Luxury in Athens

When I was 18, my brothers and I took a backpacking trip to Zion Canyon in Utah.  After three days on the trail, hardly seeing another human being, we had the brilliant idea of hiking out to our car and spending the night in Las Vegas!  Talk about culture shock!  I pretty much had that same feeling upon arriving in Athens.  Through some connections at Vanguard, we had been working with a travel agent in Athens named Christian.  Now, VESPA has a tiny budget so we were shocked that this guy would even talk to us.  We were even more shocked when he told us that for just a few Euro more a night we could stay in a hotel, not a hostel!  Imagine my even greater surprise when we landed at the airport and saw a man standing next to the baggage clain carosel with a sign that read "Vanguard University"!  We felt like royalty!  Our new friend Christian hooked us up.  He had brought a car to pick up our professor, his assistant Julie was there to help us all get into cabs and to give the drivers directions, they had arranged a bus tour of Athens and a day trip to Corinth, had a list of other tours they could offer us at great discounts, and even got us reservations and a discount at the Hard Rock Cafe!  We still don't know how they could do all this for the little amount of money we are paying them, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!

So, Athens has been pretty nice.  Our hotel, Hotel Philoppos, is located 45 seconds from the Acropolis and Mars Hill.  45 seconds people, like walk two blocks up the street.  Remember, in our last two cities, it took an hour to reach any of the sights!

Our hotel is located 45 seconds from the Acropolis and Mars Hill.

On Tuesday, we had our guided tour of the city.  After the bus drove us around to the ancient Olympic Stadium, Parliment, the President's Palace, etc. we headed to the top of the Acropolis.  Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard and they wouldn't let us take the stroller.  So I headed up with the students and Shelley headed down with Ryan.

Wednesday was a better day.  The sun was out, so while the students were in class, Shelley, Ryan, and I headed back to the Acropolis, without the stroller.  What an amazing place.  On top of the Acropolis stands the Parthenon, the ancient temple of Athena.  It was destroyed in a war a few hundred years ago then looted by British archeologists, but is still quite impressive.  The restoration process still continues today.  They are not simply trying to rebuild the Parthenon, they are trying to collect the shattered stones from the hilltop, identify them, and put them back in their original position!  No wonder they end of the restoration process is no where in sight.  We had a great time.  I looked around, still awestruck that I was standing in yet another place I have taught about; Shelley played with her camera and got some really artistic pictures; and Ryan collected pebbels and through them in puddles! We headed to Monstiraki, a famous flea market, for lunch and some shopping and then home for a nap.

Friday was another exciting day.  It began my first "You take the child while I go explore weekend."  Yep, Shelley and 17 students headed off for the weekend... to Asia!  They plan on spending abou 30 hours on trains this weekend in order to spend about 24 hours in Istanbul, Turkey!  Since this itinerary was far too ambitious for Bubba, we stayed home with the students who are out of travel money.  So after Shelley  headed off, Ryan and I headed out.   We started by watching the changing of the guard at Parliment.  Upon getting out of his stroller, Ryan announced, "I'm a guard," and began doing his best impression of their high-stepping, feet-shuffling march.  I was impressed!  The remainder of the morning was spent exploring the National Garden.  Since I am a zoo snob, I was not impressed by the small collection of goats and chickens, but all was made right when we found a huge playground.  McDonalds was a great idea for lunch afterwhich my tuckered out little dude took almost a 4 hour nap.

Today, we went to the Children's Museum, again quite small by other standards but a fun place to get out of the rain and play.

Athens has been great.  Shelley comes home on Monday and Tuesday - Thursday next week are all sightseeing trips out of the city.  Then we come home!  What a great adventure!