Athens

Athens was a longer stay, so not quite so much needed to be packed into a day in order to see the things on my list.  Here is a shot of  the Acropolis from our hotel rooftop.

Here is a shot of the Temple of Hephaestus that you can see on your walk up to the Acropolis.

The Parthenon

Ruins of Temple of Zeus

I think the shot below is my favorite of the ones I took in Athens.

We took a walk through the National Garden, a huge park, one day.  Somehow we got all turned around when we exited and ended up on the opposite side of the park that I thought we were at.  We walked and walked trying to figure it out.  Finally, we asked for help from passersby.  Some of them offered help, others had no idea where we were on the map.  Some showed us the way and a little while later...we passed right by the same people!  Oh man were we messed up!  At one point, two men at a tire changing place showed us that we were way off the map!  We knew that at any time we could stop a taxi and get back but we were determined to figure it out.  Finally a policeman told us to go three lights (in the direction opposite of where I thought we should be headed) and we would be on the main street to take us back.  He was right.  I counted those lights to be sure!  It was right by a Hilton, so I used it for a landmark and Googled it when we arrived home.  Turns out that once we found out where we were, we were 3 miles away from the park!  add on all the miles we walked trying to figure it out.  Well, at least we saw some parts of Athens that most tourists don't see.  And we found the most friendly helpful people along the way.  The collage below will explain a huge part of the reason we got lost and could not figure it out.  Now we know what 'Its All Greek To Me" means.

Here are the two men who gave us so much help, showing us how far off the map we were.

This shot is a close-up of the little beads that the men sit around fiddling with.  I asked him about them, but his little English didn't allow him to explain it very well, but later on I found out that they are sort of like what we call a worry stone.  It is pretty much just a past time.

The guards by the Parliament.

Below are some shots of the neighborhood near the Acropolis.