Seaside Village Rooms Aegina

The average tourist cannot help but have high expectations for Athens.  It has been continuously inhabited for over 4,500 years, hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, birthplace of democracy as well as many great philosophers and thinkers, etc.  As soon as we docked, however, we were struck with the overwhelming amounts of people, the thousands of shops and crowded streets, and the general busyness around us.  Athens in the 21st century was one big city. We arrived ...

... in front of us, then we walked through a huge garden of fired and painted ceramics and the students picked out gifts to take home. The ferry returned us to Athens, and the students dispersed to primp for Blink Blink's birthday party. I haven't heard yet how the party went or whether Fingers was feeling well enough to go. Fingers was so sick on the day trip to Aegina that Lithe sent her back home on the very next ferry, and ...

... and I asked her about her two daughters and one son, and her little grandson. We walked through the National Gardens to the Zappeion, a beautiful mansion given to the people of Athens by the wealthy Zappeios brothers and now open only for special occasions. But there is a little café right beside the building, and we stopped there. I had chocolate milk and a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and she had a Nescafe, which is one of Greece's favorite coffee drinks. Armed with my Greek ...

... marched through this afternoon (and there's another longer one planned for tomorrow. They're trying to keep the students so busy they can't feel homesick). And now I have intestinal bleeding. Pray it's just a temporary traveler's belly. [collapses to the floor, plants white flag in navel]

... Then we left brunch to go check out the island...we went to Megalochori, a small traditional village, and then tried to go to the monastery, but somehow ended up at some military base...we can't figure out how that happened...oh well...the ride was fun and the scenery was gorgeous...then we returned the ATV and cabbed it to Oia, at the northern tip of the island to watch the fabulous sunset...two things about the sunset...there were thousands of tourists ...

... to the boarder, I got us to about one hour before the boarder by train where I caught us a bus to the boarder station where the only train going to Istanbul, Turkey was at 3:30. The bus got us there at 3:25, at a station in the middle of no where, we were the only people at the remote train station, besides boarder control police, one conductor and a single car train - I guess they don't get too many travelers catching this train. We hopped on and off we were to Istanbul!

... out. at night bought some drinks at the deli shop which was a lot cheaper and had a few drinks while playing cards (rummy) once dave worked out how to play he beat me a few times. also went to a rockin roll bar but did no rockin rolling. had a few drinks (cocktails and so forth)and meet a couple that we meet at the airport who also lost their luggage ...

... turistien kiusaksi tai sitten antiikin kreikkalaisilla oli jotkin imukupit kenganpohjissaan, silla ne portaat olivat todella liukkaita! Yksi lipsahdus ja saat kunnian taittaa niskasi merkittavan antiikinaikaisen maanmerkin maaperaan :D Eraalle tietylle ihmiselle tiedoksi, taalla tosiaan satoi tanaan, kuten toivoit, senkin pahalainen. ;P mutta vain 5 min. lallaaa ;) ja auringonpaiste jatkuu! (toivotaan) Saimme visioida tanaan taasen ...

... it off the list. There is the big museum and stuff. But i was exhausted, ended up going back to the temple of zeus or something and waiting for the sunset on the posctards that never happened. Had dinner with an american girl i met while waiting for the sunset, and then stayed up talking to a swiss girl.The Swiss girl Sena didnt get the humour of her name being prounced xena in greece. I spent the next day walking around the empty streets of ...

... I slowly wandered up and down unevenly paved streets looking at the similarities and yet differences in the, what look like to me, very old houses. I was particularly impressed with the different types of doors which, I think, my photos will show. Cats and cats and cats! Long skinny lanky Greek cats. And very hot. Getting into your bones hot! Whew! Not much shade to sit about in, I must say. Back on the boat I was able to have a bit of a snooze. I'd say just about everyone on ...