Day 7 - Athens

Today our time was spent in "Hot" Athens, Greece... but still not as hot as we've been hearing from Chicago! We again chose not to sign up for any tours and to do things on our own.

We began the day like every other and headed over to the never ending breakfast buffet! We left breakfast around 9 o'clock... and began our trek to Athen's version of Chicago's "L" train. We initially thought we'd be able to walk it.. but soon realized it was further than we thought and grabbed a cab. About 5 minutes and 2 euros later we were at the train station. The train ride to the historical sites of Athens took around 30 minutes and two train transfers.

9:45, we arrive at out destination! We first headed over to the Acropolis.. which sat high above the city... so we definitely worked off our breakfast walking up. Up top sat a citadel that over looked the city. Along with the citadel were a few other structures such as a theatre. After spending a couple hours touring this spot we headed back down to the city.

Once down we found a nice little shopping area to spend some time in, but first we had to eat! In the middle of the shopping area we again found a nice little outdoor cafe.. I again did the pizza and Jennifer did a caesar salad, both very good! After lunch we began to tour the shops of Athens.. all which lined these unique brick walkways. Once 3 o'clock hit we headed over to another historical structure, "Temple of Olympian Zeus," which sat right in the middle of the city. A little side note.. Greece had a wild animal that took us a while to get used to... Dogs! Everywhere we looked we'd see a dog whether it was lying on the sidewalk, under a tree or just walking around, it was actually kind of sad. Anyways we toured the Temple of Olympian Zeus for about a half hour.. then began our trek back to the train.

On our hike back to the train we passed through the shopping area and ran into Gayle shopping around... so we stopped and chatted with her for a couple minutes. For those that don't know, Gayle is the "O's" best friend.

After the train, bus ride and walk back.. we arrived at the ship around 5:15 and headed to our room for a nap! After 2 hours of a much deserved nap.. we got ready and headed out to the ships Italian restaurant. The restaurant was good.. again I got a caesar salad and cheese tortellini and Jennifer got the penne pasta.. both very good! After dinner we headed to the theatre for their nightly show... which this time was a jazz singer / trumpet player / tap dancer. We hung around for a bit after the show but headed to bed early to rest up for our day in Turkey!

Hope April and Joe's engagement party went well! We miss everyone and hope everyone is doing good!