Sweeping Views

Last night's adventure was ridiculously entertaining! Starting the night off at the bar Classic was great and watching all the men of Athens flirt with Katie is even more entertaining. The larger bar, Vitrine (I think is what it was called), was jam packed with people ranging from my age to maybe somewhere around the 50s. The music was really fun but hardly anyone was dancing : (

The shower this morning was amazing! I reluctantly woke up and decided to not be a scrub and took a shower and the water was so nice and warm.

Today we hiked up the acropolis and looked at various temples, theaters, and other monuments and memorials. The Parthenon was truly a sight to be remembered in addition to the views of the entire city of Athens. Michael's lecture had it's high and low points but the views were probably the most captivating. Sometimes he pushed us too fast along not allowing us to take in some of the "sweeping views" and I know this frustrated some people. I can't remember the last time I did so much walking. My legs are so sore but it's nice to be free of having to drive everywhere.

Me, TJ, and Kinker went to lunch with Susan, her daughter, Andrew, and his family. It was in a section of Athens I would not even dare to spell because I know I would just mutilate the Greek language. I had a Bolognese because I was craving pasta - not quite what I expected but it tasted pretty good.

After returning to the hotel many of us decided to take naps and it took Katie coming up to my room a few times to finally convince me to go and get dinner. Me, TJ, and Katie went to a very pleasant restaurant in the Plaka where I enjoyed a simple salad.

Demonstration

Waking up to a freezing room and a cold shower was not exactly the best way to start out the day but the breakfast spread was quite nice. Dipping bread in yogurt and honey is quite tasty in addition to the olives, feta, and other antipasti.

While the Athens center was a very visually appealing the little bit of Greek that I retained would probably be laughed at by a local. The speaker gave a good speech but it seemed rather on the lengthy side. For lunch I bought some kind of pastry with feta inside and a apple and peach juice. After telling everyone else in the group what me and Katie were eating, the bakery was pretty much sold out of the pastry.

On the way back to the hotel from the Athens Center we took a bus because of the "Demostration" that was supposed to be happening in Syntagma Square in front of the Parliament Building. Because this one could possibly turn in to a riot and become dangerous we were told not to go to the demonstration...I was a little bit disappointed.

Different Shades of Beige

After being in the largest and smallest planes I have been flown in in one day, we get to Athens where the almost every building is a different shade of beige. I was surprised by the large hills in the landscape and enjoyed the cloudy skies. I'm pretty sure my baggage was one of the last to come out which made me all kinds of excited.

The bus ride from the airport to the hotel was marked by almost running over small cars, mopeds, and people. Traffic is rather awful in this city. With the amount of cars parked on the side of the street, some not in the same direction, it's surprising I didn't see anyone take off a side-view mirror. Once we arrived at the hotel, rather, once we arrived in the middle of the street and walked to our hotel, we stood outside because the lobby of the hotel was capable of holding abut seven people. My room was on the top floor, which I carried my suitcase to because I thought I heard that the elevator was broken - it was not.

The rest of the day was filled with sleep and food. Lunch was an experience itself mainly because of figuring out how to order and how much to tip. The titles of the foods were in English but the descriptions were in Greek. My sandwich was made with prosciutto and had zucchini and tomato. The Greek salad that came with it was a nice added surprise. After a couple hour nap we took a tour Syntagma Square and went past many different shops and made our way to a restraunt where we dined on many different side dishes and Souvalki. The dinner was amazing in addition to the Retsina.

The rest of the night was spent roaming the city drinking wine and other various drinks…