Here are some of the additional photos from Greece I promised you.



We wandered into the middle of a baptism service going on in the Greek Orthodox church on the square where our apartment was in Nafplio. It was a wonderful experience, to see all that goes into the baptism of a small child. After baptizing him by dunking him in the font, the priest then cut a lock of his hair, which perhaps was his first hair cut, I don't know. They didn't seem to mind people taking pictures, even flash pictures, like you see I did. Everyone was doing it!

A little blurry, but you can catch the sense of wonder this little boy was showing. That's his dad holding him, and the priest is getting ready to cut his hair.

We spent a hot noontime up on the top of the Acropolis hill in Athens on the 24th. The ruins of the Parthenon and Temple of Diana are truly spectacular. And the views over the white buildings of Athens extend toward the horizon in every direction. Of course we had to take some tourist shots!



I climbed the Aereopagus hill between the Agora and the Acropolis in Athens, and stood where the Apostle Paul stood to deliver his address to the skeptical Athenians about "an unknown God." It didn't go over very well with them 2000 years ago, and I can't say the Athenians seemed like a very religious lot today, but I took this picture of my foot on the spot (or near the spot?), and you can see why during Biblical time washing someone's feet was such a big deal... Yuck! It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it!

Finally we enjoyed part of a day on the Greek isle of Hydra, where the only public transportation is by means of mule or donkey! We decided just to walk! The poor little things looked hot and tired and we didn't want to add to their misery. What a gorgeous and scenic island Hydra is. I highly recommend it to anyone going to Greece and having a day to spare while in the Athens area. It soothes the nerves after being majorly frazzled by the frantic pace of Greek traffic.

Reflections on a Week in Greece

We have now arrived in Venice, after an all day trip yesterday by car, plane, bus and train. Greece was gorgeous, there's no two ways about it. The sun shone every day. We never had a drop of rain, and it was hot, but a dry hot.

Nafplio, the town where we stayed, is a wonderful spot that I would highly recommend if you're ever thinking about spending a week or so in Greece. It is about 100 miles southwest of Athens, past Corinth, and situated close to several ancient ruin sites, including Epidauros, Mycenae, Tiryns, and ancient Corinth. But the town itself is well worth a visit, and has a charming old town section with houses dating from the era during th 1500's and 1600's when Venice controlled it, wresting it away from the Ottoman Turks. There is a spectacular fortress perched high on a cliff over the town and harbor, with views all over the Argos region of Greece.



We followed a pretty ambitious agenda for seeing Greece from Nafplio: the first full day after Lucy arrived from Scotland we just did the things I described in my last posting entry on this blog. Then the following day we set out for the ruins of Epidauros and Mycenae. Epidauros, about 15 miles up in the dry hills north of Nafplio, is the site of an incredibly well-preserved Greek ampitheathre, the best one in all of Greece.

Here's Lucy, sitting on one of the 55 rows of seats, which altogether could seat 14,000 spectators! The acoustics are just about perfect. You can hear a coin drop at the bottom when you're sitting at the top.

For some reason the blog doesn't seem to want to let me post any more photos in it, so I will have to do so in a subsequent entry. But to continue: We saw Epidauros and Mycenae one day, then drove 11 hours round-trip from Nafplio to Delphi the next day, then a similar length day in the beating sun to Athens te next day, where we took a three hour walking tour of the Acropolis, then the following day we did an all day boat trip to the Greek isles of Hydra and Spetses. They all were gorgeous and interesting to see, but as you can imagine, it was pretty tiring to do it in such a concentrated dose, and Chris, then Anna and now I have come down with colds. But if it were you, and you had just a week to see as much of Greece as you could, would you have done it differently??

We had been hoping to get a lot of good Greek food this week, but were a bit disappointed in that. Most of what we had was just mass-produced stuff for the tourists, since this is the height of Greek vacation season. The restaurants were jammed in Nafplio every evening we were there, with large family groups on vacation. Everyone was enjoying themselves it seemed, from Grandma & Grandpa to the little kids who were running wild in the streets and squares of Nafplio even at 12 Midnight as their parents sipped ouzo or drank coffee and smoked (and smoked and smoked!) in the sidewalk cafes, that stay open till the wee small hours of the morning. It was an intergenerational happening that just kept on rolling, almost till dawn!

