Independence Day!

I'm so sad I can't be in the US today! Our plan of celebration in Greece though is to get McDonalds so I'm not too upset. I'm yet to have it in Europe. We woke up at a sharp 5:30 and took a cab to the airport. We were there by 6:30 and by 6:45 were already waiting at the gate. Turns out we didn't need as much time as we thought! 

The flight was a good one. It turned out that I sat next to someone in my group, Aaron. 

Athens is incredible. For 5€, we took a bus from the airport to walk a little ways to the hostel. It's absolutely incredible. We walked down a cobblestone street to find it and its in the middle of everything. The beach is 20 minutes away, we're living in between the Acropolis and other ruins, there's a mountain that takes about a half an hour to climb that's just walking distance away and there's a ton of little shops open around the hostel. I couldn't be more excited about what's coming up in the next 4 days. 

Shortly after getting to the hostel, we started out on a tour of various ruins. We saw the Akropolis, Parthenon, Zeus's Temple, and the Olympic Stadium. So cool! Ilove seeing old things like that. The stadium was reconstructed to look exactly like the old one that was built in 776BC. One thing they didn't touch, though was the main drainage system. It was put into place 1800 years ago and still works incredibly well. In a little room past the tunnel contained a lot of the Olympic torches. The Sydney torch was my favorite, though the one from London last year was pretty awesome. We were pretty beat after all of the walking so we went back to the hostel to regroup and after a bit went for dinner. An owner stopped us as we approached his restaurant and offered us free drinks and dessert. Needless to say, we dined there. I had my first gyro! It was incredible. On the pita was pork, tomato, onion, and a cucumber and spinach sauce. I'm going to get a gyro every day until we leave. I can't believe I went so long without having one! The vanilla ice cream we had was one of the best I've ever had. It was so fresh and full of vanilla flavor. The beer served was micros (I think); very good! We then wandered a ways to get out bearings on the location and came back just a little bit ago (12:45A now). We're going on a 3 island cruise tomorrow :) leaving the hostel at 7AM! 

So tiredddd

What a funny outfit! Doesn't she know she can't be wearing American flag shoes with a British flag bag today?

Hello, Greece! 

Uhhh glad there's English

Our street

The other way

That's the mountain we can climb for a great view of the city- apparently it's amazing at sunset

Temple of Aggina

Parthenon

Sarah and me 

View down from the top, where the Parthenon is

Not as busy as usual

Sitting in King George's throne for the games

Olympic stadium

The first few steps on the top were sooo steep. 

The meal

Happy 4th from the Cardinals 

Wednesday

Yesterday was pretty uneventful! We had class from 8-10:30 and then lounged around in the gloominess for a while while we gradually pack for the weekend! 9 of us are going to ATHENS! I win the lightest packing award as I was able to fit 4 outfits and a few other items into a smallish bag. Everyone is rather impressed. We left the apartment at 5:30 to stay at a hotel near the airport. Since our flight is at 9, we needed more time than the metro system would allow us to get there. We crammed several of us into a room so it was pretty cheap and we had wonderful wifi. It was pretty great all around. 

No pictures taken yesterday, but here's one of my favorite man ❤ 

Mellow in Merona

Today has been clearly divided into a wonderful afternoon and a tremendously bad evening. We started the morning at 9 by taking the water metro to Merona, Venice's distant glass-producing island. It took about an hour to get there but it was worth it. Originally used as a spa getaway by those fortunate enough, Merona is as tranquil of a place I've been to on this trip. We began by seeing a glass blowing demonstration and then traveling a few steps to the shops that offer countless, authentic glass pieces. Along the main canal, these shops have the simplest of pieces like earrings and lavish treasures in the form of grand chandeliers.  Sarah and I shopped around for about a half an hour before we made our way into a cute square hidden behind the rustic buildings. Throughout the square was trees, benches, and little gardens belonging to those inhabiting the canal-side homes. We strolled through to come across another canal, this one with no shops, thus no tourists really to speak of. We parked ourselves on someone's dock for about an hour and enjoyed the crashing waves that were given life from the fishing boats coming in. Towards the end of out sit, a few women from Taiwan came up to us excited out of their minds. They sat next to us and then asked if we would take a picture with us. I warned them, in my full American vernacular, that we weren't the Italians they were surely looking to meet. That must have been lost in translation because they proceeded to take probably 20 pictures on their combined cameras. I kid you not that the exact phrase 'this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you so much' came from one of their mouth. Apparently it was true because we noticed them then taking 'covert' pictures of us sitting. Very strange but so funny at the same time. After that episode, we wandered into a restaurant. I had a zucchini and eggplant pizza. So good and only 7€! After the meal we had to meet backup with the group and head back to our hostel in Venice. The boat ride back was even more enjoyable that the one we took to get there. I had a breezy spot on the side of the boat that allowed me views of the upcoming water and buildings. We had to leave the city altogether a little after we got back. I wish I could have stayed for weeks. It was remarkably beautiful. Though tourists flooded the main ports, once you traveled into the city and got lost in the 3,000 alleys, it couldn't have been more fun. The whole time I was there I think I had this sense that I was in a James Bond movie with the many scenes that also appear in several of the movies. I kept imagining the conclusion of 'From Russia With Love' (get the blog title now?) when James waved to the camera from his departing boat. In a few weeks, we'll be traveling to Lake Como, another location for Bond scenes so I'm looking forward to completing the cinema comparison. The departure from the city of love coincidentally marks the turn of the day for the worse. 

