Travelog for: Philéas

Today was the official bookcrossing meet up in Athens and areir insisted I should go too. I met a lot of new people and they all found toyvoyager a great idea!

There were lots of books...



And even more coffees and drinks!



This is me, standing next to a glass of an ice-cold greek frappe! This is the greeks' favourite coffee for the summer!
They really enjoy drinking coffee! They spend at least three hours for their... coffee break! Areir says that the two best things for a hot day is frappe and backgammon!

Areir's brother is at high school...
He wants to be a pharmacist, like his mom.

He loves chemistry too so we decided to do some experiments!!!

Today we visited areir's mom at the pharmacy!



I explored the shelves...



I tried the scale... (I thinks it shows a little bit less than it should... That's why all customers really love it!)



I visited the lab. It's a real mess back here, isn't it?





And finally we took a cough syrup and a nasal spray for areir who's always kind of sick!

Wednesday night areir took me out for a drink! We went to Kerameikos! Now that the metro goes there the area has been renovated and there are many new coffee shops, bars, clubs and restaurants!

At the metro station:


We need tickets...


Kerameikos Square by night!

Today areir and arxitempela took me and Smooch at the city center for shopping!

This is Ermou Street! It starts from Syntagma Square and it's the best place for... shopping therapy!


There are so many people - locals and tourists - walking up and down all day long! At the sides of the street there are musicians and all kind of performers, venders and beggars...


This is a kiosk... There is a kiosk almost at every corner in Greece. And they sell almost everything you can imagine! It's unbelievable how many things can you store at such a small place!


Ooook! That was fun... But I had enough! So I decided to take a nap inside one of areir's bags!


I couldn't believe that this card phone could still be working but, yes, it does!


Me and Smooch infront of a recycling center!


This is Syntagma Square and in the background you can see the Parliament!

Hi! I'm traveling again!
Back to Australia, to Emmicoa this time...

Unfortunately areir's camera had a problem lately and she couldn't take any pictures of me and Rama together again... Nor of my departure...

Wish me a pleasant flight!

Australia I'm coming!

I finally arrived in Australia, just in time to join the farewells for Tenderheart Bear.



Everyone gathered around to see the postcard I brought with me from Greece. They were very excited



I gave Tenderheart some travel tips, then we all had cake and wished her a safe journey

*sings*
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
'Tis the season to be jolly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Don we now our gay apparel
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la.
Troll the ancient Yule-tide carol
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la......


Yup you guessed it - its nearly Christmas!! Today I helped to put up & decorate the Christmas tree at Emmi's house. Its traditional to do this on the first of December 



Boone & Beak, Palmeke, Jimmy D, Ballet Cindy and I all loved the train for under the Christmas Tree. It has snow globes on each carriage and the engine - the only 'snow' we are likely to see Im told


I had such a great time helping to make everything look festive and singing Christmas carols. I even learnt some new Australian ones! Emmi helped me find a couple of them on youtube so that you can have a listen if you like, but unfortunately they aren't videos of me

Six white boomers
Aussie Jingle Bells

Bonjour Misti!! SURPRISE! Here I am back at Nik's place
Nik and Emmicoa had arranged this for me to surprise you, I have come back here to replace the items I collected last time for you.
We all hope you don't mind the 'detour'

Oh this confusing game of cricket. I do not understand what these Australians and English see in it! We watched a while today, but it is very boring...

Nik thought some of us might be feeling a little bit homesick because it's near Christmas, and we're in a strange (and HOT!) country.
So guess what - I helped her make some pretend snow for us to play with!
It's called D'Ziner snow. It's like a florist's gel, but it really looks like snow.
You take a couple of spoonfuls...add water...mix a little...

Et voila! SNOW! (well, sort of)

We had more than you can see here but it was so hot it started melting!
It felt very strange playing with "snow" under the shade of a big tree in 35 degree heat!
We tried making a snowman, but, well, as you can see, December in Australia is not kind to snowmen...even made from pretend snow!

A summer shower finally cooled things down a little bit this afternoon...and look what came after the rain!

Decorating your house with Christmas lights is very popular in Australia! Some towns and cities have huge displays which raise money for good causes, but Nik's house is pretty well lit up too!