Please Come to Boston

Big news from the Nelson household . . . G came home from meetings in Boston last week with these Red Sox shirts and caps for the boys, as well as with the news that he had been offered an amazing position as Chief Sales Officer for the company! This means we'll be packing up again and heading back to the states, ending up on the east coast this time to make a new home for our family in Boston. Although we are sad to see our time in London coming to an end, we are more than thrilled with this business opportunity for G and with the idea of settling somewhere and laying down roots!

Fiddler on the Roof

The children from the senior school at Knightsbridge put on an amazing production of Fiddler on the Roof. Here is G's debut in his first true stage musical:

And one of G's favorite parts:

We are so very proud of G and his many accomplishments and accolades since moving to London almost 2 years ago. He has grown and matured in more ways than I could have ever imagined. There is such an emphasis here on proper manners and confidence when speaking not only one on one, but also when speaking and performing in front of a large group, as evidenced by this spectacular show! The courage and self-assurance and poise that all of the children exhibited on stage were truly remarkable. Well done G, well done!

S's First Sports Day

A few photos from sports day at Miss Daisy's:

Our Little Star

Here is S's performance in Miss Daisys end of year musical:

This little one has my number, I am truly, hopelessly smitten with him!

Athens

On the last day of our holiday in Greece, we left our fabulous floating home in Mykonos with a final view of the island from the top deck:

A beautiful view of the windmills, one of the most recognized landmarks in Mykonos. Because of its geographic position, Mykonos has historically been situated on a major sea route which at one time joined Venice with Asia. These windmills were powered by the northern wind off the island and were used until the the first decades of the 20th century to grind the local wheat. The need to refine grain and transport it around the world made Mykonos the perfect location for these:

We flew to Athens that morning and our first stop was the Acropolis. What would a trip to Greece be without a visit to the Parthenon? And let me just tell you, it did not disappoint!

This is the entrance, the Propylaea, which was built by Pericles and completed in 432 just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian wars:

Here is the Parthenon, probably the most recognized structure in the world, truly amazing and even more magnificent than I imagined! It was constructed between 447 and 438 BC and was dedicated to the goddess of Athena. The main purpose of the temple was to protect the statue of Athena that was made by Pheidias out of gold and ivory.

All temples in Greece were to be seen only from the outside. Those that visited never entered the temple and could only catch a glimpse of what was inside through the open doors. The master planners of the Parthenon constructed the temple with the observations and movements of the viewer in mind and thought of it as a sort of theatrical event. This planning and attention to detail proved more than awe inspiring for this humble visitor:

This is the Erechtheion, the most sacred site of the Acropolis. This is where Poseidon and Athena had their contest over who would be the Patron of the city, Athena being the victor and the city of Athens being named after her.

On the right you can see the Caryatid Porch, or "porch of the maidens," with six draped female figures (Caryatids) as supporting columns. One of the Caryatids was removed by Lord Elgin to decorate his Scottish mansion and was later sold to the British Museum:

This is the theatre of Dionysus, the oldest and most prolific theatre in Greece as most Greek tragedies were written for performances here and was home to Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes:

The small temple in the foreground of this photo is Thission. It was built in 449 BC and was a church dedicated to Saint George. It is virtually intact and as such, it serves as the best preserved ancient Greek temple:

This is a photo of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The building was started in the 6th century BC to be the greatest temple in the ancient world, but was not finished until the 2nd century AD. There were originally 104 columns and now only 15 remain standing:

This is Filopappos Hill known to the Ancient Greeks as the Hill of Muses. The structure at the top is the remaining fragment of the Monument of Philopappus:

In this photo, the Theatre of Herodes Atticus, built by the Romans between 161 and 174 AD and still in use today for classical concerts, the ballet and such:

Loved our time in Athens, a truly spectacular place to visit. What a blessing it is to enjoy the freedoms and liberties of our great democratic nation, as well as the amazing opportunity to see where it all started some 8000 years ago!

Happy Birthday C

Happy Birthday C.


You are a wonderful wife, mother and friend. We love you and appreciate all that you do for the family.

Love,

G, G, S and B

Mykonos

We left Ios in the afternoon and set sail to Mykonos for dinner. Here is the lovely sunset we watched on board:

Back in Mykonos, we had dinner on the island:

Following dinner, we discovered and enjoyed the infamous island nightlife:

We got back to the boat around 3:30 am and it seems the revelry in Mykonos was just getting started! We found it's reputation as the island that never sleeps to be more than true . . .

Certainly a fun night for all!

Ios

We spent some time on the island of Ios, the international mecca for those beautiful and under the age of 25, and for those that don't have an ounce of modesty, for this is where we saw a couple of young ladies kayaking sans clothes!

Ios is marketed as the place where spring break lasts all summer and from what we saw, I'd say that was more than true!

The binoculars were well used at this island:

After an afternoon spent at the beach, we hopped back on the boat for the sunset:

Fun little island! I'm thinking it's the Vegas of Greece, what happens in Ios stays in Ios.

Santorini

We woke up in Santorini on the second day of our adventure. Such a striking island, seems much has been written about it, many artists have attempted to depict its beauty in paintings, but I'm not sure anyone or anything can quite convey its breathtaking views and its unique character:

Santorini is actually a complex of five islands. Santorini (Thira) is the main island and around it Thirasia and Aspronisi and the two volcanic islands, Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni.

Until about 1645 BC, it was one island named Stroggili (circle in Greek). The volcano in the middle of the island erupted at that time and the caldera was created. This eruption is quite possibly the largest that our planet has ever seen, and it essentially led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete (just to the south of Santorini) from the gigantic tsunami that it created.

The eruption also seems to have inspired many Greek myths, as well as Plato's story of Atlantis.

Here is Todd doing a little beach scouting for us:

Our daytime destination was this volcanic beach, another by-product of the eruption that destroyed all life on this island, but created such dramatic scenery:

Tendering in for the sunset and dinner in Thira:

I will never forget these first impressions of Santorini, probably one of the most unique destinations that we have visited yet!