June 26: Mycenae and Nemea

Took another rough bus ride to Mycenae founded around 2200 to 1900 B.C. and saw the famous lion's gate. This is the first time in antiquity that a lion is seen as a symbol of strength and power, but mountain lions were prevalent in the area. The relief was thin as far as structure held up on top of the main gate by a lentil stone weighing a few tons. The production of the gate and the ashlar geometry of laying the stones when fortifying the walls indicates a fundamental basic in architecture that is still followed today. It's remarkable that the door is 3 pieces of stone with the lentil or the top weighing over 100 tons. Aside from the main gate the Tholos tombs which look like beehives (all of which were looted before archeologists found them) or the shaft graves are a common attraction here. Heinrich Schliemann discovered five of the six shaft graves containing the most precious gift the ancient world had to offer the royalty of the palace: gold. Everything was gold, it was sewn into their clothes, jewelry was made out it, and drinking cups. These ancient people were advanced not only militarily but economically, they were a force to be reckoned with. The sixth shaft grave unfortunately was not discovered by Schliemann, the original excavator of the dig because his crude archeological techniques consisted of trenches dug consecutively. The sixth shaft grave was by far the most lucrative and engaging as far as elaborate headpieces and ornaments that ordained the dead. These tombs which contained many people were one of the greatest archeological finds of the Greek world, think of King Tut, then multiple that by ten. Seeing all the artifacts in the national museum was astonishing. The Myceneans used up gold as if it was paper!! It was everywhere, they made art with it, wore it, and buried it with their dead. Gold and even bronze were the toughest metals in the Bronze age whether they were raw or in a finished product, and neither material is found anywhere near Mycenae. The nearest trading post is with Tiryns, anotherr remarkable city of its time that we did not have time to see. Knowing the extent of value gold has and still has on the the world these ancient people can be expressed as a strong and affluent community if they had enough gold to bury it!! By far they dominated the Peloponnesian peninsula which they inhabited and controlled for the bronze age. They didn't even build walls around their city until 350 B.C in an effort to protect the palace. The palace, now which is in ruins I can imagine was once just as immaculate as the shaft graves (which I forgot to mention, Schliemann states is the tomb of Agamemnon after the battle with Troy). Homer attests to the power of the Mycenaeans by mentioning them as: " Mycenae, rich in gold." When the period of gold ended for the Myceneans they were bullied by fellow Argos and then more fortifications were put up with ashlar and cyclopian corbeling. Cyclopian basically meaning hodge podge as the prof. would say. As Mycenae is on the top of a mountain..and a tall one at that, they had natural fortifications provided with ravines toward the East. The palace is one of the only palaces on mainland Greece besides Nestor's palace at Pylos where a megaron is seen. A megaron is a room where the king or queen in this case ( it is rumored Mycenae only had queens) received visitors, it was a public place with a hearth and skylight and four columns. A reservoir was even built before 1200 B.C. when the Mycenaeans were conquered by the Persians. The reservior was accessed through a cave tunnel which we went down, scary as heck by the way because you can't touch the walls unless you want to be covered with bugs..we got a quarter of the way down and then it was roped off thankfully. I have been adventurous on this trip but caves are pretty much my limit. Anyway the reservoir had triangular corbelling amazing still because it was airtight and required no cement. The Tholos tombs had circular corbelling think of making concentric circles smaller and smaller until all that was needed to cover the circle was one stone. It was all pretty amazing how these structures were built without using anything to hold them together. It sort of puts Stonehenge to shame.

Mycenae was intense; there was so much history there. We could see tourists walk over structures and look at things and have no idea what they are looking at. I felt bad knowing that they would leave the site with perhaps a quarter of the information that we had gathered over half a day. Our next stop was Nemea one of the original sites of the local Olympian games. A temple of Zeus was constructed there as well as oikoi, which served as treasury storage areas, bathing chambers, a stadium surrounded by a small ring of water for drinking, a locker room, starting blocks, a turning post, and long jump weights. The games were held every four years mainly locally until they grew bigger and then Olympia became the official sponsor. Our professor even let us put on a mock Olympic race there! It was so much fun! We all lined up and on the count of three ran a little less than 200 yards. I didn't win, but I came in close second! (video to come soon). We got back on the bus all tired and sweaty and it was probably the best nap I have had on the bus to date. Since was our last night in Nafplion and so we all ate dinner at Ellas taverna then went to the internet café and watched the USA v. Ghana. Even though we lost, it was a good time. As the night was winding down we all sat down on the balcony, had a few drinks, and talked about the game/how we were so not pumped to get up early and go on a 5 hour bus ride. Pylos/Olympia here we come!!

