We made it to Greece last night after a very long trip with a layover in Heathrow. I'd say a highlight was getting into the British Airways lounge (thanks to Laura and Laurel's platinum status) and getting a cup of "real"coffee before getting on a plane again.
Our trip from Heathrow to Athens was fairly uneventful...although we needed every bit of the two hours we said we needed to transfer to the new Terminal Five. It was a full 20 minute bus ride away from the terminal we arrived at initially.
Unfortunately, our luggage did not arrive in Greece. It struck me as a little funny, I have never in my life packed for my bags to be lost...I did this time and they were. It almost seemed as if I wanted it to happen!:) At any rate, our bags were at our hotel when we woke up this morning so there was no real harm done overall.
We had a fabulous dinner last night. After wandering around looking for a Lonely Planet recommendation, we finally gave up and ended up sitting down at a place that looked popular with the locals. After the food started arriving, we knew why...break toasted with olive oil, pita bread, melted feta with herbs, Greek salad, chicken roasted over a fire, stuffed peppers, lightly fried zucchini, and white wine. We rolled away from dinner to a gelato store... then off to bed!
The good news is that we all slept fairly late (or at least through the night). After waking up at 4:00 am, I ended up sleeping till 10:30 (missed breakfast) and felt great! We walked around ALL day today and saw a very popular area called Placa, the parthenon (from a lookout "hill"we hiked up"), Hadrian's Gate, the Temple of Zeus, the Agoras (Greek and Roman) and many stores filled with stuff to buy.
This evening we met up with our REI group. Our guide seemed very nice but somewhat scared of losing someone or having a problem controlling the group. I think we may give him a heart attack by the end of the tour. We walked around the acropolis (again, for the third time today) had yet ANOTHER stellar meal and are now free. It is 10:00pm, I am headed off to meet some people for drinks.
Hopefully...more later. I'll try to post here during my trip. I am not going to be sending out emails!
