Our first full day in Athens was similar to our last day in Milan. It was relaxing but eventful. We started off by waking up around 9 and realizing that breakfast ended in an hour, and that they wanted us out of the rooms by 10 for cleaning. So we took quick showers, went downstairs for the delicious free breakfast (it was the first breakfast that we had leisurely), and headed out to start the day.

Changing of the Guards at Parliament

The first big adjustment we've had to make in Greece is brushing up on the Greek alphabet, and realizing that some letters that look exactly like English letters actually make a completely different sound. The time this was most apparent was when I read one of the highway signs pointing towards Athens, or Athina as the Greek call it. The sign read: Aθηνα. At first glance, I read this as "Aonva?"and was thoroughly confused. But luckily, I had read up on Greek lettering just before getting off the boat in Patras, and realized that this did in fact spell "Athina". So it's taken a little getting used to, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of reading Greek script. Fortunately for us, all the street signs have the English version just below the Greek one!

So back to what we did: we walked down to the main square in Athens, right in front of Parliament. We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded by two guards a la the Queen's Guards at Buckingham Palace. We even got to see a changing of the guards. The way they marched seemed to be a skill in itself, requiring balance, coordination, and impeccable timing. They would stay balanced on one leg, with one arm up in the air, and what seemed to be a very heavy rifle in the other, for almost 3 seconds before actually moving on with their march. It was quite impressive. I might upload a video of this soon, but for now, here's a picture.

Dwarfed by the Temple of Zeus

We then walked down the street to see (what's left of) the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. Both of these monuments were HUGE, especially the columns of the Temple of Zeus. People walking around the temple are simply dwarfed by the columns that once held up a majestic temple. It's a mystery to me how one (and only one?) of those columns was blown down by the wind. Regardless, it was an awesome sight. Hadrian's Arch was pretty cool too, just for its historical significance. These two monuments were right next to each other.

National Library

One of the awesome things about the monuments in Athens is that all of them can be visited with a set of tickets that only cost 6€ for students (and 12€ for non-students, and I think it's even cheaper or free for students from the EU). We purchased this 6€ bundle at the Temple of Zeus, and will use it at all the places we'll see tomorrow - no need to go to the ticket booth again! Another note: being a student/youth in Athens is VERY rewarding, because you get half off at almost everything including the museums, archeological sites, and even the Metro. We luckily had ISIC cards and used those instead of experimenting with our UT IDs. I'm not sure we would have gotten the same discount if we had used our UT IDs.

So anyways, after Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Zeus, we made the long walk to northern Athens, where we visited the Archaeological Museum of Athens. We walked by the National Library on the way, and also stopped by for some lunch. We noticed that in this area of town, there seemed to be a dearth of actual lunch places, and everyone seemed to be having coffee and snacks at a cafe, even past 1 pm. We got paninis and a very fancy coffee at a hip looking coffee shop before heading into the Archaeological Museum.

Me NOT posing in front of the National Archaeological Museum

The Museum was okay (Sahna liked it because it gave her some sort of reference for Greek history). We got in for half price again just for being "students." (3€) We saw a bunch of really old stuff, basically dating back to Neolithic pots and tools, and then taking us through to the era of ancient Greek artifacts. I might have Sahna do a separate post about the stuff she learned cause it literally went in one ear and out the other for me. We saw some cool sculptures though. Word of advice: don't try to pose like one of the statues, cause they get pretty mad about that... I could see it being kinda disrespectful, but didn't realize it at the time :p

After the museum, we came back to the hostel and took a short break. Well, I was pretty much done for the day, but Sahna convinced me to go check out the new Acropolis Museum. So we took the metro two stations down (for only 0.70€ each, round trip! yay for student discounts and the 1.5 hour allowance) to the Acropolis station, and visited the brand new museum. The Metro is basically on an honor system, since there are no turnstiles to stop people from entering without a ticket. But, we read that it's pretty embarrassing and expensive (you have to pay 60 times what you would have paid) if you're caught without a validated ticket.

The archaeological site under the new Acropolis Museum

To me, the building itself was really worth the trip. They've done a really good job of making the museum inviting. Before you even enter the building, they have you walking on a fiberglass floor showing the excavations of an underground city below your feet. It's a really cool sight. They also have a really huge hole in the ground just before the entry doors where you get a good look at the excavation site. Supposedly, they're going to open it up to the public soon, so you can actually walk through an ancient city just outside and underneath the museum.

We got in for half-price, again. It's awesome having the ISIC card cause they accept it, no questions asked. Once we got in, though, it was a lot of the same...sculptures and art that came from the acropolis area. A lot of very similar sculptures that we saw at the Archaeological Museum. The cool part of this museum was the history and perspectives it gave you of the Parthenon. It was a really good idea to visit this place before going up to see the Parthenon because you understand a lot more of what you're looking at with the background you get at the Museum. They also have another cool fiberglass floor and a view of what's under your feet. Another cool part is the video of how they restore some of these statues damaged by the elements. They use some really hi-tech laser technology, which worked wonders on carefully restoring the original color without damaging the intricacy of the work. On the top floor is a panoramic view of the city and the Acropolis, which was also a really cool sight. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures in the museum :(

Souvlaki!!

After the museum, we headed back to the hostel and did our laundry in the awesome (but slightly pricey at 5€ each for washer and dryer) washer room. Luckily, both our sets of clothes fit into one huge load, and we now have fresh clothes! We also ate some more souvlaki and chilled in the lobby for a bit, talking to the other hostel residents.

Now, I'm looking forward to finally going up on the Acropolis and seeing the Parthenon tomorrow!