Athens, Greece

Hello friends! Here's an update on our travels thus far:

Day, 1: June 17/18

Travelling from door-to-door took approximately 23 hours. We arrived in Chicago first and continued on to Frankfurt, Germany landing in the early morning. There I was nearly manhandled by German Airport Security for taking this photo of Passport Control:

I only wanted to catch an image of the language, but apparently that's against the law. Moving on, we made it to Athens, Greece at about 1:30pm on June 18 and arrived at the Athens Gate Hotel around 3pm.

The hotel has a great view of the Temple of Zeus as well as a view of the Acropolis from the rooftop restaurant. After admiring the view we took much needed showers and about an hour long nap. When we woke up we visited the Temple of Zeus and some of the city's gardens. Then we visited the Kalimarmaro Stadium where the archery and marathon events were hosted during the 2004 Olympics. It was first built in the 4th century BC for the Panathenaic Games and was restored for the first modern olympics in 1896.

After, we walked through the Plaka - the old city - and made our way to Strofi for a traditional Greek dinner of salad, octopus and lamb with okra. After dinner we walked back through the Plaka and got some gelato and made our way back to the hotel.

We had to rinse off again because we sweat so much from the intense heat. After our quick showers we climbed into bed and passed out a little after 9pm. Unfortunately we both woke up around 2:30am and were incredibly hungry. Luckily for me I ate my pillow chocolate left by the cleaning crew and fell back asleep until 6:30am. Tim wasn't as lucky - he was up for the rest of the night =(

Day 2: June 19 (What we've done so far because it's just now noon)

After crawling out of bed and quickly getting ready we had an excellent breakfast at our hotel's rooftop restaurant around 7am. When we finished breakfast we walked down 8 flights of stairs because the elevator is small, stubborn and slow and headed to the Acropolis.

Luckily we got there right when it opened and were some of the first people there. The structures are insanely beautiful and Tim and I got goosebumps just from looking at them. The view from the top was amazing! After taking several pictues we headed back to the hotel for a 5 minute break from the heat. It's amazing how hot it is here and how early! After our pitstop we were saddened to discover that the new Acropolis Museum isn't fully opened yet, but we hopped on the train to visit the National Archaeological Museum.

Amazing artifacts that date as far back as the Neolithic Era. I was surprised at the condition of many of the pieces. Practically mint! After walking the museum for a couple of hours we took a break at the cafe for some tasty frappes (iced coffee - yum!)

We're having a great time in Greece so far and I'm so excited for the rest of our trip! I hope everyone is well. I'll post another update just as soon as I can =)