Sunday - Athens:
We all woke up early and had a nice breakfast, included with our rooms. Delicious melon, rolls, eggs, halavah.
Andrea and Zachary are still sick so Ari, Joshua, and I went to the flea market, and the Zeus's temple leaving them asleep in the hotel. After lunch we returned to find them asleep, so we went back out to see the Roman Agora and assorted ruins.
The kids were endlessly fascinated by the communal cats and dogs everywhere. People leave water and food out for them; we've even seen a lady take a bag of cat food out of her purse to feed a stray begging at an outdoor cafe. The temple of Zeus had a half dozen cats, a few dogs, and a couple of large turtles, cared for by staff.
After lunch, and frozen Greek yogurt that was by far the best froyo I've ever had, we all went to the Acropolis. I wasn't going to have any, but Joshua wanted to try it. He almost backed out when they only had one flavor, "yogurt" but one taste (which I heavily encouraged him to take) changed that. Andrea made the steep climb to the top, saw the Parthenon, and retired to the hotel while I took the kids to dinner.
I did a lot of research on where to have dinner using Google, our guide book, and Tripadvisor, finally settling on a place three blocks North and four blocks West of our hotel. I walked up the three blocks and turned the corner and the neighborhood went from urban graffiti to scary. I lived in Flatbush and this was as gritty as anything there. We walked about 6 blocks looking for the place before I decided to turn around and head back to the main street. On the way back I looked around a corner into an alley and saw a couple of guys cooking heroin. We ate an uninspired Greek meal in the touristy Palaka, but we got home safe.
Monday:
Kosmos rent a car dropped off a car at our hotel and we drove to Napflion, a picturesque town that was the first capital of Greece. The kids loved it. We wandered up and down the streets, ate at great restaurants, and bought a few souvenirs.
Tuesday
This was the best day yet. We started by driving to Epidaurus where there is a remarkably well preserved amphitheater that seats 14,000. Andrea, Joshua, and Zachary all sang (in English, Japanese, and Chinese respectively). We looked at the medical instruments and Andrea was appalled at how they did things. I suggested that in 100 years SSRIs will be viewed in the same way. "Imagine just slowing serotonin re-uptake in the whole brain and hoping that it helps more than hurts," I imagine a future neurologist saying in a tone somewhere between bewildered and shocked.
From Epidaurus we drove to Delphi, so I spent about seven hours driving today. On the way we read the story of Kleobus and Biton from our guidebook, which summed it up as "This story is one of a number of Greek tales which show that death is a small price to pay for immortal glory." Greek drivers have taken this lesson to heart. All traffic rules are taken as suggestions. They breeze through stop signs and pause at red lights. I did a rolling stop at a stop sign at the beginning of our trip and the driver behind me honked with annoyance. They pass in no passing zones even though the main highway is one lane in each direction and a shoulder that everyone uses. It was like driving in a movie, dodging oncoming traffic at 120 kph. Andrea recorded a few minutes of video just for fun.
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