Greece and Bulgaria ~ June/July 2008

George was pretty excited about his first trip. He had never been on a plane before and was kind of worried about the 11 hour flight, so he decided to bring his Nintendo DS along to keep himself occupied.

He needn't have worried because he slept the whole way across the Atlantic! We had to wake him up to look out the window as we flew over Provence.

I really think that the thing George is most interested in is food! As soon as we got to Santorini, George wanted to go out for dinner so we could have a real Greek salad. He wasn't disappointed! It was a lot of fun eating right by the waterfront on Amoudi Bay. George kept looking for the girls in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" because it was filmed there.

Is that a beer George? Are you old enough to drink beer? I guess they aren't too picky about the drinking age in Europe.

The next day George and his friend Busby headed out to the beach. They know how to travel in style.

The black sand at Perissa beach was too hot to lie on, so George and Busby shared a lounge chair. Busby had a lot of catching up to do to get a nice tan like George!

After Santorini, we took a ferry to Athens. George was seasick the whole way, so we didn't take any pictures.

He perked up a lot when he saw the Acropolis from our hotel balcony though! He was so excited that he couldn't sit still, which is why his picture is a little blurry.

We rented a car and took a day trip to the Peloponnesian Peninsula. George hid under the seat while Jim drove in Athens (it is definitely the most scary place we have ever driven - they drive 5 lanes across on a 3 lane road!). He did get out of the car to see the Corinthian Canal. It was quite awesome. Hang on George - don't fall in!

Our next destination was Bulgaria. We thought it would be kind of neat to take the train from Athens to Sofia. It was a 16 hour trip, but most of it was overnight, so we had "couchettes" ~ the benches in the train compartment converted into bunk beds. George loved the clickety-clack of the train while he slept.

The next morning George got a little antsy and started climbing all over the compartment. 

George, that window is open! Don't fall out!

Bulgaria was so cool. George loved all the castles. This one is called Tsaravets and is in the town of Veliko Turnovo, next to the town where Jim's father grew up. 

There were hundreds of stairs to get to the top. Luckily there was a little cafe there so we could rest and recuperate. George wouldn't share any of his Fanta with anyone else. 

We stayed in some pretty nice hotels on our trip. George liked the antiques and was pretty well behaved in the rooms ~ not like the train!

Bulgaria is famous for its rose oil, which is an ingredient in over 90% of all the world's perfumes. George made sure he brought some back for all the ladies at Monday Motivators. I think he was bribing them to take him on more trips!