Hotel Hellas Athens

... s easy. No cycle lanes you’re directly a part of traffic. But bikes are more maneuverable, and when traffic’s jammed you might not be.

A taxi pushed through his red light and blocked the flow of traffic in the other direction since he was left in the middle of the intersection. Everyone was weaving around the obstical one way or another. When I tried to get past his front end, by pannier bags fot stuck in the space ...

... guard.
The Greek guys are wearing tights with pom poms on their shoes, stick
their feet straight out in front of them for long periods of time,
and scuff the ground like a bull preparing to charge. Not your
typical US Marine Corps demonstration.

Parliament is right next to a metro
station, so we used that to hop over to Lykbetus hill, the highest
point in the city. We got some cool photos of the awesome view and
thought about eating ...

... of the best preserved statues and are now in England at a museum. And the Greeks sure make mention of that fact in the video and on a few other explanations around the museum. Long story short, they built the museum because the Brits excuse was that they couldn't give the statues back because they didn't have a proper place to put them in Athens. Now the the Greeks do and the fight will begin now for the statues!

Tomorrow I head to climb Mt Olympus.

... disappointed here! from the traditional "baklava" to the more exotic your sweet tooth will be satisfied.

After several hours and several Euros spent (to include a new carry on bag just for our new buys) we headed home. I was tired and ready to lounge for a bit. Tomorrow we have to settle some legal schmeagle stuff for me (I am a dual citizen) so not too much to report on. I will be positing a "what I learned on my trip" for future reference (and ...

... functioning monasteries. The other fifteen are uninhabited and in ruins. Meteora is a wonderful reflection of the religion of Orthodox East's history and the spiritual oasis of ascetic monks since the 11th century. It is a rock forest which rises from the Plains of Thessaly near Kalambaka. One writer, as he viewed the solitary pinnacles sitting in isolation among the mists was prompted to exclaim, "The thousand and more sheer soaring rocks with ...

... the rear door, the well, and an underground tunnel basically made of stairs. Yup, we totally went down it. There wasn't a sign. Perhaps the fact that there was no lighting and we used torches was probably suppose to be a deterrent but it was awesome. I was totally underneath the city! The tomb is further away from the city, at a small site of its own. It's a vast cavernous room made of blocks that's empty but very impressive. It's huge and has a smaller room with a duplicate doorway ...

... long day but D'Arcy had some beer and felt like going out. I stayed in and enjoyed the chocolate orange mom had given me in Prague. D'Arcy went to one of the bars on the beach and met an Austrian guy that he hit it off with. He was out until about 1am. When he came back I was in such a deep sleep he couldn't get me up to open the dorr. Finally I heard and let him in and we got a good night's sleep, it was about 3:00am, so we'd been in Greece for 24 hours exactly.

... in a 1960's way, with gorgeous dark wood paneling throughout, large lounges with comfortable seating and great views out the windows. The air conditioning works too well in these lounges. Because of that, I ended up wearing a hooded sweatshirt - with hood up! - during many of the orientation sessions held in the lounge that will become the Student Center. Much of ...

... proved to be an interesting stop for the family though captivating Annabelle especially as she had only just finished reading 'Helen of Troy'. This area is the legendary home of Agamemnon, the most powerful King of Mycenae during the Trojan War. He was Helen's brother in Law and the one who helped to return her to Sparta after a 10 year battle. The history associated with the area made this a fascinating and rather special stop ...

... away that was renovated just a few weeks before. They told us we were lucky, but did not believe them until we walked in. This place was brand new. Each unit had a kitchen, living room, two balconies, its own bath and bedroom with six beds. We figured we could really cook something good w/a kitchen of our own so we headed out on a considerable hike to the store. Along the way we stopped off and invited our new friend Sarah to dinner. It took a while to reach the store ...