European Adventure

April 2017 - February 2018
A 318-day adventure by Angharad
  • 317footprints
  • 39countries
  • 318days
  • 1.7kphotos
  • 0videos
  • -kilometers
  • Day 1

    We made it!

    April 4, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    At check in we were stoked to be given exit seats for both flights - I was hopeful thinking this would
    stop a lot of Will's winging but alas, he had a migraine the whole of the first flight :( The cabin crew were useless, it took them about 30 mins to locate panadol and then they wouldn't give him anymore even though it was a 15 hour flight so he was safe to have more -.-
    Dinner was yum but breakfast was terrible - it reminded me of that hilarious Virgin airplane food complain letter that went viral. It looked like melded goop.
    The man next to me was annoying and his English made me uncomfortable- he kept making comments that I could hardly understand and he had this air of arrogance.
    As I said the staff where useless! They literally chatted the whole way and I'm pretty sure went out of their way to avoid eye contact.
    The flights average age was about 9 I reckon. I've never had so many kids on one flight - all going to Lebanon and all extremely loud and annoying. They didn't help Wills headache or mood.
    I slept for a lot of the flight luckily. In between my little cry because I felt so helpless regarding Will.
    I always pee a thousand times more when I fly and feel so awkward walking to the toilet making eye contact with people "hi... me again"
    I watched some Big Bang episodes and that was about it for the first flight.
    We stayed an extra hour in the air before landing which stressed a lot of people out who had connecting flights - once we finally got off the plane we had 10 mins before our plane started boarding.
    Doha looks so sterile - everything is made of metals - not natural materials and there is maybe 4 plants in the whole country.
    So. Much. Sand.
    The airport had some cool but random statues - we didn't Really get to explore unfortunately because we were rushed to find our flight - we had to get a tram. We planned on buying Will panadol but apparently only one place in the whole airport sells it and naturally that was on the other side..

    We bought some croissants and waited for boarding.

    There was this completely traditional Jewish family with the shaved head and pig tale side dangly bits and big black hat. I love seeing people in such traditional wear.
    Got on the plane and this time it was only 5 hours thank heavens - I slept again and Wills headache returned but we made it!

    After going through customs we decided that finding food and water was our first priority- we found a little cafe in the airport that was pretty cheap considering its location. Eventually we trudged on and found the station. The train ride cost 10€ each and took 40 mins - turns out we didn't even need the ticket but better safe than sorry.
    On the train we enjoyed looking at the different terrain and flora. Very shrubby.
    There was this gypsy girl that kept waking up and down the train playing the accordion.
    The Greek alphabet stresses me out - because it's not bases off our Latin alphabet I can't even sound it out which makes me feel helpless but I'm sure I'll manage - luckily the English is normally written underneath.
    We found our stop and walked out into Syntagma square.
    Fuck me pigeons really do live everywhere!!
    Immediately there was a lot of beggars and stalls selling souvenirs, food, books and other nick nacks. The square was very crowded so I clung onto my bags very tightly. We followed the directions given to us for our Bnb and found it on top of a cute little falofel shop. Our host, Lilly, is sweet and thankfully speaks clear English!!!
    Our room is perfect and her house is awesome! It's from the 1860's and is like a maze. It has a beautiful terrace that I can't wait to check out later.
    Will is currently having a well earned rest as I write this.

    Just before, all hell broke loose - it was very Greek.
    I heard this dog start howling and loosing its marbles so naturally I had a sticky beak out the window - there was this ridiculous congregation of "band" members playing music so so loudly! The dogs owner was trying to calm it and screaming at the gypsies to fuck off like 10 odd times before they actually moved on. It really was a bizarre scenario to watch. I enjoyed myself. What made me most happy was seeing that the dogs owner actually cared for him. I have been pre warned not to expect that sort of compassion from most Greek people regarding animals.

    I am so tired.
    Once will wakes up I think we are going for a walk.

