Athens...a phenomenal city

Sooo...where to start. Yes...we got a late start yesterday. A little jet lagged still, we slept in and then got ready for a big day of sightseeing. Well we show up at the first place, the Ancient Agora, all excited about what we are about to see. Well, Greeks apparently still consider this the winter season and all sites close down by 3 in the winter season (Rick Steve's failed to mention that in the book)! So we had about...45 minutes to sight see. We did the best we could... Brandon said, "How will they be able to kick us out? This place is huge..." Well...sure enough, 1/2 hour later there were like 20 people yelling at us from all angles that they were closed and we needed to get the hell out! (Well, they probably didn't use those EXACT words:) We were appalled! It was 3 in the afternoon! What the hell were we going to do with the rest of the afternoon? We couldn't figure out if Greeks closed up shop for an afternoon siesta and opened things again later, but everywhere we proceeded to go after that, places were shutting down! What do they do? When do they work? We went to a museum...closed. We went to the market...shutting down. So we ate some food and took a little siesta ourselves...I mean they really don't leave you much of a choice. I think we are the only people who have ever visited Athens and not been to the Acropolis! It's like sacreligious! Oh well...not much we can do about it now...we are heading to Santorini in about 1/2 and hour. Hopefully we can see it on the way back:(

Last night, however, was great! Athens by night is much different than Athens by day. Some parts of the city look very dirty, with graffiti everywhere. But by night...all the store fronts open up, there's outdoor seating everywhere and it's a whole new ballgame! It was great! We ate dinner with some friends we met at the hostel (2 guys from Australia, and a guy from California currently working and living in Romania). Dinner was good and then we headed to a few bars. We soon found out that drinks are rather expensive...$8 for a Heineken...but ouzo (Greeks love ouzo) is rather cheap...$2 a glass. Ouzo it was! It tastes like black licorice and is rather strong...but oh well...we made do. We tried a few places and finally ended up at a real Greek hang out. They were playing Greek music and dancing...well Greek I guess. It was sooo fun! They pulled us into their circle and we danced with them....it was great! Top experience of the night. They were very nice and we had a great time. We finished the night at about 4 am. Yes! 4 am! I can't tell you the last time I was up that late. But I guess when you don't eat til 11 and the bars don't get going til 1, that's normal. We had a gyro and called it a night. It was fabulous!

A little tired today but off to Santorini! I will write asap. Love you all!

Kali mera!

This means "good morning" in Greek. See...I'm learning a few things while I'm here:) Its actually afternoon. We are moving a little slow today. We took a nap after our city walk yesterday to try get over our jet lag. We then went to the rooftop bar to catch a drink for happy hour and watch the sun set over the Acropolis. Well we ended up meeting some great people and stayed most of the night. We met some guys from Australia that just started their 3 month tour of Europe. We also met 2 girls from...Michigan and Wisconsin! Crazy huh! One was teaching in Paris for a year and the other was traveling by herself for 3 months (she is very brave!). Well, we hadn't exactly eaten yet and the beer and jet lag hit us a little harder than we would have thought, so it was a rather early night for us last night.

Right now we are trying to get the motivation for a long day of sight seeing. I think we are going to do the Acropolis and Ancient Agora tour. Some of the oldest ruins around (450 BC or so). It should be interesting! Hopefully we will actually make it out to dinner tonight as well, instead of crashing and heading to bed early. We haven't acclimated to the Greek's schedule yet. They eat lunch around 2 and dinner around 10 pm. We are trying to do that as well to get the whole experience (it not as much fun to eat alone:). I will write again soon. Take care!

We made it! Safe and sound in Athens...

So...after an extremely long flight (10 1/2 hours to be exact) we arrived in Athens. I think Brandon and I tolerated eachother quite nicely:) Everything went very smooth actually. The Athens airport is actually very nice and it was easy to navigate. And thanks to Rick Steves we found the metro easily and took that all the way into Athens (the airport is about 1/2 hour out of the city). The metro was nice because we could observe our surroundings as we were heading in to the city. The terrain looks very much like Italy actually...mountainous, green. But a little more arid here. We popped out of the metro station and the first thing we saw? The Acropolis! It's amazing...hard to miss actually. It sits on top of the highest point in Athens. It's actually nice if you get lost...it can always be used as a point of reference. We couldn't check into our hostel right away, so we did the walking tour around Athens that Rick Steves suggested in his book. It was great actually. It is definitely a European city! Tiny roads winding everywhere...monuments and streets are very hard to find. But that is also what I love about it! It's an adventure! You never know what you're going to find around the corner. Athens is very interesting actually, because the ruins are in the middle of the city. The Roman Forum, for example, is in the middle of a residential area...just gated off. It is so amazing to me that these ruins are from BC and there they are...sitting right there next to a house....weird. I admire a culture that respects it's past so much. I have a feeling that we'd just tear them down in America...sad. We also saw our first (of many) Greek Orthodox churches. It was interesting....different than in Italy. Greek Orthodox is apparently very old Christianity. They split from the Catholics sometime back because of differences in practice, not necessarily beliefs. The Greek Orthodox churches are more...I don't want to say plain, but kind of I guess. They are not nearly as ornate as the Catholic churches in Italy and they don't have any statues. Apparently they think having statues there would be like worshipping a false god.

Well, we are all checked into our hostel (it's in a very convenient location which I'm very happy about) and this is where I am writing you from. I think we are going to take a bit of a disco nap and then head out to dinner later, hopefully catch some live music somewhere. There are some great outdoor cafes/restaurants. It is beautiful weather here today...I hope it sticks around:)

I will write again soon! Love you all!

All systems are a go!

We are on the plane and ready for take off! We will write soon after we check into the hostel to let you all know that we made it safely. Opah!

New York

So my plan was to watch out the window the whole time upon getting close because I've never been to New York and I wanted to see it. Well, that didn't go so well. It was extremely turbulent and I broke into a full body sweat. I had to close my eyes the whole time:( to prevent my stomach contents from coming up. And Brandon couldn't comfort me because he got bumped to first class...that's probably best:). We are now at our gate waiting to leave. About 11 hours from now we will be arriving in Athens (9:30 am there). Our plan is to get thoroughly intoxicated on the plane so we can sleep:) Wish us luck! Love you all! (Brandon says hi)

So far so good!

Brandon and I are at the airport having breakfast. Everything is a go so far! I will update again before we leave New York.

Greece here we come! Hopefully...

Fast forward one year and I am headed to Europe again! Yay! I am so incredibly excited! Greece is another one of those places that I have seen pictures of and have dreamt about the chance to see for myself one day. I can hardly wait to meet the people, taste the food, discover the ruins for myself, and wander around....lost in a sea of those lovely white houses with blue roofs. I have been researching this trip for months and can hardly wait to get on that plane Thursday. That is, of course, if we are allowed. The volcano in Iceland is causing chaos with international travel and I am hoping that Brandon and I will be able to steer clear of the mess. With all of the things that could go wrong before a big trip, volcanic ash was not even a teeny tiny little thought in the back of my mind....who knew? Anyway...I think we will be fine. Brandon and I will board that plane on Thursday...God-willing. We are very blessed to be able to take a trip like this. I feel very lucky.