Windmills & Pelicans

Welcome aboard the Louis Hellenic ship, the Aquamarine, would you like another free upgrade? Um, sure. We were moved from an interior cabin for four to an exterior cabin for four, with two portholes to call our very own. The room was still ridiculously small, and it took some extreme skill and maneuvering for the four of us to all just be in the room at the same time. Showering and changing was a whole 'nother story.   

Our cozy little room

         

We went up on deck to watch the boat shove off to wave goodbye to Athens. Then, we reported to our Mustering Station for a lesson in boat safety, after which we explored the ship. We ended up spending our afternoon reading in the Aquamarine Lounge, because it was too cold to be out on deck and we could spread out more in the lounge than in our room. I took a wonderful little Katnap, curled up on the sofa. We watched the Louis Fashion Show, and dominated in the Name that Tune game, because they played theme songs from movies. The other teams didn't really stand a chance. It was actually quite impressive that every employee on the ship spoke five different languages fluently: English, Greek, French, Spanish, and then whatever their native tongue was (Japanese, Turkish, Hungarian...)  

Mykonos, Greece

The ship docked in Mykonos around 5:30pm. We took the bus from the port into Chora, the island's capital. The hillside was covered in whitewashed houses with blue shutters and charming little windmills. Dan informed us that it was illegal for an unregistered guide to give a tour anywhere in Greece, and that his friend was arrested for doing it. So we obviously decided to heed the law and avoid any unnecessary imprisonment. Or not...

I think my favorite part was when we were directly in front of a police station and Dan sat down, which clearly changed the entire dynamic of the group, masking us from what we truly were. Once he sat down, we didn't look like a giant tour group at all... 

Law-breakers

We passed a little pebble beach (which was much more fun to photograph from a distance then to walk across), saw the quaint little Church of St. Nicholas with its blue domed roof, and weaved through the tiny alleyways to the area known as "Little Venice" where there was a row of windmills along the shore.

Church of St. Nicholas 

"Little Venice"

Windmills

Then the hunt for Petros the Pelican began. Petros was kind of like the island's mascot. There were technically three pelicans flapping about the streets of Mykonos, so we went looking to find at least one of them. Jeff had seen him, and pointed us in the right direction, but Danielle and I walked right past him. He was sleeping in a flowerpot! The crafty bird had successfully hidden himself from the unsuspecting tourist. Petros: pelican... or chameleon???    

Me and Petros

The four of us wandered back to the famous white church of Paraportiani and watched the sun set behind it's striking white walls, sinking down into the clear blue waters, turning the sky a golden pink.  

Paraportiani

          

Back on the ship, we had a nice sit-down dinner. Our waiter even performed magic tricks for us. He also didn't approve of Danielle's dessert choice, so he brought her the profiterole as well. Then, we met up with the rest of our group in the Aquamarine Lounge and caught the musical performance of "From New York to Paris". It was dorky, but fun, as almost all cruise performances are.