    Ok so went for a walk around town. There are so so many material shops. It's kind of silly. There's lots of shoe stores too.
    It's weird hearing Greek, it's not a language I hear often - i still don't know how to say hi. Super rude of me!
    I feel very blonde though.
    Will is surprised by how many Gypsy kids we have seen. I'm not; it's only been 3. They did have a clever ploy though. They were sitting along the street playing the accordion and would purposely put their money tin in the middle of the road for people to kick, freak out when money went flying everywhere and then when they bent over to pick it up - that's when the 'striking' is suppose to happen I think. The kids do look like rats though. Literally rats - very Peter Pettigrew.
    We found this pasta shop we decided to have dinner in - Will loved it, I didn't. There wasn't enough tomato in their bolognese which is probably why Will liked it.
    Turns out we are very unprepared - we were trying to figure out if we are suppose to tip.. we decided to just round up the total until we find out.
    There are so many mopeds.
    Back at the Bnb now. It's only 6.30 but I think it's nearly time for bed. Earlier I booked us in for a free walking tour for tomorrow which I'm pretty keen for :D

    YAYAYAY WE ARE ACTUALLY HERE :D
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  • Day 2

    Athens

    April 5, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Woke up several times during the night and had to pee but the toilet is next to one of owners room and I didn't want to wake him. - side note - he smokes a lottttt of weed, he has basically hotboxed his bedroom and I got a whiff every time I went to the loo. Made me feel a little queezy. The streets outside were very loud too.
    We got up at 8 and had left by 8:30 - we decided we would find the meeting place for our tour and then get breakfast. Hadrians arch was about 1km away and easy to find. We had breakfast at some resturant nearby and it made Will feel sick. He got scrambled eggs and they were dripping in butter. I got pancakes and they were pretty shitty too.
    We walked back for the start of our tour and got the tour guide we wanted - her name was Sam and she was originally from South Africa so her accent was easy to understand. She has lived in Greece for 26 years after coming for a 2 week holiday and meeting her husband.
    She was a great guide, very enthusiast and good with dates.
    We saw Hadrians Arch and Zeus temple. (Can't remember exact name but it's right next to the arch) we then walked on and came across an ancient bath they only discovered in 2004. I liked listening to the gross way they use to bathe by shaving their skin off into the water. Next we walked past the gardens which was the athletes village for the modern day Olympic Games - Sam painted a colorful picture of what it would have been like.
    We saw the Olympic stadium, but didn't go in. We plan on doing it another day.
    We went through another garden (there is only 2 in the whole of Athens) - Amalia, the queen and wife of Otto created the garden - seeds from all over the world were brought and planted there - there was also a zoo (mainly ducks and goats for kids), beautiful GINORMOUS bird nests and random parts from old buildings used as decorations. It was pretty.
    Next we went past the prime ministers house / not where he lives but where he works. We were fortunate enough that something special was happening so there was tonnes of security and a special changing of the guard ceremony. It is compulsory is Greece for all males to do Military service. I got photos with a guard; he didn't blink once, was kinda creepy.
    They do this ridiculous walk with Pom poms on their feet and a horse shoe on the bottom of their foot because king Otto was obsessed with horses. We waited for the prime minister/other to arrive but it took too long so we moved on but not before maybe 100 odd soldiers did a walking parade down the street.
    We walked past the House of Parliament and the tomb of the unknown solider which I want to have a closer look at another day and then onto some churches one being the metropolitan cathedral of Athens.
    We saw Hadrians library, the Roman Agora and this beautiful graffiti street. Street art is not illegal here - graffiti is.
    There are heaps of cats, but they seem to be well looked after or at least they haven't been abused. They come happily for pats and arnt scared of people.
    We walked through winding streets with little houses with breathtaking views. We finished our tour and tipped 10€. I found her to be a great guide.
    We had lunch at a resturant nearby.
    There was a cat in the resturant :)
    We tried a Greek entree platter which was actually delicious. The sausage was great.
    Will tried a few beer and he really enjoyed them too. I tried tomato soup for the first time, yum!
    We then started walking down to the acropolis entrance. I fell down the hill and received little sympathy from William, he was highly embarrassed but my knees hurt so much I couldn't stand up so I just sat there for a moment having a little cry lol. I did scrape my knees though so lucky I was wearing pants or it would have been much worse.
    We paid 20€ each to enter the acropolis which was expensive but it is one of the Main sites so..
    what can I say other than it had a lot of broken marble pieces along the paths. The signs unfortunately were mainly in Greek and didn't really describe what we were looking at but talked about its restoration.
    There was a fantastic theatre though and the Parthenon was super duper. Except again, disappointed in the lack of explanation regarding its purpose and how it would have been used.
    "A temple for Athena" doesn't really tell me why it's so significant.
    The rocks where very slippery though when we were walking back down, again, lots of cats and dogs. Will needed to pee really badly and so we stoped in an information center to use the facilities.
    On the toilet door was a sign "please don't put toilet paper in the toilet" ....... gross.
    We then went back home and I was so tired I fell asleep about 5pm without dinner and slept the whole way through. :)

