Another slow start, it is hard to get Danny up…but the pace is quite different here and everyone eats late, stays up late and rises late! So I guess we are on Greek time! We head out to the main street and catch the tram to Syntagmo Square, so far so good….cross the street to wait for the blue bus…well much petting of mangy dogs later, it finally comes, it is affected today by “the strike” we are told. We see no evidence of strike and everyone is waiting patiently(ok, I’m not, but all the Greeks are!) and eventually the bus comes. We rumble along and of course a nice gal starts chatting with Jerry, asking why we are in Greece and where we are headed. She rides an extra stop with us to show us just where to go! We have enjoyed showing the photos of Molly I made, and giving away the green rubber bracelets…everyone wishes Molly and us good luck! We head into the Helixpo Center where the family welcome center is located and we get our official credentials and goody bags. IT IS REALLY HAPPENING! We are in Greece and Molly is competing here-just unbelievable cool! After much laughter and showing of photos(they all want to keep one and I finally have to say NO because I am running out!) we put on our cool tags and head out. Across the road is a swanky mall, with 5 euro coffees(we just can’t do it, even though we can’t master our coffee maker and what we had this morning at the apartment was swill!) and glamorous stores. We enjoy a visit to a grocery store and take P&G product photos, and buy lunch from the take-out section. That’s enough mall for us and we leave without entering a store! Down the street we go towards the amazing Olympic Stadium and are able to have a picnic in the shadow of it. Jer has some awesome meatballs, and srtichokes and potatoes, Charlotte has chosen the cold “burger” sandwich, which she loves, as it is a burger!! Danny has a turkey sub-like thing with a tasty sauce and me….it’s a banana and a yoghurt, Greek, with cereal that you pour in! Yay! We troop around the stadium perimeter, and under the guise of looking for a bathroom we go in the media door. We are able to get a look at the track, on which they are repainting the lane lines by hand! We see the medal stands, jumbotrons, this is truly a world class track, and Molly will run here! We are pretty proud! Long.hot trek later we follow the convoluted Greek directions to the metro station and we are able to sit down in airconditioning! Whoot! Gum for everyone! We hop off above the Plaka, and are able to wander through the marketplace. Streets are filled with vendors with meats, veggies and fruits, fresh eggs, and all manner of junk! So fun to wander up and down the curving streets! We buy tomatoes, cukes,bananas,pears,cherries,olives and some kind of sausagey thing! Jer is psyched about that! We wander down into the café area and pull over in a shady café for snacks and drinks. Fresh bread with olive oil and sweet red peppers stuffed with feta, greek beer, orange-aide, ,diet pepsi and lots of water. Ahh! So cool and relaxing. If only Charlotte wasn’t freaking out about the pigeons, which of course are all over…we are working on her to get over it and ignore them. Refreshed, we head for the Parthenon, up the south gate of the acropolis, past a 700 year old church ruin, and lots of neat tumbled ruins. Way up, and the Parthenon is breathtaking. I’m glad we learned about it at the museum because it was much cooler to look at and know the history. There were lots of tourists and we took lots of photos for lots of cute couples. We also saw Team Phillipines and Team Brazil and high-fived and wished them well. Met some family too, from Ireland, and volunteers from Virginia and Texas. Everywhere we go we look to promote the SO spirit, it is joyful! We decide to stop for dinner, even though I said I would cook. I am out voted! We go to God’s Café, how could we resist?! The cook gives us a tour of the kitchen and we give him a bracelet and show him a photo…he wants to keep it, and he hangs it up near the kitchen! Molly has a greek fan club now!
The food is amazing, soup and feta salad for me, moussakka for Charlotte, deep fried meatballs with potatoes for the D and Jer gets Greek spaghetti with sausage. Walking back to the apartment we stop for icecream for the kids and a coffee for me and stroll along enjoying it. Charlotte heads to bed, I figure out the Greek washing machine(no dryer, rack is on balcony filled with our gothic!) and Jer and Danny take the football down to the park across the street to mess around. Evening ends with Danny and I reading on the balcony with the Parthenon in front of us, lit up and spectacular. Prayers are said for the blessings we are receiving.
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| metro-ing up to get our credentials! |
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| Charlotte! |
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| The awesome signs outside the Olympic Stadium |
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| the partehnon- 'nuff said! |
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| Team Brazil-football adopts Charlotte |
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| See name of restaurant to see why we ate here! |
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