Our Last Day in Athens

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Our last day in Athens was spent running around town to get to see the things we didn't have a chance to see before. It wasn't a rushed day, but it was a hot one. Our first stop was to get out morning yogurt from the market down the street. We walked and drank it as we headed to the metro station. From the next stop we got off and took our time walking to the National Archeological Museum. It is an impressive building, as they have copied the ancient Greek style of collumns for their entrance way. Everything is made of marble, so the steps and the pillars just gleam white in the sun. Again, its pretty nice! But like all things in Athens, it is situated on a busy street, the noise of the traffic is only dampened once inside the building itself.

Just as an aside, using our student cards has been very useful while in Athens. Most people look at us strangely because they are just our UofL cards, and they do not look anything like the International Student Cards... But most people give it to us anyways. We tell them we are from Canada and they smile and nod, giving us the price of a student. Which is SWEET!

Any ways, we got in and started our 4 hour exploration of the well preserved and presented ancient ruins. At first, Jan put on a brave face. But by hour 2 ish he started to lag a little. When we got to the Roman exhibits near the end he perked up a bit again, but for the most part he would just roll his eyes and sigh as I dragged him to "yet another funeral stela/statue/bust/pottery sherd....etc etc. I, again, just drank it all in. All of the little info panels on the wall didn't compare to the Epplett lectures, but they served as a good refresher course. Most of the time I was pointing and exclaiming something about the Minoans (remember the story about the bull jumping Court? Yeah I saw the, THE wall drawings of the event itself!!!), or the Myceneans, and then the ancient Greeks. I took pictures of what I could. But you know museums...

So, that is how we spent most of the day, me trying not to attract too much attention to myself as I practically drooled over the artifacts, while Jan occasionally mumbled something so that I knew he was alive and still somewhere in the museum - without letting other people know he was with me. 😊

Ok, it wasn't that bad, but by the end of our exploration my feet hurt, and both Jan and I were tired. So we sat on the steps for a while, watching some guy feed the pidgeons, as we made up our minds concerning what to do next. We decided that we should still hit up the plaka and go to the fruit market for lunch. That is exactly what we did. We made our way down the busy, busy streets (always praying as we crossed the street that we would live to see the other side). It was hot, as I mentioned, and it felt even hotter with the masses of people and the booming traffic around us everywhere. But it is the best way to see a city - walking through it, seeing the people, hearing the sounds - and unfortunately smelling the odors too. But hey. We wandered the stalls a bit before ending up at the market. Here, they had the meat, fish, and fruit markets all separated. We walked past both the meat and fish markets before finding the fruits and veggies. But it was fantastic. Stalls and stalls of every kind of fruit - we ended up buying strawberries, nectarenes, and cherries. But you could get nuts, dried fruits, olives, bananas, watermelons, pears, plums - anything. But like any open-air market, things smell being out in the heat all day. So we decided to go eat our purchases somewhere else. We ended up in a square with a fountain, where we ate and watched the pidgeons try to seduce each other (mating season), quite entertaining actually. What? we had nothing else to do! Besides the pidgeons though, we ate these fresh pieces of fruit in the sun with juices dribbling everywhere. Yummy!

By that time, it was time to head back. Going through the throngs of people to get to the metro, on the metro, on the street, we made it back to the hostel - ready for a shower and a heavier meal than fruit. For our last night in Athens we plan to drink our last Amstel (EVERYONE drinks it - but its a Dutch beer...the Greek beer, Mythos - grossest thing ever!) and get a decently early night in as tomorrow is a long travel day, a 9 hour bus ride to Corfu (we wont get there until 7pm tomorrow, so we probably won't write until the next day). We are both excited for some time in the sun!

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Comments

[Jackie]

Horny pidgeons?
After seeing that, I'm sure you feel (like me) that your vacation is complete. Now come home. :p It kind of reminds me of the seagulls at Bondi Beach in Sydney, remember Danielle?