Our Travels Begin

Right now I'm sitting in an Internet Cafe ... in ATHENS, GREECE. I know, there's so much to see, why be on the Internet. Because I'm addicted and if it's here I'm going to use it.

This post is a mind dump of what we've done so far. I don't believe I'll capture everything -- that's what my journal is for -- but it's something. So please forgive me if there are spelling and grammatical errors. I'll deal with those later.

The trip out here was long and given that they are 7 hours ahead, I think we were up for about 36 hours. The plan ride itself wasn't too bad. Got too see "Freedom Writers" -- a movie I highly recommend. And the woman sitting next to me was very interesting. She quit her job to live in Greece for 3 months with her boyfriend, who's a boat builder. And when she returns she's going to take a boat apprenticeship in Maine for a year. Talking to her confirmed my need to live in Italy for a few months. I told Casey, his eye's widened in shock? Anxiety? Anticipation for when? I'm going to keep thinking the latter option because how could you not want to live in Italy for a few months.

After arriving in Greece, it took about 45 minutes to get our luggage. Slow going unpacking the plane. We met up with a representative from Fantasy Greek Travel, who gave us everything we need to get from alpha to beta, along with drivers so we won't have to fuss with cabs, etc. Ver-nice. And speaking of drivers -- our cab driver was hilarious. Everytime he answered/made a call it SOUNDED AS IF HE WAS CONSTANTLY YELLING HIS STATEMENTS. Nice language.

And my apologies to Vicky if I woke her up. I was trying to figure out the Athens calling code to get in touch with the rep who was supposed to meet us. Completely forgetting we're 7 hours ahead, I called my home phone at 3am! Luckily Vicky says she and Ollie were too tired to even notice. Although this 7 hour difference is confusing since I'll text another friend while she's at work and then receive a text 11:30p my time from her. aaaahhhh!!!!

And the language. I've been able to speak Spanish, Italian, Japanese and French when needed, but Greek! H.A.R.D. I'm still trying to remember efkharisto -- wait, I just remembered it. That means "Thank You". "Ya soos" is Hello. Ooooo... and translating the signs. I think I'm back taking Calculus and Discrete Math. I've given up on trying to translate and will speak either Italian or English.

There are plenty of tourists here, but their mostly from other European countries. It's the European vacation spot (like Florida or Hawaii is for Americans). I'm loving it. We do come across Americans now and again, but not like in Florence where they were coming out of the cobblestones!

As for sights, yesterday was our dumb day. I believe we walked through the National Gardens, a couple of blocks from our hotel. Couldn't tell you much except it was refreshing to be out and walking around. We did see quite a bit today. The Acropolis is AMAZING. The Parthenon - brilliant. The Theatre of Dionysos, the Odeion of Herodes Atticus -- absolutely beautiful. The Greeks really knew how to build a theatre so that everyone could see the stage (so unlike the ones we have today).

We then headed over to see the Greek Agora, where we saw the remains of the Altar of the 12 Gods, the Stoa of Attalos and the Hephaisteion. The Hephaisteion was absolutely gorgeous. What I really love about all of these ruins is their age. I've seen Roman ruins, but the Greek ruins dating back to 2, 3 or later B.C. is mind-blowing.

Hmmm.. well that's all for now. If we get to another Internet cafe on the islands I'll be sure to write about some more of the cultural interactions we've had with locals.