Athens: Part 1

At the begining of December there were a few holidays here in Spain so Jeff and I took this opportunity to get out of town.  We decided to go to Athens, Greece for the extended weekend.  It was an amazing trip...seeing things that were in my school books.  There are so many pictures it was hard to pick out a few,  I think we took 600+ pictures in 4 days.  I broke up the pictures into 2 post, so stay tuned for the other.
The Acropolis

The Zappeion

These orange trees were everywhere.

The Parliment Building

Changing of the guards.

The Temple of Zeus

A theatre at the Acropolis

Herodes Atticus Theatre

The main entrance to the Acropolis

The Parthenon

Me from the Acropolis

 

Jeff and I in front of the Parthenon

One of the many strays that were hanging out at the Acropolis.  Of course I had to feed the old guy.

Christmas in Barcelona

is different than in the States.  First, there is no such thing as Black Friday.  Spainards don't get up early to get the best deal and possibly get trampeled to death.  Second, the stores aren't open later during the holiday season.  Third, they don't exchange gifts on Christmas Eve/Day.

This year we were able to catch a Christmas market that closed on December 22nd.  We tried to go last year, but didn't know they closed so early in the season.

There are some lights around town, but only in the tourist/shopping areas.  Most people don't decorate their homes either. 

There was actually a skating rink set up this year in the main square.  It was in the 60's in December and it was funny to see people in winter coats ice skating.

The homeless of Athens

During our visit to Athens we came across A LOT of stray/homeless animals.  In my guide book it said there was 150,000 stray animals in the city, but my guide book was from 2006.  During the day they walked around the streets and at night took refuge in shop doorways.  As most of you know I am a huge animal lover, all the strays broke my heart.  I went so far as too keep leftovers from my meals to give to the dogs we encountered on the street.  Jeff thought I was crazy, but I didn't care.  Poor things :-(

Stay tuned...

for our trip report on Argentina...Jeff and I got back last week.  It was wonderful and can't wait to go back to South America.

NYE

On NYE there was some sort of race right outside our home.  We were on our way back from the store when we ran into the crowd.  There were people everywhere...here are some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sasha watching the runners from our balcony.

 

Jeff's says...

he doesn't like cats.  While we were in Athens visiting the Temple of Zeus a stray cat took a liking to Jeff.  Cali, the name I gave the cat, jumped right on Jeff's lap for some lovin'.  Cali purred up a storm and kneeded his jacket...it was the sweetest thing.