June 25: Epidarus + Lerna

Woke up early this morning in Nafplion for breakfast ready to tackle Epidarus and Lerna. Breakfast was not as good as at the Herodian but it was good. The croissants were about three times there normal size!! No joke, it was like eating a loaf of buttery bread! And what do you know Texas was there!! When we got on the bus ride to go to Epidarus I had already felt car sick; a combination of the night before and the winding roads. The theater of Epidarus is the most well preserved theater in ancient times. The acoustics are simply fabulous!! You could hear from the top seat in the theater someone whispering in the orchestra at the bottom of the theater.

We saw the sanctuary and basically the healing temples associated with the sacred site. There wasn't much left, you really had to use your imagination to understand the layout and what took place there. We ate a simple lunch that we had packed from breakfast, for me it was bread and an apple.

Then we were off to Lerna an archeological site that pre-dated almost every other palace and fortification walls but 1,100 years! Talk about amazing. Most of the town is beneath the olive production that farmers have grown there that the American excavators have given back to the locals to use for agricultural purposes. We then went straight to the pebble beaches off of the coast of Nafplion, they were amazing! There was no sand in sight much less sea life and it was windy but the day could not have been better spent!! We ate at a bistro…I had crab salad and stuffed peppers. Yummmmm.

June 24: Travel to Nafplion

So my worst nightmare happened this morning, we woke up late for our trip to leave and almost missed the bus. We had to leave at 7:45 and Perri and I woke up at 7:55. I got the initial alarm to get up at 6:30 put I tur

ned that off knowing that my alarm clock would go off in about a half hour. Well my alarm clock went off

but for some reason I just didn't want to get up. Like at all, and I guess I was just tired from the night before staying up late packing and sitting on the roof talking to everyone that I just turned my alarm off. Only to be woken up by Bronson knocking on our door at 5 till 8. Well frankly I was pissed off that I had slept in that late and second that Bronson was laughing as Perri and I are walking around with our heads cut off like chickens with sports bras and soffees on. But we made it. We were late and super hungry but all in all we were okay.

Now the bus trip sucked. Our first pit stop was at Eleusis where the Eleusisian mysteries took place. The

harvest goddess Demeter collected many offerings there. One of the reasons the Elusisian Mysteries are a well mystery is because no one knows what took place there. The mysteries were present for 3,000 years and yet not one person leaked. Or if they did it must have been considered a huge ordeal and

quickly put to a stop. Nothing is known about the initian process but that anyone who wanted to be included in the mysteries was accepted on the condition that they spoke minimal Greek. Even children and Roman Emperors were inducted. It seems there was a profession of faith that took here for what else could keep thousands making that hard, arduous pilgrimage to Eleusis?

I get car sick easily…enough said but I pulled through and we arrived at the Corinth Canal 40 minutes later. The canal was so deep!! I definitely didn't expect that. We got kebabs for 1.20 Euro, by far the cheapest lunch I have ordered. I ordered in Greek too! Boro na eho ena kebab parakolo. It was great. Although the guy asked me what part of Greece I was from and I was pretty much lost after that. The ride to Acrocorinth was slightly dizzying, but enjoyable nonetheless. Imagine a mountain…and then having the locals call it a small hill..I thought they were crazy. This was for sure a mountain in the States, but I guess the Ancient Greeks definitely knew how not to be killed: build a fortress on the highest hill in one area, build walls that are feet thick, then a huge sanctuary and town to go along with it. Presto, now you have the old city of Corinth. Now climb this hill in 30 minutes.

