Day 5

Late start today and wasn’t out the hotel door until about 10:30. Didn't sleep well last night. Hotel breakfast was 19 euros ($22) so passed on that.





My rate here with tax is 100 euros a night ($114).

Looks like I’m only two Metro stations away from Parliament and Syntagma (Constitution) Square, so decided a morning walk was in order. Dark clouds overhead and not sure the good weather would hold, so not planning the Acropolis today. Along the walk in passed a sign for the Athens Classic Marathon Course.



Arrived at Parliament and the ceremonial guard was in place and went though a slow-motion routine involving a variety of steps. One thing they allow is for tourists to stand next to the guards and take photos. One young woman mimicked kissing the guard for a photo. A army officer in fatigues came and took her camera.







Walked through the shopping area nearby and saw the Acropolis from several vantage points.






Hadrian’s Library was down at street level, a very large complex with columns and ruins:






Popped into Monastiraki Metro station where I purchased a 5 day Metro pass for 10 euros ($11.40). The 30 minute airport trip at 8 euros ($9) is not included in it.



Some dancers were entertaining to Gangnam Style and one of them lept over the group:



I would not be able to perform this maneuver from a running start:



Rain started coming down right after this so I retreated to a gyros shop for a pork gyros for lunch:





Walked through some of the shopping streets nearby:







I was approached by one person who may have been a shop owner who said he liked my shoes (actually hiking boots from Columbia) and asked where they were from. He said California (good guess - I did purchase them in Vacaville). I kept on walking. Tonight I was approached by another person in the Placa, an area I went for dinner, and he asked where I was from. He said he worked in Saudi Arabia with Americans from Denver. He wanted me to come into his bar so he could give me a card. Time to keep on walking again.

Stopped in a very small church with lots of silver artwork:







I found myself in Omonia Square. This is where the hotel I stayed at during the Olympics in 2004 with Natalie Coughlin’s family is located. At that time it was the Omonia Grand and was very likely a 4-5* hotel. Today the building has turned blue, has a new name, and is closed up. They had entertainment every night in the adjoining square during the Olympics.



A good time to insert some Olympics pool photos from Athens in 2004 and a younger Natalie’s first gold medal (of 12 Olympic medals now). My first digital camera in 2004 had very limited features so no great 60X optical zoom like the current one and it was very slow to process the image which limited taking multiple photos. That was my first trip to Athens and the current one is only my second.







Started the trip back to the hotel from the Omonia Metro station:



After arrival at the Metro station near my hotel (Megaro Mousikis Metro), I did head up a block to get a photo of the U.S. Embassy.





Back at my hotel for a break and went back out at 7 for dinner.

Set off by train to the Acropolis train station. Walked by the Acropolis museum and through some park area below the Acropolis.





From there a wander about the Placa area. These are mostly narrow streets, some pedestrian-only, where there are cafes, shops and restaurants, as well as a lot of homes. It’s easy to lose your bearings and have to sort out where you may be in relation to the Acropolis train station. I made it out to a multi-lane road last night and the only thing that saved me was a road sign pointing towards the Acropolis and eventually found the street with the Metro station. I really had no idea where I had ended up before then and seemed to be walking in circles. One of many shops:



Was raining on and off all evening. Found a nice dinner spot with tables inside a sealed outdoor seating area. My meal was a tomato and cucumber salad, moussaka (made of lamb and eggplant) and ice cream. Added on a half-liter of Greek beer. Total bill just under 15 euros ($17). Wandered around some more after dinner and wasn’t back to the hotel until 10:30pm.







Have to take a break from posting installments for right now and hope to get more up later today. Athens photos start here:
http://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Eur...Athens-Greece/