togas and tricksters

April 5

I was afraid the rain was an omen of another horrible ferry waiting for us...but praise Jesus the ferry from Santorini to Athens was almost empty! The ride seemed like an hour as opposed to eight. Wonderful.

Once we arrived in Athens we spent another night there, this time actually planning to explore the Acropolis and other places. We did find out about a scam if you ever go to Athens...there is this guy who works at a restaurant on the path that leads to the Acropolis, and he seems nice and wants you to come in for dinner. When you say you are going to see the Acropolis he will tell you, oh no, it's closed! And you say oh right I'll just check it out. And when the first gate you see is closed you will think he's right and regret your timing and go back and pay for a nice, yummy dinner. And never realize...he LIED TO YOU. Luckily we didn't fall for it: the entrance to the ruins is around the path beyond that first gate. We're not sure about the first time because we did eat there thinking it was closed, but we made it this time. The view from above (it is up on a hill) is awe inspiring.

You may know that my friends and I have an unwavering passion for...creatively staged photos. I'll put it bluntly: we got in trouble for taking a jumping photo in front of the Parthenon. Citing disrespect, a whistle-brandishing lady demanded that we delete our photos. However, some day you may just see proof of our transgressions. Just saying!

We also tried to find the Temple of Zeus to no avail but ended up exploring some gorgeous park areas and scoping out some archaeological dig sites. We ate the best meal of our time in Greece at a tasty restaurant with shared platters of make-your-own gyros, kebabs, tsatziki and pita bread...DELICIOUS.