Ready, set, go! Well we did it in 30 minutes flat, go team! It was so windy but the view was worth everything. WJ, (McCoy) lectured on the old city of Corinth and its vast occupations that took over the city. As well as the wealth of Corinth and how they established there name through trading and exports. We were then given free time to climb all over the rocks and you can be sure that we did. Bronson and I climbed several cliffs and even the top of the castle walls! The views were righteous!! And so breathtaking. Kodak moments for sure. We visited the Glauke fountain in Corinth were the water supply of Corinth was maintained as well as the bathhouses, shops, and stadium starting blocks for races. We were so tired when we finally arrived at Nafplion that I wanted to take a nap so bad!! But instead we got all situated and decided to take an hour to get ready and eat at the Narapiou taverna. It was a traditional Italian and Greek cuisine and I ordered pasta Arabiata. It felt good t

o be out of Athens and the hussle and bustle and be able to experience the life and culture of a city that was just as vibrant if not more on a smaller scale. Oh in our hotel we found out that McCoy's Colleague is also taking students on a

study abroad trip from Texas tech. They have been in Nafplion for 15 days. We went to an internet café with them which was super sweet. I am in it now writing this/ watching the world cup/putting up pictures. Anddd some of them are really cute!! After dinner we got ready to go out, we thought that we would see if we could find a dance club to go to since Athens was too congested and after walking around for an hour we found a light house type gizmo and sat as a group and talked about well everything, how much we loved this city for three days and how we wished that we could stay longer. Although the hotel was freezing I slept well that night, mush better than at Nafplion.

June 23: Last day in Athens + War Museum

Rode the metro early this morning and visited the war museum and the Newmismatic museum. The war museum had some nice artifacts reflecting the evolution of war and war theory and the uniform evoution as well as some very fine Greek Special Forces officers. Let’s just say I have never been that interested in airplanes and the War at Thermopolye until now. The Newmismatic museum was the old house of the archeologist who discovered the find. The coins all seemed the same after awhile but it was really neat to see how advanced cultures were that long ago.

We ate at an amazing Slouvaki taverna that was amazing, George found it, and as usual it delicious and cheap. That was the day we ate McCoy's fries by accident when they set them on our table..oops. We also got donuts that were huge and only coast 2.50 Euro!!! I got a cornu or a French horn as you would say in the U.S. We walked back and browsed through the flee market eventually separating into smaller groups. I walked back with Perri and went to the hotel room just to take a 3 hour nap on our last day in Athens for 4 weeks. It was a good nap though. Woke up around 6:30 then got ready for a fantastic dinner in PlAKA. I will miss it. What was most dissapointing was that we found this pub crawl on the last night that we wer

e there..but we made a pact that we will have to go there when we get a chance. We stopped by a little wooden toy store and found so many things that we were interested in, jewelry, swords (for the boys), chess sets, and well anything that you could imagine!~ Then I packed up for to leave Athens, we were off to the beautiful coastal city of Napflion. See you soon Athens!!

June 22: Archeology Museum and Greece v. Argentina World Cup game

We used the metro today!! For the first time it was so exciting. I was surprised how built up the metro was, there was no graffiti or destruction to any part of the metro. It is cleaned each day and includes pieces of the old city of Athens that were found when laying the foundation for the metro station. Our stop today on the metro was located at Omnia. The Archeology museum that we went to today was fairly straightforward. Tons of pots, pottery, urns, tombs, frescos, statues, masks, swords, daggers, anything and everything from all over the ancient world of Greece. It however although incredible was tiring after awhile to look at thousands of pieces of pottery and listen to a lecture about the geometric period or the archaic period from which they came. My legs grew so tired after awhile that all I wanted to do was sit down. All the bonze statues were amazing, so immaculate and carved with precision that I don't know how someone could construct something like that. Bronze although said to be the most prevalent is not found anymore from the ancient period as it has all been lost or reused for other materials. The Mycenaean period was the most fascinating to learn about as one of the oldest ancient civilizations. Their text, Linear B seemed super interesting. Of course there were many Kores as well as a superfluous amount of statues and pots, lots of pottery.

