Athens, Greece

The Parthenon. Booyyyaaa!!


Greece has been awesome. The city is very big and very pretty. We managed to get a decent hotel for 25 euro night near all of the restaurants and the Acropolis. Trekking around all day in the heat has been tough though. It really takes in out of you, especially when it came to climbing to the top of the Acropolis. The Acropolis was very impressive. I felt the Parthenon definitely lived up to the hype. It is pretty big. The only thing better in Greece has been the food. I think I'm at least 50% gyro by now.

Last night was a good time. Laurence and I ended up hanging out and drinking with a group of 8 rowdy French guys. Good times to be had. I have no idea what liquor those boys had but it was wrecking my shop. It definitely made the bus ride this morning interesting. I almost lost my cookies several times. But the best part about last night when I left to get the hotel to get some more wine. I picked up some wine and out of no where this nice old man came up to me and started talking to me. He said he wants to show me his bar. I was still kind of caught off guard and he seemed nice enough and I figured it would be close so I went with him. So we walk for maybe 5 minutes and we go into the bar which is nice but empty. He gives me a beer and some liquor brought for himself. He took maybe half a sip and then introduces me to some woman in her mid thirties. She introduces herself and immediately asks me if I will buy her a drink. At this point I understand what is happening. Doug got lured by a pimp into some kind of weird Greek sex den. It was actually kind of funny because the girl, whatever her name was, kept trying to subtly finish the sale but I was having none of it. She asked me if I wanted to go sit on one of the couches but I declined. We ended up talking for maybe 5-10 minutes about my trip and what I was doing there. She actually seemed like a nice enough girl. After 10 minutes, she had pounded her drink and asked me if I'd buy her another. I said no thanks and said I should be going. I asked her how much her drink was and she said 35 euros. Ha! I grabbed my wine threw down 30 euros for hers and mine, which still is outrageous and got out of there. It was a funny story but an expensive one. I didnt expect to have to fight off hookers in Athens; at least it will be good preparation for Thailand.

Today we got a chance to go to the beach about half an hour from the city center. That was a good time. The water is very pretty and clear. We had to pay to get on the beach but it was definitely worth it.

Tomorrow at 4, I get to head on a 9 and half hour flight to Bangkok. Should be interesting.