On our last day in Cairo we went to the Egyptian Museum, which was a really fitting conclusion to everything we had seen. We got to see all off the statues and carvings and treasure that had been taken from the actual sites that we had seen, and we saw King Tut's death mask! That was very... golden. That took a few hours and we had to rush through the last exhibits so we wouldn't be late getting to the airport. We rode to the airport in our hotel van, that was driven by the only Christian we had met in Egypt, and did the usual airport stuff. No disasters there. We sat around at the airport for a while and ate panninis from Starbucks, which were surprisingly good. Then I had a frappachino, which was really delicious (as always)!!!!
After lunch we boarded the plane which was a little tiny thing with six seats across. We got served nasty airplane lunch which made us glad we had eaten Starbucks panninis. We did get free soda though, so it was much better than Jetstar. I'm pretty sure that all of the airlines are better than Jetstar. On the plane there was a big group of people that we assume were on a pilgramage or something religious like that because there were a few guys with Jesus hair (big beard, long hair), robes, and weird hats. When we landed they all cheered and clapped really loud. Also, at baggage claim they all picked up their wooden staffs. Really, they checked their wooden sticks!
It was rainy and dreary they day we got here so we were all a bit cold when we got off the plane. The customs and passport control were a breeze, but baggage claim was a bit longer because our stuff all came out last. After we got all of our stuff we headed for the metro. The first thing that we all noticed, was the cleanlyness! Everything, from the air to the streets was so clean compared to Egypt! We even drank water from a drinking fountain! A drinking fountain!!!! We haven't seen one of those since New Zealand!!! Anyway, that was super exciting. The metro was spotless as well, except for the outside. Athens is covered in graffiti and that does not exclde the outsides of the trains. I'm not sure how they did it, but there is paint all over the out side of most of the trains. It's really sad. Anyways, it took a while to figure out the metro, and when we finally got it, we realized that we didn't know where we wanted to go! We have never had that problem before. Usually we know where we want to go but can't get there. We decided to go to Syntagma, which is the big center of the city. The square that the stop is at is right in front of Parliament so all the protests take place there. It turned out that there was a protest that evening, so the stop was closed.
The train dropped us one stop too far, in the middle of a street of happening cafes and clubs. We got some cheap burgers for dinner, and daddy and I went to one of the cafes in search of wifi so we could figure out where we needed to go and how to get there. Since the metro stop that we were trying to get to was closed, the best way to get there was via taxi. So, we hailded two cabs and got driven around in circles a few times before the cabbies could find the place we were looking for. It was really sad, daddy even had a map with an 'X' marking the spot and we drove in circles for about an hour!
When we finally got to the apartment, it was almost 9 pm and we could have slept anywhere! No one was in much of a shape to be choosing apartments, but whatever. It's not like we were going to do all this work and look for a different one! Who knows where we'd end up if we tried to go anywhere. The appartment is slightly subterranean and has the most ridiculous floor plan ever invented. The entry has two doors, one goes to this weird bedroom thing that I think is supposed to be the liveng room, but It is all decked out to be a bedroom, and the other door leads to th kitchen/ dining room. If you go out of the kitchen or the bedroom thingy, you get to a little hallway. Off of the hallway there is another bedroom, and on the ends there are the bathroom and the living room. I'm pretty sure the living room was supposed to be a bedroom when the apartment was planned, though. The guy had a whole list of special needs this appartment has, like you can't put toilet paper down the toilet, and you have to turn the hot water heater on 15 min before you shower and then turn it off while you are showering. I'm just glad we only have to be here for a few days!
THE END OF PART ONE (GETTING THERE)
TO BE CONTINUED
 |
| Boarding our little baby plane to Athens!!! So exciting! |
It was rainy and dreary they day we got here so we were all a bit cold when we got off the plane. The customs and passport control were a breeze, but baggage claim was a bit longer because our stuff all came out last. After we got all of our stuff we headed for the metro. The first thing that we all noticed, was the cleanlyness! Everything, from the air to the streets was so clean compared to Egypt! We even drank water from a drinking fountain! A drinking fountain!!!! We haven't seen one of those since New Zealand!!! Anyway, that was super exciting. The metro was spotless as well, except for the outside. Athens is covered in graffiti and that does not exclde the outsides of the trains. I'm not sure how they did it, but there is paint all over the out side of most of the trains. It's really sad. Anyways, it took a while to figure out the metro, and when we finally got it, we realized that we didn't know where we wanted to go! We have never had that problem before. Usually we know where we want to go but can't get there. We decided to go to Syntagma, which is the big center of the city. The square that the stop is at is right in front of Parliament so all the protests take place there. It turned out that there was a protest that evening, so the stop was closed.
The train dropped us one stop too far, in the middle of a street of happening cafes and clubs. We got some cheap burgers for dinner, and daddy and I went to one of the cafes in search of wifi so we could figure out where we needed to go and how to get there. Since the metro stop that we were trying to get to was closed, the best way to get there was via taxi. So, we hailded two cabs and got driven around in circles a few times before the cabbies could find the place we were looking for. It was really sad, daddy even had a map with an 'X' marking the spot and we drove in circles for about an hour!
When we finally got to the apartment, it was almost 9 pm and we could have slept anywhere! No one was in much of a shape to be choosing apartments, but whatever. It's not like we were going to do all this work and look for a different one! Who knows where we'd end up if we tried to go anywhere. The appartment is slightly subterranean and has the most ridiculous floor plan ever invented. The entry has two doors, one goes to this weird bedroom thing that I think is supposed to be the liveng room, but It is all decked out to be a bedroom, and the other door leads to th kitchen/ dining room. If you go out of the kitchen or the bedroom thingy, you get to a little hallway. Off of the hallway there is another bedroom, and on the ends there are the bathroom and the living room. I'm pretty sure the living room was supposed to be a bedroom when the apartment was planned, though. The guy had a whole list of special needs this appartment has, like you can't put toilet paper down the toilet, and you have to turn the hot water heater on 15 min before you shower and then turn it off while you are showering. I'm just glad we only have to be here for a few days!
THE END OF PART ONE (GETTING THERE)
TO BE CONTINUED
Looking forward to the next installment and news of your travels under Ron's wing. I'd think he was a great tour guide--and you can probably believe what he tells you. Not always the case with tour guides, I've discovered! love, bippy
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