Athens, Greece

Hi everyone. So arrived safely in Athens (no terrorists attacked the plane and no birds hit our plane, so we didn't have to make an emergency landing or anything exciting like that). My morning of travel didn't start off so well. I thought I had awoke with enough time to get ready and finish my last minute errands but unfortunately not. It was pure luck I ever made my flight. First I almost missed my bus to the train station (I ran out the door a minute before it was suppose to leave, fortunately it was late so I made it), but since the bus was late I was going to miss my train (but fortunately the train was ten minutes late, so I once again made my connection), but since my train was late I arrived at the airport with hardly enough time to check my bags and get through security before my plane left (it actually left 20 minutes early). By the time I was on the plane I realized that I was extremely hungry since I'd skipped breakfast and lunch seeing as I had been running late all day. The flight proved to be extremely accommodating though. Since it was only a three hour flight I wasn't expecting anything but a cup of soda and a bag of peanuts, but they greeted us with mints as we were waiting for take off and half an hour into the flight they delivered a huge meal (which usually only gets served on international flights) and it was awesomely delicious (maybe that was the hunger speaking though). I'm flying with Aegean Airlines more often now! I had no problems with finding my hostel once I arrived, but it was already around 8:30pm so I didn't get to see any of the sights or explore upon my arrival.

Today began with me walking to the Temple of Zeus, which is the largest temple ever built. All that is left is a few pillars and the foundation. There is also some foundations of the smaller temples, baths and other public buildings that surrounded the temple. I then walked the 'Promenade Anglais', it used to be a street, but now only pedestrians are allowed to use it and it connects all the main historical sights together. I followed the path to the Acropolis where I saw the Theater of Dionysus and the Parthenon (and also a policeman scaring away all the people peddling their crap outside the entrance, apparently it's illegal). Both were impressive and would having been shockingly stunning and majestic in their heydays, but now they are basically just ruins (all though still impressive because of their enormous size). After that I visited the Ancient Agora (market place). Athens is a lot like Rome in the sense that all the places of interests are all ruins. Basically all that remains of these places are the foundations and a couple of pillars of ruble. The entire city seems to be made of marble, so if you ever visit make sure to wear non-slip shoes. I was walking around in my ballerina slippers all day and sliding left and right. I thought that I kept on stepping in dog poop, because in France that is usually what causes one to slip, but it was just all the marble sidewalks. There is a huge market (seems more like a flea market to me with all the worthless crap they were peddling) just outside of the Ancient Agora. It's the place to go to find souvenirs and antiques (and any other worthless crap you could ever imagine). The businesses were extremely small and close together (and apparently not large enough for all their crap so it flooded out into the walking street making the passages seem extremely small and claustrophobic). All the main sights close around 3pm during the off season, so I spent the rest of the day just wandering around the streets. What really sucks about all the sights closing so early is that it means 1) I have to wake up early in order to see all I want to see that day and 2) I have to hurry at the sights in order to make it to the other sights I want to see that day. I'm only here for a couple of days so I'm trying to fit all the things I want to see in. I took my time today at the major sights (the ones I wanted to see the most), but tomorrow is going to be busy and rushed. Plus lots of things are closed on Mondays, so I have to see all those things tomorrow or I won't be able to visit them. Oh well, that's just the life of a world traveler I suppose.

I remembered that Greece is home of the gyro (I'd forgotten this fact until I saw a man walking around eating one), which is one of my favorite sandwiches so my mission tomorrow is to find a shop to buy a real, legit, Greece made gyro. I'm rather surprised at how cheap everything is here compared to all the other places in Europe I've visited. Everything from transportation, lodging, souvenirs and entrance fees are all extremely cheap. I guess that's a sign that I'm in eastern Europe now. It was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining and temperatures in the 60's. However it's suppose to rain tomorrow, but I decided that if that's the case I'll just visit museums all day tomorrow and then going out trekking again on Monday.

I was planning on posting some pictures from today on here, but unfortunately the computers at this hostel won't do it, so I'll visit an internet cafe some time in the next couple of days and try to post some. LoveYa. Katie.