    We found out Coco had been attacked by Zeus/Athena and had to be put down tonight. I feel so, so sad for Coco. The poor little thing. She was such a sweet and happy soul. I'm honestly gutted. I hope the family is ok.
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  • Day 3

    Athens

    April 6, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We woke early today - 7ish and just lounged around until about 8:30 when we left to find somewhere for breakfast.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM! the birthday boy chose McDonald's ( no complaints from me ) we both got Big Macs :D afterwards we headed off in search of the national archaeological museum. We got a little lost..
    Their signage is honestly terrible. What was weird though is that our both our phones location worked when using maps even though neither of us have SIM cards. It came in handy though because we could figure out if we were walking down the street the wrong way - which we did, many times. After a lot of searching we found it. Just outside the entrance was a big bus full of policemen. We wondered if they were expecting a riot or something because they had the shields too.
    We went inside and goodness gracious there was a lot of school classes. We managed though.
    The sculptures were awesome! So detailed and well preserved considering just how old some of them were. We stumbled across a little ancient Egypt section and even though it shouldn't be (because we are in Greece), it was my favorite part. I think maybe because I don't know Greek history well at all so again, I didn't fully comprehend what I as looking at other than impressive artworks. Still, I enjoyed it.
    There was 2 skeletons on display which I also enjoyed.
    Me and Will both agreed that when we are billionaires we are going to buy a lot of pots and artworks. He said this and yet when I bought a little pot in the gift shop he went back on his word. Tough titties, William.
    We also saw what's considered to be 'the first computer' - it was the first clock/calendar that didn't rely on the sun.
    Didn't fully understand it but apparently it's significant and worth noting :)

    Next we just explored the streets looking for somewhere to have lunch. Will is really lucking out with his food choices, his burger meat was basically raw mince and made him feel sick. My food was great :) heh while at the resturant we used the wifi to find the location of a monstrous hill that apparently has terrific views of Athens at the top and a church. It's supposedly where Athena lost her wings.

    My god it was steep! We walked up these suspicious looking paths and the only reason I kept going was because they had bins set up which made it seem more legit, lol.
    I nearly stepped on a tortoise along the way, it was a cute! Stupid Joshua, why is he a turtle and not a tortoise?
    He was a little shy at first but then started munching on some leaves :)
    We kept going - thighs burning at this point - until we reached a bench where we took some photos and noticed that many people had graffitied their names into the cactus leaves, so of course we did too. We wrote A+W <3 cause we are gay.
    The cactus had a lot of juice and I pricked myself. Serves me right really.
    When we FINALLY reached the top the view was spectacular. Athens itself is quite ugly but seeing so many buildings upon buildings for so far out was awesome. The church at the top wasn't worth the walk. Let's be real, the 2 tortoises were the highlight. Oh and my soon to be buns of steal.

    Greek people are really quite rude. I have been barged into heaps and not a single person has said sorry. One lady even put up her hand to say stop, then walked on past like she had right of way. I made a very derisive laugh at her face. Not impressed. They also got no clue on how to drive and park where ever they want.

    I'm not taken by Greece to be honest. Like, I like it well enough and I'm so happy I'm here and get to see things but when I leave, it's not going to be a place I need to come back to.