When we finished I kinda felt as though my legs were going to give out. We ate lunch at an amazing slouvlaki taverna- Leibathia. It had the juiciest kebabs and their tzatziki was soo good!! Afterwards we stopped at a small bakery and I got a cornu or French horn filled with cream for 2 Euro. Talk about delicious, it was huge too! About the size of my fist. After we had all satisfied our sweet tooth's to perfection we took the metro back by ourselves this time!!!!! We saw a few cute boys next to us on the metro and on the way up the stairs when we stopped at Akropoli there was a boy with a Holy Cross T-shirt on and Diana looks back with an astonished face and says, "Oh my gosh are you from holy Cross?!?" The boy replies, " No unfortunately, sorry to disappoint"..not a huge player of the day but it was funny that this was where the conversation ended. That

was all, no follow up, well I guess Diana had other things on her mind. Lol

I was lame when we got back to the Herodian and cleaned out my suitcase then went up to the roof and wrote all afternoon. It's a nice release from the social norm. Got ready to go out for the soccer game tonight. The world cup is going on here and it is so much fun to watch the games. The unfortunate part is that you have to pay for internet. Saw the game tonight and it was so much fun! Argentina won though, but we had a great time cheering them on nonetheless. We ate at Vitro, our usual spot and were more abnoxious than normal, let's just say that we got the crowd going. By the end of the game we had more bottles of Mythos on our table than the whole restaurant. It was somewhat embarrassing, not as much for me though because I didn't have any but we were proud to have done service to our Greek lifestyle that we have adopted. Yamas!!

June 21: Ssssstoa stoa stoa

Today we went to the Lysykrates monument, there wasn't too much that was special about it, except that it marked the tripods of the games and contests that were won by the Athenians. The one we saw in Plaka , Rachel did her presentation on this monument by the way, was preserved only because the monks used it as a library when the Turks took it over. We then walked through Plaka to the Roman Agora and the Greek Agora. All these ruins tend to blend together after awhile and I am so scared of forgetting everything. But this is such a beautiful place! History is all around you wherever you walk. Pieces of marble that are built into houses and floors came from ancient times and are being reused. The Roman Agora was huge, possibly the size of a football field. Arranged similarly to a forum. The Greek Agora was much more open with all of the temples than the Roman Agora. The Zeus Elietherios which is a temple dedicated to Zeus is here as well as the Temple of the Twelve Gods. The preservation of this civic area was incredible depicting a drainage system and Simon the shoemaker's house. Hephestus' temple is the most preserved temple in all of the ancient world and although you can't go inside of it, the outside looks as if it has only suffered minor erosion. My favorite part of visiting the Agora was taking pictures in the Stoa of Alltus. We all lined up behind a column and peeked our heads out for George our guide to take our picture. After the stoa, we ate lunch at ΣΑΒΒΑΣ ( Sabbas) avin Manisteraki a downtown suburb of Athens. It seems as if it is one of the most congested districts similar to that of Mons or another European district filled all kinds of shops, restaurants, and anything you could ever think of needing. Plenty of entertainment as well as churches and mosques are here. I ate Pita and Tzatziki and was so proud of myself when we ordered in Greek. I said: Boro na eho mea pita ke tatziki parakolo. I think I could literally live off tzatziki sauce this stuff is amazing. The yogurt and cucumber and garlic combination is so delicious, plus it is affordable for the budget I am putting myself on. I want so many things here that it is difficult to find time to look for them! Kerameikos was our next stop, an archeological sight that served as a sanctuary and burial ground for the dead. We however could only stay for 15 minutes; 5 minutes in the museum and 10 outside on the grounds because they closed at 3 pm and we thought that they closed at 5pm. It was sad yet the development although huge couldn't quite be established unless you had an creative imagination. It depicted the sacred gate as well as many public and private tombs. The Eleusian mysteries are said to have originated here and went 13 miles. On the way back we pasted doctors without borders medic trailer. Then tried our luck at bargaining for our desired loot. They have these necklaces for 5 Euro where you can get your name inscribed in Greek or they have clothes that are made of a shimmering cotton made into dresses and shirts. Perri got these beautiful blue earrings for 3 Euro and I tried my hand at scoring scarves for 8 Euro. The cheapest ones that we found were 4 Euro a piece. I came up to the deck when we got back to the hotel, this had become our usual routine and wrote most of this, it's hard to find the time to wrote everything down. Diana has a friend who also goes to UNC as well whose a freshman and studying abroad here with a different program in Greece. She is taking a language immersion program and living in an apartment in Syntagma until August. I don't think I would like that as much as traveling around all of Greece and learning the culture of all of the ancient tribes and civilizations that lived here as well as the rest of the islands. So we had dinner with her in Plaka and we heard her horror story about how she got her ipod stolen on the metro. And what do you know the this was the first time that our whole group wasn't eating together, Brian wasn't here. He had been trying to get us to buy Ouzo for all of us for about a week now and the one time that he isn't here we all randomly decided o try it. I heard it burns when it goes down and tastes like licorice. So when the waiter brought out drinks, naturally I was apprehensive about trying it but thought that I might as well try it while I can. So I chugged it. All of it. It went down smoothly and had a slight sweet taste but it wasn't until afterwards that I felt the after burn. I only had one shot but I was definitely tipsy after that. We went to the roof after dinner and talked for about an hour, usually these talks get become very specific, they are more like debates really. All the while the acropolis is in our mists shining down upon us. What could be better than this?

