Changing of the guard

Providence, better known among the secular world as serendipity, placed me in touch with the Lawson family only about 4 hours before I left on my trip to Greece.  Brent Lawson is the pastor of an international (a.k.a. English-speaking) Baptist church in Athens.  I generally try to find a local church when I’m away on vacation, so I contacted the Lawsons to inquire about their services on Sunday.  By the end of our phone conversation, he and his wife, Vanessa, had invited me to stay with them in their home for the duration of my visit to Greece.  This came as a tremendous blessing for a number of reasons, but the most immediate was that it solved a lingering detail of preparation for my trip: lodging.  I’ve been so busy leading up to this trip, that I’ve failed to make any preparations beyond booking my flight.  My 700 page guide book lay unopened on my desk for weeks until the weekend before my departure.  So as I packed my bags in the remaining hour before heading for JFK, I was relieved to know that my immediate needs upon arrival were taken care of. (more…)

Athenian ruins

Well, I’ve finished my first full day in Athens, and I have lots to write about.  Unfortunately, it’s past 11 pm here, and I have to get up shortly after 5 tomorrow morning to catch a train to the port where I’ll be heading out on a cruise to the islands of Aegina, Poros, and Hydra.  Today was Athens day, and I got to visit the Acropolis, Parthenon, ancient Agora, and other parts of Athens.  I’ll write more about that later.

For now, I’m posting a few photos.  These are photos just from my day in Athens.  I’ll update the blog as soon as I can get to it, hopefully within the next day or two.  Below is around 50,000 words-worth of photos that should get things started.

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