Wednesday, March 25th, was Greece's Independence Day. It marks the day in 1821 when the "bishop" (head of the church) in Patra began the long fight for independence from Turkey, who occupied Greece for over 400 years. It really took about another 100 years before the Turks left northern Greece and Greece became the country it is today. We went and watched the parade. This was a military unit that carried their skis. In a country as mountainous as Greece, that makes a lot of sense.

There were several different groups marching in their native costumes and many, many groups of school children who were dressed alike and marched along swinging their arms in unison. Lots of the girls were wearing high heels---I wondered how their feet felt at the end of the parade route.

A group of scout in uniform marching in the parade.

There were lots of Greek flags flying on Independence Day. Here's a sample from one apartment building.

We thought the grandkids might like to see this kitty all comfy in a secure spot on a window ledge in one of the monasteries. We thought it was a good things these buildings were monasteries and nunneries. Can you imagine trying to keep track of toddlers and little children at these heights?

At Meteora, this is looking down at the Varlaam monastery from the Great Meteora monastery.

This is the ossuary at the main monastery. A little grizzly, we thought. Skulls and bones of former residents of the place. One monastery has the skulls of two former famous monks and they believe that they still give off a pleasant odor and can perform miracles. The Orthodox church are very big into icons!

Another view looking toward Varlaam Monastery.

Yes, that's a monastery atop the rock!

First of several of the nunneries or monasteries as you begin to ascend from Kastraki Village.

These are some of the rock formations by Kastraki, the little village at the base of Meteora. This was taken from the balcony of our hotel across the road. We were treated to a show by three wild mountain sheep. They walked all over the side of the rock about 2/3 of the way up. They were amazingly sure-footed. I was tempted to check the bushes at the bottom of the hill to see how many mountain goat skeletons were there!

Thought you would like to see the Johnsen family, Britton, Lindsey, Houston and Scarlet. This was at the arena last Saturday after we watched Britton play. The crowd was small because the fans were banned from the game for their bad behavior at the previous game.

A picture of the Nelson's-- Spencer, Julie and Hannah at the church after Institute last week.

Elder and Sister Smith were our last houseguests. They are the office couple for the mission in Athens and came up to speak at our Sacrament meeting. Before they left to go back on Monday morning, we took a walk with them along the seafront. This is the famous White Tower, built about 500 years ago. It has been used for a guard tower, most infamously for a prison where those who rebelled against Turkish rule were put to death, and now is a museum. We haven't been inside yet.

Elder and Sister Smith, who have served three previous missions. The sea is to the right as you look at the picture. Notice the interesting umbrella sculpture behind us.

A street juggler at an intersection we cross when we walk to church. When the light changes, he steps out in front of the cars and does his little act, then goes to the car windows with his hat held out for money. We admire him for being enterprising. Many people just beg at stop lights, some wash windows, some hand out flyers, etc.

A little cemetery in a village by Drama. This is typical of the cemeteries we have seen here. The headstones/markers are very elaborate.

This was a little boy trying to fly his kite on the seafront on our windless "Clean Monday." This Monday is the day that marks the end of the Carnival season and begins what we would call Lent--the 40 days preceding Easter.

We thought the grandkids might enjoy seeing this phone booth. This is along the seafront in Kavala.

This is a picture of Elder and Sister Taylor, who are serving in Athens. They stayed with us for the weekend and spoke in our Sacrament meeting, then we went to Kavala with them on P-Day, where Sister Taylor did her cooking class for the missionaries there. This is along the seafront in Kavala. Notice the ruins of the old Byzantine castle in the upper right hand corner. The old Roman acquaduct also runs along the spine of the hill.

Some good looking goats on the road into Kalambaka leaving Meteora. A fairly common site in rural Greece.

Truly breath-taking! Notice the beautiful snow-covered Pindus Mountains in the background. We thought it was a beautiful valley with lovely scenery everywhere you looked.

They built these monasteries by hand labor in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. Much of the material was hauled up the cliffs in buckets by man-powered winches.

The Great Meteora in the cliff on the left back and Varlaam, another of the monasteries closer to the foreground and on the right.

I published the post accidently before I finished telling you about the pictures, so I will just explain the last ones. We took a night and day picture of the Acropolis from the third floor of the Acropoli meeting house when we went to Athens the last time. The other two are from the ruins at Philippi. The large ruins are of a Christian church that they believe was built in the 3rd century A.D. and the other is just a close-up of some of the detail on the stonework.

The grandchildren's artwork decorating our refrigerator and reminding us that we are loved.

Family pictures on our living room door, with all of our loving valentines and family pictures.

Our zone leaders, Elders Meister and Rice. Elder Rice left the next day to become the new assistant to the president. We miss him! They brought George and Maria (English version of their names) to dinner this night.

Thought you would enjoy seeing George and Maria, about whom we wrote. He is the jujitsu (?) master and she is the architect.

A picture of the branch members who attended Emmanuel's baptism on this cold January day. Our font is still a work in progress. It was supposed to be almost ready to use when we arrived last summer, but still sits unfinished. It's our experience with the "Greek way" of doing things.

Elder and Sister Johnson with Brother Andreas Paipetis at the church after one of our temple preparation classes. Brother Paipetis is the man who was baptized in 1958 and lives on the island of Corfu. He spends some time each winter here in Thessaloniki visiting with his brother. His is an incredible conversion story and we feel honored to have been able to meet him.