Hmm

7/2/11

We sat out for the Acropolis bright & early after breakfast, arriving just after the entrance opened, and got the joint-ticket that would allow us to access multiple archaeological sites. It turned out that the UC student ID is recognized and that the tickets were half price for us. We went up to the Acropolis (pausing along the way to photograph the Odeion Herodes Atticus),where we arrived just in time to watch the honor guards (there's a flag up there, of course) march down the Acropolis. From there we visited the Ancient Agora, with its museum and the Temple of Hephaestus, paused to grab an early lunch & introduce our other roommate, Patricia (who arrived yesterday), to the tastiness that is the kebab sandwich. We also got gelato at Montanella, which is next to Monastery Square. After that we visited the Roman Agora and Hadrian's Library,

Note: the idea for the latter is really awesome and I would like dearly to see a 3D model of what the predicted structure originally looked like. The ruins the mosaic and columns hinted at grandeurs long past and also: public library. In Ancient Greece. My mind obsessed over the 2D drawings like a crow becoming enamored of a particularly shiny object.

before we breaked. Later in the afternoon Annie and I made a quick grocery run and experimented with Greek microwavable dinner (and we each got a Kinder Surprise as a treat) and some fresh fruit & vegetables.

My thing assembled into a snail-shaped water gun, which Annie suggested I could use to squirt the annoying little kid in front of me on my way back, which tells you all that you need to know about our traveling experience relative to our fellow passengers.

Annie and I then had a quick snack before we went to the Pnyx, the birth site of democracy

We tried to have Annie posing seriously at the Birth Site of Democracy for a photo, but she kept on cracking up.

and wandered around for a while, at which point we discovered that the lady at the stand at the Acropolis was wrong -- the Dionysus Theatre closes at 8pm, not 3:30pm, so we went there as well.

The day was concluded with Greek TV dinner as we finished watching the Russian adaptation of "Hounds of Baskerville" (and there was much lol'ing) (also: Snoopy!) and we found out that the Delphi trip was not going to happen Saturday

Note: Delphi is quite a distance away from where we are, so our hostel had organized this day trip thing that the visitors can sign up for so we get our own buses and such. Otherwise there are only a few buses that go from Athens to there and the timing of the entire thing would be...unpleasant. Not impossible, but just not as enjoyable.

because not enough people have signed up. It may happen on Sunday though, so we'll see.

Also, Annie appears to be allergic to Athens. Certainly the air quality (read: pollution) doesn't agree with her, and she's already on medication for a pulled muscle.