Europe Day 11: Santorini, Greece

Day 11... it was finally time to relax! We slept in a little, then walked down to the beach - about 1/3 mile down the road. It's actually not a very nice beach - very rocky and painful on the feet!

We hung out for just a little while then sat out by the pool for a good portion of the afternoon. I accomplished goal #66 on my list - swim in a pool (I did it at my friend's house last weekend too, but this one was first :)

As it got closer to sunset, we took a public bus to the Oia on the other side of the island (pronounced eee-uh). It's said to have one of the best sunsets in the world. Oia was beautiful! It has the traditional Greek architecture that we'd been imagining all along. Definitely one of the prettiest towns I've been to (Venice is on that list as well).

We walked around the town and took about a million pictures.

As sunset came along we found a restaurant with a view.

It was disgusting! I ordered a salad and I don't know how you can mess that up, but it was so salty that I couldn't eat it. The service was also the slowest I've ever experienced. To make up for it, they gave us free dessert that was (you guessed it) disgusting. But whatever, we got a sunset view and it was a beautiful building and setting.

I don't know about "the best in the world," but the sunset was really, really nice.

We took a taxi back to our hotel at the end of the night.

Previously...
Day 1: Travel
Day 2: Dublin, Ireland
Day 3: Dublin, Ireland
Day 4: Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland
Day 5: Venice, Italy
Day 6: Rome, Italy
Day 7: Rome, Italy
Day 8: Ostia Antica, Italy
Day 9: Athens, Greece
Day 10: Santorini, Greece

Europe Day 10: Santorini, Greece

To get to the Greek islands, you can either take a huge ferry or a small plane. We were planning to fly (45 minutes), but waited too long and prices went up... so 8 hour ferry it was for us!

It left around 6 a.m. and made two stops at other islands before we arrived in Santorini (on the way back it was only 5 hours because there were no additional stops). I meant to remember the names of these islands we stopped at, but I didn't! Here's the view from the ferry, though:

Buses leave from the port to the city every time a ferry comes in, which is about twice a day. That's the only time. You can't walk because the port is in the middle of nowhere, at the bottom of a very long, steep and windy road.

Well, we missed the bus and had to pay some guy 20 Euro to take us to our hotel! It actually worked out well, we didn't have to figure out a bus system in another language, and we got dropped off right in front of the hotel. It was an adventure though.

We stayed at Hotel Makarios, an all-inclusive resort in Kamari.

Our room:

Views from our balcony:

Our pool:

It was great to have an all-inclusive, especially because that inlcuded beer, white wine and a Greek liquor called ouzo (ooo-zoh). We enjoyed that! Also included were all three meals and grilled cheese sandwiches (they call it toast) and ice cream between meals. However, while free food was nice, it wasn't very good! Only a small selection of the food offered at the buffet was actually appetizing.

On the day we arrived in Santorini, we walked to the tiny town of Kamari to buy bottled water. You can't drink tap water on the islands because it's desalinated.

We hung out by the pool for the afternoon, and in the evening decided to go out in Fira, the main city. We took a taxi and found a bar but the nightlife wasn't exactly great... lots of smoke and bad music.

Took a taxi back to the hotel after getting some delicious snacks at a bakery!

Previously...

Day 1: Travel
Day 2: Dublin, Ireland
Day 3: Dublin, Ireland
Day 4: Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland
Day 5: Venice, Italy
Day 6: Rome, Italy
Day 7: Rome, Italy
Day 8: Ostia Antica, Italy
Day 9: Athens, Greece

My bridal shower

Yesterday was my bridal shower! It was great, I feel so loved and lucky to have wonderful friends and family in my life. The shower was held at my sister Samantha's house, and planned by her, my sister Rose and my mom. They did such a fantastic job! The napkins:

One of the best surprises? Penis accessories! Hahaha!! These cookies look so good I thought they used a cookie cutter. But nope, my maid of honor is just a really good penis cookie maker!

Maid of Honor Rose showing off her creation, and you can see the delicious food too.

And you can't see here, but this drink stirrer (for the yummy mimosas) has a penis on it. How hilarious is it that my mom and sister went to a sex shop together to buy these?! Love it!!

Sam won the "Who knows most about the bride" game. I got about half of the "How well does the bride know the groom" questions right, but I was really close on most of them! James' answers were really sweet, with lots of funny details! And of course they did the TP dress game.

There were about 10 ladies there plus one baby boy. Since it was such a small group, I got to get a picture with everyone! And I look the same in every picture...

Mom & Grandma:

Rose:

Friend since freshman year of college, Michelle:

Sam:

Friend since first grade, Mandy:

Mother in law, Rita:

Grandma, baby Charles & Aunt Julie:

Cousin Sarah:

I got several things from our registry plus lots of honeymoon attire. Here are just a few of the gifts...

"Kiss the Bride"

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us!!

Europe Day 9: Athens, Greece

We took a short train ride to Plaka, the cute touristy area of Athens next to the Acropolis, where we had the most amazing brunch ever!

spinach cheese pie (my fave):

stuffed potatoes:

mixed omelet:

chicken souvlaki:

We split all of it! :)

Then we headed over to the amazing Acropolis. Admission was free that day! We walked up the trail, which was a lot easier than it looks. Okay, well it doesn't look that bad in this picture but it really is on top of a small mountain!

Parthenon:

View of Athens from the Acropolis:

Temple of Olympian Zeus from the Acropolis

(we walked down to it later):

We did a bit of shopping and people watching, went back to the hotel and rested, then headed back to Plaka for dinner. NOT as good as brunch, that's for sure! I can confidently report that I've tasted the most disgusting, plastic-y tasting pork chop ever made.

I'm not sure what I expected of Athens, but it was not what I expected. It was better!

Previously...
Day 1: Travel
Day 2: Dublin, Ireland
Day 3: Dublin, Ireland
Day 4: Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland
Day 5: Venice, Italy
Day 6: Rome, Italy
Day 7: Rome, Italy
Day 8: Ostia Antica, Italy

Almost legal

Today I took a half day at work. James & I went out to lunch, then went to the County Clerk's office to get our marriage license!

We were there for about 15 minutes. We had already filled out our application online, so we just had to sign, raise our right hand and swear that everything was correct, and listen to how to complete it.

I have also officially decided what my name will be after we're married. Chardonnay MaidenName MarriedName. Chardonnay P. K. I'm dropping my given middle name and making my maiden name into my middle name, because it's more important to me.