Back in Zevgolatiou

Three years ago we stayed with this family but we had lost their contact info so we set out to find them. Janna recognized the streets and being a holiday weekend they were all at home. The boys played and we ate Easter Bread and Greek coffee. A couple of cousins who spoke better English showed up, and we reconnected with them.

View of Chalkida from the Morgans balcony

Easter toys with candles

It's coming up to Greek Easter which is a huge celebration and holiday here. One of the traditions is for godparents to give candles to children to burn in the church on Good Friday. Plain candles are a bit dull so in our materialistic culture why not jazz them up with an expensive toy. Theres a whole aisle in the toy store where all the big international franchises from Cars to Barbie to Mickey Mouse have their own custom packaging for this season including... A candle!

Grayson beating Malc at connect 4 on the train to Athens

Back in Athens and how we did it

It's great to be back in Greece again after 3 years. This time, because it's getting close to Easter, the prices were higher, driving my personal assistant to spend many hours on the Internet finding a cost effective way to get us all here. She is really good at this kind of thing, and only requires a quick back rub at the tensest moments.
So on Wednesday morning we set out from Brighton to Stanstead in our car - 2 hours instead of only 1/2 hour to Gatwick - checked into our long term parking 74 pounds and caught our cheap Ryanair flight to Thessaloniki. 225 Euros for all of us. No movie, no food and upright seats. As we approached the city I read Thessalonians on my ipod while the guy next to me read over my shoulder. We landed at 9pm and we took a city bus across town to the TrainO station. 2,80 Euros. Got some Euros from a machine and waited till midnight when the train drivers strike finished and our train departed for Athens. First class carriage with reclining seats and a sandwich and drink included for only 52,80 euros for all of us!
Patchy sleep with very loud announcements cutting in on speaker as we approached each station. At about 6 am Grayson and I lugged our selves and our bags out of the train in Athens but the doors close on my assistant and Gabriel. Despite me yelling "dont worry, its going to be OK" and punching the button to open it, the train moved off and I figured I was in for a long wait till they found the next train back. At that point my enterprising assistant found out exactly what happens to you if you pull the big red emergency handle. The train stops pretty quick and a man with a walkie talkie runs up and.... apologizes! Reunited we munched on one if the free sandwiches in the first class waiting room and then made our way down into the Metro to cross the city at rush hour. 4,20 Euros. Later Fotis told me there was a bomb threat at Syntagma (where below ground we were changing lines)! It was planted by political extremists, they gave notice so nobody was hurt. At Koropi, out near the airport, we got off the train and found a taxi, 7 Euros, for the five minutes drive to the apartment at Comovision center where we ate some breakfast and took a nap. (When I woke up and showered I plugged in the laptop and worked 9 hours finishing a project I started in Brighton on Tuesday and made back most of the expense of the trip. Praise God, our provider!)