    Back at the Bnb now, we played a few card games and later we will go out for birthday dinner :)

    Went walking and found a cute little alleyway full of restaurants. Will picked one and we sat inside.
    I was grossly underwhelmed by the food but it was edible. I had an ice cream after to fill the void . We walked back to our Bnb and sat in the falafel shop beneath our room. Will had a beer and I had pomegranate juice. Wills face of horror when he tried some was quite hilarious. Will wanted more beers so we went to the only bottle shop we have come across and he sampled 2 more. We have notice that "pubs" don't seem to be a thing. Maybe because alcohol is so accessible everywhere they don't need a designated drinking spot.
    Back home now. So tired again. Tomorrow we fly to Italy so we have to pack which I can't be bothered to do :/ we have to get up early to make sure we get there in time and have time to organize our lockers.
    I like where we are staying. It's pretty noisy though.
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  • Day 4

    Rome

    April 7, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Woke up at 5 -.-
    Packed our bags and headed for the airport. We nearly missed the train cause we didn't have the correct change for the automatic machines So we had to go to the teller - some dude in front of us took sooo long. He was having like a picture I.d made and laminated or something -.-
    Anyway, we ran for the train an made it. I said it before but I'll say it again - everyone is so damn miserable and rude. Not a single smile from anyone or really acknowledgment of my existence even when spoken to. We were 80% of the way there when suddenly the lights turned off and we were told to get off the train. A little confused we followed the instructions and waited on a platform with other confused people waiting for a new train. Still not sure why happened but eventually a new train came and we made it to the airport. We went searching for a place to store our luggage while we are in Italy. It was surprising easy to locate and the prices were reasonable - especially considering it was the only option so really, they could charge whatever they want.
    Because everything went smoothly we are now just having some breakfast before we need to board in a hour.

    So their airport security is atrocious. It was the same security as flying from Sydney to Brisbane only this flight was international :/ didn't even have my passport scanned and just walked straight off the plane.
    The plane ride was 2 hours and boring because we weren't seated together. I tried learning some Italian on my app :) la Mela is apple :)
    I'm Practically fluent.

    Ate at the cafe - yuck.
    Then caught a taxi to our Bnb which was expensive - 55€ I think but our hosts English wasn't the best so his instruction to us weren't very clear so we went with the safer option.
    His verbal English is much clearer - really nice man. He is trusting us with his house - he has gone to the country side for the weekend. Our room is awesome and Will is happy we have an ensuite.
    We went for a walk down the street for lunch. The flower shops on the side of the road are beautiful! We are staying really close to the Vatican so we saw its roof.
    The restaurant we ate in was a disappointment. We aren't doing well. They didn't have spaghetti bolognese so I thought I'd branch out my palette but the sauce they used tasted like tinned spagettio tomato sauce.
    We walked back to the hotel to have a nap ^.^
    Our nap ended up being a huggggeeee sleep.
    I slept from 3pm - 7am.
    Good times.
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  • Day 5

    Rome

    April 8, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Woke up at 7. Now lounging around waiting for it to get to 10 for our Skype date with the Pickering's :)
    We booked a hotel for tomorrow night though so that's one less stress.
    Oh but lucky me, hotmail has decided I don't live in Greece so must be a hacker and has blocked me out of my email. :/ a tad stressed but hopefully it's fixable once back on the laptop. I tried on my phone and I gave them "insufficient evidence" that it's me -.-

    We Skyped Helen and Bill first. It was really nice to talk to them. We then called Jess and Jaxon. Jaxon gave us his award winning smile so he must have know who we were #favouriteaunty
    It was great to talk to Jess too :)

    We then walked in the general direction of the police station to find somewhere to have breakfast - we ended up in St Peters square where there was tonnes and tonnes of seats in preparation for Easter Sunday tomorrow. We were thinking about visiting the Vatican today but decided against it - the line was 200m+ long.
    We ate a cute little resturant then went searching - this is when our day turned to shit.
    We found the police station and said we were here to get our Visa's signed off. We were sent to some lady whose English was practically nonexistent - she kept saying we don't need to get signed off..
    she sent us to someone else who sent us to some one else and then we finally spoke to what I think was the chief. His English wasn't great either..
    basically long story short - I hate the Italian consulate, the information that have provided from the beginning has been total crap.
    The police had no frigging idea what we were doing there and didn't understand what we wanted/needed. After lots of attempts at communication it turns out we need to go to the POST office not POLICE station. WHICH GUESS WHAT!? IS CLOSED UNTIL MONDAY BUT WE FLY BACK TO GREECE TOMORROW, WHICH IS SUNDAY........
    we even have a damn piece of paper given to us by the consulate that states police station ....

