Our Athens, Greece Getaway

 

Welcome to Athens!!

 

Back in November, we were able to take a trip to Athens. The way we ended up there was kind of unconventional.  It all started with our friends running the Athens Marathon back in November of 2011.  A few of us thought, hey, we should do that next year.  Sean is obligating me to inform the blog viewers that he never had any interest in running the marathon - which is true.  So we planned on running the Athens Marathon 2012.  Very ambitious of us!  Unfortunately, of the seven of us who were planning on running, as the months went by, one by one for one reason of another - mostly as reality set in, we dropped like flies until there were two :)

 

I had no real excuse other than not having the energy or drive to make time to train.  Regardless, a few of us were still planning on going to cheer the others on.  Sean and I were planning on going with two of our best couple friends to enjoy a relaxing, kid-free weekend (well, there was a baby with us, so almost kid-free, but he's such a good little baby)... And then one of our friends' daughters broke her foot a couple of days before we were planning on leaving. :(  They decided it was best for them to stay home.  We missed them, and thought of them while we explored the ancient ruins of Athens.

 

The weather was great, and even though it was a much smaller city than I was expecting, it was still impressive.

 

Amphitheater at the Acropolis.

 

Parthenon - Unfortunately, there was lots of scaffolding that detracted from the experience.

 

Our awesome friends!

 

While I didn't hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I decided I needed to give it a go with the Greek flag.  Sean was appalled, though he secretly though it was funny :)

 

A picture of the photographers of the trip :)

 

View of Athens from the Acropolis (City on a hill)

 

(I realized we lost a lot of pictures from this trip.  The ones we lost were when we went to the church on the top of this hill looking back towards the Parthenon- it was beautiful, and I'm really sad that we don't have them!!)

 

Two very awesome people who have made our tour in Albania so much more fun and easier to survive - You guys are the best! And you make us laugh....

 

A lot. :)

 

 

The Acropolis from afar.

Our super little travel buddy.  He was so happy on this trip :)

 



 

Markets of Athens in the early morning.

  

 

Sean bonding.

"Acropolis!"

Doesn't hurt to take a quick peak into the nearest H&M.  This small church was smack dab in the middle of the city.  It was beautiful, and I can only imagine what the city looked like back when this church was the center as opposed to all the buildings that surround it are now.

 

The Greek guards with their pom pom shoes doing their thing.

 

The day of the marathon, we made our way down to the finish line, which was at the Olympic stadium.  Very cool.

 

And here is our friend, running towards the finish line to make it into the top 25 finishers, and the first U.S. citizen across. 

Way to go!

 

After we cheered him on, we continued to explore the city. 

 

 

We went to the Acropolis museum, and kudos to the city of Athens, because they did a great job on this museum.  The museum itself is on top of ancient ruins which they are evacuating. 

 

The walkway into the museum is transparent, so you can see their discoveries as you make your way into the museum.

 

During our time in Athens, the political situation was not ideal.  A few weeks before there had been some violent protests, and while we were there, protests were planned as well.  There were a lot of police out and about.  All the buses lining this street had been carrying police.

That night, we were going to our friends' hotel to hang out when we turned on to one of the streets where the protesters were marching... Lets just say our adrenaline started pumping when we saw this crowd walking towards us, chanting slogans, and waving signs.  We continued on to our friends hotel, but our pace was probably a little faster than it normally would have been.

 

 

Nighttime in Athens...

 

 

We had a great time in Athens, and saw some memorable sights in the ancient city.  It was a great vacation with our friends and we made some fantastic memories.  We laughed hard, we ate well, and we had a great time!

 

The Parthenon at the Acropolis at night

Unfortunately,  as I was looking through the pictures for this trip, I realized that we were missing half our pictures, and I have no idea where they went :(  What can you do?  Apparently, my luck with pictures recently, isn't that great!