Quotables of the day:

Alien Boy playing a guitar like object : I love money

McCoy me too

Perri said she wanted to go shopping at the parakalo…( parakalo means please)

Jenn-Indian/Albanian/ Serbain cotton argument. A Greek store keeper told us that all the other stores cotton is like plastic, we had heard this several times already so Jenn asked if the ones that felt like cotton like hers were made by: the Serbians? The Albanians? Indians? Chinese? This woman obviously couldn't take a joke that we were making saying that the shirt she was trying to sell us came from a sweatshop as they can be seen on every street in Athens.

June 20: Adventures in Plaka

Today we only did one thing. We visited the Acropolis museum, one of the biggest museums in all of Greece. It took 8 hours to get through it, but it was beautiful. A representation of the parthenon was in place on the third floor with the original metapedes and trigliphs that once were present on the parthenon. How this buidling was ever constructed astounded me so much. The drums of the columns were stacked on top of each other by making them initially with a bulge on the end so that ropes could be wrapped around them and then lifted into place to form the parthenon. Imagining the manpower it took as well as taking 10 years to build it was amazing. Here every piece of pottery, housing, sculpture, statue, and anything associated with or near the Acropolis could be found here. The amount of time it took to see everything felt like nothing though. I didn't even notice until we took our coffee break on the second floor around noon. I ordered an expresso frappe, a Greek version of a cold iced coffee. As we had gone out the night before to the Thession Station I felt as if I needed an extra boost to help me perk up from the limited sleep that I got. There coffee's here are amazing, so much creamer than anything else. Greece makes Starbucks look like something that you pulled out of a kiosk (convienent store). We toured the top level for about a grand total of 3 hours. It was impressive, probably the most ancient things we had seen to-date. I felt as if I could stare at it all day trying to decipher the story attached to each frieze. There were four friezes, one with the centaurs and the lapiths, another with the amazon women, another concerning the Trojan War, and another with the birthday of Athena. The Parthenon had finally reached it's peak beauty here where it could be reperesented and gazed upon for hours. We finished around 3 and then as we were walking outside we took pictures by these two men dressed in all white. Turns out in the pictures I am in with him that he is pinching my boob. And not just an unnoticeable piece either. So a very cute picture turned ugly and I was quite upset, but it's whatever. We are in Athens after all. We ate lunch at café crescendo and I ordered a ham and cheese pie for 2 Euro. It was delicious, of all the café's this one was one of my favorites with lime green little chairs and an orange overhang. We had the opportunity to see an alien with a bag of parasols run away from a cop right by us. It then turned into a who is faster as they raced back and forth, the cop on the cobblestone and the alien on the sidewalk switching directions to throw the cop off. It was quite funny at the time as the cops really have no intention of arresting them but simply to scare them off. He dropped a few umbrellas as he passed us the fourth time rounding a corner and a few minutes later we saw the cop come back around the corner with his bag of parasols. And what do you know about 5 minutes later the guy walks by!! Right before this though we had taken the few umbrellas that he dropped and a Greek man near our table leaned over to us and started lecturing us about how we stole this man's parasols. He kept saying that this man sold those for food so that he could eat and that we were stealing when we had food and he didn't. This made me really mad first of all because I am not a thief and second of all this man was just being plain ignorant of us. We went to the roof after lunch and I wrote my reports for the Agora on Monday. I wore the same dress that I wore to the Acropolis a paisley dress except not with the cardigan this time. We ate in downtown Plaka on the same street that we ate on arrival day. We ate souvlaki as usual with red and white wine. We were originally attracted to the area because of the live band that was playing and we had lucked out with every other place so far. Although our dinner was not the best; we had a waiter that took forever and it was chilly on the rooftop terrace but the music was enjoyable as well as the view of the Acropolis from our taverna. As we were departing the live band had really picked up and we were trying to decide if we wanted to watch or not, so brian made the decision for us by walking to get a beer and table. Seeing him Perri and I decided to walk up as well as most of the group had already made their way up there. So as we are passing by the band on the stairs I can't get by because the man singing is blocking the stairs. And as he turned around I planned on passing by him quickly in order to not blcok the way of everyone, but he had other ideas. He took my hand and we started dancing!!!! I loved it! It has definitely been one of my most favorite times spent here. As he was singing the song from Grease we were dancing and people started to clap and whistle. It was so fun, to stand there and dance with him. It was probably the most spontaneous thing that I have ever done. Most of the group ordered drinks and Perri and I split baklava, a pastry dessert covered in honey and nuts. Talk about delicious, it was so moist and sweet. It would have been perfect with ice cream. Then Brian met some Greeks , they were adorable to say the least. Sokrates and Mikel were there names and Brian told them as he told everyone that we were from Canada. It was so hilarious, he went on to tell a story about how he didn't learn French like most Canadians because he moved around to Toronto, and they bought it. I didn't figure it out until then that he had also been telling people that we were from Spain, South America, and Canada..What's next?

