Athens, Greece and on to Italy

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Hey everyone, sorry for the bit of silence there for a few days. I didnt have much access to internet while in Athens, plus I was pretty busy having a great time. It is an amazing city and the ancient ruins, Acropolis, Pantheon, etc are so cool to see up close. In Athens I stayed in the Athens Backpacker Hostel, which was a totally different experience vs. the hotel in Istanbul. it had its good and bad parts, but I met an very cool group of people and hung out with them for most of my time in Athens. Darren the Australian army paratrooper, Dominic and Paul the English windsurfing instructors, Angie the Australian student, Megan the crazy Canadian, and more were all a blast to spend time with. We were out till at least 2am every night checking out the nightlife in Athens and spent the days seeing the ruins and museums of the city. I think I am going to split my time over here between hostels and cheap hotels mostly because I like the social element of the hostel but feel like Im in less of a foreign country when everyone around me is from somewhere else if that makes any sense. It has been a lot of fun to be going through a city and exploring it on my own. Plus I cant drink like a 20 year old every night anymore hehe. I have so many funny, interesting stories, but I dont have nearly enough time here at the internet cafe to write them all down.

I am sitting in Brindisi Italy at the moment after taking an overnight ferry from Patri Greece last night/this morning which took 16 hours. The ferry was interesting as there were probably only 25 people on board this enormous ship and no one else spoke english, so I relaxed, read, and tried out my weak attempts at Italian to pass the time. I take the train from here to Rome this afternoon and will be there for the next few days, then its on to Florence to meet up with Ellen, my sister, and am going to Venice with her and her friends this coming weekend. At this point Im feeling like quite the traveler and have adapted to brushing my teeth in train station bathrooms and wearing the same thing for days on end hehe. But I have to say that this trip was the best idea Ive had in some time and Im already having such a great time. Till the next entry....

(sorry for the lack of pictures, this computer doesnt have any USB inputs so no pictures this time, Ill make up for it when I get to Rome or Florence and upload a boatload of them. Im actually up to about 160 pictures of the trip so far, more than the combined total of all the picturesIve taken in my whole life)

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