Just have to share another of our favourite restaurant people with you. Don't know his name but he was soo friendly and his mother made goulash for supper (which I had and he was so happy) and we saw him every day and he was always smiling. Here is a pic of his establishment and of him smiling. Loved him and loved the area. Now in Mykonos and will send pics soon!

We drove through Agiassos (forgive me if the spelling is wrong-- Debbie was the navigator and I was the driver) and pictured above is Yanni. We stopped for coffee and Yanni is 80 years old and his father owned the coffee shop before him. He gave us his Greek coffee then more as a gift. We were wired on caffeine when we left. Driving through Lesvos in spring is fantastic!! All the wild flowers are in bloom. As well, there were vans full of birders. Apparently, Levsovs is the place to be now for bird watchers -- the migratory birds from Africa pass through here at this time. In Skala Kalondis, the birds were so thick, we could hardly sleep from the chirping!!We passed this field of poppies and were stunned.

We drove through Lesvos -through roads you won't believe, but we made it. Our favourite spot was Molyvos. Pictured here is the Hotel Sea Horse, which we stayed in and loved!! We loved Demitris, (pictured here) and we loved Molyvos. The people were sooooo friendly and every time we ordered something from a hotel, we got something free. Free ouzo, free walnuts, free.... This island was fantastic, now that we are in Mykonos, we see how un-tourist oriented this island is. The weather was sunny, the people were friendly and we could hardly find anything to buy as there were hardly any stores but the people made the island. WE LOVE LESVOS!!!

Still in Molyvos. We love it here. This is our dinner, drying in the sun. Took a trip to the petrified forest - a 3 million year old forest, pertrified in volcanic lava and ash..turned the trees to a rock like substance in many colours. The road in the north of the island is all mountain roads, barely 2 lanes with a multitude of very narrow hair-pin curves. Quite the ride. Tomorrow we're going to the hot springs to dip in the springs, then into the sea, then into the hotsprings. Going to our local taverna now to eat (dinner is 9-10 PM) then going to watch Barcelona and Milan vie for a spot on the Champions Leaque. Kalispera for now.

Greece

We arrived into Greece! Business class is the only way to go. Stayed 3 days in Athens, to visit the Acroplis, the Plaka - Syntagma Square, Amonia Square, all the old haunts. It was very very hot and our hotel was was very very hot too. Little did we know that Greek Easter is one week after our Easter, consequently, the ferries were all full. We took the cattle run to the island of Mytilini on the island of Lesvos. Debbie and I couldn't believe it. It was like a refugee ship with people (including us) sleeping in the hallways of the ship. The only saving grace was that we were on the top deck and if the ship went down, we would have been the first off. Almost all the shops are closed due to Easter and the early season but our hotel on Mytilini was fine, we could find tavernas to eat in and our rental car is CUTE. We stayed in the port city for a day and planned to drive north on the island but ended up driving south -- oh well. We are now in Molyvos (on the north of the island) (the first picture). It is the village of our dreams. We LOVE it here. The people couldn't be friendlier - we have have free food and ouzo at any of the tavernas we have frequented so far. The roads are the smallest we have ever driven on - one lane for two way traffic, so that takes some getting used to, but we are. The 2nd picture is of Chios, the island before Lesvos at 6:00 AM from the ferry. With the sun just rising on the village it looked beautiful and if we hadn't been sleeping in the halls of the ferry, we would have missed it. Molyvos was FULL during the Easter weekend, with all the Greeks travelling, music, singing, eating, lots and lots of fireworks. It was kind of fun seeing all of this. I'll try to keep up a blog, but this one is very very slow so we'll see how it goes.

from Athens Greece

Made it to Athens. Business class is the ONLY way to travel. Athens is as I remember it - huge, busy, smoggy. Did visit the Acropolis, and walked the streets and now it's time to go to the island. We are leaving on tonight's ferry. The weather is hot - 26 C - but bearable. The ferries are all full as the Greek easter stretches all week, so we were lucky to get one of the 7 available seats. Talk again from Lesvos. I have emailed my picture site to some family and friends. If you too want to see my pics, email me and I'll put you on the list. If you are on the list and have problems, email me and I will try to fix them.

The day before I leave

OK, honestly, I will stop complaining now. Here is a picture of the walkway to my front door and of my driveway with the drifts surrounding my neighbours van. Walking into the backyard, the snow was about 2" above my knees. The next pictures I hope you will see will be of Greece! If I publish more pictures like this, it means I am snowed in, missed my flight and you will also see tear drops falling down the lense. Yassou!

Well, I wasn't planning to blog before I left but... Tomorrow I leave early early in the morning. Today, I could hardly get out of my house. It snowed ALL day yesterday, and it is still snowing now. This is a picture from my upstairs bedroom. The roof was black shingles on Thursday - it is now snow drifts. So, I went out to shovel. Luckily, my neighbour has a four-wheeler with a plough and he came by to help me with my driveway. Even with that I shovelled for 1-1/2 hours. My other neighbour said it reminded him of those news cast pictures you see of them digging out in Newfoundland. Oh well, it's a good way to meet my neighbours and to build my muscles before I put on that bathing suit!

Just a sign-in before I sign-out. Next week at this time I will be climbing to the top of the Acropolis in sunny (I hope) Greece. Should the Greek (and in the last 2 weeks Italian) gods be with me I will blog from Europe, but no promises.
Spring is here although it is the most frustrating time of year. I look out the window at the beautiful sunny day, then go outside to a brisk cool wind necessitating a winter coat and gloves. The snow is melting slowly and the ground is still frozen. That is why I'm looking forward to leaving and returning when I can actually garden and go for walks without watching for mud and huge puddles and when I wash my truck, it may stay clean for more than one day.
I must have spring fever. I cannot seem to accomplish anything, yet start everything. And I feel like napping a lot, yet when I try, I'm not tired. I do take full advantage of dinner offers, theatre and the cinema though and on that note, went to the Arts Centre last night to watch Quartetto Gelato. Like Cynthia Steljes from the group says, Quartetto Gelato is from Toronto, and if you are not familiar with the word, Toronto is a Huron Indian word meaning City Everyone Loves to Hate. I was introduced to their music two years ago by Steve Gedrose (Rose Music) and have loved them ever since. They played a lot from their newest album "Quartetto Gelato Travels the Orient Express" (lots of Hungarian music in that one). My only regret was that Peter DeSotto had laryngitis and couldn't sing. If you have not heard of this quartet you can click here to connect to the Amazon site and when there, about 1/3 of the way down the page, you can listen to samples of their music.
Next, if you want a slow (boring) movie to watch (perhaps you can't sleep one night this will fix that) watch Capote. If you want a good movie to watch (and this suprised me) it is Inside Man.
That's about it from the north. Hope to talk next from the "old countries". Ciao.