Finally Anna, who was feeling sick off and on throughout the Greek week said that she just wanted to go home and have really good Greek food at Dinos Gyros on Snelling in Falcon Heights. O.K., so many of you know what it's like to be on a vacation trip with kids who get burnt out of sightseeing, etc.! But she's perked back up now that we've arrived in Venice and had some good Italian food! And what a unique and amazing city Venice is, even in August when it's muggy and sultry and swarming with American tourists! More on that later.

From Gloomy Scotland to Sunny Greece

Written earlier this week:

It's Monday evening, August 17, and I've put in another day of power-sightseeing here in northeastern Scotland. I've been staying these past two nights at a farmhouse B & B just across the road from the fabulous Dunnottar castle ruin, perched high on a headland over the North Sea about 15 miles south of Aberdeen. Having seen photos of Dunnottar on calendars of Scotland for years, I found upon arrival here that it is everything I had hoped it would be, and more, a gloomy ruin complete with bats and the mournful sound of gulls swooping overhead while waves crash below on the rocks. Staying here at the entrance to the castle means that I've been able to see it not just during opening hours like other tourists, but after hours and before hours as well. I'll show you some of the bazillion photos I've taken here.

O.K. ... What do you think of the Scottish cap?? Guess I'm just trying to fit into the Scottish scene! My kids would think I'm a real nerd, but what the heck? When in Scotland, do as the Scots!

Dunnottar Castle by evening light. This is how I first saw it when I arrived at my B & B that is located just across the road from Dunnottar, about two miles south of Stonehaven on the east coast of Scotland.

Dunnottar has a history dating back to the 800's A.D., when they believe St. Ninian arrived on this Scottish headland and brought Christianity to the Picts who were Scotland's native residents at the time. Then successive castles were built on the site, with the height of it's history being in the 17th century, with a particular Presbyterian connection. Presbyterians were called Covenanters (also Whigs) in Scotland at the time, and when for religious reasons they refused to acknowledge the English king as head of the church as well as head of state in 1685, 200 of them were marched in shackles to Dunnottar from Edinburgh, about 30 of them dying on the way. Those who survi and imprisoned in the dungeon there, now referred to as "the Whigs' Vault."

They were crowded into this dim room which had dank, ankle deep water in it, and they were not let out for six weeks, having to pay the guards for any food or drinkable water they could get. You can imagine the sanitation and health issues posed by this situation. 25 of them managed to escape through the window at the end of the vault and scale down the cliff to the North Sea below. 2 died falling in the process, and 15 were quickly recaptured nearby and then tortured. After 6 weeks the remaining survivors (about 140 who hadn't recanted and accepted the king's ecclesiastical authority were shipped on a sailing ship to the New World. 70 of them died on the voyage, and the remaining 70 or so started new lives in New England. Being there at Dunnottar and seeing it all kind of gives you a new appreciation as a Presyterian of our central tennet that "God alone is Lord of the conscience," and that our polity has no tolerance of authoritarianism or the mixture of state authority over the Church.

Dunnottar ruins on its headland over the North Sea.

My last view of Dunnottar, as night fell on August 17. I walked down the trail from the road, and communed with the bats that were swooping around the ruins. It was really spooky, and as perhaps you can see, as I hiked back up the hill opposite the castle's entrance there was a strange pale white light coming from one of the windows of the castle. Now possibly it was one light that was left on in the castle, but it didn't look like a normal light to me. More ethereal, and strange... they say a sad woman clad in green plaid shows up every so often in what used to be the laundry room of the castle. I didn't happen to see her, but this eerie light sent me scurrying for the relative safety of my B & B across the road!

Later this week:



What a contrast there is from the gloom of a Scottish August to the sunny cheer of Greece in summer! Now I'm not trying to say that Scotland was a downer. It wasn't. But the concept of summer in Scotland is occasional peeks of sun between daily showers and temperatures in the 50's and 60's. One must always keep an umbrella handy and plan on dealing with constantly changing weather.

