Athens (Αθηνα) Day 1

They wake you up via loudspeaker when you get to port, but we took our time getting up, and left the boat at 7am. There were still people sleeping in the halls (they were the ones with the deck tickets), so it didn't seem like a big deal.

Back out into the smelly air of Piraeus, we headed for the subway, and took it to Monistiraki station. Our hotel was just a few blocks away from the Acropolis, and we were hoping to be able to check in and get a shower. There was a light drizzle as we headed up to our hotel, but the city was dead quite. This was 7:30am on a Saturday, and there was no one around. Unfortunately our room wasn't ready, so we stowed our bags, but grabbed our rain ponchos. As you know, whenever we go on vacation we always forget to bring umbrellas, but somehow we remembered to bring the ponchos. We stashed them in our backpack, and headed up towards the Acropolis.

We made our way through the empty streets, but soon we came upon three Eastern-European looking guys, and they were all drinking beer. I don't want to generalize, but I'd say it's pretty good policy to avoid three guys who are drinking beer on a public street at any hour, but especially at 7am, so we took a slight detour.

And then the sky opened up.

The rain just poured down, so we ran until we found a fashion store that had a slight canopy above their door, and we waited it out. There was barely enough room for the two of us (so you know it is small) and we spent our time watching the guy across the street put chairs away at his outdoor restaurant. The rain let up a bit then, so we continued walking, and the sky opened up again. This time we were on a side street, and the three dudes with beer were on the same block. We found our way to a metal hatchway near a building, with a much wider metal overhang.

Kids, don't stand on metal, and under metal, during a lightening storm.

About 10 minutes later we spotted an old Greek gentleman motioning to us. We left our doorway and found that he was taking shelter on the porch of a small restaurant. There were also 10 large black garbage bags full of fresh bread on the porch. And a cat. And the three of us sat there, watching the rain. He didn't speak a word of English, but we exchanged names, and smiles. During a break in the rain we bid him farewell, and climbed the hill up to the Acropolis.

At the Acropolis the rain picked up again. Lin-Wei said it was time for the ponchos. I mounted a huge protest, on the grounds that the ponchos would make us look like total dorks, but my rebellion was put down, the ponchos were put on, and the guys taking tickets laughed and said we looked like ghosts.

Ghosts.    Boo!

In the museum we got to see many of the treasures and art from the Acropolis. There is a notable absence. In the 1800s the British came in an horked a bunch of artwork and carted it back to London, and it now lives in the British Museum. I actually got to see them when I was in London for work one time. And at the time I wondered why there were pieces of the Parthenon in Britain. The Greeks are also wondering this, and have left space in their museum for the return of their art. The Brits haven't coughed it up yet, though.

Lin-Wei and Mr. Johnson

After we explored the Acropolis site (and saw the rock upon which St. Paul preached to the Greeks) we needed breakfast. Dressed in our rain gear, we found our way to what looked on the outside to be a standard cafe, but was, in fact, an elite country club on the inside. They were happy to seat us, however, but the disdainful glances at our ponchos did not go unnoticed. It was also really damn expensive to eat there.

We explored some more ancient sites like the Ancient Agora and the Roman Agora (the parts of the ancient city that were used for administration and commerce), and then climbed up Philopappos hill. We had a great view of the Acropolis from up there, and we thought it would be neat to come back later for some sunset pictures.

Lin-Wei corrupts the youth

Continuing our walking tour of Athens, our next stop was a pretty happening part of the city where we found an MC Escher exhibit. Escher is one of my favorite artists, so that was a ton of fun, and a welcome surprise. We had drinks there, and Lin-Wei made fun of all the young Greek schoolgirls that were dressed like hoes.

As dusk neared, we finished up our drinks and headed back for Philopappos Hill. But dusk started to hit a little faster than we thought, so once again we had to haul ass. Eventually Lin-Wei tired out, so I had to leave her behind. I was zeroed in on my goal now. I had to make it up this damn hill before it got dark, because I had to have my sunset picture. It might have been the two beers that I had, but my mind was buzzing with the thought of making it up that hill. That was all I could think about.

The wife enjoys the sights

While I was taking my pictures, some young Greek guy looked in my direction, sniffed, and muttered, "Tourista." So I took a picture of him too.

That night we had dinner (outside, of course, and with french fries) in view of a lit-up acropolis. We spent some time in Monastiraki square people watching. There was kind of a sad sight were this very large man was selling helium balloons. He kept giving one to a small boy, and the boy's mother kept giving it back to him. Eventually the father had to come in and put an end to it. The large man also kept yelling at the stray dogs in the square, making a "Huh! Huh!" sound.

Also, we saw this young boy sitting on the roof of a convenience stand, but minutes later he was racing through the square, pursued by a teenage dude who looked like he meant business. The kid was able to lose the teenager in the crowd and hid in a restaurant. I saw him, but the teenager lost him, so I tried not to look in the kid's direction too much and give his position away.

I was totally digging the scene out there that night. Every minutes something crazy was happening, but Lin-Wei was getting nervous. So we turned in. Only one day of vacation left!