Walking Tour of Athens

(yeah I know I look really excited, and kinda scary)

So the second day in Athens started a little later than the first. We got up around 9am, and were gone about an hour later. Monica left us, her friends from Oxford had arrived, and they went down to the port to see about going to an island or two. We had plans to go to an island, but we didn't know that it was better to just go down to the port and buy them there, so we planned to stay in Athens the whole time. It was a pretty good plan in the end, we got more time in Athens, and got a surprise the next day, but I will come to that.

The second day in Athens, we did another walking tour of the city. We first went to the National Archaeological Museum, a museum that Nguyen suggested we go to, and it was also on my list of things to do. We got in free again (woohoo)!! Danielle did not go in, she said she didn't have money for it, she was having a lot of problems with her bank.

The museum was really good, each piece was a masterpiece basically. I took a few pictures, one of the head of Zeus, one of either Poseidon or Zeus (no one is sure who it is), a boy on a horse, a statue with Pan, Aprhrodite and Eros, a cool vase, and of course some cool Emperors! Is it bad that I can see a bust of Marcus Aurelius from across the room??? Yeah well. There was a cool one of Augustus, and one that might have been Julius Caesar, or a priest... they aren't sure which one. A priest or a Roman emperor... ummmm. Good museum though. The best part was outside though, it was a statue of ODYSSEUS! I've never seen a statue of him, and I was really excited. Maybe a little too excited. Oh well, it's okay.

After the museum, we headed back to the Acropolis area, and did a little tour of the ruins. We hit Hadrian's Library, the Roman Agora, Temple of Zeus, the Stadium, Hadrian's Arch, and the Theatre of Dionysos. Hadrian had a lot to do in Athens, I never do that. Well all of this started after lunch of course. We ate in our square, which is right near Hadrian's Library.

Hadrian's Library, it was an actual library, but a temple was added on later, when it was partly destroyed by barbarians. What remains of Hadrian's Library is pretty impressive, a lot of it still remains. I stared at that for awhile, until moving on to the parts that was made into a temple. It felt so cool to walk among the ruins in a place that Hadrian built.

I have to interrupt.... I just found out that Noel Fielding from the Mighty Boosh was at the Spiderman 3 Premiere last night... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Okay I'm fine now. I missed him because I was clapping coconuts together. BIG SIGH. Okay back to Athens

To Hadrian, I walked around the library a few times just enjoying the peace, and the ruins. It was just so nice. Ah to see these places in all its glory would have been amazing.

Next to the Roman Agora. This place took away my breath. Somehow Julius Caesar and Augustus funded the Roman Agora, but especially the big gate that some of it still exists. Not sure how both of them did, but whatever. That place had a very calm and peaceful feeling to it. Which of course is weird because I'm sure when it was newly built, and for hundreds of years it was like Camden Town. Kathleen liked this place, it had public latrines. I could see this place resembling the market in HBO Rome too. I sat on the steps, just staring at the ruins, and then by myself walked the ruins. It was a completely amazing experience. The Roman Agora has also the Tower of the Winds, which is cool, and might have been there before the Forum. We stayed there for a while, I though wished we never left. It's quiet, even though right in the area is a busy square, and it's a big tourist attraction. It was cool.

We went to Hadrian's Arch next... not sure why he needed an arch, but he has one. It's not bad, and right next to the Temple of Zeus. To get there though we went through the little streets under the Acropolis, and that was cool. Each house had a balcony, and laundry went between houses, flower pots were on the balconies... it was a very pretty picture.

The Temple of Zeus was um well it lives up to its name. The columns are HUGE! We took pictures next to them, and yeah we look smaller than hobbits. I took some pictures with the Parthenon behind the Temple of Zeus, and from the other direction our hill. We saw about 5 dogs laying in the grass around the Temple. Cute little puppies. Two of them were chasing each other. It was so funny, one of the columns had fallen, so Kathleen named it Wayne. Kathleen asked me where the marble came from, and umm good question. She also asked that when we were on top of the Acropolis...

After the Temple, we walked up to the Old Stadium. The Greeks were really talented, they put in an all weathered track. Amazing, good job Greeks. It's amazing that in this huge, busy city there are all these ruins, and they are SO old! We sat at the Stadium for a long time. I think for when they hosted the Olympics, they rebuilt some of the old Stadium. The seats look good, so maybe they redid those.

Our last stop was the Theatre of Dionysos. We kind of stumbled upon it, but that was fun. It's not used anymore, but we sat in what remains of the seats, and I just sat and thought of all the plays that must have taken place there. Imagine who sat in the seats, or watched the plays. Or wait, who put on the plays. I've read a good number of these plays, and to think that they were put on in this theatre... Mind blowing.

And that was Day 2. When we finished our tour of Athens, we went back to the hostel, hung out, and went back out for dinner. Dinner in Athens can last for hours, and we sat there and just talked for awhile, before going back to the hostel and going to bed.