Look, Acropolis!

Survived the first leg of the trip… more later 🙂

EDIT: This picture is an image of the Acropolis in Athens. We can see it from our hotel room balcony – amazing! Of course, it’s kind of small and just beyond some buildings that are under construction. Whatcha gonna do. We’ll go see it in person tomorrow. 🙂
Speaking of “whatcha gonna do” and “forgeddaboutit”, our ride to JFK from Connecticut in order to catch our flight to Greece was quite amusing. We had an Italian fellow drive us to the airport, and he was straight out of the Sopranos. I almost busted up when he said “forgeddaboutit” in the middle of a sentence. He let us know that he wasn’t too into movies, but really enjoyed those mob movies because they remind him of his neighborhood and his friends, and how it was in the old days when the Teamsters were stronger. Frickin’ hilarious.
Now we’re in Athens and it’s really quite beautiful. Not particularly warm here, but it’s winter so that’s not a huge surprise. Just outside the hotel window is Syntagma Square, which has a huge Christmas display going on. Loud Christmas songs all day long, tons of people, a Santa’s Workshop-style area where people are selling candy and nuts, a big Christmas tree, and a very popular carousel. But it doesn’t feel like “big city” there even though we’re in the heart of Athens. It feels very comfortable – almost cozy – and super friendly.
Tomorrow we’re going to walk around the local area, since most of the city’s main attractions are within a 15min walking radius from where we’re staying. I’m especially looking forward to going to the Acropolis, of course. I’ll take lots of pictures, I’m sure.
Late tomorrow night we head for Cairo, arriving at around 3am. oof! We’re going straight to the hotel and passing out until about noon. That’s when we meet up with our tour guide.