My walk around Athens

On Saturday I decided to go see all the sights in Athens. Most of the people in the study abroad program went to Thessaloniki this weekend so I went sightseeing alone. I put in my headphones, turned my iPod to shuffle and started walking. I really enjoyed it, we didn’t have to get 5 people to agree on a direction, or which place to eat, or which place to get coffee(I swear we spend half of our time finding coffee houses), and most importantly for one whole day I didn’t hear swear words.

I started by walking around the Parthenon. I just moseyed around and took my time and read like all of the little plaque things that said what it was you were looking at. I eventually moseyed on up to the top where the Parthenon is. Holy cow the Parthenon is huge! The columns are so big at the bottom. Like I had no clue how huge this place is. Well the Parthenon is set up directional and when I exited the park I was not where I entered. I really had no plans for the day so I just stared walking and ended up at the Ancient Agora.  

I met a nice lady from Argentina who was on vacation in Athens by herself. We walked around the Agora then went our separate ways. She was pretty nice and at first she thought I spoke Spanish because she asked me if I would take a picture in Spanish and I answered her in Spanish then she asked my name and I answered and asked her what her name was then she started talking really fast and I said woa I don’t speak that much Spanish sorry. Then in English she told me she thought I spoke Spanish because I was answering with a really good accent. I guess I can speak with a Spanish accent who knew?  

After I left the Agora I had absolutely no clue where I was so I chose a direction and started to walk. At every corner I made a decision based on how many shops were on the roads around and I eventually ended up on a street that I had been on before and knew exactly where I was. I was so excited and discovered that I was by the famous shoe maker Melissinos. I went into his shop and tried on a few different styles and decided on one and bought them. I am very excited about my sandals because I usually can’t find sandals in this style that fit and this shoe maker fits them to your feet! After the shoemaker I decided to go find something to eat so I started walking towards where I thought we had gone before for food. Well needless to say I got lost but I’m pretty sure I found a euro store, like a dollar store but European. I continued to wander around and somehow ended up in the middle of a riot like thing. I was just standing on a corner trying to decide where I was and where to go when all of the sudden there were all these people yelling something and throwing flyers. I decided it didn’t matter that I didn’t know where I was I just needed to walk in the opposite direction of the angry people. Turns out the opposite direction of the angry people lead me right to a metro station and a flea market. I looked around the flea market for a while then walked back toward where food would be.

Well on the way to food I stumbled upon The Tower of the Winds. I walked around there for a while then decided to find something to eat. I was in the mood for pizza so I set out for a place that had pizza. Well I couldn’t find anything that was open because I foolishly waited until like 3:30 to decide I wanted to eat and that is right in the middle of siesta time. I settled for a croissant filled with cheese of some kind and a salad.

After I ate I went to the changing of the guards at the parliament. That was pretty cool. I want to go see it again because I missed the first little bit of it.

I think I'm gonna buy a pair of those funny shoes they are wearing.

By this time I was kinda cold and sick of being in the wind so I decided to go see if anyone was at the church. Well no one was at the church yet so I started wandering around and I found this store that said international food store. Excited for something American I went in. Ya it pretty much had the same stuff as the supermarket by my apartment. But when I walked in the guy at the counter said yasou, and I said yasou back and he said you’re not Greek are you. My Greek can’t be that bad can it? I said no I’m American from Utah. As soon as Utah came out of my mouth he said oh are you Mormon? I had a slight panic attack and was like I hope this guy is nice and doesn’t kill me when I say yes. I have no clue where I am and there isn’t another soul on the whole road. I answered very apprehensively yes. He then said ah yes so am I! Boy was I relieved.

I still had like an hour to kill before outreach night at the church so I went to a restaurant I had been to with some friends that had wifi that I knew the password to. I sat outside on a bench because I didn’t want to order anything and played around on the internet for awhile then went to the activity night.

I want you all to know how much I love the church. It’s like having built in friends in every country you go to. Even if you don’t speak the same language you can still sing hymns and play ping pong. Also they always feed you. J

I have become pretty good friends with one of the girls from the Athens branch we live one metro stop away from each other so we ride the metro home together and she speaks English, really good English. On Saturday I found out that she is going on a mission to Thessaloniki for 4 months. I was extremely sad to hear that since she is the only person close to my age that speaks English. She leaves not this Saturday but next Saturday.

and of course more pictures here