Really Athens?

After Paradise, we were on our way to Athens. Luckily our flight and everything went smoothly (accept we were all hating life because we didn't sleep). We got to Athens and the there were no five person taxis so we decided to try the metro- keep in mind we were exhausted! Well we figured it out just fine and it took us directly to our hotel. Perfect! We check in and Drew, Dan and I were upgraded to a suite room so that was awesome and the staff was very kind. Everything was going great :) Aunt Tracy and Uncle Doug went down to a restaurant right outside the hotel and Uncle Doug went to pay for dinner- turns out he had been pick-pocked! Then Aunt Tracy says "don't worry I just pulled out money out of the ATM" and she goes to get her money and she was pick pocked too! Those bastards!!! I guess two taxis would have been cheaper than the metro! Ugh, that was awful, I guess that's what happens when a country is in an economic crisis! But at least no one was hurt.

That was a bad way to start our trip to Athens for sure! But after eating we went outside to walk around the Plaka, which is just the big shopping center, and we found the Temple of Zeus which was awesome! There used to be over a hundred columns. One fell during a terrible storm and it still remained laying there which I just thought was the coolest thing ever! Athens was starting to get better. After all that, we started to learn about a huge strike that was going to happen on one of our full days in Athens and everyone was advising tourists to leave the city- it sounded super serious. So we talked about our options and decided to book an all day tour to 3 Greek Islands during the day of the strike. We were forced to cancel our other tour to Delphi because it was too expensive to do both which sucked! But the cruise was going to be amazing!

First thing in the morning- we had to wake up at 5:30 and get outside to wait for the shuttle by 5:45. We were waiting outside the hotel when all the sudden these two boys were walking toward us and split to go around us- all we heard was a snap. It took probably about 10 seconds to figure out what had happened- one of the boys tore Andrew's camera right off of his arm!! Dan and Aunt Tracy ran after them but decided to stop after a little bit because Dan was running with his I-Pad and didn't want them to come after him. What a terrible start to our morning! The camera wouldn't have been that big of a deal but he hadn't uploaded any of the pictures onto the computer since he got here :( That was a big bummer!

The cruise made things better but we were all still surprised and annoyed by the whole incident! It was a very nice cruise and we met this very nice couple that hung out with us while we were on the boat- it was a lot of fun and helped us forget about everything bad about Athens. Obviously so, we were not too excited about returning to Athens for the evening and for the entire next day. But we went to get a delicious dinner and went to bed early to get up fresh for the next day.

We were all too scared to bring anything with us the next day so Uncle Doug was in charge of the money and I didn't even bring my camera (lucky for me Aunt Tracy was brave enough to bring hers, so I stole a lot of her pictures). On our one day in Athens we went up to Acropolis, and let me tell you it was amazing! That was the moment that we started to fall in love with Athens again. We had a few unfortunate incidents for sure but at that moment we loved the city as a whole again! We climbed up and saw the Parthenon, ruins, Athena's Temple and a fantastic view of the entire city! We stayed up there for about 6 hours without even noticing how long we were there- it was gorgeous! After visiting Acropolis, we went to see the museum and learn a little bit about what we had just experienced.

Later we did some more shopping on the Plaka and went back to the restaurant for more delicious food- gyros, dolmades, soulvaki, and tsaziki. After dinner we went up on the ninth floor of our hotel which had an amazing view of the Acropolis and celebrated Aunt Tracy's 49th Birthday starting at midnight! What a great way to start her birthday :) The next day we would continue it by traveling to Barcelona!!

(Pictures need to come from Aunt Tracy's camera still so check back here within the next few days!)

