We took some time to take a quick trip down to Athens, Greece. Flying in Europe is really cheap, especially compared to flying from the US to Europe. So Tuesday morning at 3 am we were getting ready to catch a 6 am flight. I love that my wife must be two hours early for flights...
We told some Germans that we were headed to Greece for three days and they looked at us like we were totally crazy. Why go that short? They like vacation in 2-4 week chunks. Crazy. But ours are not really vacations, they are tours...
We arrived in Athens and got the car, all before noon. We brought Mandy, but Andi had not actually checked to see if Greece was in the GPS. "It has all of Europe." Except eastern Europe. We did rent a GPS from the auto place, but it was a disaster (Nonio?) So we used the WiFi at our hotel and paid to download the Greece maps to Mandy, then returned the other GPS POS. TomTom is the way to go. When you get down deep in a city, you can lose the signal. Mandy has some inertial sensor so she can usually navigate tunnels and other areas pretty well (without freaking out too much).
So we hopped in the car and went out to the temple of Poseidon, on a great cliff about an hour outside Athens. I discovered Ellie hates bugs, she screamed her head off like someone was pulling off her fingers over a ladybug. The temple was great, but the weather was a bit gray. We drove back along the coast. A lot of Greece could use a touch of paint and some litter removal. It looked like Jamaica or Puerto Rico. And the parking/driving in town is crazy.
Today we got up and did the Athens ruins. There is a lot of neat stuff near the temple of Hephestus, which then leads up to the Acropolis and Parthenon. Again, the day was gray so pictures will be just ok. They had cranes all over the Parthenon and the museum is closed for rennovation, so we just walked around and saw the old stuff. Pretty amazing. It really is up on a big hill, very impressive considering how old that stuff is. Lunch at a little place right in the shadow of the acropolis. We saw some more stuff nearby but did not have time to go in the park, the kids were wearing out.
Later today after naps we got online and picked football tickets. Very important! We should finally have decent seats. The last few years we have been too close to the game, having to stand on the seat to see the jumbo tron. Now, we should be right on the 50, about 5 rows from the top on the home side. This will put us in the shade for afternoon and night games. We may even be under the pressbox a bit to keep out of the rain! I think we will also have a good view of the fair and city skyline. I am excited!
Tonight we found a nice place for dinner in nearby Victoria Square. It seems like everyone we meet knows passable English for the most part. Victoria square is a little sketchy, but it seems safe enough overall. But the parking is really horrible. Luckily, our hotel has a garage.
Forgot to mention a funny story from Drew: Last week at the Getrank Markt, I had some trouble talking with the clerk. Drew said: "Daddy, your German is nicht so gut." He has learned a lot in just a few months.
Had a beer at lunch by the acropolis in our little eatery.
Mythos - Fine pilsner, nothing fancy or extremely memorable.
