Its all greek to me...

Alright so today was our first full day in Athens, we did great things. We first woke up, ate greek breakfast and then met our tour guide/translator Elsa and headed out to the 2004 Athens Olympic Park. When we walked up we heard music and found ourselves walking into the athletes entrance for the Special Olympic Games that were being held at the main stadium. It was pretty cool and we most definetly were into the games and music-the piano interlude was fantastic and we learned some valuable information from Elsa via the stadium tour guide. The stadium holds 75,00 seats and was used as the main stadium for the 2004 games and the roof covers 70% of the spectators.

After the stadium we headed out to see the basketball and tennis facilities and the aquatic center. We also saw the market place center where restuarants, shops and whatnot where held during the games. We also saw a giant white board that Elsa told us projected the games. The board showed what was going on in the stadium and displayed the athletes in over-life size. After a quick loop around the park in our van we headed back to the hotel and split for lunch/mid day break. The girls went to some of the shops and some of us ended up eating at a greek all you can eat buffet for cheap- definetly took advantage of that.

After lunch we met back up with Robert and headed out to the new Acropolis museum. It housed many of the artificats that were from the original Acropolis and Robert told us about many things, especially from the Parthenon, but since we were "British archeaology students" we actually knew most of it...false we did not. We were british students in order to get in and Robert told us all about the original intent of the Acropolis and explained what each building was used for. After the museum Robert took us up to climb to the top of the Acropolis. After the trek up we saw and learned about the Parthenon, the Erechteum and the Acropolis in general. It was a great experience and truly amazing to see. Its one thing to read about the Parthenon and how tall the Acropolis is above the city but to experience it is a totally different thing.

We were then free for dinner and 5 of us headed to the infamous gyro place in the corner of the square. We made a couple of friends at the restuaruant who provided us with entertainment and we enjoyed some amazing gyros. We then got up to leave but the waiter told us to sit and he brought us some free greek desserts. It was a great place and I highly highly recommend it. All in all, a great day.

-Kelsey