Day 6 - Athens

Today we woke up around 12:00am.  We probably shouldn't have gone to sleep so early at 6:30pm, but without a sleeping plan we just listened to our bodies.  It would have been better to keep ourselves awake until late and then go to sleep.  Still hunkered down in the hotel room trying to acclimate to the time change, time crawled to about 3:00am and we were both hungry for the American breakfast buffet that is included with our hotel stay. Katie tryed to sleep while I stayed up to blog and watch some more videos, hoping that being awake longer would make me more tired at bedtime.

Katie got a good two hours of sleep and I stayed up until breakfast time.  We went downstairs for breakfast and were greeted by a nice spread.  Scrambled eggs, eggs sunny-side up, bacon, fried potatoes, mushrooms, cereal, various breads, fruit, cold cuts, and cheeses.  I piled on one plate and went back for another knowing the long day we had ahead of ourselves.  They also had a machine that squeezed oranges on the spot: put whole oranges in the top and fresh orange juice comes out the bottom.  The waiter came to our table and asked if we wanted coffee or tea.  Katie requested coffee and I asked him for orange juice.  After saying that, he had a funny face and said "Okay, I can do that."  Then Katie pointed behind me where there were glasses and a pitcher of orange juice to fill them.  Moment number two of being a dumb tourist and not knowing what is going on.

We went back to the room and I took a short nap before our day's adventures.   I discovered that the bundle packing method didn't work so well.  We left the room by 10:00am to see the Acropolis.  Our first stop was the Parthenon.  All we had was a small map given to us by the hotel when we checked in.  After figuring out which way was north, we started walking in its general direction.  After some time walking, we actually spotted it; it sits atop a large hill about a football field high so it's hard to miss.  We wondered around side streets trying to find the way to the top.  We met some people who were also trying to find it.  Together as a group, we discovered that the way we were going was a dead end, and eventually found the right roads to walk.  Seeing a huge number of people was the tell tale sign we were in the right place.  The Acropolis is home to many archaeological sites including the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion, and the Propylea.  We saw from above the Theater of Dionysusn and Herodeion.

Overview of Athens

Parthenon

A short stroll from the Acropolis led us to the Areopagus, otherwise known as Mars Hill.  Here St. Paul spoke to the Athenians about them worshiping an Unknown God.  The whole hill is made of marble which has steps carved into the hill for climbing to the top.  The millions of people walking on the steps has polished them up nicely making them very smooth and slippery.  Afterwards, we went to the Ancient Agora which used to be the market place of ancient Athens.  In one area, there were many sculptures of gods and goddesses, but none of them had heads.  Katie's explaination was that over the years, people defaced them- literally.  As we walked around more, we kept encountering wild dogs which roamed the city streets and parks.  Throughout the day, we saw about 15, some roaming around and others laying down presumably sleeping.  After lunch we strolled down a street that had some shops.  Katie spotted a neat looking hobo-bag (purse), stick sold separately.  It being pink and purple made it irrestible.  Then we went to the Temple of Olympiad Zeus and Hadrian's Arch.  All that is left of the Temple are 14 standing colums and one column which is on the ground in pieces.  It was mindblowing to think how massive the temple once was.

Stray Dogs

The only head in an otherwise headless gallery

Temple of Zeus

On our way back to the Hotel, we found a very enjoyable park that had lots of trees and blocked out all the noise of surrounding traffic.  In the middle of the park was a small zoo for kids with ducks, geese, donkeys, and some African animal similar to impalas.  Then we saw a sign for a coffee shop, which we had to follow.  On our way, we encountered a company of soldiers practicing their marching.  They had rifles which they later put the bayonets on in their drill.  Once finding the coffee shop, Katie got a Greek Coffee and I got a Nescafe Frappe with ice cream.  After being wired with caffine, we went on a scavenger hunt for shampoo.  The stuff in the hotel isn't bad, but we like good shampoo and we need some for our stay at the monastery in Rome.  We think that the only places that sell hygine product here are the small pharmacy shops.  The nice thing about Athens is that the pharmacies have large, green LED signs indicating their location.  The problem was that every one we saw was closed.  An employee of another shop kindly gave us directions to one that was open.  Mission accomplished.  Afterwards, we went back to the computer store which also sells music so that I could buy some authentic Greek tunes.

When in the lobby of our hotel, we recognized the celebrities of our Catholic Answers trip: Jimmy Akin and Karl Keaton, both of whom are Catholic apologists (people who explain and defend Catholicism).  Ever since we checked-in, I wondered if they were in the hotel also, if they would be visiting the Acropolis and maybe we could go as a group.  Katie and I introduced ourselves as the youngest people that may be on this trip.  Apparently they had just gotten in that morning, so I knew how they were feeling at that moment.  Actually, Karl had gone to the Acropolis during the day today which made us seem like wimps with our day-long, jetlag recovery retreat in our hotel room.  Then Steve Ray walked into the lobby with his wife Janet who are also apologists and will be giving the tours when we are in Israel.  The meeting of the minds were to tend to some business before the start of the cruise tomorrow so we went back to our room for the night.

Katie was hungry for dinner, but I wasn't so she reluctantly called room service.  Reluctantly because just this morning at breakfast upon seeing waiters bringing back empty dishes, Katie asked why in the world people would order room service in the morning instead of visiting the restaurant.  My reason was that some people just like to be pampered.  The thought of room service for dinner was comical in the context of this morning's conversation, but was very practacle for wanting to stay in the room to eat.  We finished out the day making sure everything is good for the start of the cruise tomorrow and watching an episode of House.