Athens has been conquered!

Hi everyone. So just so everyone knows, it didn't rain a single drop today! Good thing I knew the weather man is worthless and planned my day accordingly. I started my day off bright and early at 7:30am with a nutritious breakfast (white bread toast with butter and jam, a hard-boiled egg and a glass of OJ...okay maybe it's not so nutritious, but it free at the hostel!) seeing that my day was jammed packed and I had to stick to a tight schedule in order to see everyting before it all closes at 3pm (I still can't believe everything closes by 3pm and nothing is open on Mondays).

National Archaeological Museum
I began my trek by winding my way through town to the National Archaeological Museum. I'm guessing that everyone reading this knows I'm not the biggest person on any type of museum (I'm not prejudice I hate them all equally and think they should all be like OMSI if they want me to enjoy myself) which is why you won't be reading about very many, but thanks to this flaw in my genetics it means that I just do quick passovers through every room. This museum was full of half rotten bits here and missing chunks there that it seemed like every piece belonged to a giant rusting jigsaw puzzle (but when things are thousands of years old, I guess you can't expect them to be in perfect condition). Statues are always my favorite things to look at in museums and this museum was full of them. I love how every statue is missing body parts. The nose and penis seem to be the most commonly broken off, in fact the only noses and penises still attached were ridiculous huge ones which made it look even funnier. I need to correct myself. When I say there were statues everywhere I mean basically there were rooms full of heads or torsos and occasionally an arm, that at one time were complete statues. In my guide book it said this museum would take at least half a day to get through, it took me 35 minutes, which left the rest of my day not so rushed.

National Gardens
Since my museum trek was shorter then expected I had some spare time (one hour) before the changing of the guards ceremony in front of Parliament to visit the area in and around the National Gardens (which are right next to Parliament). The National Gardens were very beautiful with native Mediterranean plants, like palm trees and olive trees (yes, olives grow on trees...I didn't know this fact until I visited Italy in October) I walked through the gardens until I came across the Zappeion Palace (which is just a big governmental building now and not bery pretty). From there I made my way to the Panathenaic Stadium (which is where the track and field bit of the 2004 Olympic Games was held) and then walked by the President's Palace (which I couldn't really see because of the extremely high walls and the intimidating looking security guards outside of it), then I headed back to the Parliament to see the changing of the guards ceremony.

Changing of the Guards
Lucky for me I happen to read in my guide book yesterday that there is a huge ceremony on Sundays for the 11am changing of the guards. In case someone doesn't know what the changing of the guards is (you should because they do it in every country) it is when the guards who watch over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are finished with their shift and are replaced by other guards (it happens every hour on the hour). Their ceremony consisted of a military band of about 50 people and a group of marching military men of about 100 people. They blocked off a couple of blocks and marched. There outfits are total 'faux pas' as the french would say. The guards are wearing what look like short white dresses that tu-tu out and flowy, drappery sleeves. The best/worst is their shoes which have giant pom-poms on the tips. I'll make sure to post a picture of them and also a video of the actual ceremony (all I can say is they need a new choreographer).

Stoa of Attalos and Keramikos Cemetary
After the ceremony I headed back to the Ancient Agora to see the museum (boo) that is housed in the rebuilt Stoa of Attalos (I hadn't seen it the day before because it closed right before I got there). It was extremely small, which I hadn't anticipated so it only took me 5 minutes to 'thoroughly' examine the exhibits (which were the same rusted, half missing stuff from all the other museums except it had been excavated from the Ancient Agora sight). So I quickly made my to the Keramikos Cemetary, which didn't take long to explore because not much was left except ruins of what is known as the street of tombs (very few have survived needless to say) and old fortress walls.

Gyro
Upon exiting the Keramikos my belly began to rumble so I headed to a gyro shop (my goal for the day) that I'd read about in my guide book. When the waiter delivered my gyro I was expecting a wrap like you usually get in the states, but this was no wrap. A plate piled with pork on top of gyro bread was delivered to me with the cream dressing on the side. It was AWESOME!! But I think I'll try a different gyro shop tomorrow to see if I can get an actual wrap.
Roman Agora and Hadrian's Library
After lunch I hit up the Roman Agora which was another gathering of ruins but with the Tower of the Winds, which is this huge still intact cylinder building built by some Astronomer in 1 AD that functioned as a sundial, weather vane, water clock and compass. It was pretty cool. I left the Roman Agora to head to Hadrian's Library, because you'll agree with me on this on, if you've seen one pile of rubble, you want to see the rest. And this was the last stop on my visiting piles of rubble and ruins tour of Athens.

After this busy day it was almost three so I started heading back to the hostel. I stopped at an internet cafe to download some pictures for this blog and to return your emails. Tomorrow the weather will hopefully stay nice because I've decided to visit Piraeus, which is a sea port near Athens. From Piraeus I plan on taking a ferry to the island of Aegina and spend the day exploring it. Until tomorrow...Loveya!

P.S. I'll post some more pics and videos tomorrow