Here are some very random observations that we’ve wanted to share on our time away:

• Many restaurant tables are on the town square or alongside the waterfront, which means that the waiters here spend a lot of their time crossing treacherous streets all evening long.
• Speaking of evening, that’s when towns here come alive in the summer – a town can feel absolutely empty, and even large stores will close, all afternoon long (J calls the time from 3:00-6:30 “the bewitching hour”).  Then, at 8pm, people begin flooding the streets, walking, going out to dinner, or sitting out on benches and chatting.
• People in Europe don’t talk on their cell phones — or even look at them — when they’re out at restaurants.  They just talk to each other.
• The Greeks have great bakeries and candy stores, but they also appear to be unreasonably excited about pastel-colored marshmallows:

• Female Japanese tourists in Santorini went hiking in their very best: in four inch heels, wearing long dresses, and – in one case – with sparkly shoes and a bunny backpack.
• J and I spent almost every night looking at the stars just outside of Dimitri’s house. The sky is huge here, and the stars are bright, and our star apps helped us learn our way through the summer night sky.  J got to see Scorpio and Sagittarius — a double whammy!
• The leaves of olive trees look silver in a certain evening light, which happens to be impossible to catch on film.
• We could write an entire blog just on the Greek plumbing system (both its flaws and its eccentricities), but decorum suggests that we leave those memories behind us.
• It’s interesting to see who travels where:  Germans, Japanese, and Chinese seem to have taken over Santorini; there’s at least one Dutch family on every beach in the Peloponnese, no matter how remote; and the French have wholly invaded Nafplio.  Americans are a very rare sight.
• Before we left Cocky & Atie’s, we pulled animal spirit cards to see what would guide our trip. I’m being guided by my inner hedgehog (I didn’t know I had one, but it represents playfulness); J is being guided by her inner dog (which represents being true to yourself). My hedgehog often wants to rings church bells.