Saturday, May 13, 2017

Athens Trip: Day 4- The Acropolis!

Hello again!
Athens' crown jewel is really the Acropolis.  A series of temples dedicated to Athena, the patron Greek goddess of the city, and other important figures in Ancient Greek mythology, this hilltop complex is supposedly visible from anywhere in Athens.  So much has been written about its historical significance, its (occasionally botched) excavation and restoration, its transformations under various religions and cultures, and its dramatic destruction(s) that rather than attempt to recap such a legendary topic, I am simply going to show my pictures below with a few labels.
Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Friday, May 12, 2017

Athens Trip: Day 3- Sightseeing

Hey guys!
For the third day of our trip, we purchased Acropolis combo tickets and headed out to see a bunch of smaller sites included in the package.
Ancient Agora (Marketplace)

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Athens Trip: Day 2, Continued- The View

Hello again!
The evening of our second day, we had dinner out before spending some time relaxing on the rooftop of our hotel and I got to take some pictures of the amazing sights, and also some interesting shots of some of the day-to-day sights around the hotel.  I think you'll be able to see why we both thought Athens was both lovely and sad.
Firstly, the tourist attractions:

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Athens- Day 2

Hello again!
For the second day of our trip, Hubby and I got up early and had breakfast at the hotel.  It was a pretty standard European breakfast buffet (hard boiled eggs, bread and pastries, a tired Nespresso machine) with the addition of a Greek specialties corner (amazing yogurt, spoon sweets, tomato and feta salad, and filo pastries).
We spent most of the day doing a walking tour.  If you've never done this on a trip, its a great way to get to know a city, find your bearings, get some exercise, and delve into the history of a place.  (The Rick Steve's travel books always have at least one nice one in them.)  Here are the best sights that we saw on Day 2:

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Athens- Day 1

Hello!
Hubby and I were lucky enough to get to spend my school's spring break in Athens, Greece.  We are trying to work our way through the big cities in Europe while we are overseas.  :)
Athens is a very old, very beautiful city that's been incredibly hard hit by economic downturns in recent years.  There's a lot of modern poverty and decay alongside ancient wonders, which made our trip both magical and sad.
Our first day was mostly consumed by road tripping to the airport and getting to the hotel once we touched down in Athens.  The train system from the airport was super easy.  I got a bit of a thrill from discovering the automated ticket kiosk in the wall of the train station that allowed us to bypass the super long line of people cuing to buy tickets at the counter.  (Not sure why everyone elected to wait when the machine was right there...?)
When we planned the trip, we decided to splurge a bit and get a hotel room with a view of the Acropolis:

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Hey guys!

I'm back in the blogosphere!  Back in August, I was so lucky to be able to accept a teaching position here in Germany. It's a fourth grade position, my first foray into elementary school, and I've been wrapped up into figuring out how I wanted that to look for me and my students.


Thursday, July 7, 2016

Throwback Thursday!

Hey guys!

 I haven't done one of these in ages.  One of the things about being overseas is that we put a LOT of stuff in storage back home, including photo albums.  So I find myself struggling a bit because I'm lacking a lot of older pictures.  So, instead of a baby picture or an adorable childhood story, here's a throwback to the time that we spent our anniversary in Disneyland!


Athens Trip: Day 4- The Acropolis!

Hello again! Athens' crown jewel is really the Acropolis.  A series of temples dedicated to Athena, the patron Greek goddess of the cit...