Athens

Nate and I have finally returned from our marathon three week trip around Eastern and Central Europe. We had such a great time and we are both a little sad to be back to real life (if you can call life in London "real life"). Nate is back to school and even though he has a super relaxed schedule- he only has class Mon- Wed.- I am sad that we don't get to see each other all day every day like we have been. It will take me about a week to do all the laundry from the trip, mostly because our washer can only handle one load a day and it doesn't dry very well so I have run out of places to hang wet clothes. We have returned to full blown spring in London and we are loving that.

We started our trip in Athens, Greece. I have always wanted to see the Acropolis especially since we saw the Roman ruins in Rome. The night we got in it rained harder than I have ever seen it rain in my life. We had to walk in it for about twenty minutes and we were soaked completely through our raincoats and waterproof boots, go figure. We were a little worried that the rain was a bad omen to start our trip on but the next day dawned bright and clear and we didn't see another cold day or drop of rain until the morning we flew home from Salzburg.

Athens is one of the most interesting towns I have been in. Most of the city is bustling and modern but once you get to the old Plaka you go back in time. All of the houses are so quaint and from almost anywhere in the Plaka you have a fantastic view of the Acropolis. We spent most of the day at the Acropolis but also managed to get in the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Agora, and the Roman Forum as well.

This is a picture of some cool columns at the Roman Forum. Very artsy, no? I should submit it somewhere.

This is me and Nate on what we think may be Mars Hill where Greece was dedicated for missionary work. We couldn't find any signs or maps that verify this but it has a great view anyway.

This is Nate pretending to be a Gladiator (maybe?). He may be confused since this is actually the amphitheater where they performed all those Greek plays and not the Colosseum. Maybe he is an actor... who knows with this guy?

This was my favorite building on the Acropolis. The Karyatides (the girls holding up the roof) are so well preserved and it is really cool to see in real life.

You can't go to Greece and not see the Parthenon. I could not believe I was actually there seeing in real life. I just kept stopping and staring up at it and Nate would leave me behind and people would bump into me but I didn't care. I managed to cut the scaffolding out of most of the pictures and you can hardly see it in this one. So cool... I can't even tell you...

This is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This is where the famous fallen columns are. I love this picture because you get a good view of the Acropolis in the background.

We met a nice American and fellow photographer at the Karyatides. If we look this scruffy and hippy at the beginning of our trip, just imagine how we looked at the end. More pictures to come!