Blog Silence is Over!

Hello All! Did you miss me?  I can say, without a doubt, that I miss you all terribly.  I am still having fun but will be ready to come home after China. 

Whew!  So much to catch up on.  First of all, Bre made it to Greece in plenty of time.  What a trooper she was through the whole ordeal of flight changes, strikes, riots, etc.  I was really proud of her especially since it was her first overseas experience. 

Athens was, well, interesting to say the least.  Not from a fun holiday stand point but from a historical, wrong place/wrong time perspective.  Some of you may have heard that there were strikes and protests going on while we were in Athens.  The demonstrations started out peaceful but turned into riots in the evenings.  There is a lot of anger toward the government in Greece and the people feel they are paying for the sins of the father so to speak.  It is not a good time for the Greeks and I feel really sorry for them.  George, my hotel bartender and also my Greek boyfriend, said he feels like he has no future in his country.  Very sad.  There is also speculation that the rioters and the police were in cahoots in order to break up the peaceful demonstrations.  A lot of distrust, worry and anger in the country. 

Although our Athens itinerary was a little mixed up, we did get to see everything we wanted to by the end of the trip.  All in all, I wasn't terribly impressed with Athens.  The people were nice but the city is extremely crowded, dirty and not that pretty.  The sights were good - really enjoyed the Acropolis and the new Acropolis museum.  The food was also excellent.  But I would say my time in mainland Greece is over. 

More on the rest of the trip to come!