time I’ve been in Paris and now finally the opportunity.  It’s a wow place with so much to see that we couldn’t take it all in (yeah, another I want to go back to place). Once again though, as with Rome the crowds of people make it hard to truly enjoy….so if you ever get that way go really early before the tour groups and hoards of people.

We spend our final days of our journey here in Paris.  We weren’t supposed to be heading home quite this soon but somehow it just felt time.  We’ve been away a long time and home is calling.  The rest will have to wait for another trip!

It was hard to decide which of the fabulous Greek Islands to go to but in the end Crete won out. We had looked at trying to get a cruise but the timing wasn’t working out so we’d just have to find an Island and enjoy.  We found a great hotel in  the Agia Marina area where the breakfast and dinner were included.  A big Greek buffet with different specialities nightly….what can I say.

We relaxed with daily long walks on the beach, long lunches with lots of Retsina, Ouzo and another Greek speciality called Raki which seemed to be delivered to our table free of charge after each meal….potent stuff.  Not normally much of a drinker but I was catching on pretty good here.

We took in the sights of Haniá aka Chania, which is a lovely city with a great old town built around  the Venetian port.  There are narrow shopping streets to browse and lots of waterfront restaurants surrounding the harbour.  Sit and relax, watch the world go by and enjoy the tasty food on offer.  Did I mention how much I love Greek food??

One activity that we didn’t do that we probably should have was the Samaria Gorge, a National park with one of the longest ravines in Europe.  Hiking boots as well as runners had been sent home after Nepal, so perhaps we’ll save that for the next time.

The main treat we found in Athens is of course the Acropolis.  It stands high on a hill over looking the city and nothing in the books prepared us for the this majestic, ancient wonder.  Yes it was another big climb up but that made it all the more amazing.

Another  impressive sight was Ancient Agora. It was a bright, beautiful warm day which made exploring all the more enjoyable. So many people had walked these paths before us, gazing in awe at the sights before us.

When we could walk no more we stopped at an outdoor cafe for some long awaited Greek food and a glass or two (ok a bottle) of Retsina.  So good was the meal, we actually went back a second time…..will miss that place!

Other than the ancient ruins and a quick harbour peak we didn’t see much else of Athens. The city didn’t wow us as other cities had and on Sunday everything seemed to be closed other than the tourist areas.  No matter we were off soon enough.