Monday, June 15, 2009

Monday, June 15, 2009

Blogging early today because we are going somewhere for dinner and I don't think I will get a chance afterwards. Last night after dinner, we went up to the top of our hotel where they have the restaurant called The Olive Garden. Here is a picture of Kasondra and Lauren at sunset. Isn't it so pretty? The wine glass is Michelle's. She and I needed a few drinks. She had a few glasses of wine and I had a amaretto sour and then some specialty drink. Don't worry, I didn't get drunk. They barely put any alcohol in the drinks. I had to send the amaretto sour back because it was almost all sour and for the price, I wanted some amaretto! Here's a picture of Kasondra and I also (especially for you Mary Ann). We had a very nice evening sitting at the top of the hotel with the acropolis in one direction and the sunset in the other, some cool drinks and a nice breeze!

Back to reality...wake up call at 7am today, breakfast, then we met in the lobby at 8:30am. I am not a happy camper today and DO NOT want to do this trip. Only our group is going to Marathon and so we board a small bus and head off. The air conditioning on the bus is not working and I am not happy. It takes about 1 hour to get to Marathon and when we pull into the parking lot, I notice that there are no other cars. Now I'm thinking...either this is a very unpopular tour or this place is closed. Yes, that's right folks, Marathon is not open on Mondays. Don't you think the NETC people who booked this entire trip might know the place is closed on Mondays. I guess not. We get out of the bus and our guide gives a brief explanation of the battle that occurred at Marathon and Mr. Kearney explained a bit too. I didn't really listen because I was interested in the bus driver who was trying to figure out how to get the hood open on the bus to look at why the air conditioner is not working. He gets a screw driver and tries to pry it open. He looks underneath the bus. Nothing works. Here are some pictures at Marathon as well as the driver trying to get the hood up on the bus.

We get back on the bus and drive back to Athens. Luchia says NETC is very sorry for the mishap and that she will pay for us to enter the archaeological museum instead if we want to go. I don't and Michelle and I both think that they are going to try and still charge us for this excursion which was an additional cost of $169.00 US dollars per person. The museum entrance probably costs about 6 Euros per person. I for one will be getting my money back for this excursion (I think Michelle too).

Anyway, we get back to the hotel, tell Luchia we will not be going to the archaeological museum (we are museumed out) and go upstairs to plan our trip to the Hard Rock Cafe Athens! It was about 11am and we thought we would try to make to the Hard Rock by 1pm. We decided to take the Metro (even though Luchia told us it was a short walk, yeah, right!). At 12pm we left for the Metro and made it to the stop (I don't remember the name) and found the Hard Rock Cafe whichout much trouble. Here are some pictures of the Hard Rock. After lunch we went to the store and I bought the kids some Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts and Lauren bought a shirt. Sorry Albert, no beer cozies and Kasondra was bummed because they were all out of keychains. From there, we walked a short distance to where they have a silly train that you can ride around the town and see the sights. We decided this was just up our alley and went on it. Here are some pictures of the train. Yes, we are seriously tourists! Looks a little like TJ. Don't you think?

We got off the train where we started and took the subway back to Omonia where we get off. The metro station is really close to the hotel. Michelle, Lauren and Kasondra go up to the room and I head to Bytes and Bits to do this blog. On the way here, I am watching this little taxi park in this tiny space and somehow, I trip and fall and end up on the floor. Some nice guys helped me up and I am fine. Feeling stupid but physically fine. I think it's a testament to how tired I am. I can't wait to be on the plane heading home. Who knows what type of dinner plans Luchia has for us. But if it includes walking, Michelle and I are out. We'll just go to the top of the hotel for cocktails and watch the sunset. I don't know yet what time we have to leave the hotel tomorrow morning but I think it'll be about 7:30am. I hope it's not a late night! This is the last blog until I get home and finish it off. I hope you enjoyed reading about our escapades and our trials.