Athens Tour

I have officially seen ALL of Athens. I mean quite literally. OK... Maybe not quite all but it sure felt like it. We had to be on the bus at 8 that morning which was a bit of a struggle having only gotten 4 hours of sleep the night before. I woke up at 2 and couldn't go back to sleep till about 5.

Anyway we picked up our tour guide and the first thing out of the guy's mouth's was... She's HOT! Is she married. Unfortunately for them she was. But they all paid very good attention through out the day. We started out at the Olympic Stadium which was built back in 1896 to host the first modern Olympic Games. It was built on the exact same location as the Ancient Stadium. From there we headed to the Acropolis. Saw the Parthenon and NUMEROUS other temples. I think I'm beginning to understand what they said when we would get VERY sick of temples by the end of the semester. The Parthenon was AMAZING! I've seen pictures and read about it all my life but to see it in person was... words fail me. Which is a rare occasion! Then we went to Mars Hill which was pretty cool. It's amazing to think that we were sitting where Paul and others from the bible sat, walked, and lived.

FINALLY... I think it was about 1 or 2 we got to head out for lunch. As we walked through the bustling streets of Athens for the first time I really felt like I wasn't a tourist, more a part of their culture. There are shops everywhere and vendors with items laid out on sheets. As soon as the police come around they yank up their wares and make a run for it. I felt a little sorry for our waiter because every time he turned around we needed more water. It was incredibly hot, muggy, humid and all around slightly miserable. Usually the breeze helps to keep things cool but there wasn't one of course! Yes mom I wore sunscreen. No sunburn

From there we walked some more to see the Roman Agora, then to see the Ancient Agora, a couple other temples, and finally the Agora Museum. By this time I think we were all about ready to fall over. Not only were our feet hurting but our hands were hurting too because we had to take notes over everything. We have these journals which we call our MoleSkines in which we write notes about everything we go to see-- Justifying the education value of it I guess and then write Journal entries about the place. We were given free time and told to meet back at the Starbucks. I think we all just stayed there. Ryan Anne-- You wouldn't do well over here with your coffee addiction. Mine was about 8 US dollars. But I forked it over anyway because this was an EMERGENCY. We all went to church together. The services are offered in 4 different languages, starting at the beginning of the day. English is the last and almost identical to our services back at home. I may go to a greek one for fun sometime. We ended the evening with lots of laughs and more good memories. It's amazing to watch how close everyone has grown over the past couple days.

Unless something really interesting happens or I post another album of pictures I probably won't write again until I get back from my cruise this weekend. We will be going to Turkey, Cyprus, and a bunch other islands.

Here's the link for the pictures from my Athens Tour yesterday. There are 2 albums. Enjoy
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004314&l=ab0b3&id=1523040053

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004315&l=6460e&id=1523040053

God Bless!

Love, Rebecca