First Day in Athens

     Today started with an early morning visit to the Hellenic Education and Research Center where we saw many rare and ancient artifacts. Our tour guide Nike (pronounced Nicky) showed us all of the important pieces that she felt best described Greece during the introduction of the Olympic Games. The statues were magnificent, the jewelry was elegant, and the weaponry was magnificent. I was moved and inspired by the history that I was being emerged in. To think about the evolution of the olympics from 776 B.C to present times is truly amazing. They've gone from a 100 meter dirt race to a worldwide sporting event. I feel so lucky and blessed to have been given the opportunity to see everything I have seen.

     After that visit we set out on our return journey to Athens. We hoped that this four hour bus ride would have less struggles than our first one and luckily we came out unscathed. As we pulled into Athens I'll admit that it was a tad underwhelming. The buildings were rundown and there was graffiti almost everywhere. But P Ry informed us that the street we drive down is the dirtiest in the city and that everything else we'd be seeing would be gorgeous. We arrived at our hotel and thanked the heavens that our rooms had air-conditioning. After unpacking and settling in, we held a group meeting for about 20 minutes to get the lay of the land and figure out our plan for the rest of the day. We decided to meet up again at 4 to walk around and see a few sights. Our first stop was the Marble Stadium. Professor gave us a brief history lesson about it, explaining to us how it had been built in ancient times for sporting events but then most of the rock was taken away to be used for building houses. Then it was rebuilt in the 20th century and finished in 2004. Parliament was also really exciting to see as we made comparisons between it and our own Capitol Building. Once we were sufficed with our first day walk around Athens we set back down to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

     Dinner was quite possibly the best meal that I've had this entire trip. We met up with P Ry's associate Dikaia who works closely with the IOC in her studies of both modern and ancient Olympics. She joined us for our meal and we all had a great time. We ordered more appetizers than I care to remember and everything was so delicious.  Once it came time for the main course Kyle and I decided to take on the Mixed Grill. It is a combination of chicken, lamb, hamburger, and sausage along with french fries and pita bread. The plate is meant to feed up to five people and I'm proud to say the two of us polished it off. Desert wasn't far behind and after that we walked our new friend back to her car.

     Athens was amazing so far and we hadn't even seen everything that the city had to offer us. I'm glad to call this the last leg of our trip around Europe.

 Golden Coin from Olympia

Nike: Goddess of Victory

 Marble Stadium

P Ry Action Shot