    So basically, we are going to have to fly back another time before June 13th.
    We tried looking into cancelling our return flight and accommodation but getting a new return flight will cost us 250€.. not happening.
    We are extremely annoyed and frustrated!

    We tried finding the post office to make sure it wasn't open and first one we found said they couldn't help us and to ask the police..... wanting to scream at this point.. but we eventually figured out it was because they were the Vatican post office not the Italian one..
    We found the Italian one, it was closed but we now know where to find it when we come back.
    I guess we know what Will's birthday money is going towards -.-

    We walked back to the Bnb to try and make arrangements and once we had got our thoughts together we decided to go for a walk to the trevi fountain.

    Longggg walk. About 4km there. Rome is smashing Athens. Everything is so old and beautiful. Every building looks purposefully built and cared for with raw history. The alleyways we took to find the fountain were exactly what comes to mine when I think of Italy - cobbled stone streets, with vines up walls and little tables out front.
    We both really enjoyed the fountain, it was peaceful and like everything else, beautifully constructed. Unfortunately very busy but we made our way through to grab a few photos and throw some coins in. Will says I did it wrong but he likes complaining.

    Next we thought we would walk over to the colosseum. We walked around it once - we've agreed that when we come back this is one place I want to actually pay for a tour guide in because it's history/story really interests me. We sat for a while just thinking about how many people and animals had died inside and how scared they must have been in the waiting bays.
    We took lots of selfies too :)
    We then walked back to the hotel. On the way we past so many spectacular sights - I have no clue what they were but they were big, detailed and impressive!!

    20 odd kilometers we walked today. Our feet and legs are very tired!!
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  • Day 6

    Rome

    April 9, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Packed our bags, cleaned the room and made our way out one final time through the bnb's dodgy lift.
    We walked down the street the other direction this morning looking for breakfast. There was literally no shops until the wonderful Golden Arches appeared.
    Romes breakfast menu kicks butt. They had all sorts of sweets, pastries and other fancy goodies.
    While I admired it I ended up with a cheeseburger :D
    We went walking in search of some big fancy pants garden with the intention of final getting SIM cards for our phone.On the way we went near the Vatican and Hooley Dooley was it packed! We kept walking and had a few breaks on the way. There are so many sausage dogs in Rome. <3 I'm trying to convince Will to let me one day have one called sizzle. I think he may crack if I persist for a year.
    We have both decided we don't like their emergency vehicle sirens. The pitch is too high.

