Athens: Day 1
DISCLAIMER
If you were following this blog hoping for more insight than, "We went to this place and saw this stuff" then I have some bad news.
Midnight crackers is a blog about our travels, but it isn't a Travel Blog per se. I'm about to post a bunch of pictures from our first day sight-seeing in Athens and I have no idea what most of it is.
The fact is, our beautiful angel son is a wonderful little adventurer who does not have time for us to read signs to completion. The kid was on a mission to climb to the top of the Acropolis and once we were there he immediately wanted to go back down. Sign reading and learning were not on the agenda. You're lucky we even have photos of yesterday, as he shouted to everyone within earshot that no one was allowed to take any more pictures while we were standing in front of the Parthenon.
In related news, Simon is sorry for all those things he shouted at Acropolis visitors while he was hangry.
END DISCLAIMER
Ready? Here we go!
We had an awesome first day in Athens! We saw incredible things! The most incredible? Simon willingly ate yogurt again for the first time since September! AND SAUSAGE. Actual, seasoned to a degree I was sure he would dislike, Greek sausage! VACATION IS AWESOME!
Our hotel is within walking distance to the Acropolis, so after our wonderful hotel breakfast we headed that way. The weather was overcast but the temperature was pleasant. The Acropolis wasn't very crowded and we had a lovely time making the climb to the Parthenon. There were also a few dozen lovely cats wandering about and they were all the most good-est fluffy buddies (Ian got most of the cat photos and I will share them in a later post).
Afterwards we headed down to see an Ancient Agora, ruins of a nearby village. Then we headed back to our hotel neighborhood where Ian had located an excellent little cafe for us to have lunch. I am volunteering Ian for a guest post about our food as I was too busy eating it to remember what any of it was. It was all delicious, and Simon, as I said, ate meat for the first time in months.
After a nice nap in our room, we headed back out a little after sunset to have a look at Hadrian's Arch, the Temple of Zeus, and the Panathenaic Stadium (where the 1896 Olympics were held) all lit up at night. This was going great until, two blocks from our hotel, my foot made it's acquaintance with a patch of crumbling sidewalk and I basically face planted, taking Simon down with me as I was holding his hand. Luckily Ian was holding his other hand, so Simon only bumped his knee and was scared. I, however, strained my right ankle, banged my left knee, and slammed both palms on the ground pretty hard. We carried on and I walked it off, but I'm pretty sore this morning. Mostly I'm annoyed that for the amount of discomfort I'm in there isn't a single mark to justify all my whimpering.
Also the fact that, after scrambling over uneven paths, craggy rocks, and ancient gods-damned ruins, an uneven sidewalk is what beat me up I MEAN COME THE FUCK ON.
After we saw our nighttime sights we headed back to our hotel neighborhood again to stop at another lovely cafe Ian found to have a dinner snack. Simon was pleased there was white bread at the table and willingly sampled enough of his orange-mango-ginger smoothie for us to be thoroughly baffled as to where this adventurous eater came from. If this keeps up we might just have to live in Athens (then I can start a new blog about Acropolis Cats!!)
We had incredible stuffed grape leaves and a cheese and spearmint pie which was amazing. Dessert was "spoon sweets" which were cherries and grapes in sugary syrups. We also sampled orange pie with vanilla ice cream and it was marvelous. Simon made a dish of chocolate ice cream disappear. Ian and I celebrated an incredible first day with ouzo AND raki... which is how I managed the walk home without any pain.
Then we stayed up late to watch Disney's Hercules before bed. Simon is actually very curious about all the temples and mythology now, so we're hopeful he'll really enjoy the museums we're visiting today.
If you were following this blog hoping for more insight than, "We went to this place and saw this stuff" then I have some bad news.
Midnight crackers is a blog about our travels, but it isn't a Travel Blog per se. I'm about to post a bunch of pictures from our first day sight-seeing in Athens and I have no idea what most of it is.
