TWELVE

Fall Break: so far so great. I finished my last midterm on Thursday morning followed by a large sigh of relief and lots of lying on the couch-watching Friends with Emily. I went back to school for dinner in an attempt to save a few pounds before the trip but then cancelled that out by stopping at the Green Man on the way back to the flat. I didn’t start packing for the week until about midnight but I work better under pressure anyway!

Friday morning Lauren Emily and I got up and headed on the tube towards Heathrow Airport. We flew with British Airways so the ease of getting there and boarding was such a luxury already compared to RyanAir the budget airline. British Airways even served a half decent lunch, free drinks and a movie. The flight was about 3 and a half hours and Greece is two hours ahead of London so it seemed even longer once we landed. It was easy enough once we landed to navigate to our hostel we just took the metro to the Monastiraki stop and walked about a block to our hostel. The hostel was incredible and was definitely the nicest I’ve ever stayed in let alone seen. It’s been rated the best hostel in Greece every month so far in 2009 and is one of Europe’s famous hostels. So if anyone is traveling to Athens and only wants to spend 18 euro a night I 100% recommend AthenStyle – it’s a perfect location steps from a large market and by the acropolis, it has a rooftop bar looking over the acropolis, artwork all over including in the rooms, comfortable beds, and a genuinely helpful staff. It’s also very secure considering its in Athens- you need a swipe key to get into every room pretty much and there are lockers to keep your stuff in. ANYWAY Friday night we met our friends who were also in our hostel- completely by chance- for dinner and enjoyed a variety of Greek salads- mine was the restaurant’s specialty salad and it was scrumptious. They all came in pita bowls. We basked as we sat on the balcony next to the Greek flag enjoying the house wine and learning key Greek phrases from our waiter. After dinner we wandered in the direction our new friend Christian from Sweden told us was really cool at night. It was right on the side of the Parthenon and there are a lot of restaurants around.

Saturday we got up in time to get our complimentary breakfast before trekking out on the path that Christian mapped out for us. We started walking in to the Acropolis and saw The Temple of Hephaistos and lots of ancient war ruins. We climbed higher and higher up with more beautiful views of Athens with each step we took. Eventually we climbed up a mountain esque hill with rocks that were so slipper you almost had to crawl. There was a large group of Greek school children up on it singing in Greek while facing the Parthenon. Once we took a sufficient amount of pictures we continued on our trek to the Parthenon. It was quiet a hike but completely worth it. Pictures absolutely do not do justice to these ancient Greek buildings and how awe-inspiring they are. The history within their crumbling walls is absolutely humbling. I did not think I’d be as moved by these buildings as I was. I think my favorite building was an ancient theatre- one of the oldest in the world. It’s so fun to think that the ancient Greeks went out to sit and watch theatre just like we do today. After all of this we went to the Acropolis Museum for a surprisingly cheap meal that was SO delicious- I had tomato feta and olives on olive bread and split a tomato salad with Lauren. I completed my meal with espresso – so good. We continued our journey through the museum, under Hadrian's Arch, and through the National Gardens. It started to pour at this point but we all had umbrellas and stuck it out. We went to the markets where all of the stores were open but not that many stands because of the rain. There were still enough to do some damage shopping though!

After this we parted ways and Lauren Emily and I had dinner at another Greek restaurant and headed to the port to catch our ferry. After about a 25-minute ride on the metro we were there and could see our ferry in the water right when we walked out to the street. We boarded the Anek Ship, checked in at the desk and made our way to our room where we danced around to the Mamma Mia soundtrack for a while and explored the boat. If it wasn’t the off-season it’s clear this would be a very lively ride but there’s hardly anyone here! Oh yeah, I’m writing this entry on the boat as we speak. Lauren, Emily, and I have had so much fun going out on the deck and watching the water on the side of the boat and fighting the ridiculously strong wind- it’s so exhilarating to be out there!! Seeing as our boat docks at 5:30 am, we’re going to try to get some shut-eye since we have a full day of exploring CRETE! Tomorrow!! I have more pictures than I know what to do with already and its only been a day and a half!!! Talk to you all in Crete!! Ya Sas!