Thursday, November 17, 2011

Athens, Greece

We had a great time in Athens. This trip was a little different for us since it was centered around the marathon James did. We went with 2 other couples and their kids, sharing an apartment with them. They are our neighbors so the kids had a blast being on vacation with friends. There is also a Hard Rock there and I have to say, we had our first horrible Hard Rock experience. First of all they don't have the pilsner glass James likes to collect. James was in shock and wasn't sure what to think. And our waiter wasn't that great either. We have gotten above and beyond service every time we go to a Hard Rock. Even employess that aren't assisting us, stop and take time to talk to Macen and/or look at Maddox. We've even had a hostess put together a toy for Maddox to play with before. It just wasn't our typical experience. Boo to the Athens Hard Rock, we won't be recommending you.

If you are wondering if Athens is safe after all the news floating around? Absolutely. Had we not seen anything on tv or the internet about Athens, we would have never known anything was wrong there. I think the guys heard a demonstration the first day we were there but we never witnessed anything. And we covered a lot of ground by foot so we would have seen something if there were any major problems going on.



Hadrian's Arch

Temple of Zeus



Tower of the Winds

Odeum of Herodes Atticus theater. This one is still in use and it was amazing!


At the top of the hill of the Acropolis. As soon as we got up there, it got extremely windy. So windy it was hard to enjoy it. But still an amazing landmark.


                                           Macen enjoying the Acropolis with his friends



                            A view of the Panathenaic Stadium James ran into at the finish line


Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is guarded 24/7 and the guards do a changing out ceremony on the hour. It is quite the production and pretty amazing to see.


A view of Athens from Lycabettus Hill. We took a tram to the top of the mountain and enjoyed a snack at the cafe at the top.

A quick view of one of the marathon runners! He finished with 4 other men dressed in similiar attire. I found it interesting! It was a cold, rainy day for a race. At the finish line, it would rain with the wind blowing and then stop with the sun coming out only to rinse and repeat the entire 5-6 hrs we were out there. Maddox caught a cold before we left for Athens. So with not being able to breath well already and then getting gusts of wind occasionally, he was miserable out there. Thankfully the carrier I use is cloth with extra material so I was able to cover him most of the time.

It's a pretty amazing city and we are thankful we got to experience with some great friends.

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