Will somebody please feed me grapes?

...I've decided to become a Greek goddesss.

Last Thursday, some friends and I flew off to Athens to experience Greece for a few days.  Wow.  First of all, we were flying out of three days of nonstop rain and into beautiful summer weather.  We negotiated the Greek metro system and made our way to the center of the city, where our hostel was.  Before finding the address, we found it quite necessary to find some genuine Greek food, so we sat in the square and ate the most delicious gyros I've ever tasted.  Apparently Greek food prepared by professionals in Greece is better than cheap American knockoffs.  Go figure.

After we settled into our rooms at the hostel, we met in the lobby to ask the desk attendant what a good thing to do would be before dinner.  Since it was already dark, we didn't want to wander willy-nilly or do anything that would take too large a chunk of time.  The woman at the desk and Shea, a traveling Canadian who had been in Athens a couple weeks discussed the best things to do and suggested we go see the Acropolis, which is lovely when it is lit up at night.  There is a high section of rocks which offers a wonderful view of both the Acropolis and the city of Athens.  Shea, who was about our age, had been there before and was willing to show us the way.  We ended up hanging out with him at the Acropolis, during the long search for the perfect restaurant, and during dinner.  It was nice to be with someone who was at least a little more familiar with the streets than we were.  After dinner, we just went back to the hostel and hit the sack.

The girls in front of the Acropolis at night.

The bathroom door at the restaurant where we had dinner.

Friday was Ruins Day.  We started with the Acropolis and saw the theatre of Dionysis, the Pantheon, and an abundance of other glorious ruins.  So fun!  I just couldn't get over the fact that I was in Greece, looking at ancient ruins, and walking where Socrates and his buddies hung out.  I've never felt so connected to Greek mythology.  I do love mythology.  One unfortunate thing was that we got to the place where the original olympics were held and Zeus' temple just a little bit too late, and the entrance was closed.  It wasn't too bad, though; we could see everything through the fence, so we took some pictures and went to watch the sunset on the rock formation we had been to the night before.

The Theatre of Dionysis.

The Pantheon!

"Grecian urn 1..."

Dear Mom, thanks for homeschooling me well.  Thanks to you, I saw these and knew they were Greek Doric columns with fluting.  How many kids who went to other schools would've remembered that after a dozen years?

I think McDonald's is stalking me.  In every country I go to, I look over my shoulder and there it is.

Saturday was Island Day.  We took a ferry to Aegina, which was about an hour away.  We spent some time swimming and taking pictures, and then half the group went to go eat expensive food, and the other half went to wander around the port city.  Guess which group I was in?  I'll give you a clue from a book I like: "I had the firm conviction that, if I went about looking for adventure, adventure would meet me halfway."  (What's the book?  No looking it up on the internet.  I want to hear all your guesses!  I do believe I have already quoted it in an earlier blog.)  We ended up on a peninsula facing west in time for the sunset.  Aah... so beautiful.  One girl really wanted to get some seafood before we caught the ferry back to Athens, so she picked some fried "small fish" to go.  They were indeed small (each was about the size of my pointer finger) and fish.  Whole fish.  Bones, brains, eyeballs, they had it all.  And we ate 'em.  Not my favorite, but I'm glad I tried it.  The whole group met up on the ferry, and I taught them the game "signs" during the voyage back to Athens.  That night we had dinner on a Greek schedule--we got to the restaurant at around 11:00 at night.  One girl turned 22 at midnight so we sang happy birthday, and the waiters came out with free desserts!

Enjoying a Greek sunset.

Eating little fishes.

Sunday morning there is a famous huge flea market in the center of Athens, so we checked that out.  There were beautiful dresses for sale which weren't too expensive, and I really liked one of them.  Imagining myself in it, I totally looked like a Greek goddess.  Then I tried it on over my clothes, and I found I did NOT look like a Greek goddess.  I looked like a tourist wearing a dress that was... clearly not too expensive.  And that was that.  There were some really funny flea market stands, if I can call them that.  They were more blankets on the ground with stuff on them.  I'm pretty sure that some of the stands were selling completely stolen merchandise.  My favorite one was featuring a small selection of jewelry and a worn out pair of shoes to represent fashion, and one scratched keyboard as the sole representative of technology.

The flight back was smooth, except for the brief episode when one girl misplaced her passport.  We made it back just fine, however, and flew from sunny warm Athens to chilly, recently drenched Milan.  Ah, well.  Back to classes and everyday life in my Italian adventure!