In contrast, here in Greece, where I arrived two days ago now on August 19, the sun is constantly shining and there is literally not a cloud in the sky anywhere. The temperatures are in the 90's during the middle of the day, so that you quickly realize why the culture here in summer is slow moving and siesta oriented. The stores and restaurants open about 11 a.m. here in the gorgeous Peloponnesian town of Nafplio where I am staying for a week with my family (Lucy, Chris and Anna) who've all rendez-voused with me on arrival in Athens. People don't really eat breakfast. They just congregate in cafes, starting about noon, and while away the hot afternoon visiting there with friends. Then lunch kind of happens around 3-5 p.m., and after 5 or 6 things begin to pick up a bit, and in reality the place starts to buzz around 9 p.m., when it has finally cooled off a bit, and the streets are pulsing with people and the techno-beat of music from the cafes till about 12 Midnight or 1 a.m.

Nafplio is a gorgeous town that sits at the head of a gulf coming in to the Pelopponesus Peninsula from the Aegean Sea. It has a crusaders fort on an islet in the mouth of its harbor, and then a huge citadel fortress perched on top of a small cliff-like mountain immediately behind the old town. The streets are all paved with marble, and it's mostly pedestrian traffic in the old town section, where we are staying in a second floor apartment with balconies, which you can rent by the week.

This morning Lucy, Chris, Anna and I climbed the 999 steps up the cliff to the citadel fortress, which has a commanding view over the town and harbor and off across the gulf toward Argos and the surrounding mountains.

Anna, Lucy and Chris, about three quarters of the way up to the fortress, with Nafplio in the background and the Venetian castle on an islet in the harbor, to the right.



Chris, Tom and Anna, standing on one of the 999 steps!

It was truly a cardiac challenge to do all 999, and then a test of the knees to descend the same way back to town. But I made it, and we ended up in a sidewalk cafe to recoup, sipping frappe coffees. It's a hard assignment, but someone's got to do it, right??



We hope to visit some of the ancient Greek sites not far from here this week: the Acropolis in Athens, the ampitheater in Epidauros, ancient Mycenae in the hills above Nafplio, and maybe even Delphi, where the oracle was consulted by the ancients. I'll update you on all that once it happens. Of course, with this slow pace of life in Greece, we may not get everything on the agenda done, and sitting in a cafe during the hot hours of the day can be an attractive alternative to actually accomplishing things!

Greetings from Scotland

We've been here in Scotland for five days now, first in Glasgow, where we stayed the first night with Lindsay Biddle and John Mann, a Presbyterian clergy couple who are colleagues of ours from the Presbytery of the Twin Cities. John showed us his church, in Glasgow's rough and tumble Pollok neighborhood, where they're doing several very creative community outreach programs for kids and adults. Lindsay is between interim assignments right now, and writing a novel about church life in Scotland!


The Highlands are a gorgeous, magical place, with the light always changing as the weather changes constantly. Whoever said there is a boring weather day in Scotland?? One moment rain, the next moment sun, and in a few minutes, rain again!

Eilean Donan Castle is one of the most beautiful ones we have seen so far. It is on the road to Skye, not far from the Kyle of Lochalsh bridge from the mainland. We stopped there around 7 p.m., and tough the castle was closed for the day, we could wander around and get the views. We also backtracked up a little road up the hillside behind the castle and got the panorama view you see above.Tom, at Eilean Donan castle, Aug. 12

This is for Margie Crone, Lowell Thornber, and the Seekers Group. Look, here I am at my "thin spot" by the River Teith, near Doune Castle. I found the exact spot I had been at in 2006, with the very same log sticking out of the river that looks like the head and neck of the Loch Ness monster, with baby monster underneath her. Some things never change much in this fast paced world of ours. I love it!
Lucy, at Doune Castle, near Stirling. This is one of my favorite spots in Scotland, and I wanted to show Lucy what a special place it is. We had a great time wandering around, climbing the spiral staircases, and going up to the rooftop for the views of the surrounding bucolic countryside.

