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| The colossal pillars of the Zues's temple in Athens. |
When we had seen all that we could in Greece, we went back to Athens to get on a plane to Rome. My mom always chooses the hotels that we stay at. In our second stay at Athens, it was no different. My dad and I always give her a hard time about all the places she chooses. But we had a right to for this one. The actual hotel was nice, but the location that it was in was pretty sketchy. The walk way was really dirty and smelled like pee. All the locals, even the people that live on the street traveled in groups, even the cops. Talking about the cops, they were everywhere!!!! To get to the Air port on time, we had to wake up at 5 in the morning. I saw a lot of stuff that I have ever seen before. There were people sleeping on the streets and taking heroin with a needle. There was some stoned guy that was trying to pick a fight with a person that was eating at a restrant. My dad made my sisters walk in between, us so we could guard them, because of how scary it was. I was really happy to get to the subway station. When we finally got into the station and hopped on our metro, I was so relieved. I couldn’t wait to get out of the sketchy neighborhood, but I would miss the rest of Greece.
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| A collapsed dome in one of the ruins that we went to see in Mystras. |
We had to get up really early to go to the airport. I thought that it would be really easy after the arrival at the air port, but I was wrong. When we got to our terminal, my mom got really mad. We found Aegean Air, the airline that we were flying. But we had to go to 3 different check in counters before they took our bag. So after that, I didn’t go near my mom, because she was really mad because we should only had to go to one counter instead of 3. When we were on the plane, we got served breakfast. It didn’t taste very good even by airplane standards. I know that I might sound a little bratty but it was true. My dad didn’t even eat it, and he eats everything. When we landed, the Italians had the weirdest security. They had lots of guys with guns. There was also security dogs. I could tell that the dogs weren’t well trained. They were jumping around and barking. There were 3 of them and the 2 boys were trying to hook up with the girl dog. I thought that they were really cute. If I had to work at the airport, that would be my job, because I would be able to play with a dog all day and get paid for it. But I was really happy to finally get out of the airport and breathe some fresh air and be in Rome.
Hi Zander--You guys are posting so much that I had to take a short vacation. Not from reading them--we always love to read. But from commenting. But now I'm back to work.
ReplyDeleteFirst off--thanks for all the posting from Greece. I love Greece and it sounds like you have had a whirlwind tour of the important places, complete with a good introductory lecture by Ron--who is probably about as good an introductory lecturer as you could get. And from Greece on it will only get better and better. As Mia notes, you are now in the land of gelato--which is the land next to Nirvana. And I hear tell that there are a few really cool churches [one expecially enormous one!!] and some remarkable sculpture [especially, see Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's!!]
I especially liked all you had to say about Poseidon's temple--and how much you liekd the peacefulness of your visit there.. I agree, it is frustrating to go to the main sites and find them over-run with other people. It changes the whole experience, making it very hard to imagine how it must have been long ago. There is too much of the "present" right there and in your face. You had the same problem in Egypt with the constant hassle from touts.
One of the reasons that I liked Burma so much was that it hasn't been "discovered" yet--so we could see and do things without other people and without anyone pushing on us to buy or give. Although with more tourism, I'm sure the pushing is right around the corner--even in Burma. Thus far, there's been so little tourism, no one's thought to push or beg, etc.
Have a wonderful time in Italy-- it should be a "soft landing" after the places you've been recently. And have a gelato for me.
love, love, bippy