Dad Hits 100!!

That's right, Dad hit 100!! And yes, he does look amazing for his age, but we're talking about one hundred countries, silly! He is officially a member of the Traveler's Century Club* and one of the cool kids!**

We all rendezvoused in Greece, Dad's 100th country, to celebrate the occasion. In grand family tradition, there was a banner that we TRIED to photograph all over town.*** More on the trying part, soon.

Dad has been traveling for the past two weeks throughout Europe to get his last few countries in before Greece. Greece is a country he has always wanted to visit so it was the perfect meet-up spot. We all met up in Athens and headed for the Acropolis first.

Naturally, as every good celebration does, we began with a very formal ceremony in one of the Acropolis theaters. I officially welcomed Dad into the club and presented him with his 100 country pin.****

I then presented him with his banner and we were posing for pictures when an Acropolis guide came running over.

It turns out that there is a rule***** that there can be no signs or posters in the Acropolis. We had to delete all of our pictures with the sign****** in front of the guide before he would allow us to move on.*******

So, ah well. We continued upward and onward!

Once up top, the views were fantastic!

We attempted to take a sign picture up top******** and tried to be real quick about it.

Funnily enough, another guard found and informed us that there were no signs allowed and that we would have to delete the pictures. We apologized, said we had no idea, and dutifully deleted the above pictures. 

From then on, we kept it above board and just took dozens of pictures of ourselves sans signs.

Following the Parthenon and a visit to the Acropolis museum, we generally wandered the streets of the Plaka. Highlights included:

The next day we left the sign at home********* and headed for the Agora. We roamed what used to be the marketplace and stocked up on column pictures.

 Column like you see 'em.

 Editorial Column.

 Column Response.

 Column Mockery.

 Column Maybe.

 Column by your name.

We had a capitol time.

The rest of the day was spent eating. We opted for a light********** lunch of dozens of appetizers before a walking food tour of Athens.

The food tour included pastries like Koulouri, spanikopita, and bougatsa.

We had a delicious deli plate with less delicious ouzo.

There were olives, and more forms of alcoholic turpentine, and, of course, loukoumades.

And just when we couldn't possibly eat another bite, souvlaki.

Greece is delicious.

What else? The family stayed true to their usual shenanigans of posing with statues and plants.***********

We arrived today in Cyprus for our next stop and, SPOILER ALERT- no one is fighting the sign here!

More from Cyprus another day! Congratulations on your 100th, Dad!!

-KT

*You already know what it is, but just in case: https://travelerscenturyclub.org/

**

***https://teachersummer.blogspot.com/2016/04/century-club.html

****Yeah, there's a pin. Who wants to join now?!?!

*****Apparently unwritten rule because I have searched for it and not found it.

******And we obviously undeleted them later from the "Recently Deleted" folder.

*******Oh and after I demanded to see some official guide ID and we tried to slink off but he hunted us down and was yelling about deleting pictures while other tourists watched helplessly.

********We are rebels and we'll never ever be any good.

*********For safety. 

**********He's not heavy, he's my lunch.

***********And also AT tried on a hat and I'll save that for a future time. But know that the hat in these pictures is legit hers.

Egypt!!

There was a time when I didn't care if I saw the pyramids. In high school, my dad came to Cairo for work and reported back that the pyramids look just like the pictures and were no big deal. From his reports, I assumed Cairo looked like this.*

Then, in 2008, the family went to China and we saw the Great Wall. Dad said it looked like the pictures but I thought it was awesome. And that's when I knew I would come to Egypt one day.***

Since the pyramids were at the top of the to-do list, we went there first thing. They were everything I dreamed they would be!**** We did all the things: we climbed what was allowed, we kissed the Sphinx, and we walked like Egyptians.

      

We took a camel ride to see the full panorama. It was a pretty tame ride despite the wild action shot you'll see AT in.***** We also posed ridiculously atop the camels to get not-actually-lined up shots with us holding things. Please enjoy the absurdity. 

    

   

Artsy shadow shot:******

 

Naturally, I ended the ride by posing with all my new BFFs. One of us was not into the continued posing.

We are here for the rest of the week and will be hitting the various museums and taking a day trip to Luxor. Many people have asked...yes, it is very safe here. All the stories you've heard of people protesting in the streets or of foreigners being turned away from the country are of America. The Egyptian people have all been lovely and want their tourism boom to return! Come see these things for yourself!!*******

-KT

P.S. If anyone needs a paperweight, call my dad.

 

*He came back with multiple different pyramid paperweight sets. One in blue, one in stone, and one in glass. When I told this to our tour guide today, she said he must be a very generous man to bring back so many souvenirs. I laughed and told her they were all for him and not for us.** I then explained to her that my mom did not allow him to keep them all at the house and he had been required to take all but one set to his office at work. 

**He is, however, a very generous man. 

***This also explains why you should never ask my parents for a movie critique. They will almost always tell you it was like the preview.  

****Though with way fewer people than I thought!  Egypt wants you back, Tourists!! 

*****Or this is her first rodeo?

******Is this too much???

*******Roof raising is optional.