Paradise

Well it was time to say goodbye to Italy and we were off to Greece. It was bumpy getting started-- our hotel thought they would do us a favor and un-book our taxi for the morning to the airport and save us a few bucks and have their employee take us. Good idea in theory I suppose but this guy drove like a Grandma. We allotted a certain amount of time to get to the airport and he went well over- a taxi driver would have definitely gotten us there at least a half an hour earlier. Turns out that he made us late to check in and therefore there were only four seat remaining on our flight to Athens. Aunt Tracy had to stay behind and get on a much later flight. Then once we got Athens and only had an hour to get our bags and check in and go through security because we were on a different airline- anyone who has ever been through this process knows that this was impossible. So what happens? We- the four of us and Aunt Tracy- end up getting on the later flight together and all getting into Santorini together about five hours later than planned. This messed up half a day which really sucked when we only had 1.5 days there!! So that was quite annoying but when we got to the island and to our hotel things got much better.









Our hotel was on the beach like two steps outside and you were there, so that was amazing. We ate delicious gyros and found this amazing bar with live music. The musicians were awesome and the people were all so nice. After the band finished, Dan, and all of us really, were very impressed with their music and he bought them a beer. They appreciated it so much- not to mention we were yelling and clapping the loudest out of everyone- they hung around our table a lot of the night. Our server was also really nice, at first we weren't sure if she liked us or not but after a bit we could tell she did :) Her name was Diamond (and yes the same thought came into our minds as well but she was actually Lithuanian and it is actually Deimante, which means kind of like a sparkly sequence I think) and she was a babe and Dan fell in love! The whole night she kept coming over to our table, much more than anyone else's. It was nice to be the favorites of the bar!! That was a late night but so much fun!!










The next day we got up and went to the beach. We all decided that our day in Santorini would kind of be a luxury day and it was! Aunt Tracy and I got massages on the beach :) Then we got ready and went to a few of the cities to do some shopping while making our way up to the city Oia to see the sunset. We got a reservation at this restaurant that was high up and looking out over the water to watch the sunset- it was amazing!! That island was one of the most, if not the most, gorgeous things I have ever seen! I loved it so so much!











After we finished we decided that since we liked that bar so much, why not go back?? So we did. Our musician was playing again and lucky for Dan, Diamond was serving again. Aunt Tracy and Uncle Doug stayed until the music finished and then they went home to go to bed. We on the other hand decided to stay for a while longer because Dan was hitting it off with Diamond-- we were dancing and she came over to dance with us, if she passed by she would touch Dan's back and she was just at our table far more than anyone else's, again! YAY DAN! Funny thing happened- Andrew was dancing behind this guy at the bar because he was being silly but he was like doing the pretend slap the butt in the air and turns out there was a GIANT mirror right in front of the guy and he was all of it! I was cracking up!!!! So at around 2:30 or so, she invited us out to a bar with her after she got off work at 4, Dan (and therefore we) could not resist. Dan, Andrew and I hung out until around 4:30 and then she finally got off and was ready to go to the next bar-- what a life working at a bar until 4 and then just wanting to go drink, haha. So we head over there and the plan was for Andrew and I to only stay for about half an hour or so and then head home. Well, we also decided that it would be fun to get up and see the sunrise since it was two steps out of our hotel and Aunt Tracy was waking us all up, or so she thought, at 5:30. Andrew and I did not want another drink so we just ordered water (Abby you will appreciate this). Our drinks come, Diamond and Dan got red bull vodka by the way, and it is ice with just a little bit of melt off with straws. Well what we thought was melt off turned out to be pure vodka and at the same time we chugged it because we were so thirsty!!! EW! It was really awful! So after that incident we decided, at around 5:15, that we better get back to the hotel because Aunt Tracy would be "waking us up" soon and we didn't want to freak her out. So we left Dan and Diamond and they were going to come meet us for the sunrise in a bit. We get back to the hotel and not more than 5 minutes pass before Dan and Diamond get there and then in one more minute Aunt Tracy comes over. So, we all went to the beach to see the sunrise together-- with not a wink of sleep.










After the sunrise, which was just amazing, Andrew and I went to sleep while Dan walked Diamond home :) I was so proud that he got the girl because there was about 20-30 guys flirting with her throughout the evening! WAY TO GO DAN! The next day, or later that day I should say, we left to go to Athens... I will save that story for next time because it is one now and we are leaving at 6:30 tomorrow morning to Barcelona!!! I am so excited :)

Ciao Italia.....

