Capital of Greece - Athens

Its always nice to see the clouds below...huge candy floss ;) . In few hours time I shall be standing on the grounds of Athens, the start of my graduation trip with my family...weeeee!

Acropolis means upper city and many of the city and many of the city states of ancient greece are built around an acropolis where the inhabitants can go as a place of refuge in times of invasion. It's for this reason that the most sacred buildings are usually on the acropolis. Its the safest most secure place in town.

Below the Acropolis theater of Herod Atticus built by the Romans in 161 AD and still used today for classical concerts, ballet, performances of high cultural value and Yanni.

Propylaea, which was completed in 432 just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian wars.

The Acropolis: Fortified citadel and primary urban religious sanctuary. Propylaia, Temple of Athena Nike, Parthenon (right in the pic above, Erechtheion (left in the pic above), Pre-classical remains.

Erecthion

...where Athens stretches out endlessly below

"Peace" – mum, dad, sis & me. hahaha

Huge sunflower, taller than me and bigger than my face.

Out of Acropolis...down this stretch - souvenirs shops (chk out the price differ & don't get cheated)

"hand in hand"

Every hour, in front of the Parliament, the Royal Corps of special soldiers are changing the guard of the grave of the unknown soldier and the Parliament.

The Evrones all wear skirts (Greek figthers of the 1821 revolution used to wear). There are 400 folds in these skirts, that the soldiers have to iron themselves. Every fold stands for one year of Turkish occupation of Greece. The 'tsahouri' shoes they wear have a big black pom-pom on top of it. These shoes weighs 3 kilos, mostly because of the nails at the bottom of the shoes. These protect the soldiers from slipping. The Evrones all have one own partner, that is never working with another partner. This has to make sure the structure of the marching is perfect. They aren't allowed to show any emotion at all, they just have to look strong. For this reason there are only picked out soldiers longer than 1.87m, to march here, cos they make the impression of being a strong protector.

They are really very very tall cos I look like a peanut beside them. Wonder if air is fresher up there...

Olympic Stadium - rebuilt entirely of marble in 1896 for the first modern Olympics. The stadium was originally built in the 4th Century for the Panathenaic contests and it is said that 1000 wild animals were slaugthered here to celebrate the inauguration of the Emperor Hadrian in 120 AD.

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A Special Day!

Today is my birthday! But there is something even better to celebrate today, that is my Graduation!

2 yrs for this day, the excitement was short. I’m glad I did well. New path awaits. Wonder whats next for me?

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England's Premier Lavender Farm

Built in 1830 as a water powered grain mill, and acquired in 1936, Caley Mill is the home of Norfolk Lavender.

Presenting their lavender field...The first harvest was in 1933!


After 4+hrs of tube,train,bus transfer and walk, we finally reached our destination.


The little lavender garden...


This is their tea room, serving snack, hot lunch and not forgetting lavender scones and cakes.


Souvenirs shop...anything related to lavender.


The tractor.


Where I had my lunch, with lavender as background. Nice sunny day!


tis is really yumilicious~Lavender ice-cream.


This is where visitors will pick, choose and bring home..


do you know there are over 150 kinds of lavender...tis is jus one of them.


the field,the field & the field. Its not as purplish and fragrance as the full bloom season is yet to come. It looks small cos its English lavender. ;)


nice?


take a closer look... nice?


and another...

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London’s Sunset

Nice eh? Hope to see the world’s most beautiful sunset with my own eyes in Santorini (Greece) one day.

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Leeds Castle

Originally known as Esledes in 857, surrounded by 500 acres of glorious grounds and listed in the Domesday Book, Leeds Castle is said to be one of the most romantic and historic buildings in the land. Also given a laudatory title of “The Loveliest Castle in the world” as described by Lord Conway, it has been a Norman stronghold, a royal residence for six of England’s medieval queens, a palace of Henry VIII, and a retreat for the powerful and influential…Lady Baillie was the last private owner and on her death in 1974 she bequeathed the Castle to the nation permanently under the charitable trust of the Leeds Castle Foundation.

At the dog collar museum. This is the only kind in the country with over 100 collections from the early years 15th, 16th, 17th centuries broad iron collars with spikes (protects dog throat from wild animals’ attack) to exuberant German and Austrian Baroque leather collars from the 17th and 18th centuries that are often decorated with metalwork and velvet.

Some rare species..exotic birds..white peacock and black swan. The black swan was first introduced in 1930s by Lady Baillie, that later became Britain's best collections of exotic birds in 1950s.

The labyrinth that has a secret underground grotto planted with 2400 yew trees in 1988.         

This is the vineyard once recorded in the Doomsday Book in 1086. Every year around 10,000 bottles of wine are produced from a blend of Muller Thurgau and Seyval Blanc grapes, and sold in the Leeds Castle restaurant and shops at Leeds Castle under its own label. Riechensteiner and Schonberger vines have been planted recently to widen the range of wine produced. But it has been moved to another location.

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