The fact is, our beautiful angel son is a wonderful little adventurer who does not have time for us to read signs to completion. The kid was on a mission to climb to the top of the Acropolis and once we were there he immediately wanted to go back down. Sign reading and learning were not on the agenda. You're lucky we even have photos of yesterday, as he shouted to everyone within earshot that no one was allowed to take any more pictures while we were standing in front of the Parthenon.
In related news, Simon is sorry for all those things he shouted at Acropolis visitors while he was hangry.
END DISCLAIMER
Ready? Here we go!
We had an awesome first day in Athens! We saw incredible things! The most incredible? Simon willingly ate yogurt again for the first time since September! AND SAUSAGE. Actual, seasoned to a degree I was sure he would dislike, Greek sausage! VACATION IS AWESOME!
Our hotel is within walking distance to the Acropolis, so after our wonderful hotel breakfast we headed that way. The weather was overcast but the temperature was pleasant. The Acropolis wasn't very crowded and we had a lovely time making the climb to the Parthenon. There were also a few dozen lovely cats wandering about and they were all the most good-est fluffy buddies (Ian got most of the cat photos and I will share them in a later post).
 |
| Theater of Dionysus |
 |
| Simon was dead. So very dead. The deadest. |
 |
| Temple of Athena |
 |
| Still pretty chipper |
 |
| The Temple of Zeus and a hangry child. That isn't actually a smile, but we'll pretend it is! |
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| Getting hangrier. |
 |
| CATS |
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| A man in his element. |
 |
| "It's a little craggy here, Mumma." |
Afterwards we headed down to see an Ancient Agora, ruins of a nearby village. Then we headed back to our hotel neighborhood where Ian had located an excellent little cafe for us to have lunch. I am volunteering Ian for a guest post about our food as I was too busy eating it to remember what any of it was. It was all delicious, and Simon, as I said, ate meat for the first time in months.
 |
| Simon said this looked like an ancient ruin AT-AT Walker and I totally see it. |
 |
| "Yo, Hadriaaaan!" |
 |
| Inspecting the marble |
After a nice nap in our room, we headed back out a little after sunset to have a look at Hadrian's Arch, the Temple of Zeus, and the Panathenaic Stadium (where the 1896 Olympics were held) all lit up at night. This was going great until, two blocks from our hotel, my foot made it's acquaintance with a patch of crumbling sidewalk and I basically face planted, taking Simon down with me as I was holding his hand. Luckily Ian was holding his other hand, so Simon only bumped his knee and was scared. I, however, strained my right ankle, banged my left knee, and slammed both palms on the ground pretty hard. We carried on and I walked it off, but I'm pretty sore this morning. Mostly I'm annoyed that for the amount of discomfort I'm in there isn't a single mark to justify all my whimpering.
Also the fact that, after scrambling over uneven paths, craggy rocks, and ancient gods-damned ruins, an uneven sidewalk is what beat me up I MEAN COME THE FUCK ON.
After we saw our nighttime sights we headed back to our hotel neighborhood again to stop at another lovely cafe Ian found to have a dinner snack. Simon was pleased there was white bread at the table and willingly sampled enough of his orange-mango-ginger smoothie for us to be thoroughly baffled as to where this adventurous eater came from. If this keeps up we might just have to live in Athens (then I can start a new blog about Acropolis Cats!!)
We had incredible stuffed grape leaves and a cheese and spearmint pie which was amazing. Dessert was "spoon sweets" which were cherries and grapes in sugary syrups. We also sampled orange pie with vanilla ice cream and it was marvelous. Simon made a dish of chocolate ice cream disappear. Ian and I celebrated an incredible first day with ouzo AND raki... which is how I managed the walk home without any pain.
 |
| "It's a Christmas Feast, Daddy! The best EVER!" |
Then we stayed up late to watch Disney's Hercules before bed. Simon is actually very curious about all the temples and mythology now, so we're hopeful he'll really enjoy the museums we're visiting today.
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