Day 1 - Plane Ride & Athens

Hello all,

I thought I would make sure to post tonight, having some free time to do so. I am writing from the lobby of our hotel, the Herodian in Athens. It has been an amzing day (or however long it has been since I shifted an ocean of time zones). The plane ride to Amsterdam was long; we left at around 3:15 PM from MSP Int. and arrived at 8:30 AM. The in-flight movies were great. Unfortunately, we did not get to leave the airport to check out the city, but after a brief delay we left the Netherlands and arrived in Athens around 2:15 PM. I had a window seat for the landing - what a treat! The colors were all green terrain, blue water, and marble/stone buildings. We got through to our bus without a hitch. The picture below is from the balcony of my room.

It was incredibly surreal to be in another culture so quickly. Different language everywhere, packed streets, clustered buildings - the drive to our hotel looked like something out of a Bourne movie! We had a brief time to shower and change, and then we walked through the streets by the Acropolis. It honestly looked like a scene out of the movies.

We stopped by a restaurant and were served a HUGE meal. For Mom and other foodies out there, we had a plethora of appetizers, including bread, tzitziki, cheese pie, greek salad, eggplant bake and grape leave rolls. The main course was rice and kabab (chicken), and it was topped off by some ice cream. Amazing. Stuffed to the brim, we walked in the night streets to the point overlooking the Acropolis - the Areopagus (where Paul delivered his speech about the 'Unknown God'). Truly an amazing sight.

We headed back to our hotel to read our substantial homework and have a beer in the hot tub looking up at the Acropolis. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, involving hiking galore. Thanks for reading and I'll try to post soon. Thanks for all of the support, everyone!