Oscar Inn Hotel Athens

... the lines of "Argh! The magic otters have got me by the Testes! Help me Zeus! Send down your army of cosmic badgers!". I eventually came to the James Joyce and went inside. In contrast to the, numerous, other Irish pubs I'd visited so far on this trip, a majority of the clientele appeared to be foreigners (many of them English). I sat down at the bar and ordered the only Greek beer available- Mythos. I must admit I was developing quite a taste for this particular brand ...

... expect. Winding up the path past facades of arches and ancient theatres, including the still used Theatre of Dionysis, you reach the entrance gate known as the Propylaea. Beyond the gate is the main event, the Parthenon. Besides most of the surviving sculptures being in the British Museum, the Parthenon is an impressive site. Restoration works also meant that they were several cranes poking out of the temple, and scaffolding ...

In Athens now. We left LC's house at 7.30 am this morning. We were chompin' at the bit to get on with the adventure, but I still felt that familiar travel anxiety brewing - specifically within my intestines. This proved to be problematic as we spent the next six hours in transit via ferry and bus - damn bullet. AND I burned my bridges with Jennifer and her wet naps a couple of blogs ago. Uneventful ferry ride, more soaring vistas, blue skies and sea blah, blah, blah. We ...

... neiud lasid end kõik järgemööda vormikandjatega pildistada ja kihistasid sealjuures erutatult. Mingil müstilisel põhjusel oli ameeriklasi Kreekas näha rohkem kui ma olen neid eales muudes kohtades väljaspool USA kohanud. Üldiselt on nende unistuseks Pariis ja Rooma, aga Kreeka kohta pole küll kuulda olnud. Ju siis on see uue aja trend.

Kui ma majutuseks hotelli surfasin, siis jäi mulje, et keskpärase hotelli toad on väga pisikesed. Kohapeal saime sellele ka kinnitust meie ...

... Croatia with our full vocabulary knowledge consisting of 'Bog' and 'Bog' alone (equivilant of ciao), we arrived at the ferry terminal just to find out there are no ferries to Croatia until Wednesday! At first we assumed this must just be another Italian run around; maybe there is a boat from a different port or with another ferry company, we just need to find it. Afterall, a nice fellow italian we met at the grocery ...

... to see the Acropolis. It was amazing, of course, and well worth the walk. It was under construction, unfortunately, so everything is covered with scaffolding, and seeing all of that modern influence on such an influential ancient building was a mixed blessing. It needs to be protected and preserved, but I half expected Xena to come flying out from behind a column at any moment and start fighting tourists while Gabrielle tried to convince the ...

... and dropped into a cafe to wait for the full hour so we could watch the changing of the guards, which was very comical. Then we dropped by the Hilton so they could get changed (and i had my fare share of free drinks :D), before heading out for dinner. For dinner we went to this place where the waiters are all dressed in Togas and stuff, and theres no glass or forks, like in the old days. We had pottery cups and plates and only a knife and spoon. After having tons to eat ...

... where we had lunch earlier and have dinner there. Same waiter (a more distant cousin) was still working. We ordered, still not learning my lesson I go the lamb stew (they had killed it just the other day- fresh- and me trying new things.....) well, I got what seemed half the lamb! I ate some. I ate some beans. I ate some rice, I ate some bread. We had enough left over from my plate for three or four meals. Alekos joked that I had not been there long enough to know ...

... paddling around in the calm of the sea but we both concluded it wasn’t quite hot enough for us to take a dip in the Mediterranean, though perhaps it had as much to do with our inhibitions as to the possible pollution of the water as much as the temperature. In any case it was a very enjoyable day before we returned to Syntagma Square, and closed the weekend debrief with a lament that our time away from Australia wasn’t ...

... of the windows were closed, and the staff was at the back of the booth talking amongst themselves. Then, another couple of tourists arrived and marched right up to the ticket window. One of the staff members then opened his window to sell them a ticket. Right after they departed, the staff member closed his window. We now knew the game that was being played. We marched up to the window. The staff member opened his window and sold us two tickets. We felt a small sense of ...