NATIONAL ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Saturday, October 20^th, 2007 Athens’ National Archeological Museum

Jim was awake about 2 am and by four I was also awake; we both finally went back to sleep about five and woke at 8:30 am. Immediately checked email and found a message from Brian that he had to stay overnight in Venice but would definitely be on the plane today. After breakfast we headed for the Metro and a trip to the National Archeological Museum. By noon we were headed back towards the hotel to check messages and also get our rain gear as it was sprinkling by the time we arrived at the hotel. Decided to rest a bit and then the rain really started to pour which negated any plans for touring the Acropolis this afternoon as there was also lightening and thunder.

For more information about the National Archeological Museum see:

http://www.greekhotel.com/sterea/attica/athens/photos/archaeological-museum-photos.htm

About 4 pm we decided to brave the rain and headed out for a walk. By the time we’d reached the bottom of the street…about six blocks…we were soaked and looking for a dry place to stay. Went to dinner early at Vitro’s Restaurant across the street from the new Acropolis Museum that is nearly completed; the restaurant came highly recommended by our desk clerk as it is owned by a friend of his. I had eggplant pizza and Jim ordered Greek spaghetti plus fried cheese. All delicious and well presented. The rain continued to come down in buckets.

We headed back towards the hotel, dashing from awning to awning (or as the Greek say “tent to tent”) and waded through ankle deep rushing rivers of water and mud at nearly every corner. Arrived at the hotel and called Brian’s hostel…he had not arrived yet; but being on first name basis with their clerk by now…because of calling multiple times; he promised to have Brian stay there when he arrived and call us or I would call again at 7 pm rather than his braving the elements to get to our hotel. Brian called about 6:30 and let us know that yes…he had finally arrived and would come to our hotel tomorrow morning to begin his adventure with his grandparents. I said I’d let his parents know that he’d arrived in Greece safely.

We later discovered that he joined a group of young people at the Hostel and braved the storm to explore Greece for most of the night. Ah…to be young again! But we were also happy that he’d gotten to see Athens, even though it was at night, since our scheduled time with Brian in Athens had vanished! We will be coming back to Athens at the end of our trip and we will see the things we’d saved to see with Brian at that time; he’s young and has years to come back to really explore Athens!

And so another day in Athens has ended. Tomorrow we head out by car about noon for two days of traveling south and west with Brian. His ferry boat leaves on Monday evening to take him back to Italy from the port city of Patra.