Trip to Athens, Greece - Day 5

  

On Wednesday we decided to visit the other archeological areas that were on our ticket that we had purchased on Monday. We took the subway to Syntagma and started with another walk through the botanical gardens.  Our first stop after walking through the gardens was at the Panathenaic Stadium, which is a restored stadium built on the site of ancient games and which was used during the modern olympics and still used.  It is a stone stadium.  We didn't have tickets inside,  and opted not to pay to walk around inside, but we got a very good look at it and were very impressed.  [We had a lot of fun watching the last season of Amazing Race when they had a task in the stadium.]

Waking through the park (again).

Lexa was taking a lot of pictures with her camera. Here it is outside Zappeio Hall near the gardens.

Looking down from Zappeio Hall on the fountains.

Looking back at the hall.

Yulia matching the lilacs.

Stadium was made entirely out of marble!

Getting more use out of the new selfie stick!

After seeing the stadium we walked to Lykeion, which is a newer site.  We got a bit turned around and did some extra walking, but found the site without too much trouble.  This is the site of Aristotle's school.  It was a gymnasium where they did athletics and learning and was at the site of a stream that ran through Athens at the time.  The site was quiet and was still in the process of renovation, but it had a lot of interesting information.  It was one of my favorite places on the tour.

On the way to Lykeion we passed the National Defense Museum and took some pictures with the equipment that was outside.

Looking at planes.

Lykeion site in the midst of archaeological restoration and study.

Looking and reading.

Lina!

After visiting the Lykeion, we decided we'd take the funicular to the top of Mount Lycabettus.  We had enjoyed riding funiculars in other places.  It was a bit of a hike and a lot of stairs to get to the base of the mountain. The Funicular ride was very inefficient and expensive.  The view from the top of the hill was nice, but the cost of the trip and the amount of time we had to wait to go up and down (one trip each way every hour) wasn't worth it.

Climbing the stairs to the foot of the Lyccobettus Hill.

More climbing!

Church at the top of the hill.

Looking out over Athens.

More view down on Athens. Athens is huge!

Looking out to the sea and Acropolis.

The mountains!

Going down the stairs was easier.

We took subway to Monastiraki square and found a nice little pastry shop there.  We ate our pastries and rested for awhile before walking from there to Syntagma station through an area that had a lot of shops.  We stopped and went inside The Church of Panagia Kapnikarea which is a Greek Orthodox church and one of the oldest churches in Athens and really enjoyed the peacefulness of that experience.

Eating lunch on the square.

The Church of Panagia Kapnikarea or just Kapnikarea was built in the 11th century. It is still working today.

Shopping district.

The weary band of explorers.

Yulia posing next to our favorite pastry place near our apartment.

We rode the metro home to Dafne.  We got the kids settled in and then Yulia and I went on a date. Earlier in the day we received a message from the doctor who did a second colonoscopy and a surgery saying that the biopsy results came negative and I do not have cancer.  We wanted to celebrate! We wandered around until we found a little place to eat. This was the only place where the waiter didn't speak any English, but we managed to order some delicious Greek food anyway.  It was nice to sneak out for a bit of a date in Athens!

Love those Greek salads!

Salads in Greece are fantastic!

Trip to Athens, Greece - Day 2

Our second day in Athens was a Sunday.  Normally we have been traveling or arriving at our destination on Sunday or in areas where there isn't a congregation of our church nearby.  In Athens, however, we were not traveling and there is an English-speaking branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so we planned on attending.  We didn't pack regular church clothes, but figured that people wouldn't mind if we showed up - and we were right!

We took the subway (after purchasing a five-day pass for each of us) and were able to find the church building without too much problem.  There was a bit of an adventure because the walk from the metro station to the church building took us through a Roma encampment.  We walked through without causing any problems or having any sort of confrontations.  

The church building was recognizable and when we entered we were met by a couple of missionaries - they need to keep someone in the lobby because there have been some issues of theft because of the neighborhood.  We did introductions and then met the branch president.  He and his wife are from England and were on a mission in Greece.  The church service was nice - it was fast and testimony meeting - so there were a number of testimonies.  One was by a young woman who was traveling around Europe with a friend - so they were in the same visitation boat as us.  The best part of the meeting was a baby blessing for a family where the husband was African (I think from Ghana) and the wife was Greek.  The blessing was beautiful and sincere and the little girl was darling!

It was General Conference in Utah so everyone was buzzing about the announcement that church will change from 3 hours to 2 hours.  We were happy that the rest of the church would finally be doing what we've been doing here in Kazakhstan for the past 4.5 years!  We only needed to change the days when we have Sunday School.  After the meeting there was a little linger longer with the English branch and the Greek branch that also meets in the building.  We were given a few cookies and had a nice visit.  We met some people who knew some of our members here in Astana - they are both defense Attaches!  

Walking from our apartment to the metro station in Dafni. Beautiful citrus trees lined our quiet street.

Outside the church.

After church we got off at the Syntagma station and walked around the botanical gardens.  We loved the quiet walks.  Some places reminded us of the parks we visited in Barcelona.  It was a bit shabby - but just enough that it had a charm to it.  Our favorite part was seeing the large nests of parrots who were busy stealing nest materials from each other, the tortoise we found on the path, the pond full of turtles, and just the beautiful quiet, shady peaceful feeling.

Palm trees in the botanical gardens.

More beautiful trees in the garden.

In the park.

We always do a lot of walking on our vacations.

Parrot nests hanging from the trees.

Parrots everywhere!

This bowery was a nice touch!

A pond full of turtles!

Turtles just don't care how they get their sun!

Enjoying looking at the turtles.

Our wandering tortoise friend!  Our kids named him/her Bob.

After we had walked around the park, we came around the side of the parliament building just in time to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  We have seen similar ceremonies in Moscow and Prague, but the one in Greece was very unique.  They wear distinct uniforms and the way that they march is really very interesting.  The ceremony was very nice and we were glad that we were there to witness it.

Tomb of the unknown soldier at the Parliament Building.

Changing of the Guard

More of the ceremony

Checking that everything was right after the guard was changed.

Lina watching the change.

After the ceremony we walked around downtown a bit.  The stores were mostly closed on Sunday (which was unusual in Europe, but nice in a lot of ways) so we got back on the metro and headed back to "home".  We stopped at another little restaurant that served Gyros and Pitas and had a nice lupper (lunch and supper).  Afterward we went to the pastry shop next door and the kids all had an ice cream - and Yulia did too. 

After that we went back to our apartment and spent the rest of the evening reading and just resting.  It was a very nice day.  We were very glad we had found the church and that we had a nice quiet Sunday.  We knew that we would be going hard the next day, so a quiet day was just what we needed.

Getting ready for more walking!

Rewarding ourselves after another long day!

So many yummy pastries!

To be continued...