Athens - Day 1

WE MADE IT! We arrived at our hotel a few hours before sunrise, accompanied by our new friend 'Zeus', a street dog that followed us from the bus stop to the front door of our hotel with an empty plastic Coke bottle in his mouth the whole way. He lay by the front door of the hotel until he figured out we were there to stay. He was so cute we were sad to see him go! We still had 7 hours before check-in and we think he was wanting to give us a tour.

We watched the sunrise from the rooftop deck looking up at the Acropolis and Parthenon. Truly unbelieveable, one of those sights that you just think you will never see. We were so fired up we decided we would try to see every sight in Greece in the next few hours! But the receptionist at the hotel allowed us to check into the room early, which meant the first bed we had seen in two days. Steve got his way and a five hour nap!

We headed out for either breakfast, lunch or dinner, we were not sure which one due to the 10 hour time difference. Lunch won out, we had unbelievably good crepes with cheese, chicken and ham. Note: 'Greek' coffee is basically a double espresso that nearly made us scale the Acropolis!

We walked for the next few hours, discovering the Plaka and Anafiotika neighborhoods packed with shops, bars, restaurants and random 2500 year old ruins. Amazing to walk in the footsteps and creations of such an ancient civilization.

One of the first things that we noticed is that there are not many American tourists, and most of the people that are packing the squares and markets seem to be locals. Life is lived in the streets with neighbors, family and friends - eating, drinking, smoking and laughing. We joked that they all must have TIVO since it seemed no one was home watching TV. We think their culture may be a little different than ours (and Steve thinks they just don't understand that the Red Sox season has started and they need him to watch to win!).

It's impossible to describe the smells of fresh food in the air, the passion of conversations among the Greeks, the ringing of the church bells on the hour, the sight of Cypress trees amongst the ruins - you just have to experience it for yourself.

It's 11:30 pm, and we now think it may be dinner time? It seems to be the time everyone else is eating dinner, so what better excuse other than to blend in and become a local. Becky is planning on a nutello crepe at some point tonight, and there will probably be some ouzo in Steve's near future.

Thanks to those that have left comments, it's fun to see and thank you for the well wishes - we'll update as we can - off to dinner!