    We walked over lots of bridges, past the da Vinci museum, before we reached the park. It's really hot. I don't understand everyone - in both countries they have been dressed for hardcore winter weather and we have been trotting around it shorts and T-shirts. We were both thirsty so we got drinks and I got a strawberry gelato. It was super tasty.
    We walked around a bit and found a nice patch of grass for a snooze. While the grass was itchy because we didn't have a blanket it was nice knowing I wouldn't be attacked by 100 different types of insects.
    We kept making our way slowly up the hill as the sun moved. We are now sitting at the top and have noticed a couple apparently indifferent that it's a public space and are getting uncomfortably close. She has mounted him and oh dear.... some people have moved away hahah
    A lesbian couple have now seated themselves close and are going to town too. I would think it were some free for all sex park if we weren't surrounded by children.
    There is heaps of people who try to sell you things and they are already annoying me. NO I DONT WANT YOUR STUPID ROSE.
    They come right up into your face. GO AWAY.
    I became too cold in the shade so I stood up and made a daisy chain necklace in the sun :)
    We eventually left the park after 2 hours or so and strolled the street aimlessly. Our flight leaves at 9:30pm so we didn't have time to explore anywhere properly but had a lot of time to kill.
    We found a Vodafone shop but the prices were ridiculous. They didn't have a pre paid plan, only monthly deals. We will try again in Greece but worst comes to worst for the moment if we need to contact each other we will find free wifi zones and Facebook call each other and if not - just go home and meet each other there.
    The streets are so chaotic, there doesn't seem to be any sort of designated rules for cars or pedestrians. People walk where they want, don't look for cars and walk in zigzags.
    We ate pizza for lunch - the sinks had pedals you had to stand on to activate the water.
    We ended up in an Irish pub and spent a few hours there. Will had a few beers and I had a got chocolate with cream.
    We got a taxi to the airport - much cheaper this time round, only 30€.
    We hung around in the cafe, I made friendly chat with an Irish girl as I charged my phone. She was freaking out because her phone was on 2% and wasn't charging but had her boarding pass on it. Hope she made it into the plane. I wasn't hungry so I had a kinder surprise for dinner heheh :)
    We were seated apart again. I had a window seat - yay :) I was next to 2 American boys who I don't think were 21 because the were unnecessarily excited about buying 3 beers each. They did the smelliest burps for the remainder of the flight :/
    We got off and collected our big bags.
    We went to get s taxi it first we had to get cash out because no one takes card because they don't want to pay taxes..
    our taxi stunk of smoke. No one in Europe seems to have gotten the 'smoking is bad for you' memo.
    It was a 54€ flat rate to get us to our $40 hotel - this has been a stupidly expensive waste of time.
    We were just thankful to find somewhere to stay because we flew in at 1am... not many places were willing to wait up for us.
    Our hotel was good enough for what we paid. What I thought was weird was that reception not only handed us our room key but the Tv control and air conditioning remote which we had to return at checkout. I've never had to do that before.
    We bother crashes when we finally lay down.
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  • Day 7

    Athens

    April 10, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Our hotel did free breakfast but we were both just so exhausted we slept through til 11 because checkout was at 12 not 10! woo!!
    We asked the hotel to order us a taxi which we caught to our next Bnb. It only cost 7€. Our host is so beautiful. She gave us a full-on 30 minute orientation to her house and how to get around she offered us a home made sweet that I had in one mouthful and oh my did I regret it. In Greece there is this citrus fruit I can't remember the name of but it is more sour than a lemon so they only cook the skin. It was horrible. Will didn't even touch his. Don't blame him even though it was rude.
    Our host made up this big booklet which has maps and is info, it's really cute. After our orientation we went for a walk in search for breakfast/lunch. We found this place were they were the friendliest Greeks I have yet encountered. The man was so loud and happy and enthusiastic about us trying his coffee and pizza. Both were great - or so Will said the coffee was.
    "42 years the receipt has not changed" he kept telling us about his pizza.
    We nearly walked out with out paying by habit because they expect you to pay after and not before which we are use to so we ran back in and apologized. We then went to a little convenience store and stocked up on local chips etc. we fist ate this DELICIOUS peanut butter flavored chip balls. Amazing! :)
    We then had a 3 hour nap...
    we are now trying to go get dinner but can't for the life of us figure out how to open the front door. So we are waiting...
    30 minutes past and we thought we would give it one last try before accepting the fact we would have to share a snickers bar for dinner.
    We did it! :)
    Will doesn't know what he did, I think it was by accident but I don't care, we're free :D

    We tried locating an ATM but again they avoid electronic money like nothing else so we failed which meant we ended up at dominos. I got a Greek salad because I'm in Greece ^.^
    I did my first weekly Facebook update and uploaded some pictures. We're now lying in bed watching shawshank redemption.
    Earlier I send a very long email to the Italian consulate asking them to explain and review our tour and previous Bnbs :)
    I'm pretty excited to skype my parents, do washing and go to the Olympic stadium tomorrow :)
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  • Day 8

