Oh, What a Night

So my plans are super fluid while I am in Athens. By that I mean that I don't really have anything planned out in advance and that my plans usually change. Like today for instance. My original plan was to take a 3 hour bus to Delphi early in the morning and try and be back by evening. I woke this morning and canceled that plan. It was 26 euros round trip and 3 hours both ways... That's too much money and too much time. Instead I took a bus to the Temple of Poseidon at Sounin. For breakfast, I had a creme pastry that was sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar along with a fruit salad thing. SO GOOD. The fruit salad was awesome because I do eat fresh fruit much anymore. The bus ride was only 1.5 hours and only costs 5 euros. The Temple of Poseidon was built at the southern most tip of the part of Greece called Attica. Attica is the region surrounding Athens. The Temple was 6 columns wide by 13 columns long. 15 columns are still standing which are really awesome (picture 1). The whiteness of them against the blue sky and redish brown earth was striking. Sailors, long ago and today, saw the columns and knew that they were close to Athens and home (picture 2). I met a woman from Oregon, she took my picture. She is on sabatical in Florence and came to Greece for a week. She was nice. I also met a couple from the Netherlands. We looked for Lord Byron's name on one of the columns (he carved his name when he visited over 150 years ago). We never did find it. The couple asked where else I was headed and was probably a little offended that I am going to Belgium but not the Netherlands (I ended up changing my mind on that which would probably make them happy).

On the bus ride back, the guy who collects the money talked to me about John Kerry for a while. The guy is Greek but was talking about John Kerry like he was a super hero. Pretty strange but good for him for knowing more about him than I do. I walked around and got a pita for lunch. I decided to climb up Lyccabettus Hill. It's a hill in the northeast of Athens. It was superhot today (over 80) and I was sweating like a pig at the top. The views were super (picture 3 is one of my absolute favorite pictures of the trip). The solar panels on the roofs of the houses where glittering like glass. There was some smog for sure though. On the top of the hill is a church (picture 4). There is a funicular that you can ride down or up but it was 3 euros each way! I'd rather sweat. The top of the hill also has a theater where concerts and performances are held during the Athenian Festival in July or August. After that I walked down from the hill and through the Klamaka neighborhood. It is a posh and trendy place with lots of cafes and shops. Kind of like Kensington in London but not as pretty. I walked past the President's House and alongside the National Gardens again. I finally arrived at my destination, the Panatheniac Stadium (picture 5). It was built for the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896 and can hold 69,000 people. It was completely made out of marble. The Greeks call it "pretty marble". Then I walked back to the hostel and sat around for a little bit (a siesta sort of). I headed out and ate dinner at a place called the Noodle Bar (it was listed in my Let's Go book, thanks Amy!). I had sweet and sour chicken. Incredibly delicious and a huge change from the food I had been eating since I left London. It reminded me of how me, Garrett, Ben, and Ryan went to China Restaurant in St. Cloud every other Sunday. It also reminded me of when Vanessa and I had chinese food in Rome. Anyway, it was delicious and after that I walked and got a little gelato for dessert. Also fantastic. I decided to walk around for a while since that is what everyone else seemed to be doing.

I walked through the Plaka, the neighborhood I am staying in. It is super touristy and has narrow streets so walking is tough. Everyone seemed to be out looking at restaurants and just enjoying the night air. I walked near the Acropolis and there was a HUGE book fair going on (picture 6). No English books though. All Greek. There were soooo many books and a lot of people walking around looking at them. The white tents probably stretched for over a quarter of a mile and were double sided (one publisher on one and side and another on the other side). There were street preformers as well. One street performance was a guy playing violin and a woman manipulating a puppet woman that danced. It was entrancing. Then I walked over to Monstaraki. That's another neighborhood close by. There were three girls playing music in a square near there (picture 7). They were awesome. They played some Beatles, Greek music, Italian music, Elvis, everything. Lots of fun. I think I watched them for over an hour. Then I walked back to the hostel. It was a great night and I had a lot of fun today. Tomorrow: Acropolis.

Toodles!