Happy New Year Y’all! And Happy New DECADE!
No New Year’s Resolution here but let’s just continue to keep kicking ass. xo -k

some travel, some fun, all me
Happy New Year Y’all! And Happy New DECADE!
No New Year’s Resolution here but let’s just continue to keep kicking ass. xo -k
It’s that most WONDERFUL time of the year again! Or is it? The Christmas spirit is in the air but you just feel like you want to curl up in a ball and slip into your bed until the new year is here. I totally get it. There is a lot of pressure to have this amazing time with family and friends, not to mention buying gifts, maybe attend a Christmas party or two and then what about the decorations, the perfect dinner. It can stress out even the best of us who handle stress like a charm.
Here are a few of my tips, how I decompress from all the Christmas madness.
Have a very Happy Holiday season y’all. xxoo -k
Bring out the stuffed grape leaves, the tzatziki, greek salads with huge chunks of feta cheese then throw in a lot of old buildings and monuments and there you have it – my first trip to Athens, Greece. It is now a proven fact that I can indeed eat those things every single day. Because that’s pretty much all I had during my week in Greece. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. And it was the best food I’ve had in months – I must have been a Greek Goddess in my earlier years because I can’t get enough of everything Greek.
We arrived late in the evening, there was only one flight out of Barcelona to Athens leaving at 6:30 p.m. so we arrived at the airport around 10:30 (3 hour direct flight plus one time difference). The hotel, Grecotel Pallas Athena, had reserved a driver for us at the airport and he whisked us to our boutique hotel, smack dab in the middle of Athens. The location is superb, the eclectic design is super fashionable and I never turn down a free breakfast, which was delicious as well. But as I said, we arrived late, thankfully there were still plenty of options for dinner for us to choose from. We wandered through the streets to the restaurant the front desk dude told us about and enjoyed our first views of Athens. Here are a few sights from that first night:
We found where we needed to get some food in our bellies and guess what we had? Tzatziki!! And a few other things. And there were two singers to help us get into the Greek feeling and welcome us to Athens. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and crashed. A full day was upon us in the morning!
First things first. Breakfast! Yes, tzatziki was involved. 🙂 Along with fresh fruit, a pastry with spinach, a very hot tea and lots of water. Only then were we ready to venture out to the glorious Acropolis in the sky. And I do mean in the sky! It’s high up on a hill. AND we walked! Very proud of ourselves. It wasn’t too difficult but the day was super hot and I only brought a small bottle of water. From the hotel it was about a 30 minute walk to the entrance. You need to buy tickets (I think they were 20 euro each) and there is a place before you enter to buy drinks – lemonade slushes, coffee, beer but NO water! And I can’t even tell you how many times I heard people ask for water and every single one was incredulous that water wasn’t sold. Even one lady said to the man, “You don’t have water!?”. “No, no water,” he answered. “No water?!”, she asked again. He replied, “Maybe if you ask me twenty times more there will miraculously be water.” Needless to say she left without ordering anything. I smirked and ordered a lemonade and strawberry slushy. But then the joke was on me – nobody can enter the Acropolis grounds with any food or drinks. Ha! But water is allowed …….
So Jess and I tried to down my slurpie as quickly as possible, resulting in about 28 brain freezes.
And we were in! There were TONS of people there. But it’s quite an expansive place so you can move around pretty easily, minus those first steps to get up to the top of the hill but once you’re there people spread out. But don’t think about getting any pictures with only you – well, it’s probably doable but difficult.
I was already impressed. First stop was the Theatre of Dionysus – which funny story. We looked out over the Theatre and Jess said that she thought it looked different. I shrugged my shoulders and said wouldn’t it be cool to see an opera here. I think they must do things there still because there were lights set up and speakers, etc.
We continued on … but it was still bothering Jess. She said again, I remember it differently. How, I asked. Well, it seems very open to fight lions and animals. OMG, I laughed so loud that I think I scared people around us. I said, I think you’re thinking of the Colosseum in Rome. 🙂 Ahhhh, good times. Let it be said Jess is a very smart woman! She’s a lawyer in Los Angeles but we all have our blonde moment from time to time.