    Athens

    April 11, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We were told yesterday that our hosts would be providing us breakfast. It was an uncomfortable morning. We just sat there staring at it for 30 minutes. The bread was stale, the apples old and mushy and there was 2 random eggs. We ate as much as we could but barely made a dent. Luckily they weren't there to watch us. They have a dog which I was super excited to see on the balcony. They let him inside so I could have a pat :)
    Our first job of the day was to get some money out so we went searching for an ATM and took our dirty laundry with us to take to the laundromat after. Will got the shits big time because i accidentally closed the maps on my phone so we couldn't find the laundromat and had to go back home. We asked our hosts if we could borrow there washer which they agreed to - or rather the daughter volunteered her mum. Lol
    We then Skyped mum and dad. It bowl was sooo good to see/talk with them. I asked mum to get the cat so I could say hello. I like to think he was uninterested because the computer froze so he didn't see me properly............
    We said bye then we set off for the Stadium.
    We caught our first international bus. Woohoo!
    I find buses scary, even Australian ones, but we managed. We got off at syntagma square and walked towards the stadium, on the way we stopped at the Zappeion which is where the head of the man who payed for the rebuilding/fixing of the Olympic stadium is buried and it is now just used for official ceremonies and meetings. It hosted the fencing in the 1896 games.
    We arrived at the panathenaic stadium and the tickets only cost 5€, winning! I was super excited, I love the olympics. We got free audio guides and started our tour. It talked about the reconstruction of the stadium then showed us the designated seats for the king and queen to watch from. We went through this random tunnel and found all the past torched from the Olympic Games and some of the winter games as well. Compared to many others I though our torch was one of the better ones. Seoul's was my favorite. The beacon they use to light the torch was there too.
    It also had history on the battle of the marathon.
    The marathon was created to commemorate a Greek runner who was sent to run 26.2 miles to share the news of victory over the Turks to the Athenians but died upon arrival.
    It was the Main event in the Olympics for many years.
    I did a 400 meter run around the track and got photos on the podium.
    The track is an unusual shape, it's 185m straight with 15m curves.
    I loved the stadium, Will got bored pretty quickly though.
    Afterwards we went to browse the flea markets.
    Will, the big IDIOT got conned BIG TIME and bet 50€ on some stupid gambling card trick that was set up on the side of the road on a cardboard box......
    the dealer would place 3 cards down and then the aim of the game was to pick the card with colour. The people around us kept getting it wrong and Will kept getting it right.
    He bet and lost...
    They were all working together and in on the ploy.....
    We had some stiff words.
    We went to a cafe to just sit for a while. I had a delicious Greek salad and Will had some beers. I liked this cafe. It was the first time I think we both were really content in Greece. We then went back to the flea markets to buy oil I had spotted earlier. They do some GREAT oil. I don't know why it's different but it is. We are going to send it home along with the few other things we've bought some time before we head up to Thessaloniki.

    On our way we found a fish foot spa. I have always wanted to do it but didn't think I'd be able to cause I HATE being tickled. I can't handle it. It was only 10€ for 10 minutes though and we thought we might as well try something new to add to our adventure.
    We had to wash our feet first then they checked for open wounds to help stop the spread of infection.
    It was the most bizarre feeling, sort of like pins and needles. Will had done it before in Thailand and said these fish weren't nearly as bed because they were bigger and not as many.
    I only squealed half a dozen times and kept my feet in the tank the whole time. So proud.
    We chatted with some Canadians while we were just sitting.
    I LOVED IT AND SO HAPPY I DID IT :D

    I bough a small magnet of 'the evil eye' which is super Greek. Its basically mythology that wards of negativity.
    Will bought a sponge. I don't know why but he is excited. It's very Greek too but I'm surprised at his interest in it.
    Our phone search has been unsuccessful again today. If we bought sims they only work in Greece? -.- stupid.
    We then went walking, trying to figure out how to get home. We forgot to look at the bus number in the morning so we dedicated to walk in the right general direction looking for somewhere for dinner for Will.
    It's ridiculously hard to find Greek food. Everywhere that sells it only has menus in Greek which isn't helpful.
    We were lucky tonight though. SO HAPPY. I got some tzatziki :D Will got a kebab. We then got a taxi home.
    Glad the day is over but it was my favorite day so far :)

    Penis up/dangles story of the toilet
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  • Day 9

