Day 2 - Exploring Athens

Today has been a great day. I got a really good night's sleep. So good that when the guy at the desk called me at 7 instead of 8, I was ready to get up anyway. I got all ready, packed up my stuff, and then went down to breakfast. It was here that I met the other BYU girls. They all seem pretty nice. Then we went to church. Hadrian's Arch.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Greek. Sweet.

Anyway, I wish we could have had a normal church day, but we watched the Sunday Afternoon session of conference. It was fine though, it's conference! It is the same one that we watched a couple weeks ago in Paris. But before we went off to watch it, there was a little opening. The bishopric member spoke in Greek, then in English. It was really interesting. Then we sang. In English, while the Greek members sang in Greek. English far overpowered the Greek. The reason for this is that our group doubled the ward that is already doubled by the amount of missionaries. It was interesting to me. Then we watched conference. It was great! Then we had a pot-luck with delicious food! Most of it was unfamiliar, but they did have funeral potatoes!

We also looked outside of the balcony at the church.


Then we headed out to explore Athens!





Parliament
Guard in front of Parliament. Interesting get-up :)
Changing of the guard.

We went to a flea market first to look around. It was really cool. Then we just walked around. It is an awesome place. A modern(ish) city with random extremely old ruins! I'm surprised at how close the Acropolis is to the city. Anyway, then we (Camille - who is from the Paris ward and we randomly met up at church!, Shamra, and Claire) went to a park and just chillled and talked and relaxed in the sun. The park was beautiful! I am surprised at how much greenery is here in the city.


After walking around the park for a while, we walked around the city a bit more. We found the Olympic arena. Though it is relatively new, it is built on the site of the 4th century arena.


Greek Flag

Random turtle in the grass.

Then we went to Athen's First Cemetary. I love cemetaries. They are awesome.






Greek. One of the coolest looking languages.

Sleepy cat


This was the end of our little walk. We then went back to the hotel (except Camille who went back to her hostile) and had a little meeting with the group. After that, we found some dinner since we were all starving! It was great. And that was the end of our day. If I knew how to say "That's all" in Greek, I would. But I don't, so I won't ;)

Oh yeah, before I forget, I figured out my lock. The combo had switched to 923, which means I went through 924 combinations before getting there... It took some time, but I can use it now!

Comments

Christopher said…
You take such good pictures and it looks like you had fun!
May 8, 2010 at 4:41 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baby Benji

Image
My sister Rachel had her baby boy Benjamin earlier this morning. This is the 19th time I've been an aunt. And I still absolutely adore it. I get just as excited with each birth. He's a new life. He's a miracle. I love children. With Benjamin and Abi, his oldest sister. I love her face in this one! Isn't he just adorable? Look at that hair! Oh I love him :)
Read more

Day 54 - Dernier Jour

Image
Last day in Paris! I can't believe it. I'm sure gonna miss this place. Ali, Shamra, Mckell, Claire and I headed out to the city this morning. First stop was the Opera house. I finally got to see the inside this time! Beautiful. We had some fun :) Then we went to Berko's, the wonderful cheesecake place. It wasn't open and it was 11:35. We thought they wouldn't open until 12 but as we were sitting there waiting, they opened the doors! Yay! I got creme brulee cheesecake. Oh it was divine. This is one of the things I will miss most about Paris! Love it. Then Claire and I went to the Jewish museum. It was pretty interesting. I couldn't take many pictures. Then off to the Promenade Plantee. It was a really beautiful walk. I like this flower. It's weird. Then we walked back to the metro. It was quite a long walk so we were very tired! We went to the Louvre for a little internet time. Afterward, we went to Laudree to get a present for Greg and Martha. Then back to t
Read more

Day 55 - Home

I'll miss the metro, I'll miss the city, I'll miss the museums, I'll miss the tourist attractions, I'll miss the people, I'll miss the photo opportunities, I'll miss the rush. I'll miss this place. I got up early this morning, finished packing up, ate breakfast, then headed to the Roissy bus with Elisabeth and Ali. Who are, by the way, angels! I am so grateful to them for helping me. I absolutely could not have done it without them unless I got a taxi. And even then, I'm not sure. Once on the nice Roissy bus, I slept a little bit. It was good. SO much better than taking the RER B, which is what everyone else took who was on our flight. And it ended up being cheaper. Then we finally got to the airport. Elisabeth checked my duffel (thanks again!), which was fine on weight. Then I checked my large bag, except it was 4 kilo over. If I wanted to pay for that, it would be 150 euros. No thank you. So I had to get some stuff out of it. They gave me a AirFran
Read more