So this will be short but sweet and you get to see some new faces!! The Gulden's got here on Thursday a little later than expected and they were exhausted! But we got dinner and walked down to see where the Palio is held before the Palio day- the Piazza del Campo. Thursday we all called it an early night and decided to meet up Friday morning!! Friday was the Palio! I think I was almost as excited as the citizens of Siena- ok probably not but I was soooooo excited! I got up, packed and left my house mom Fulvia- I cried. It was really sad and she kissed me on both cheeks for the first time, just like a real Italian. We all got ready and headed down to the action! We walked around for a bit and then met up with my group to see the Blessing of the Drago (Dragon) Horse. All of the horses are blessed the day of the race but all of the other ones are done inside churches so the general public cannot see but, the Drago horse is blessed outside :) Lucky for us because it was quite an experience! A lot of fun and the people of the contrada were all there to celebrate.










Then directly after that we went down to the Campo to get our spots!! We waited there from about 3 until the race began at 8. That was a long time but it didn't seem like 5 hours really. The race could have started anywhere between 7:30 and 9 but luckily it started at 8 so we didn't have to wait that long. There was also a long parade with all the contradas and other important people that kept us entertained for a while. Finally the horses came out and it was soo suspenseful! They lined up , got ready and then had to et out of their starting lines and realign themselves. This happened five times and then on the sixth time they started! It was so exciting!! They run around the track 3 times- we were in the "wipe out corner" hoping for a crash btu this time there were none. Two jockeys did fall off their horses though which is pretty cool but we didn't get to see it. Then, after waiting 5 hours for a 90 second race, we went to try and find the winning contrada (which was the tree symbol) to party! Side note--right after the Palio finished the losers RAN, literally sprinted, out of the campo in fear of getting an ass beating. Sure enough, on the way to look for the winning contrada we saw a huge trail of blood going down the street for a while and then turning a corner (which we decided not to follow). So cool! After failing at trying to find the contrada we decided to just get a snack in the Campo and go to my hang out bar. Brianne and Magen were there for our last night together- it was a lot of fun!











Saturday morning we got up and took a train to Rome. We were all pretty tired but we got to sleep on the train in first class (it was my first fast train in first class and it was AMAZING!) The Gulden's really know how to travel. Our first day here we went to check in to the hotel which is right next to the Vatican which is sooo cool! We went on a semi-private tour around the Vatican- the museum, Sistine Chapel, tombs, and Basillica. Our tour guide was really nice and very knowledgeable! That was so much more fun to look at and hear about the politics and history behind everything. When we get together- and we will have to get together- I will tell you everything she told me while showing you a slide show because I just don't have the time right now to do so. Maybe when I get back home I can be more detailed and do another post for everyone.











After the tour we went to Trevi fountain and threw a coin in to make a wish to come back to Rome-- and it obviously works because the Gulden's are back!! :)










Then we went out to an amazing dinner with amazing beef! My favorite meat since I have been here was the beef I had there-- absolutely amazing!

Then we went to get a good nights rest. Saturday we slept in for a while and then went to see the Pope. Unfortunately, he decided not to come out today for some reason. So we just headed right over to lunch and to the Bellini fountain. It was very beautiful! After that we went to see the Colosseum. I LOVED it!! I thought it was so amazing! We also did a tour on that but it was not as good as the Vatican one. We also saw the Palatine and the forum which blows my mind how old stuff everything is. I just think it is amazing! After that, we went to have drinks and snacks right outside the Colosseum and Magen came to join us :) That was beautiful! We walked back to Trevi fountain one more time, got some delicious pizza, and I got my last gelato.


My trip thus far has been so amazing and Italy has treated me very nicely! I am excited to continue my travels in Greece and Spain for 8 more days with the Gulden's!! Sorry it was quick but I will ramble on the phone for hours on end when I get home if you let me ;) Ciao Italia, Ciao Greca!