Big Fat Greek Wedding

When Eva and I found out that our good friend Tom was getting married and that we were invited to their wedding (US) and the blessing (Greece), we tried to erase the obvious term 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' from our vocabulary.

Nonetheless, we were stoked to hear that Tom finally found his life's partner, and we were excited that we were honored to be invited to the blessing outside of Athens.


Thankfully, we were able to swing the somewhat difficult logistics in able to make the trip for the weekend.  We felt like jet setters and bad parents...all in one.

The great weather, blue skies, and great views from our hotel room in downtown Athens certainly helped.

The blessing was at a winery outside of Athens in a super cool location, with great views of the valley.

I love olive trees.

Who's that old fat guy in the pic?  I have to drop a few pounds after all this is over.  It is probably Eva's polka dots and the warm weather that is making me look like a bloated pig ;-)

Tom and Stella.  Happily married...but probably looking forward to getting finished with the week long festivities across two continents to head to their honeymoon.

Hard to believe that we've known each other for almost 20 years.  Even harder to believe (per the picture) that Tom was my first little brother in the fraternity.

Loved the older Greeks when they danced solo to traditional music.  Definitely cool to see this part of the very happy greek culture.  

After the wedding, we slept in until 11am (yes, it was a long night) and played tourist for a while.   Above, one of the open air markets of Athens.

Our hotel room (literally called Economy Hotel) was, well, economy.  But, it was clean, the staff was very helpful, and the location was great:  only about a 10 minute walk to the base of the Acropolis.

Even if you hate doing what everyone else does, as a tourist in Athens, you have to go to the Acropolis.

The pictures do not do justice to the amazing sights.

Above is the temple of Zeus, and the church below is just down the hill from the Acropolis, in the area that was one of the main trading areas of Athens

Of course, we did some caching.  Close to our hotel, we found our first nano cache (technically, the smallest cache is called a micro, which is the size of a 35mm film container).  This thing was tiny, and the logbook was tightly rolled. 

Near sunset, we climbed the Lycabettus Hill to see the Athens valley at sunset.

There is a small church and a restaurant on top...and a couple was even getting married when we reached the top.

It has been a while since our last sunset together (was probably in Hawaii), and this was a great event with great views.


At 630am on Sunday morning, we headed back home to begin our (already planned) vacation in the Bavarian forest with the kiddoes and my inlaws.


More on that part of the vacation in the next post...