{"id":3772,"date":"2015-07-17T08:40:45","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T01:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=3772"},"modified":"2015-07-17T08:40:45","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T01:40:45","slug":"to-the-top-and-the-shops-71215","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=3772","title":{"rendered":"To the top and the shops, 7\/12\/15"},"content":{"rendered":"

We met Brad & Glenda at breakfast before they headed out to the airport for the flight back to DFW.\u00a0 <\/span>They decided to catch the hotel shuttle to the airport at 9:30.\u00a0 <\/span>The flight isn\u2019t until 1:00, but with all their problems coming over, they wanted to arrive early and try to get ahead of any trouble.\u00a0 <\/span>Glenda had read that the Toronto Airport was struggling with labor issues, and Air Canada had to cancel over 200 flights the day they were trying to get to Barcelona.<\/p>\n

We found out when we got home that their hotel \u201cshuttle to the airport\u201d was really a shuttle for 5 minutes over to the nearby train station where they had to catch a train to the airport.\u00a0 <\/span>It took them a while to figure it out, but they made it to the airport, and their flights to Toronto and then DFW were problem free.<\/p>\n

We really didn\u2019t have much of a plan for the day.\u00a0 <\/span>I originally thought we would be on the Hop-On \/ Hop-Off Bus, but we saw so much of the city on the Segway tour, none of us were that interested in getting on a hot bus for the day.\u00a0 <\/span>One site I definitely wanted to visit was Lycabettus Hill, the highest point in Athens.\u00a0 <\/span>We took a taxi from the hotel, and were dropped at the funicular (train) at the base of the hill.\u00a0 <\/span>We climbed aboard, and made the ride to the top.\u00a0 <\/span>The views of the city were great.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s one big sea of white buildings spread out to the horizon.\u00a0 <\/span>We enjoyed some snacks in a caf\u00e9 before coming back down and catching a taxi back to the hotel.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_2937\"<\/a> \"IMG_2941\"<\/a> \"IMG_2940\"<\/a> \"IMG_2939\"<\/a> \"IMG_2938\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been interesting being in Athens in the middle of the financial crisis.\u00a0 <\/span>There are lines of people at the ATM\u2019s, and lots of protest signs posted around.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve been talking to the taxi drivers about their opinions.\u00a0 <\/span>One of our drivers said today that nobody really believes what their political leaders are telling them, and that somewhere, someone is making a lot of money.<\/p>\n

We relaxed in the hotel, enjoying the pool, waiting for the sun to settle a little before we went back out.\u00a0 <\/span>We wanted to explore some of the market areas and see what kind of things the Greeks were selling.\u00a0 <\/span>We took a taxi to Monistiraki Square where I chased down my \u201cAthens\u201d Starbucks mug and then began looking through all the shops.\u00a0 <\/span>Judy and Courtney both found shoes, and I was about to get a pair of leather sandals myself.\u00a0 <\/span>The sales staff said we\u2019d get a discount for buying several pair, but when the \u201cbig boss\u201d came over to check us out, there was no discount.\u00a0 <\/span>I handed him back the sandals and we walked out.\u00a0 <\/span>We got to experience some of the Greek anger and stubbornness as we left.\u00a0 <\/span>Judy eventually got her sandals, but the \u201cbig boss\u201d experienced some of my stubbornness and lost a sale in the process.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2952\"<\/a>

Twirling a little fire<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_2945\"<\/a> \"IMG_2954\"<\/a> \"IMG_2946\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We found a nice restaurant with outdoor seating where we could \u201cpeople-watch\u201d and eat \u201cgreek\u201d.\u00a0 We enjoyed the evening as it cooled before we headed back to hotel to prepare for our adventures tomorrow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_2950\"<\/a> \"IMG_2948\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We met Brad & Glenda at breakfast before they headed out to the airport for the flight back to DFW.\u00a0 They decided to catch the hotel shuttle to the airport at 9:30.\u00a0 The flight isn\u2019t until 1:00, but with all … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3773,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772\/revisions\/3773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}