June 19: Spera Thio…Day Two (Real World Athens)

Taylor mentioned yesterday that our trip is like the real world, we are the real world Athens style. Immediately everyone agreed. So far all of the drama and conversations have been omitted from this, but if you knew all of the shocking truths uncovered here in Athens the real world would seem like nothing compared to us. From Perri and Bronson's drama relationship our trip has been crazy. Two days have gone by and I think I have endured more drama than one year in high school. Woke up late, and was ready to climb the mysterious Hill of muses. Breakfast was amazing as usual, the Herodian definitely is star treatment on Greece. The fruit is always fresh and the bread is amazing!! Our trip started out with a simple Greek lesson on numbers and how to ask prices for things we may want. Turns out though that we stick out like a sore thumb and all the shopkeepers and restaurant owners speak perfect English….way to help me reach me goal of being fluent in 6 weeks. We walked to the Aerogapus a limestone hill that was used by many as a meeting place similar to the pit at UNC Chapel Hill. Sitting on the hill you could hear everything, from social thinkers and literary minds discuss a wide range of topics. The body politic was made up an an oligarchy which represented the first form of government in Athens. The first government was a conservative, elite oligarchy where the rock of the Aeropagus represented the constitution of Athens. St. Paul even frequented that rock in the first century A.D. to spread the new testament and convert Greeks to Christians. Professor McCoy told us a story about how the Christians and the Greeks went through a rift that has forever divided the two religions which are now Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox. In 1204 the time of the 4th cruscade with the Vencians trying to liberate the holy lands from the Arabs and diverted to constantinople and expected an apology because the Catholic Church or more likely the Roman pontiff caused the 4th cruscade that destroyed Greece. Many demanded an apology that didn't come until thousands of years later when Pope John Paul II apologized for what happened. The pope's social status is parallel to that of a modern day president and his arrival in Greece to visit the Aeropagus was not addressed formally. So when he apologized for the 4th cruscade it was a shocking story.Now thankfully communication between the two religions is more open than it was before. Looking over the Aerogapus out towards the city of Athens was beautiful. We all decided that on our last few days in Athens we will revisit the Areogapus and reminisce about our great adventures. The view was spectacular, behind us one could see the Acropolis and to our left we could see the Pynx, otherwise known as 'crammed' where many citizens packed into a hill about 60 meters wide and listened to legislators. The Pynx was where a form of Athenian democracy took place. People could cram 30,000 at a time, all male that is, and hear speakers speak about legislation. Voting occurred here and this is where the assembly met. You can see anything from these hills it amazing. The highest point is always the Parthenon though, no matter where you are. The far hill on your left was the Lykadettos where the monastery of St. Geroge remains. Directly across from the rocky ledge where we were sitting we could gaze upon the Aeropagus where we were merely hours before. And to our right was the infamous Acropolis. These outdoor adventures were so fun, the hiking was a great way to see how Greek life and culture progressed through the ages. From the Pynx, we walked…more like hiked to the Philopapus hill where you can see most of the harbors in Greece. A jettison of land stuck out, like an isthmus overlooking Pireaus, or the coastal harbor most famous for olive oil and pottery as their exports. For miles the city stretched and the buildings appeared in beautiful colors a designs. From the ancient city that we