Poseidon - A Greek Vacation

Got a chance for a nice vacation in Greece. There is so much to see and do there that the initial planning was overwhelming and it was hard to decide. In the end, we let our friends we visited there lead the way to the things they thought we'd like in and around Athens. Mid-week, we rented a car and took our own side trip to Meteora and Thessaloniki. It was a great time and the weather was fabulous. Here are a few photos from our first afternoon, right off the plane....as you can see, our friends took good care of us

Temple of Poseidon - Greece

Temple of Poseidon - Greece

Temple of Poseidon - Greece

Temple of Poseidon - Greece

Sun Sets on Our First Day - Greece

The Oxford Canal

The beautiful weather lent itself to walking along bits of the Oxford Canal. The narrow boats and life on the canal is fascinating to me. Maybe some day I'll walk the entire 78 or so miles it covers from Oxford to Coventry, or take a canal cruise. There is heaps of information out there about the canal, currently it seems to be in a period of renaissance.

• The Canal Guide
  
• The Canal Line
  
• The Oxford Canal
  

Are but a few.

Below is a small sampling of the photos I took. Eventually my entire set of photos from England will make it to a slide show linked on the right side of the blog.


Bridge 183, Oxford Canal - North of Aynho, England

The Tow Path, Oxford Canal - Banbury, England

New Laid Eggs, Oxford Canal - Banbury, England

Dog Guides His Boat, Castle Quay Drawbridge 164, Oxford Canal - Banbury, England

Avebury - Wiltshire, England

Spent a little vacation time with Elesa in the English country side. The weather was beautiful except for the 3 or 4 hours we were in Avebury where we had driving snow and rain. My camera and I were soaking wet by the time I was finished wandering among the stones.

Avebury is part of the "Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites" World Heritage Site. The Avebury prehistoric stone circle is the largest in the world. The stone patterns there encircle and pass through the village. The accompanying circular ditch/mound is over 1 kilometer in circumference. A large number of the stones were destroyed in the middle ages and into the 17th century even as some of the early researchers did their work. Now, markers are placed where they know stones used to be. Unlike Stonehenge, visitors can wander pretty freely among the stones and mounds, although most of the mounds were roped off when I was there due to erosion concerns. As a bonus, just a mile or so away is Silbury Hill, at about 130 ft high, it is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe.

The weather didn't make for great photographs, everything was dull and grey, but here are a few none the less.

Stones Through Avebury - Wiltshire, England

Stones of Avebury - Wiltshire, England

A Marker Marks a Missing Stone - Avebury, Wiltshire, England

Silbury Hill - Wiltshire, England