This morning, Lia, Sophie, Allison woke up to five-star pillows. After spending the night on beds preferable to ours back home, and refreshed from our hotel rooms' rain showers, we headed downstairs for a breakfast of fried eggs, scrambled eggs, omelets, hard-boiled eggs, bacon, freshly strained Greek yogurt, feta cheese, tomatoes, croissants, baguettes, coffee cake, cinnamon biscuits, breadsticks, olive paste, deli meats, assorted cereals, various fruits, and fresh honey right off of a honeycomb.
After breakfast, we hopped on Costa's bus and met our very knowledgeable local guide, Faye. She led us on a bus tour around Athens and taught us things such as how Greek letters relate to our own alphabet. We made a quick stop at the Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern olympic were held. Eventually, we reached the Acropolis, where we saw the Parthenon, the Nike temple, and other ruins.
Sophie appreciated how this is the location where democracy started and ended. The view from the Acropolis allowed us to take in the expanse of modern Greece -- each building nestled together, converging with the beauty of ancient Greece, reflected by the towering Ionic pillars of the Parthenon and intricate sculptures on Nike's Temple. The mix of ancient and modern day Greece mirrored our experience in Rome where we witnessed the historical layers of an ancient city.
Meanwhile, Lia appreciated how the trash cans at the site resembled columns.
Allison appreciated the prime selfie lighting to capture her Greek flag inspired OOTD (i.e. Outfit Of The Day).
And everyone else was quite occupied with photographing the many cute little baby kittens and doggies on site.
Then we got the chance to witness an authentic, spectacular, and unimaginably profound performance by professional Grecian dancers... a mediocre group of eight guys who were mildly entertaining...? Then to find lunch on the main street off of the Acropolis! We enjoyed spanakopita and feta cheese rolls. Sufficiently filled, we then went to the Acropolis museum, where we saw many statues from the Parthenon and a video explaining it's history, including how after being a temple of Athena, the Parthenon became a church and then a mosque.
We got time to shop around the streets and then met together just in time to join some fellow hokey-pokey enthusiasts in their natural dance. It was as ridiculous as you can imagine... we were using only the most technical hokey-pokey steps.
We finally got back to the hotel to for some R&R, but instead we were greeted will millions of screaming and costumed children in the lobby of our hotel. Since the architect of The Wyndham Grand Athens Hotel decided for a nice open concept arrangement of rooms, the noise from the lobby can be heard in just about any room of the entire building. Sophie and Lia may or may not have called the concierge desk with a noise complaint, only to be told that it was a children's birthday party which would end in "one hour" (the noise is still continuing as we are writing this, four hours later). We hope the children may get tired soon?
Finally, the day ended with our final round of emperor reports and we are going to bed early, on the advice/threat of Enrica. Goodnight!
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