The Thrilla in the Villa

OK, I've finally given in to the crushing pressure of Kim's stares. Apparently its time for me to flex my literary muscles. Most of you will know that anything I write is usually confined to a maximum of three sentences. So I'll put lots of pictures in my post.

The villa is right on the water in the village of Myrties. The patios all overlook the water with a beautiful view of the sunset. It's right on the beach, and close to the climbing. The villa is in the picture at the bottom of the post near the smaller dock. It has a couple of kitchenettes, and everything we need to feel at home. I think our worst case scanario is to have the ceremony down on the beach, and have some food and jugs of wine waiting on the patio for the "reception". If this place is as nice as it looks, Kim and I may never leave.

http://www.villamyrtia.gr/about.html

It has room for 10 people, so it should be a great hang out for the wedding festivities. We only have the whole place reserved for the Friday before the shindig through Monday, and we have 2 of the rooms for the week before. Therefore, we may have a little overflow.

It looks like the options for overflow are as follows. They are all in Myrties, and the closer to the beach you book, the closer to our place you will be.

Follow the links!

http://www.greekhotels.gr/greek_island_hotels/dodecanese_islands_hotels/kalymnos_hotels/myrties_hotels.asp?id=665

And

http://www.kalymnos-isl.gr/en/business-directory/Accommodation/Hotels

And

http://www.atlantis-kalymnos.gr/

Finally

http://www.kalymnosholidays.com/philoxenia/page1.html

So if you think you will like some privacy, or you will arrive before Friday. Here is the help you need to find a place.

I am actually a little excited now that things are falling into place. This should be a blast!

Flight Info

Sorry folks. This post is going to be a bit more focused on the friends & family traveling out for the wedding. Part of the fun in this trip isn't just the 22 hour flight to simply get to Greece, but the fact that this will only get you to Athens. To actual get to Kalymnos you have to take a puddle jumper flight from Athens out to the island, or a very, VERY long ferry trip.

Flights:
The only airline flying from Athens to Kalymnos is Olympic Airlines. By the end of October, the service out to the island is reduced to one flight a day--only at 3:10 PM. So if you are trying to make a connection to arrive in Athens and get out to the island all in the same day, make sure your flight into Athens arrives with enough gap to ensure you can make the connection. The flight will take an hour. And the plane is an ATR-42, seating 40. You can book the Olympic Airline flight through: http://www.olympicairlines.com/

Take note, the flights out to Kalymnos run daily EXCEPT for Tuesdays. And if you know you want to travel to other islands after Kalymnos, you might want to only book a one-way ticket. However, after having said that, look at the costs of both options. Nearly every flight to a second island out of Kalymnos will ALL fly back to Athens first.

Ferries:
If you decide you want to take the ferry from Athens to Kalymnos, prepare yourself for an 10-11 hour boat trip. It also departs at 3:00PM, but only stops at Kalymnos on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The Sunday ferry arrives at 2:00AM the following morning, with the Tues/Thurs ferry arriving at 1:35AM the next day. However, if you are arriving a couple of days early and want to see some of the other islands first (i.e. Rhodes, Santorini), we'd suggest flying out directly then possibly taking the ferry over to Kalymnos from there. If taking a ferry out of Athens, you will need to book the ferry out of Piraeus.

You can book ferry reservations at: http://greekacom.forth-crs.gr/english/npgres.exe?Pm=BB

An Elopement Plus Some

When Jeremy and I first visited Kalymnos, we joked about eloping there. We were up at the crag overlooking the Aegean with Telendos in the distance. The view looks down on this little church with a long white staircase leading up from the water. We envisioned ourselves simply 'borrowing' their courtyard, chasing off a couple goats, and declaring ourselves married. (If you are not familiar with Colorado marriage laws, that's pretty much all it takes. Harder to stay 'unmarried.') So when Jeremy proposed, this scenario was what immediately came to mind. In the past, whenever we would discuss Greece and our future (hypothetical) elopement plans, friends would say, "Sounds great. Make sure to tell me cause I want to come." Imagine our surprise when after telling our families and a couple friends that they were serious.

I think one of the hardest parts to having decided to get married in Greece is not the difficulty in arranging it, but in the invite list. First, there is the horrible guilt involved in asking your family and friends to dole out a lot of money to fly to a foreign country to celebrate your wedding. I like to console myself by thinking that we're not forcing people to attend and it's a beautiful place to visit regardless. And only those that will truly want to do this and really want to be there will think it's worth the cost. But it's still a hard thing to do when you know plane tickets are $700 a piece. I cannot even begin to thank everyone enough who are making this journey with us.

But the other hard part about the invite list is who you can't invite. And this means not inviting a large number of people--even those close to us. (Particularly those who have known Jeremy and I over the last six years and lamented of this day ever actually happening.) In our case, we truly are trying to keep the entire affair to as simple a plan as an elopement. I have rather strong issues with weddings, and we both simply feel that a wedding is meant to be between the two people getting married. Probably why we like the idea of eloping so much. No large audience; no large cost; and above all, no stress. All we want is to marry each other, and truly celebrate with our families and a couple close friends. Lots of food, lots of wine, lots of ouzo, (and for us) lots of climbing. Opa!

