Day 2- Tues. May 12

Day 2 (Tuesday, May 12): Arrival in Athens

I arrived in Athens at 4:50 Tuesday afternoon completely exhausted. No real sleep for 2 days wears a person down. But I was soooo excited to finally BE IN GREECE. To be here, home of the Greeks, the place I've learned about since I was little, was so thrilling. I met Rob (one of my professors) and his mother Irene at the airport. They had just arrived. Off we proceeded on our adventure into Athens. (The airport is several miles away). First, we followed signs to the metro. The plan was to take the metro and subway... and Rob assured us he had “done this before” when he was in Greece two years previous. What fatal words.

We actually first took a train. We bought our ticket and validated it, then again followed signs to a train station several hundred yards away, up and down several hundred feet of stairs. We mistakenly rode the train a stop too far, so we had to return and have a do-over. It was getting hard to figure out how to read Greek train station timetables when faint from hunger, but luckily Rob had some chocolate, so I survived. :) From the train, we rode a subway to our hotel. I was too tired in the moment, but I realized later it was the first subway I've ever rode. Kind of funny they haven't been utilized in any of the places I've lived or been to.

When we came out of the subway station, I found myself in the middle of a crazy, bustling square. (Monastiraki Square). There is a 10th/ 11th century church in the middle, built of stones and tiles and a hodgepodge of items all held together with mortar all jumbled together.