Hello again from London! We have had a nice morning exploring the city a bit. We just found an internet cafe to post some pictures before we head off again. The time at the monasteries was wonderful. We were able to spend the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Feast Day at the monastery in Thebes (which has the same name). It was crazy to see the buses full of Greeks to go for the feastday. It was so great to see many of the sisters that we met years ago. The other picture from Thebes is of Deena picking a fig the size of an orange. (Dad Khalil, your tree needs steroids to catch up). We have had a wonderful time there and were fortunate enough to meet new people, including the Abbot for all 4 of those monasteries.

After leaving, we headed for Athens where we met Dean's 3rd cousins Taki and Magda (and Taki's mother). They took great care of us and had a nice evening. Afterwards, we spent a night with the Clark family (Thanks again!) in Athens and headed to the airport Wednesday morning.

Well, today is Thursday and we are safely in London. We have included a picture of one of the guards outside Buckingham Palace. We have to get going to go catch our flight to Delhi then immediately to Kathmandu. We hope to post again from Kathmandu before our trek begins, but if not, we look forward to posting again in a few weeks!!