I've run out of time to do more postings for today's blog, but will do some more, of the Isle of Skye and other Scottish places we've been when I get to where there is a wireless connection for my computer to access the Internet.

Whoops! This one was supposed to go last, but somehow it ended up first. It's of Lucy and me in Stockholm. I'm still working on getting the hang of photoblog layout! The photo below I took for Larry and Deb Broberg. Did they know they have relatives doing a tobacco shop business in downtown Stockholm?? How many of the rest of you House of Hopers have Swedish roots?

We are in Stockholm today. What a gorgeous city this is! Never having been here before I didn't quite know what to expect. It is magnificently laid out on a series of islands and with a meandering waterfront. One of the places we visited today was the museum housing the Vasa, a Swedish warship that sank on it's maiden voyage in Stockholm harbor on Aug. 10, 1628, exactly 371 years ago today. It was raised almost entirely intact from the bottom of the harbor in 1961 and today is housed in a wonderful museum built very creatively around the hull of the ship.We also were at the royal palace at 12:15 p.m. to see the changing of the guard, which included much equestrian pageantry with male and female soldiers dressed in vintage World War I outfits. One of them stomped on my big toe (I was wearing sandals!) as I had my foot right up on the line they had cordoned off for crowd control. A jack boot on bare toenail is not a good feeling, but I don't seem to be much worse for wear, and managed to walk probably 3 to 5 miles around this gorgeous city after that.
The harbor of Stockholm is full of sailing ships of all kinds and sizes. There are cruise boats that come and go as well, and one three master that is moored to one of the islands in the harbor is actually being used as a youth hostel! We saw twenty-somethings pulling their rolling luggage in that direction. Stockholm has a very happening youth-culture scene and very trendy (and expensive !) stores.
The city also has tons of inspiring church architecture, dating from the 1600's on up. We walked around a lot of churches yesterday and today.
This one is for Jan Snell! These are the cloyingly cute little creatures that greeted us on our bed when we checked into our room at the Best Western Hotell Kung Carl on Birger Jarlsgatan in downtown Stockholm yesterday. The notes say that you can't take them home with you when you check out (sorry Jan!) but that you can make a contribution at the check-out desk on their behalf, which will be used for animal and nature conservancy organizations in Sweden. Kind of a catchy idea. (Or did I say "kitschy??")

We're off to Scotland tomorrow, and the weather is supposed to be quite different from the wonderfully balmy mid-summer days we've been enjoying in Sweden. Looks like they're dishing up a week of drizzly gray skies and rainy 50's and 60's in Scotland for the upcoming week. But I've traveled enough to know that you can never take weather forecasts too seriously (at least I want to believe that's so!) More once we get there.

I've Arrived in Europe

Approaching Stockholm's Arlanda International Airport
Uppsala from the air, with cathedral at bottom
TF-S eating delicious airport food at Newark
Shot of downtown Minneapolis I took as we departed MSP
Uppsala Cathedral
Woman praying in the Uppsala Cathedral
Eat your heart out Aaron! One of four or five organs in the Uppsala Cathedral.
Lucy lighting a candle in the Uppsala Cathedral.
Lucy, bearer of light; Uppsala Cathedral
This is the brand new organ installed in the Uppsala Cathedral this year.
Our plane, at Stockholm's Arlanda Intl. airport


Lucy and I arrived in Sweden this morning, after flying Continental from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Newark on Aug. 5, and then flying all night long from Newark on Continental to Stockholm, Sweden. We arrived at Stockholm's Arlanda International Airport on a lovely summer morning after a nearly sleepless 7 hours 15 minute flight that took us up over Maine and New Brunswick, then out over the North Atlantic, south of Greenland and Iceland, and after dawn came, over the Shetland Islands and Norway. Once we got through Swedish customs, we took the Airport Express train to the charming university town of Uppsala, where we are staying a couple days for a wedding of a former Macalester student of Lucy's. We visited the Uppsala Cathedral this afternoon, which is said to be the largest in Scandinavia. It has more organs even than House of Hope! Aaron, eat your heart out!(see above)