It was amazing how old this place was, pottery sherds of the Neolithic period (4000/3500-3000 BC) and of the Early and Middle Bronze Age, show that the hill was inhabited from a very early period. Seriously, walking around where people lived in 4000 BC really blows my mind.
The Acropolis was dedicated primarily to its patron, the goddess Athena. It was Pericles in the fifth century BC who coordinated the construction of the site’s most important present remains including the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. There is a restoration project that has been going on for years so we saw scaffolding, cranes, etc. But with things that old they all need a little help from time to time (don’t we all?).
We spent about two hours touring the grounds and taking lots of pictures, just like everyone else. Here are my favorites.
Alright, enough with the old stuff. We needed a cold brewski to take a break in the day. From the Acropolis we could see a very well preserved temple that looked interesting to check out. So after our beer, stuffed grape leaves and ….tzatziki!!! Sorry, I’ll stop. Maybe. We searched around for the temple. Turns out it’s located in Agora with lots of other ruins, a church and a museum. So, when in Athens, go see the temples.
It was the Temple of Hephaestus that we were seeing. The Doric order temple was dedicated to Hephaestus (naturally), who was the son of Zeus and Hera, and a god of blacksmiths, metallurgy, and craftsmen. This temple has been incredibly well preserved so one can easily see the Doric trademarks. The columns are fluted, or grooved. Above the columns is a thick, horizontal element called the frieze. Doric friezes are decorated with alternating patterns of triglyphs and metopes.
The metopes are blank panels in between the triglyphs. Very often, Doric metopes were carved with reliefs of scenes from Greek mythology, and the Temple of Hephaestus is no exception. The friezes of this temple depict scenes of the twelve labors of Hercules, the battle and fall of Troy, and an unidentified battle scene. It’s possible that the metopes that were not carved were, at one point in time, painted. We do know that some art has been lost from this site; records indicate that bronze statues of Hephaestus and Athena Ergani once stood inside as well.
As I mentioned, this temple is located in the Agora which was a place for the citizens of ancient Athens to meet, bond and deliberate on the issues of the day. The Ancient Agora was a dynamic place, where the great thinkers Sophocles, Socrates, Protagoras, among others, would meet and where ordinary citizens could come and interact with their peers, voice their concerns, agree on solutions and courses of action.
Nowadays, it a peaceful place with shady trees, paths and cats among the ruins. We checked out the Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles and the Stoa of Attalos. The stoa was another place to meet but also an ancient version of a mall, it had 42 shop spaces on the two levels. It was destroyed in 267 AD by invading Herulians. Its restoration took place between 1953 – 1956 by the American School of Classical Studies with the financial support of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
I really enjoyed the Agro and check out the restaurant Heliaia close by the ticket entrance to the Agros. Yummy food! (see I didn’t say it) and a great view of the Acropolis while you enjoy your food and drink.
Some of my favorite pics from the Agros area.
After the Acropolis and Agros we were a bit pooped. We walked back to the hotel to shower and relax before dinner. I did a little research for dinner – I like to eat at nice restaurants and stay in nice hotels so I always do a bit of delving into the internet for the best places. And this time it also still had to be within walking distance. On our way to the restaurant we turned down this street and there was one cute restaurant or bar after another. And then there was the place I had chosen – Bandiera at Taki 19, Athens. They don’t have a website but the food and house wine was one of the best places we ate in Greece. We had the hot pepper and cheese dip, tzatziki 🙂 and a greek salad. YUM YUM YUM.
Now I’m googling good greek restaurants in Mallorca. Must have more greek food! After the fabulous dinner we stopped by A is for Athens and had a glass of wine at their rooftop bar. Nice place!
And there you have it folks – Athens, Greece. We had an early wake up call to catch our ferry to MYKONOS! Check the blog soon for my time in Mykonos and Santorini.
