So Greece makes Newtown seem car friendly...

So I left my packed out Parisian hostel to wander the streets of Paris for a few hours with my heavy ass bag on. I saw lots of old fancy buildings without knowing 100% what they were.
I then hopped a train for Charles De Gaul and I almost instantly understood why that airport is so hated. I was over an hour early but I still nearly missed my point due to incompetant security staff and southern europeans inability to line up. I then slept the whole flight which was pretty kick ass, but I did miss dinner.

Landing in Athens to a transport strike however meant that I couldn't get a train into the city and had to hop a bus, which dropped me on the other side of the city from where I wanted to be (the central station). I thought about walking across the city but in the end hopped a taxi for 6 euro (bargain!) to where I needed to be. I then got into the hostel to find Rosie had cooked a dinner... I <3 Rosie. We spent the night telling travel stories and catching up and it was lovely.

Friday we slept in and then we did the wander around Athens. We went to the Parthenon and Acropoplis etc... Very good to see but much as you imagined... There are lots of fallen down buildings in Athens.
We also had a delightful time watching the pigeons run around with their "I'm a sexy pigeon" puff up as the females ignore them... A trip to the Athens flea market was a tiny little bit more organised than I thought. Until we went off a side lane and it became exactly what you imagined it would be. Some very cool shops and some tourist traps rubbed shoulders but I was loving the chaotic antique stores.
Rosie and I also made friends with a hilarious greek man. He stopped me walking past asking me where I got my (Mac uni games frisbee) shirt and then dragged us into his store... He showed us all his foreign money and then his first dollar he earnt (back when he lived in melb) and then promised us that he would make us look like a proper greek boy/lady. He gave us some "lucky pennies" and then told me how handsome a greek boy I am and that if he was a greek lady he would be in love with me (!). He then started with Rosie, who while clearly not looking like a greek is also amazingly beautiful and needs to have both cheeks kissed and her nose rubbed and then a bit of a neck nuzzle... it was very very very funny...
A reasonably long overnight train (leaving at 11.59) got us to Xanthi the next day where we had a lovely day wandering around and hanging out with Karen. We got to watch the Australian team not lose in the soccer (maybe we should just start training and practising one man down?) and then Matthew got home and we went out to a really cool dinner and drinks...
Today we jumped in the car (for the first time in a while) and went out to a Greek Orthodox monastery in the middle of a lake... And then we had another MASSIVE (yet awesome) lunch in the village Matt is from... Then we got to watch NZ not lose to Italy... yay
Xanthi was lots of fun and very "Greek"... Just what I wanted to see.

Off to Istanbul tonight and I think I've even got some accomodation booked! Way to work ahead Anthony

Lθvε, HugΣ αnδ Kιssεs
ΑΝτ