Our Last Week in Hawaii - COVID 19

Family Week - shorter than expected....

Jen, Rick, Ruby, Bennett and Miles flew over on Thursday, March 12 and we were very excited to see them.  We got busy right away starting with fun in the pool here, Miles was getting some one-on-one instruction from Ruby.

At Hapuna Beach the waves were pretty big so it was good for boogie-boarding...

49 Black Sand Beach

Exploring the Petroglyph Trail

Great trees to climb at 'Bennett's Beach'

Grandpa's specialties - Games, and preparing snacks and drinks!

And the week wouldn't be complete without an evening at the Lava Lava Beach Club....

Miles listening to hear the ocean in the shell

Very cool ...

There's lots to do on the entertainment lawn, every year brings something new.  The kids were definitely prepared to play ping-pong as they've been playing with Gpa alot at home.

A Change in Plans

Barry and Emanuelle were supposed to arrive in Hawaii a few days after Jen, Rick and kids, but decided they needed to cancel because of the rapid succession of COVID-19 throughout the world.  Travel in and out of Canada was declared now as essential travel only, and we were listening more and more to the news reports: 

HEALTH

Worldwide cases of coronavirus surpass 200,000 as borders close

BY DAVID RISING AND CHRIS BLAKE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted March 18, 2020 10:04 am

We all made the decision to fly back to Canada in light of what was happening, we didn't want to get stranded in Hawaii - although at first we thought that may not be too bad.  We changed our flights to fly home early, and seats were not easy to get - but we all flew home together.  Although we booked separately we ended up with Jen, Miles and myself in the middle row, Rick was on one aisle beside us, Ted was across from us on the other aisle, and Ruby and Bennett were seated just two rows behind us. Chance?  Good luck?  No - to me it was Divine intervention!  Jen was busy with the Purell making sure the surfaces were all disinfected and then we had a direct flight to Vancouver, and entered a 14 day isolation period at our homes, as required by BC Health.

We've been home now for two months, and after being pretty much house-bound for most of that time we're starting to look forward to this next phase as restrictions are eased and we're able to get out more.  We haven't seen Barry since before we left to go to Hawaii!  It has definitely felt like a different world that we came home to, and although it will be a new-normal for quite some time I'm thankful that we are all healthy and getting through this pandemic.

Time Flies!

I've been negligent in my posting of photos here this time in Hawaii, I'm not sure why - but we've been definitely keeping busy and having fun spending time on the beaches...

Even the birds prefer a good Tommy Bahama chair at the beach

The Marriott Kona was a great spot for the keikeis to swim

New friendships were made between friends grandkids that were here, too cute!

These little ones loved the sand race cars made with Gpa

We're always watching for a breaching whale!

4th Annual Hawaii Tennis Tournament

This year's winners were pretty excited to take home the trophy   :)

Golf on the Big Island

An evening at the Four Seasons Resort included delicious bonbons

Twice yearly palm tree pruning is underway now

Ted's pretty happy with his official Mai Tai bartender shirt, compliments of Shirl!

Oldies but goodies!  

The ever popular sunset photo, you can never have too many.

Ted and I are halfway through our holiday time here, some friends have both arrived and left, and some are still here to enjoy the days with.   Later next week our kids and grandkids arrive and we're pretty excited to see them, there's still lots of fun in the sun here to be had!

Anaeho'omalu Bay

It's Good to be Back

We've been on the Big Island now for the better part of a week and it's as relaxing as ever, with blue sky, palm trees and beautiful water.  Last night we met up with friends at A-Bay for drinks and snacks, it feels so good to be back here.

We've already been to both Mauna Kea and Hapuna beaches, and there's lots more things we want to do and see!

It’s Time

Frosty Rooftops?

 We’re out, gotta head to warmer weather and today’s the day!!

Outtakes

Every trip has crazy things that happen along the way that make you laugh, stress you out, and/or otherwise just make you shake your head.  I don't want to forget some of these things so I'm just going to list them here so it'll jog my memory when things start to fade....

1.  Overnight flight to Paris and the young French girl behind Ted asked the stewardess to tell him not to recline his seat.  When that didn't happen she proceeded to consistently kick/push on it for the two hours when everyone was trying to sleep.