And our word for the week in Greek was thank you – EfcharistĂł!!!! xo -k
I am soooo very glad!! For Octobers …. oh, and for wine. And for you!
Sometimes I forget to post about the coolness of Mallorca. There are always so many fun events, amazing restaurants and of course the beaches ….. I could go on and on about Mallorca and I will try to add more MALLORCA to my blog. Cuz it’s one helluva island.
So let’s talk about something going on this weekend – Nit de l’Art in Palma. It’s the island’s most important art event (even though I’m a bit partial to Art Night in Campos) and this year it takes place on the 19th, 20th and 21st of September.
This year marks the 23rd anniversary of this special event in Palma where museums, art galleries and art studios open their doors until midnight for people (thousands attend every year) to wander in and out and see the newest art – paintings, sculptures, installations and more. This year includes a special guest, director Christian Tran will present his film Terres BarcelĂł and after there will be Q & A. So very exciting!
Oh, and did I mention drinks? Bars are open, drinks are flowing and peeps are gathering.
I’m a bit of an artist myself and like to dabble in a bit of creativeness here and there. The art shown on this page is mine and for sale. I will be posting more soon with a link at the top of my home page so keep an eye out. You can send me an email at kim@nuehlen.com if you want to make an offer on a painting. And go to Nit de l’Art !
The years just keep going by faster and faster. Don’t they?
Thanks to an idea from my favorite president, Mr. Obama, I’m going to do my favorite books, songs and movies/tv shows from 2018. Let me add that not all of these are from the year 2018 (especially tv shows) but it’s what I enjoyed this year. Let’s get right down to it shall we?
Favorite Books
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
Becoming by Michelle Obama
The President Is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani
.
Favorite Songs
Malamente by Rosalia
Rockstar by Post Malone (feat. 21 Savage)
Losing It by FISHER
Pray For Me by The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar
Nice For What by Drake
Delicate by Taylor Swift
When The Curtain Falls by Greta Van Fleet
Make Me Feel by Janelle Monáe
APESHIT by The Carters
.
Favorite Movies/TV
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Love, Simon
BlacKkKlansman (my favorite!)
Eighth Grade
Bohemian Rapsody
Shameless (TV)
The Crown (TV)
Better Call Saul (TV)
Ray Donavan (TV)
** and one WTH movie that I saw which is turning up on Top 2018 movies – Mandy. Seriously?!?! Maybe if you’re tripping, then it would be awesome. **
And that’s it folks. 2018 is a wrap. Mwauh xxoo ~ k
N E WÂ Y O R KÂ C I T Y
Alright, how has December, Christmas, almost freaking 2018 crept up so silently?! Any of you all prepared? If so, please come over and help me. Please. I will pay you. I just baked cookies. Tempted?
Gonna send out a few Christmas ideas these next few days in case you are like me and um, completely unprepared for Christmas. So keep checking the blog and I hope to have something that tickles your fancy. I absolutely love LOVE this gift. Save the world, you know, is one of my favorite themes. And trees, I love trees. There is this oak tree over one thousand years old close to our home in Germany and I’m always in awe. Plus the 800 year old olive tree in Palma with a witches face.
Trees help clean the air we breathe, clean the water we drink, provide habitat to over 80%+ of the World’s biodiversity, provide jobs to over 1.6 billion people on this planet, provide health in so many ways (1/4 medicines we take come from trees & plants) and trees absorb carbon from our atmosphere.
One Tree Planted is a non-profit charity/reforestation project that plants trees around the world (North America, Asia, Africa, South America and wildfire areas). One dollar = one tree, you choose your area and minimum donation is $12. You can get involved by donating or fund raising or even becoming a tree ambassador. So you can do all that but how does that work with Christmas? For $20 you can have 20 trees planted in the recipient’s name and they also receive a digital tree certificate. And if you spend $50 they will send the certificate in the mail with a t-shirt.
Pretty cool, huh? For your favorite hipsters, tree huggers and all ages. They are so gorgeous. Just like you. Mwuah.