Delphi and Athens

The second day we were in Delphi we had breakfast and then we were allowed to walk around and explore the town! I bought many things although I had to restrain myself from buying 50 pairs of shoes. I only have to buy my dad a present now, oh yeah, and Sophia. Anyway we split up for lunch. I went with the larger group because I did not want to spend anymore money, I wanted to save it for Athens and Nafplio. After lunch we walked to the Archeological Museum of Delphi and we took a tour with a very informative tour guide. We learned the myth of how Delphi was founded. We also learned that the temple in Delphi was to Apollo and how the Pythia (the pythia is the person and the Oracle is the place) made "predictions". After the tour we walked around the ruins which included the bases of statues, remains of the temple, a theater (seating for 5000), a stadium (seating for 7500), and an approximately 2600 year old wall with inscriptions in ancient greek. After exploring the ruins of Delphi we went to dinner and then back to our hotel. We then celebrated Abby's Birthday on the roof and watched Mama Mia! A fun ending to a great day!

The next morning we got up early and drove to Athens. To be honest Athens is dirty, graffitied, smelly, and CROWDED! Interestingly enough I have found that I hate large cities. You might be skeptical and ask me how I can hate large cities when I live in one? Houston is very large but it is spread out. I love that because each little section is like its own little town! But in places like Athens, New York, Rome, and Los Angeles everyone is piled on top of each other and it is dirty and disgusting.

ANYWAY…we had lunch as soon as we got here and then we split into two groups and we went to explore the city and take pictures. After this we walked up to the Acropolis. It was a long walk but we made it before closing and we stayed there for about an hour. It was awesome! It probably would have been much better except there was a giant crane in the way and scaffolding. I suppose they need it to hold the building up but still…it takes something away from the history of they place. After we got kicked out of the acropolis when it closed at 630, we went to dinner at this really nice place near the acropolis after shopping for a while of course! There was a band playing and some locals performed some traditional greek dances. We all had a really amazing time! Then we went home and went to bed after saying goodbye to Ms. Hartman who had to leave today due to family emergency. We are really going to miss her!