Life in Greece: Day 3

---

April 14, 2009
Alex came today! We also got to wear our sundresses!
We took our time waking up this morning because we had to check out at 11 to get into our 4 bedroom dorm because Alex was coming today. We packed everything up, brought it downstairs to the luggage room, went back upstairs to check out and then were told that we could check in to our new room right away. SO, back downstairs we went and then back up to the first floor to put our luggage in our room. We went to the same bakery again to get our breakfast…I spent 1.50 again on something that happened to be soaked in a syrupy sugar. They always look so good, but are SOO heavy! It was a chocolate filled croissant that seemed to have been soaked in maple syrup. I couldn’t finish it!
We went to the same coffee place we went to yesterday where the guy gave us free samples. The lady there was so nice and helpful even though we didn’t speak Greek. At this point, we all had our bathing suites and sundresses on because the weather was decent. We all wore zip up hoodies so we would get out of our sketchy neighborhood alive, so that was nice.
After we got coffee, we headed to Syntagma square, where we were hopefully going to meet Alex when the airport shuttle dropped her off. Her phone didn’t have credit and it wasn’t on, so we had no way of contacting her. Yes, we should have thought about it early, but of course, we didn’t. Oh well.
OF COURSE, it started to rain, so we thought we could get some beach time in before she came. We spent 1 euro on the tram and headed on down to the beach. RIGHT when we were pretty much there, Alex called from the hostel. We were SO sure that she would get lost on the way, but she found it! That’s Alex! After finally figuring it out, (It took a couple of tries), we decided to meet her in Syntagma square instead of her having to come meet us at the rainy beach. We met her at McDonalds and that is where we had lunch.
It was SOOO good to see her! The stories of our travels started to fly back and forth, that is when Geneva didn’t’ feel she had to dominate the conversation. After lunch, we ended up wandering around the good part of the city before we headed back to “sketch town.” We ended up in the National Gardens, which were just beautiful! They had caged animals in the middle; donkeys, ducks, chickens and peacocks, and apparently that is what they call a zoo here. The gardens were nice because they were not crowded and it was very outdoorsy, which made me feel a lot less stressed about city living.
As we wandered around, we came upon guards that were guarding a house. Apparently, a soldier that wasn’t on duty and who could talk to us told us that that was the Presidents house that they were guarding. SWEET. It is AMAZING what you find when you wander! The guards were not allowed to really move and they were in full uniform dress. There were a couple of other guards/security officers that could talk to the guards and touch them, but no one else could. We all got pictures next to the guards too. The ones that could talk to us were very helpful. One of them made a comment to the guard who couldn’t talk and he smiled, even though he probably wasn’t supposed too😊 When the guard wanted to talk, I think he had to tap his gun and then he could only talk in a whisper to his superior officer, or the guard that we were talking too. We kept walking down this street and found another guard. We wanted to find the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, so instead of looking at a map, we asked the nice guard. He told us where to find it, but then said wait 5 minutes. We’re like ok….We waited and that is when the changing of the guard took place. It was pretty cool to see. The guards step really high and it is pretty cool. The guard that we took pictures with and that the other guard got to smile was a handsome fellow and he was being switched out. Not meaning too, but we did, we ended up going in the same direction as the guards that were changing. They were still on duty and marching down the street. They walked into their barracks or behind a gate. The whole time, there were other soldiers who were not on duty who kept looking in our direction and smiling. As the guards entered the building, one of the soldiers that could talk to us, came running out saying “Stay here! He’ll be out in 10 minutes!” We laughed, because the guard that was changing was the one who probably said that. We didn’t’ stick around, even though it would have been cool to talk to a Greek Soldier…😊
We headed around the corner and saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and how they changed as well. Also pretty nifty. We wandered some more, looking for a coffee shop to chill and have something to drink. All of us found a table outside and had Cappuccino Freddo, which is a must in Greece. VERY GOOD.Then we walked back down towards the Acropolis so Alex could get some pictures, because she wouldn’t be here for much longer because she and Geneva were leaving in the morning to head to the Islands. I also wanted to get a couple more sourish type things and ended up spending 90 cents on postcards. Sarah and I decided that we were probably going to head down there tomorrow and take our time going through everything, because we were somewhat rushed the first day. I can get more stuff then if I want too.
Both of us went online last night and checked our bags, which cost 11 Euro through Easy Jet and 7.99 through Flybe. Now we can pack more stuff and not have a problem😊GREAT! Hopefully the airline won’t loose our luggage…fingers crossed!
Alex wanted to get more pictures of the Acropolis, so we sneakily got in…Alex didn’t bring her ID, so Geneva gave her one of hers and we maneuvered in carefully…of course, we are amazing, so no problems. We took pictures and then got back out to get dinner. Their was a restaurant we saw earlier that had 2 euro Gyro, so we went back there. I had that and then for desert I had a Mochachino, which cost more than my meal.
After dinner we wanted to catch the metro back because it was already dark. Before that we got some pictures of the Acropolis at night. AMAZING!
We got back to the hostel, and now are checking email and uploading pictures. I HAPPILY, for the second time on this trip, filled a 2 GIG memory card😊 YAY!!!
Alex and Geneva leave tomorrow, so Sarah and I are going to sleep to whenever and then wander around Athens, you know, no big deal😊 We go back to Aberdeen in a couple of days!!!

---