As Perfect A Weekend As Perfect Can Be

Boy, what an absolutely fantastic weekend!

I returned to Athens today, sadly, after spending a few days on the beautiful island of Hydra. As I mentioned before, Hydra's unique lure is the fact that there are no automobiles on the island (although I did see a truck this morning, but that was only for garbage). Everyone either walks or rides a horse or donkey. It's incredibly awesome!

After last night's fun, I actually woke up by 9 am. I did not sleep all that well, but I was ready to go to the beach again. Our ferry wasn't scheduled to leave until 3:30 pm, so we had a few hours to spare.

The others had already left when we woke up, so Maggie and I headed to the beach that we went to with Taso on the first day. When we got there, the beach was quite empty, so we got to pick whatever spot we wanted. 'Twas glorious.

I swam again and then just chilled on the beach, before we finally headed up to the cafe for a drink and some food. I had a Cappuccino Freddo, which is delicious Greek coffee drink, but quite caffeinated if I do say so myself. I'm having another one as I write this actually (I'm at a cafe with free Wi-Fi, since our internet at the guesthouse is having issues at the moment). Probably not good to drink so much of this...

At the cafe today though, I also had a croque monsieur--basically, what I would describe as grilled cheese and french toast smashed together with ham in the middle. It's actually a French food item that I'd always learned about in high school French class, but never tried in real life. It wasn't too bad, but certainly wasn't worth 7 Euros.

We finished our food and then took some pictures--I got a note yesterday from Fredolyn pointing out the fact that my Fredoson (the penguin stuffed animal) pictures were a bit lacking, so I went ahead and took pictures with Fredoson at the cafe. I also forgot I was supposed to take pictures with a pocket Constitution in Berlin for my high school AP Gov teachers, Mr. Workman and Mr. Doolittle, so I did that too. Finally, I have to apologize to D-Ro for leaving her wonderful face-on-a-stick behind in my hotel room since I didn't want to get it wet at the beach--so sorry! More pictures to come later though.

On our way back to Athens, we had seats in the very back of the ferry, but Taso, Maggie, and I (and Steven and Jordan for a short while) stood out on the back deck of the ferry instead of in the claustrophobic seats we were assigned. It was fantastic! The sun was shining, the water was spraying, and I could stand outside without a shirt on, soaking in the amazing weather. Best ferry ride so far!

Back at the guesthouse, I took a shower right away though since I was coated with salt from standing in the sea spray for an hour and a half. I felt like I could've dusted it all off into a little salt shaker or something.

For dinner, we all sort of split up--I was craving Japanese food, which sounded delicious to Maggie too, so we went to the little Japanese restaurant up the street by the Acropolis. It was closed last week when we went, so what a relief that it was actually open.

I didn't know what to expect, but once we went in, I was pleasantly surprised. The restaurant was actually up on the terrace of the building, which was about three floors up, with little bamboo fountains and plants adding to the Japanese decor. At the top, we had an incredibly clear view of the Parthenon on the Acropolis and views of sprawling Athens in just about any direction. This place is definitely a hidden gem of a restaurant.

Even better, we got there just before the sun began to set, so we got to enjoy Japanese food and watch an amazing sunset as the lights outside the Parthenon lit up the ancient building against the dark blue night sky. Pictures don't do it justice, so I didn't even bother taking a picture of that. We are definitely going back there before this trip is over.

Tomorrow, I'm doing something a bit different from the group, since we have a free day. I decided to pay somewhat of a hefty amount to go on a tour that I know will be well worth it--no one else wanted to shell out money to go see more ruins. I know, I'm a nerd. I'll be catching an early morning bus and heading to Mycenae with stops in Epidaurus and Nafplio. I'd first learned about the Mycenaeans way back in Western Civ, so I am extremely excited to go see the Lions Gate in real life--it's about 1,000 years older than the Parthenon! (<--that's reallllly old, if you didn't quite catch that).

My only worry is that my camera's batteries won't last the whole day as I know I will be taking pictures like mad. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'll be back in Athens by mid-evening--just in time to head into the Athens nightlife after a quick shower when I get back. In that case, I may not blog again until Sunday night. We'll be doing interviews Sunday morning in a suburb of Athens and then heading to the Olympiakos soccer game in the evening. Should be fun!

Alright, I should probably get some rest tonight as I have to catch an early bus tomorrow morning. Thank goodness they're picking me up across the street.

Toodles!

Sam