Athens1

We got back from the trip last night and it was so incredibly amazing! It is quite late though, so will do more details tomorrow, so enjoy the first pictures. The first couple are from Cyprus and then quickly go into Athens-enjoy!

The first picture is proof of the snow in Cyprus (it attached itself to the waffle pic). The waffles were deliscious! And below is pita with humus with peri peri sauce.

If you are squeemish continue to the next picture because above are bunnies at the grocery store

This is Athens! It was an interesting city. So many people, buildings as far as the eye can see, stretching out for miles. It was weirdly quiet for a city though, not much honking or anything-especially compared to Cyprus streets!

That my friends, is the Acropolis, one of the most impressive and most recognized places in the world. No matter where we were in the city, when the Acropolis was viewable, it's presence was felt.

This is the Agora, a building below the Acropolis among a complex of other buildings

This is still the Agora (so it isn't confused with the Parthenon)

One of the best parts of experiencing a new place are the people one meets along the way. This man was the first of many great occurences and I will cherish and remember our conversations forever. After wandering the streets a bit and the Agora, we stumbled upon this jewelry store with such a typical Greek man. I found a bracelet that was lovely, and so he helped me try on all sorts of bracelets and explained the differences in the pieces. Getting past jewelry, he talked to us for over an hour! About local places to go to, and he drew us detailed maps to great tavernas and pubs (one of which I got the Greek salad from), and all sorts of interesting things. It was such an uplifting, smooth conversation, the sort of thing we hope to find but they are always by chance. The rest of the day I felt blissfully happy. He was everthing I think of in a Greek guy-proud of his craftmanship, welcoming/friendly, passionate about life, a little bit inapropriate in an oddly acceptable way (like he complimented my apperance subtly-which I apprecaited Mark's company for those sort of things), relaxed/at ease, and overall an interesting character. There are many more of these sort of amazing interactions which I will post tomorrow. They are one of life's treasures.

This was the view from my hotel room! It was amazing, I really lucked out with it, much of the hotel faces the streets or is blocked my buildings. Having this view contstantly was incredible, it really is such a captivating structure

This was a market by our hotel, it was amazing and we got so much! There was everything you could imagine or wish for it seemed-nuts, grains, dried and candied fruits, sweets, chocolates, cereal, it was splendid!

This is a true Greek salad! Not necesarily what we would expect (for example there is no lettuce), it was tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, capers, olives, feta, olive oil, and a block of feta cheese

It is hard to see, but at the top of the picture you can make out a mass of white looking buildings, that is an idea of the insanely condensed city of Athens. And it was endlessly entertaining. You would think a city like this would be intimidating, but it wasn't, it was wonderful!

We went to "the" museum to see in Greece, where they had artifacts and statues from the beginning of humankind. These figures are over 4,000 years old and are the first idols of humans

These golden masks were placed over the dead, since the ancient Greeks believed in an afterlife similar to the Egpytians. The one in the middle has a whole line of history, and was supposedly an ancient kings mask that was later worn by a famous war hero-however I do not remember all the stories behind them

Well, this is the first of them, tomorrow I will add some more of the museum and of course the Acropolis and Parthenon