We boarded our train and 5 and I'm still on it, at 9:15, with at least another until we arrive in Milan. Ugh. It's not air conditioned, stops frequently, is a little jerky, has smelled badly for a while now, and had an hour delay that ended just a bit ago. Just get me out of here! Luckily there's an Italian woman sitting across the aisle from us that's explained the delay to us so we knew we had some time to get off and walk around. I'm hoping the WiFi is up and running again at the apartment because I can't do another night of standing outside of a restaurant for their WiFi. I'm paying the price for doing that the other night as seen from the 20 some mosquito bites that are taking over. On the plus side, I'm listening to some Dave now and I'll be back soon enough and all will be well in the world again. 

Good morning :) right outside of the hostel

The new light looks cool and all, mom, but why couldn't we have this one? ;)

Right before we found our dock

A little ways inward 

Our hostel

Envious in Venice

Today was rather perfect. We arrived in Venice around 11 via train. This was my view as we stepped outside of the train station 

I had heard about Venice and its unique canal-only transportation but I hadn't realized it would be literally all on the water. What a beautifully different city. It brought me back to the wonderful atmosphere Florence had with its small, colorful buildings and piazza-driven streets. It's now about 1AM and I still can't get over how pretty it is here. Once we arrived, we were given an hour to explore and grab something to eat. My friend Sarah and I split a snickers gelato while bumming wifi for a few minutes before heading to join a few of our friends. We were seated canal-side watching the boats cruise by as the waves brushed our feet. Though I had heard Venice had an awful smell to it, I only noticed a stench similar to one of algae every so often. It definitely wasn't the overwhelming, lingering smell that I had imagined.  After doing our own thing, we went to the hostel via water "metro". It took much longer than usual public transportation but that's understandable given the nature of driving a boat. After checking in to our luxury hostel, we met a guide for a two hour walking tour that covered most of the city. A few of the highlights that I found most interesting included the actual architecture of the city. The whole city is built on trees that were pushed into the rock below and are placed every 50-60CM apart. Over time, without oxygen, the trees mineralized and turned to stone. The city of Venice is actually made up of 119 islands which are separated by 200 12-foot deep canals and connected by 400 bridges. While walking on the islands, which you don't even recognize as separate islands after a while, you mostly maze through the 3,000 back alleys what rule the city's infrastructure. Our professor told us not to worry if we get lost because you'll find your way back somehow because you're bound to run into water soon enough and those canals will always set you straight. Sarah and I went adventuring on our own after the tour and found the maze to be nothing but a true statement because we were pretty turned around. We didn't have a single obligation the rest of day, though so it worked out pretty well. We had so much fun just seeing what the city had to offer. A lot of the street vendors sold Merano glass, while we'll be seeing a lot of tomorrow in Merano. I'm so sad that we only have two days here. It's such a breathtaking city with the most unbelievable views everywhere you go. 

Boat ride to the hostel

For you, Claire 

The hostel bar/reception

Dad, it's the original blue hair

Sarah and I 

Random awesome painter on the Academia Bridge, one of the 3 main bridges along the grand canal

View from my hostel window

Sarah and I met a girl from Canada who we talked to all night and later on, a guy from Florida. Yay for English speakers   We all sat outside looking at the beautiful view

'Diving' in

Sarah and I 

We did a mask tonight!

I literally took two hundred pictures today I couldn't pick which ones to put up.