Athens, Greece Day 2

Arrived in Athens after another lovely ferry ride. Checked into my hostel and stored my luggage and then headed out to see the city. I had a long list of things I wanted to see. First, I headed to the Acropolis. On my way up I realized that I didn't have any Euro left and needed to exchange some leftover money from Hungary and Romania to get some. So I walked over and asked someone who worked there how much the entrance fee was and guess what?!! I just happened to be there on the first Sunday of the month when everything is free admission!!! I can't believe it worked out so perfectly. I had no idea when I planned my trip that this was the case and I just happened to be there on the one day in the whole month that is free. Woohoo! The Acropolis was super cool and so was the Parthenon. Although of course it was under reconstruction so I couldn't see the whole thing. But all the buildings up there were really cool. And it gave a really cool view of the city and some of the other sights that I was going to be visiting that day. After walking around the Acropolis for awhile I went and sat on a hill right next to the Acropolis. It just happens to be the hill where the apostle Paul gave a sermon! Isn't that cool?! I walked around in the exact spot where the apostle Paul walked 2000 years ago. Amazing! It also had a great view of the Acropolis. After that I walked over the the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which was HUGE and amazing! How in the world did they even build those things? There was one pillar that had toppled over and you could see that the pillar was made in sections that were piled on top of each other. But I still don't know how they would do that without all the heavy machinery we have today. After Zeus I went to the stadium where the first Olympics ever were held. It has been completely restored, so it doesn't look very old. But it was still cool to stand in the place where the first Olympics happened. After seeing the stadium I went to the Ancient Agora and saw all kinds of ruins and one beautiful building that is completely in tact. It was pretty cool just to walk around the place that housed an ancient civilization. After strolling around the Agora for awhile I headed to the National Archaeological Museum, which was also free, and saw some really old statues, jewelry, and many other artifacts. There was a huge statue of Triton and I asked someone to take a picture of me with him. I stood in front of him and copied his pose for the picture. Before the picture was snapped, a lady employed by the museum came over and said "no! You cannot take such picture!" When I asked why she said, "That is just the rules." So I moved on into a few other rooms and saw a funny looking statue with the head missing. If I just stood behind the statue (not making any sort of pose, just standing there) and someone took the picture from the front it would look like my head was on the statue. I had a Japanese man taking the picture and he and his wife both thought it was a really cute idea. But again before he could take the picture a woman came running over and said, "No! You cannot do that!" I asked her for the reasoning behind this rule and she said that we have to be respectful of the culture and of the people who lived during this time. I asked her if she thought the people who lived back then had a sense of humor too (I know, sassy question) and she said it's just not allowed. So I wandered a little more through the museum. But now I couldn't think of fun pictures to take or anything like that. I had to actually look at the statues and exhibits. So after a few minutes I was so bored that I just left. I headed back to the Agora, sat inside the music theatre (which isn't technically inside because all the walls have fallen down) and wrote in my journal a little. I stayed in the Agora until closing time. Then I nestled into a big comfy chair in Starbucks and journaled some more. It was pretty funny going from the Agora to Starbucks with my journal. :-) I headed back to my hostel pretty early because I was running on about 2 hours of sleep and my flight was early the next morning. The receptionist at the hostel was an incredibly nice man. I told him what time my flight was and he let me call the airlines to make sure my flight was still as scheduled, helped me figure out what time to catch the bus, and even put me in a room that didn't have anyone else in it so I wouldn't disturb anyone when I got up really early. He put everything out so I could make some tea before I went to bed and arranged for a wakeup call at 4:45am. He was so helpful! And I had the whole room to myself, which was amazing! I went to bed early because I was exhausted and when I was ready to head out in the morning, the female receptionist who was there made me a little to-go breakfast for my trip! What an amazing hostel! I would recommend it to anyone who is traveling to Athens. It's called Hotel Dioskouros. Everything in Athens seemed to be perfect timing and worked out wonderfully. If you're interested in history at all, it's pretty much the coolest city ever. :-)