2.  Uber no-show - our first morning in Paris and we had tickets to the top of the Eiffel tower and our Uber guy didn't show up.  Taxis weren't easy to come by either.

3.  The hop on, hop off Seine River boat that we hopped off of, but then later realized it wasn't coming back our direction as it had stopped for the night.  We ended up finding a taxi to take us home at an agreed price, but once he got us to our street he proceeded to complain that it wasn't nearly enough payment!  

4. Lake Como ferry ticket office - when we wanted to purchase tickets to ride the ferry around to all the stops the guy didn't like it, told us we didn't have time to do that and it was only 2pm.  He eventually slammed the ticket window down on us!

5.  Venice vaparetto - extremely crowded waiting area, when it was time to board and everybody rushed onto the boat Ted was the last one to attempt to get on and the guy said 'No, you wait for the next boat!'.   Shirley, Ken and I got off the boat then and waited for the next one with him, although there was clearly enough room on the boat for about ten more.

6.  GPS on iPhones - does not work well in narrow streets with tall stone buildings.

7.  Roundabouts on Tuscan roads are very numerous and the voice on the GPS giving directions became very annoying as it was non-stop - 'At the next exit take the third right turn', and on and on and on.  Pretty funny when a wild boar dashed out onto the road though!

8.  Coke for 8 Euros in Florence became the 'too much' benchmark for judging prices on restaurant menus, thankfully most were considerably less than that.

9.  Ted's bartender friend Atla kept him well stocked in food and drink watching US Open tennis late at night in the lounge.

10.  The car rental return in La Spezia that was closed and had no parking spots for returns and was in a sketchy area, then we had to catch a bus from there to the train station to Cinque Terre.

10.  Monterosso al Mare - Checking out ahead of time a place to enjoy a sea-view dinner on our last night there we encountered some of the most rude restaurant staff, but it turned out for the best as we ended up at a great little family place belonging to a winery we'd been at.

11.  Seeing about fifteen people seated on pillows on a tall stairwell who were staring down into a restaurant full of people watching everyone eat.  We then realized that they were people waiting a turn to eat at the restaurant, it was very weird and I wish I would've gotten a picture of that sight.  They looked like vultures!

That's about all that comes to mind but there's probably more!

Athens - Our Final Day

Our final day in Athens began with us packing up and storing our luggage, and then we went for our last walkabout.  The wide walkway is beautiful and it leads around the base of the Acropolis to the Ancient Agora - the central area where people originally settled.  
It was a commercial, political, religious, and cultural hub where the greatest Greeks such as Plato, Socrates, Demosthenes, theorized, spoke out and debated. 

Acropolis above the Agora

The Stoa of Attalos

This is a replica of the main commerce area called the Stoa of Attalos which was built around 140 BC;  the Agora Museum is now housed inside along the back area of it.

Early barbecues!

This was used to time people making speeches; water was poured into the top bowl and there's a small hole in the bottom of it at the front.  When it all drains into the bottom bowl your time's up!

Church of the Holy Apostles

Original artwork on the ceiling is beautiful

This church was my favourite thing in the Agora area, it was tucked away in a far corner.  

Once we finished our last walk through we went for lunch, picked up our luggage and then met our driver who took us to the airport.  Then it was on to London to overnight, then back home the following morning - we've seen so many things and have had a great time, the trip of a lifetime!

Christian Museum; National Garden; Panathenaic Stadium (Olympic)

Our first stop today was at the Christian Museum where we saw a number of byzantine icons - artifacts which are centuries old drawings on wood. From there we walked to the nearby National Garden which is quite large and had a few small animals on display, but it's no longer kept up.  In better economic times it was probably well looked after and a popular place to spend lazy afternoons.

One of the many colourful icons, some of which were carried during processional walks.

National Park

Now that's a bale of turtles

Next we walked over to the Panathenaic Stadium which is entirely made out of marble, we can only imagine how it must have looked when it was in it's glory.  In 2004 Olympics the Archery was held here, as well as the finish for the Marathon race.  Now it's only used for select events and occasional concerts, and of course it's one of the main tourist highlights here in Athens.

It's inspiring imagining how it must have felt being a competitor, and a spectator.

Olympic Rings 

Nobody can resist the temptation to stand on the First Place podium at an Olympic Stadium!