Indeed, there was more than one 'first' on this vacay.

Di, guypal, Richard, galpal Beth (from Seattle) along with Steve and I took off for jolly old England on Sept. 27. Although Di, Richard and Beth decided to rest up when we landed on the 28th, since Steve & I had slept on the plane on the way over, we were off visiting the British Museum and strolling through crazy Berwick market. NOT to be missed, if you ever go to London. We spent 2 more days in London, attended an NYC friend's wedding (good friend, Frank, who'd recently moved to London to marry his partner, Martin. Yep, 'civil union' is now legal in England), visited all the 'Royal' places and basically walked our feet off! Visited/shopped at Borough Hall Market (yum-yum), the Tate Modern & St. Pauls; Stopped in a few pubs too (ya think!?)

Good thing we did lots of walking in London since on our first day in Santorini - day 4 of vacay - I broke my left ankle. Well, the bottom of my fibula to be exact. The initial prognosis was for 2-3 months in a non-weight bearing cast – ugh! But the good thing was, I won’t need any surgery. Well, more about that later. And yep, that'd be one of the 'firsts' in my lifetime: first time I ever broke anything! I'd thought about returning to the States but, I'm a tough old bird so, I basically sucked it up, and hobbled around on crutches for the next 9 days. And although my broken appendage DID alter our plans significantly, we made do.

Even though Steve and I had planned on renting motorcycles on Santorini, Steve traded in his scoot for an open jeep and we tooled around in that for the rest of our stay...course I couldn't actually get out of the damn thing and see anything but, what the heck, I'd been to Santorini several times and it was all about the Euro-newbies (Steve, Richard, and Beth) seeing the sites. Steve and I have already made plans to go back to Crete in 2008. Oh yeah, how'd I break my ankle? Here's a tip, don't treat a high-powered, automatic motorscooter like a motorcycle. Although I'm a fairly proficient motorcyclist now, it had been nearly 8 years since I'd been on a motorscooter. I really didn't find a motorcycle to suit me in Santorini, so I reluctantly opted for a big scooter, and just 20 feet outside the scooter rental place, I tumped over into a brick wall. Hey, no one said you get any better sense when you get older.

Regardless, we stayed in a wonderful place on Santorini, on Perissa beach, and as planned, we met up with longtime friends, Burt and Ellie (from Seattle), and after spending 5 days on Santorini where I and a couple of our party got a sampling of the Greek medical system (Beth & Ellie had some health probs too....As a health professional, Ellie accompanied us and became a 'regular' at the clinic – all the "clinic ladies" would wave at her and say ‘back again?’...sheesh...but, everything's free, except prescriptions. FYI: if you're going to get sick or injured abroad, do it in Greece!), we were off on a high-speed Cat3 to Crete.

We arrived late to Almiryda, near Chania, Crete. And our hosts - who own the Chicago restaurant in Almiryda - treated us to drinks and yummy food! However, we were informed the Villa we'd rented was undergoing repairs so, we were upgraded (oh, well...in that case) to Villa Mystico! A private and very secluded Villa 10 minutes from the village! A wonderful place but, we were so busy, we barely got use of our huge pool (awwww..yeah...a huge pool...did kinda sucked...NOT!) The Bay at Almiryda is gorgeous! 'Like a giant, warm swimming pool in itself.

Steve had also rented a BMW (motorcycle) in Crete so he took off one day for the Libyan sea on the south coast. The next day, he treated me to the adventure. No! not on the mortorcycle! We’d rented a van and had waiting for us in Heraklion Port so as to transport our entire posse and had picked it up at Herklion port when we’d arrived on the Cat3 from Santorini. So Steve & I drove the winding roads of the south coast of Crete. It just wasn't enough time though and we've decided that's where we'll want to spend more time and re-visit in '08.