Travelog for: Ladomar

Today we are watching Eurovision Song Contest 2009.
It's the semi-finals, so here we are supporting the Greek song!
I hope we'll make it to the finals on Saturday ...









For those who don't know what this is ....
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The country that wins the competition will be the host of the contest next year.

The Contest has been broadcast every year since 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most-watched non-sporting events in the world.

Hi mom!

Here I am again, we are usually more active than the last couple of weeks... but don't worry we'll start doing things and visiting places from now on!

Here we are at the nearby playground. We took the kids yesterday evening, to play there.







And this is a photo of all of us by the window, just to see that we live in a flat with a balcony...

Here I am again, helping Vicky this time to organize the kids books in the bookshelf.
They have so many and they keep reading them all the time so they are mostly on the floor than in the bookshelf.







OK mom, to feel more part of the family here are a couple of photos from some rooms of the house.

This is where the baby boy sleeps, in the middle of the universe!



And this is a part of the playroom, which is usually a total chaos with toys all around... not that in the photo is nice and tidy but I did my best! 

Hi mom,

can you guess where I am? 





Have you guessed? I am in a car wash...





Today I went to work with dad Aris! First we went to wash the car and then we took some photos at work. He is a computer programmer, he works at the suburbs and here is the view from there.





See the small vineyard? There are lot's af them around here.
Can you see the sea and the city far away in this photo? That's Thessaloniki.


OK, the view is nice, but what he mostly see all day is this



... although he isn't complaining! 

Hi mom,

since I am staying here for some time now I thought it is time to learn greek. And this isn't easy, I am telling you!
They even have a different alphabet...

So here is a photo of me and my homework, where you can see the alphabet and a note I just learned to write in greek.



Translation:
Hello from Greece!
With love
Ladomar
(and Ladomar written in greek alpahbet)

Today is Saturday and since my hosts are refurbishing their summer house we had to go to IKEA first thing in the morning.





We had a cup of coffee and a generous breakfast there and we did a lot of shopping.





In exactly a month we are off to the summer house for 2 months vacation... so we are getting prepared! I am so excited.

Ok mom here comes a big update!

My hosts decided that it is time for me to fulfill one of my life missions, the one about the candy!
So today we went to a very famous pastry shop here in Thessaloniki that my hosts happen to know the owners!

I took so many photos of syrup sweets, ice-creams, cakes, chocolates and candies you could ever imagine!

ENJOY MOM!

 



































I just hope you are not on a diet if you've seen this!!!! 

On Sunday we went to see a basketball game.
Some of the town companies have basketball teams with their employees playing for fun. So we had to go and support host-dad's company team. It was really fun.

This is the basketball court entrance. Those who like European basketball they know the team "Aris", and this is their home court



This is me at the court, watching the game







Look at me! I am hanging from the basket!



Then we went at grandmothers house were we had lunch. We took some photos at her balcony. She has many flowers in pots





and she even grows tomatoes and strawberries with quite a bit of success I have to say!

Hi mom,

It's a holiday on Monday here in Greece, so we have a long weekend. That's why we went to visit Metamorfosis. It's a small village about 45 minutes driving from Thessaloniki, in the beautiful prefecture of Chalkidiki.

Chalkidiki consists of a large peninsula in the northwestern Aegean Sea, resembling a hand with three "fingers" ( though in Greek these peninsulas are often referred to as "legs" ) and there are a lot of summer resorts on the beaches of all three fingers.

So here are the photos I took from Metamorfosis. The small village has beautiful beaches and is full of pine woods! 





Here I am laying in the park at the central aquare of the village.



We went at the beach bar for a coffee



can you see me on the orange fence?!





drinking frappé ... a cold shaken coffee everybody drinks here...



and look at the view from here!







Then we went down at the beach for swimming!









I'll come back with more photos of the place.....

We are still at Chalkidiki, at the small village called Metamorfosis.

Here are some more photos of me at the village











I love this photo!!!!



the stairs are leading at the beach ...







at the playground of the village







Look! a strange flower! I have no idea what's the name of it!



and these stairs lead at the beach as well....



wait for more photos of the place soon....

Hello again from Metamorfosis.

Because Metamorfosis has the combination of nice beaches and many pine trees there are a lot of student camps here.
I took a photo of a public one, where students can go for free.





There are also other private ones where the kids have to pay but they have more facilities, from swimming pools to tennis courts and cinema.... but I couldn't get a photo because of the trees.

And here is a shop selling things for tourists



and I also helped Vicky select a number of postcards!

Here is the main street of the village (not that there are many other streets... lol.. it's very small)



and this is a photo of the restaurant where we had lunch



this is the menu (written in perfect English LOL)



We drunk ouzo! a traditional Greek anise-flavored spirit. It can be consumed neat or mixed with water. When water or ice is added to ouzo, which is clear in color, it turns milky white just like in the photo.



and take a look at what we had for lunch

- tzatziki - a Greek dip made of yogurt, cucumber, garlic, salt, olive oil and vinegar

- Horiatiki - typical Greek salad, with tomatoes, cucumber, onions, feta cheese, olives and olive oil

- mussels saganaki - mussels in white sauce with feta cheese, green peppers, white wine ... delicious!



-Grilled octopus- no explanation... you have to taste this!
-Fried potatoes- nothing Greek at that LOL



-Fried Kalamari-
-Fried zucchini- you normally eat them with the tzatziki dip



So tasty!

Here are some more photos from Metamorfosi. There is a place full of pine woods where you can go for a walk, and there is a playground there.

I have to share some more photos from Metamorfosi.
There is a monastery close by at the mountain where nuns live.
Here is a photo of the monastery at the background



and that's a small chapel just outside the monastery





After we took the photo above where I am sitting at the door's handle a nun opened and came out!!! But she didn't want to be photographed ... so I was a good lion and didn't get a picture 

Hi mom from Greece,

I didn't realize it took me so long to post an update!
But the family here say THANK YOU for the box of surprises! The kids went crazy!!!!



They have to think really hard now to make a surprise to you! They wish they could send you a box full of the sweets you like so much.... but it's not an option unfortunately... since they must travel for more than a week....


Anyway I have to introduce you to the new tv's that came in the house! It's squirt , Willy W. , Lupus-Tigger and  SaruMaru.



So today I took them to the artificial lake at the suburbs to feed the ducks. I've been there before but I had to show them around.



And here is a great photo of me next to a geese!