Greece

Three years ago, Jer and I took an amazing around-the-world year long trip. One of the places we spent a week was Kalymnos, Greece. First, it's Greece. *pause* Second, they have amazing limestone climbing. *bigger pause* The combination was memorable. However, when we visited it was early March, and we managed to catch the ONLY cold spell they had that winter. No heat in any of the rooms, add in a solid five days of rain, and that we were two of the only six tourists in the entire town only slightly diminished the experience. We were literally stranded in this tiny town on the west coast of Kalymnos that shuts down all winter long. When we arrived by taxi, the hotel owner drove up, showed us our room, handed us a huge ring of keys and said, "Feel free to pull blankets off the beds in the other rooms if you get cold." We were the only two people in the hotel.

Our first morning, we head out to look for a place to eat breakfast. We look left up the street, and nothing. No cars, no people, nothing open. To the right was a place that had a sign for 'restaurant' and an older women on the porch sweeping. We asked if she was open and she just shook her head. She indicated that they were closed until May when the climbing season starts. At this point, we started to look worried. We had six days ahead of us here. She took pity on us, invited us into her kitchen and fed us. She spoke very little english, but enough to refuse to take any money. Afterwards, she called her son, who lived in the next town and had gone to college in southern Florida, and asked him to come and take us back into town to buy some groceries.

Everyone we met in town those six days were this friendly and giving. From the people who would pick us up seeing us walking five miles into town, to the lovely siblings at Stellios and Maria's who were the only restaurant open in Massouri for all six of us climbers. They would only cook a partial menu (for obvious reasons), but if you told them what you wanted the next day, they would make it. When I asked for some baklava, the next night I didn't just receive a piece. I got a whole tray for the price of a piece. The people were all just amazing. So for this reason, AND that it's a stunning location, AND that it has world class climbing, are why we've decided this is where we want to marry.

And you know our families must really love us. When I called my sister and parents to tell them we got engaged, their first reaction was excitement and happiness. Their second comment was, "So where are we going? We've got our passports all ready."

The Proposal

First things first. I said "yes." For some reason, this seems to be one of the first questions people ask me. I'm not sure what that says about us. hmmmm... Like there would be any other answer than "yes." Make that an emphatic "yes."

We decided to create a blog for the occasion for several reasons. First because we are, for all intent and purposes, eloping. By creating a blog, it gives a chance for our family and friends who won't be with us to celebrate the occasion to share in the experience. And secondly because I can't exactly keep up with all the information we are pulling together for those that are coming.

So how did Jeremy propose? We were out in Lake Tahoe celebrating Liz and Brian's wedding. So after three days of fun, sun, wine, more sun, way more wine, we were to spend five days climbing at Lover's Leap. Jer's plan was to propose at the summit of Lover's Leap. However, this plan ran into a couple of snafus.

Monday--We head out to climb a route named "The Line". We wake up nice and late, dehydrated, and get to the crag at the break of noon. Just in time for the sun to come around and warm up the rock. This seemed like perfect timing...at first. Right when we get to the base of the route, we realize we are third in line for the route. This means a 2+ hour wait, but since we really want to do this particular route, we decide to wait it out. So at 2:30 we finally get started. By the time I start it's 3:00pm and I've been baking in the full sun for three hours, hung over, and in no way able to take in enough water. Half way up the route, I don't feel so good. Another 20 feet and suddenly, I'm not seeing so good either, as suddenly everything goes dark and narrows down to a long tunnel. This was the quick ending to a very short bit of climbing after Jer lowers me back to the ground quickly.

Tues--We head out earlier to climb in the shade and climb "Bear's Reach." This route does take us to the top of the crag, but not to the TOP summit--which was Jer's goal.

Wed--We are lazy, vacationing bums who are living large at the Marriot. We lounged happily by the pool and attempted to tan our very pale Coloradoan skin.

Thurs--We have plans to summit this day. However in the midst of our third pitch, a storm moves in. For those that know and love me, you know what I'm like climbing when there is light ning. I think I may have actually beat Jer to the lower buttress summit and I was the one belaying.

Fri--Our last day in Tahoe. Jer's last day to do the summit proposal. Weather forecast--70% chance thunderstorms and hail starting at noon. Soooo....no climbing that day. But Jer is resourceful. Actually, I think his comment afterwards was that if he didn't do it in Tahoe, he was going to have to 'arrange' something in Rocky Mtn National Park, and who knew how long that might take. So that morning after checking out, we decide to take a hike before heading to Reno. We head toward Emerald Bay, and find a campground that's closed for the season. But it has a hiking trail that heads out along one of the land inlets that surround the bay. And the best part is that we have the entire location to ourselves due to the closed campground. We make our way out there ahead of the storm clouds, and stop to snap a photo together at the overlook on Emerald Bay. And that was where he asked to marry me.

So my answer was "yes." Followed by, "can we get out of here now? I just saw lightning." lol