had been trekking around that stretched 1 square mile overlooking Pireaus from the Philopapus hill was astonishing. The buildings were all laid in a geometric floor plan unlike that of the old city of Athens. We took so many pictures and when we would stand out at the tip of the rock it felt as if we were about to fall over. My hat almost blew away once ahh that would have been so scary to think about. We breaked for lunch afterwards at a small gyro place, eating for 2 E at a restaurant near our hotel. Our Greek speaking was shameful at this point. And the man waiting on us wasn't the best, he wouldn't let Diana order plan pita bread, said it was imposssible.I don't know how it's impossible to put bread on a plate and hand it to someone. After we ate we ventured to the most sought after sight in Greece, the Athenian Acropolis. For the longest time I thought it was the Parthenon, turns out I was right. The entire hill contains more than simply the temple to Athena known as the Parthenon. It also contains the Erechthion, the temple of the maidiens complete with Karyadides or human figures carved into marble to serve as column pieces. We also saw the Nike temple although it was mostly covered with scaffolding. The piedmont was incredible although it was mostly either destroyed by the Persians or any of the many occupations that the temple underwent or eroded away. The metapedes are fixed sets of blocks beneath the 3D piedmont that depicts scenes of the temple. Even more amazing were the trigliphs which reside in the second row of ionic columns at the very top. They were built in a way 50 feet in the air so as Athena could see them. They were not for human eyes. We were here for what felt like forever. These moments seem to pass by so quickly yet I crave them even more so. You can imagine that after all this sun we would be exhausted. So we all went on the roof and researched for our presentations that we would have to give. I actually just worked on writing all of this the whole time. I want to remember all of this and be able to look back at what I did. But I also want to enjoy my time here, it is a beautiful city. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. We then got ready for dinner and we went to a taberna about 2 blocks from our hotel on the outskirts of Plaka. Let me say this, I believe we were nice to the waiter at the time and he had no excuse to make us feel as if we were ignorant. He overcharged us by 15 dollars I believe. But because we couldn't read Greek which is what he hand wrote our receipt in or argue our claim we ended up paying 85 Euro to this guy for Moussaka, which I do not like. It is a combination of lasagna with a Mediterranean twist, think eggplant and weird beef. Sounds yummy right? Plus he said that tips are not included which is not true in Europe that man made me angry. To lighten our mood we went to the olive garden on the roof of our hotel which become our common hang out spot by now. We played never- have-I-ever and I figured out that Jenn and I are probably the most naiive people in our group, but that's okay we don't mind. Brian of course lost as usual. So we meandered to Thession Station around 12:30 and this place was amazing! It was all lite up with the most beautiful lights and elaborate couches. It reminded me of something you would read out of a book. We sat on feather couches and drank daquiris for two hours. We talked about everything and anything, in one of the most relaxing environments possible. The it was equivalent to an outdoor night bar, but sooo much cooler. We explored the Thession Station. And turns out it is a famous Greek makeout spot, who knew they liked to kiss each other in public all the time. Afterwards the morning was here and it was time to go to bed for about 3 hours until breakfast. Well this may sound like a rough schedule but according to Brian, "dude were in Athens!"…also might I mention he is expecting us to throw up at least once on this trip. Happening? Uhhh I think not but you go Brian!