    Athens

    April 12, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Had a small sleep in. We've planned for today to be a lazy day. First though we had another uncomfortable breakfast eating stale food. To be fair, the jam was amazing.
    We then left the house to go to their Woolworths equivalent to buy Will shaving cream and me some moisturizer because my skin is so so dry!
    We (Will) stopped in for a coffee on the way.
    We are liking Greece more and more but we think it's to do with the area. People are much nicer and smile. We got a free treat at the bakery. Oh and last night Will got a beer on the house too.
    We bought the stuff then went home. Im a little over the walk now I've done it a few times. Its like looking at a concrete city with only a little greenery. Boring. A lot of Athens looks like, or rather reminds me of abandoned mental institutions. Clearly run down, abandoned, graffiti covered sterile buildings.
    We bought more of the peanut balls for our movie day in bed. We patted a cat on the way home :D
    As I wrote my journal for yesterday Will looked up how to get to Thessaloniki on Friday and bought train tickets. It will take 5.5 hours on the train. Eh.
    We then had some snacks as we watched X men on the laptop.
    Our host family is hilarious. They are literally yelling at each other every 5 mins. The Main host will be talking to us and the mum will swoop in and starting speaking in Greek to her and the girls face is always like "omg mum, shut up just give me a minute"
    It's very Greek. We cant tell if they are fighting Or if that's just how they communicate haha.
    I then had a very long nap. :)
    Dinner time now. Our host family has ordered us some delivery food. MORE TZATSIKI YAY! We are also going to try Moussaka, which is a traditional dish I'm not expecting to like.

    It took 45 mins to come. The Greek salad and tzatziki was great. The moussaka was alright, it tasted like potato but our host said it looked different so maybe it wasn't mousakka after all.
    We watched V for vendetta then went to bed. A very uneventful day but enjoyable all the same :)
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  • Day 10

    Athens

    April 13, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    I had my left over tzatziki for breakfast to help mask the terrible bread. We then booked our air Bnb for tomorrow night, and headed to the bus stop to get to Syntagma square. We went to the post office first because we had 4 postcards and 2 packages to send. We had no idea what to do. Terrible signage. What needed to be in English wasn't but useless crap was. We had to pick an option A or B - we had no idea what to pick so we went with A. Our number eventually got called. I've notice people are less bitchy if you just ask them straight away if they speak English. It's like admitting your own incompetency cheers them up.
    We eventually figured out what to do.
    Will has sent postcards to Sachin and Grandma/Grandad and I have sent 1 to each of my works for the kids :)
    We also sent one box to my house with the things we have bought so far and a present for Grandma/Grandad.
    It was a little expensive - 30€ - in the future we will wait until we have more things before sending home but we had things made of glass and isn't want them breaking.
    We then walked up to the tomb of the unknown soldier. We only just missed the changing of the guard. The soldiers are actually guarding the memorial site and not parliament which is right behind it.
    Next up we walked the the acropolis museum. Entry was only 5€ :)
    I love museums. I think Will gets bored much quicker that I do though because he doesn't like reading. We watched a long video which was very informative and interesting. It was about the different countries taking artworks from the acropolis.
    The amount of stuff they have recovered is fantastic!
    I really enjoy learning about the mythology. I was considering buying a book in the gift shop but decided I'll have a look and see if there is anything I can download onto my kindle about it instead.
    We got frozen chocolate drinks in the cafe which is under the acropolis hill. We sat there watching pigeons fight over bread.
    We then went back to the cafe we liked from 2 days ago and sat there for a few hours chatting. Will wanted to smoke some hubbily bubbly so we looked for hookah stores and found one close by.
    People have been staring at me since I arrived in Greece. At first I thought it was my hair but now I think it's because I'm wearing shorts. Not a single person par me is wearing shorts. They are all dressed for -10 weather?
    We got to the hookah store and first had double apple and then peach flavored. We chatted for hours about crap, enjoyed a few drinks and had a terrific night. I liked the peach flavor better. My lungs are going to protest tomorrow.
    We caught a taxi home because we really couldn't be bothered to figure out the buses. On the way to the taxi rank we were approached by Africans saying "hey man, we are having a show here tomorrow night, have a free bracket" they shut up when Will said "you said that yesterday and the day before... haven't seen a single show yet"... heheh he walked away.
    We both pretty much passed out once home :)
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