Tired - Day 22 & 23 - July 31 and Aug 1

What a few couple of days.  We are tired.  Really tired. We've done quite a bit of walking the past two days.

Friday 

Today the plan was to go to museums all day because they were inside and it was going to be super hot outside today.

First up, we hit the War Museum, we kind of found on it on accident last week when we were going around the metro stops and we needed a bathroom - and Brian wanted to go back.  They had lots of guns, swords, more guns, more swords, etc.  It was interesting, but there weren't many translations of the Greek explanations to English, so it was difficult to know what was what.  They did have an interesting exhibit, I think Brian got more out of it than I did - but we went.

After, we stopped for lunch at an actual restaurant (our first time!) and got food.  I had a pork chop and Brian had  sausages.  They were pretty good - the language barrier sucks because I asked for a side of the tziki sauce to dip my fries in with my meal - and they brought out a whole plate worth.  Literally a whole plate of sauce that is apparently an appitizer.  Oh well, it was still yummy.   And we got watermelon for dessert, that was delicious.

Brian wanted to go see the Tower of the Winds that is found in the Roman Agora next.  We had seen the Roman Agora from the outside the day before, but we went in this time.  And they closed at 3 - it was 2:40.  So we quickly walked around looking for this tower...and looking...and looking.  Found it! It was behind scaffolding/green tarps and you couldn't see anything because it was being remodeled.  Oh well, then it was closing time and we got kicked out.  The plan was to head to the National Archeological Museum next - but on the app that Brian has - it said it closed at 3 too.  Well Dang.  We didn't plan that out well.

So we were going to go home...but we had the impulse to go to the mall that we saw the other day.  Yay Greek Malls.  Holy crap.  This thing was huge.  It was 4 stories high, and it had tons of stores.  It also had a movie theatre!  We decided we wanted to go see a movie!  We bought tickets to Jurrassic World and then wasted time around the mall going in the shops.  We also went bowling at the mall and Brian kicked my ass.  Not even close to a game - he played, I failed.  Then we walked around some more, got some KFC for dinner since all the other menus were in Greek and we didn't know what to order.  I was really hoping for some awesome mashed potatoes - downfall - they taste different here and the gravey tastes nothing like at home!  And they don't have the Famous Bowl - which is pretty much the best thing ever.  So dinner was okay.  We went to the movie and it was good!  We have seen it before - but it played in English and then had Greek subtitles.  I was hoping to see how they spell out RAWR in Greek...but they didn't. :(

We caught the train home and then got lost in the taxi.  This lady got us seriously lost.  I couldn't tell you where she took us but it wasn't right. We finally make it home (thank goodness) and she was nice enough to know she got lost and she only charged us $15 like usual.  Nice lady with a bad GPS.  We showered and then both of us just passed out - it was a long day yesterday.

Saturday 

Woke up this morning with the plan to visit the National Archeological Museum before they closed!   We get into town and the directions fail.  They said it was about a 5 minute walk from the metro station - but didn't tell us in what direction.  So we asked, and figured it out.  On the way, we stopped at a food place to get some gyros.  They were yummy as usual, but we decided we would like to combine all 3 shops we have tried to get the best gyro.  You need the pork from the one today, the fries from the one yesterday and the rest from the one by the acropolis.  Too bad that's way too much work.  Once we made it to the National Archeological museum, (it took longer than we thought it would) - we got our tickets and headed in.

There was a lot of neat exhibits that we saw.  Lots and lots of statues (most missing their heads), bronze figurines, and vases.  I thought the best part was the Egyption section that was donated to the museum.  It was cool!  I've always thought that Eygption history was fascinating though.  Brian thought I was weird to get excited over mummies.  Oh well.  So we did a lot of walking around the museum, I had to take a few stops because I was just getting way too hot and tired.  I drank a ton of water today, but I swear my body temperture rose 10 degrees higher than normal, I was sweating like crazy and Brian was comfortable - that NEVER happens.

Once we were done with the museum, we headed over to Keramikos.  A lot of the statues we saw in the musuem were from Keramikos and so we actually visted something in order!  Keramikos was a large cemetary/ruins.  Most of the statues are now in the museum so that they don't get ruined, but the place in general was pretty cool to see.  It did take asking for directions 3 times to find the place.  You'd think it would be next to the train station named Keramikos - but it's not.  Its about a 10 minute walk with all the detours we took.  Overall it was cool, but it was HOT.  All day, it was hot, hot, hot.

Next up, the Hill of Muses.  Apparently it was this big hill that gave great views of Athens/Acropolis when you were at the top.  So we get to the train station near by and we ask for directions a few times - finally get pointed in the right direction.  We walk.

And walk.

And walk.

And walk.

And walk.

All uphill by the way since you have to get higher and higher to get the good views.  We fianlly get the to the entrance and we have to walk some more.  Walk up steps.

And more steps.

And more steps.

And more steps.

And more steps.

Take a break and sit on a old bench.

And more steps.

And more steps.

And more steps.

We finally make it to the top!  Whew!  There is a cool monument up there and the views are pretty awesome, it was almost worth the amount of walking it took to get there.  Then we head back down and stop at a cool looking church, but it was locked.  There was also Socrates Jail (where they say he was imprisioned here for his new teachings) - that was pretty cool.  And we finally head back down the hill and to the train to head home.

It was a long and exhausting day.  We are both really tired and could use some serious sleep - thats what walking a ridiculous amount in this heat did to us today.

Tomorrow we plan to hit our last historical sites in the middle of Athens, so its time for a good night sleep.