2004-10-27 |Athens, GreeceThis entry spans three full days because my day actually lasted that long.

This morning I checked out late and luckily gave the worker a good excuseso I was not charged another day. Most of my day was spent shopping (Ibought Matt a tiny little birthday present), laying on the beach, readingand eating lunch on the beach. Once that was all over, I hopped on a bus onthe way to Athens.

I met a few people on the bus, but socializing didn't help. The bus was 11hours from hell. I was so uncomfortable and I couldn't sleep very wellbecause these Grecians were so loud talking until very late. There was nobathroom on the bus and you had to wait until like 3 AM to some restaurantstop. Luckily I had a little sleep, but that was just because I had a windowseat.

Once we arrived into Athens at 5:30 in the morning, I immediatelyfollowed this Aussie couple who had booked a place to stay. We hopped onto alocal bus and after about 10 stops, everyone left the bus. We assumed it wasthe last stop, but second guessed it and hopped back on. Next thing youknow, we ended up back at the main bus station. We figured things out afterthat, but it still sucked really bad.

We found our accommodation and I paid for one night. As I got into theroom I noticed how bad it smelled and how dirty it was. It was the worsthostel yet. I needed sleep really bad so I passed out until like 10.

I woke up and had a little toast downstairs. It was then that I had athought to try y to do Athens in 5 hours and catch the next train out ofAthens. I chose to do this because I realized that two days just wouldn't beenough in Rome. And also the main thing I wanted to check off my things tosee was the Parthenon. While I was having toast I spoke with a really nicegirl and she ended up giving me a free invalidated pass to the Parthenon (A12 Euro Value). I immediately walked there and saw the ruins. They werepretty amazing and I especially am excited at the people rebuilding theentire city!! Sure everything looks like it does on TV and in pictures, butthere is something about it that is unique to your perspective when you haveseen something with your own eyes. It is r eally captivating.

After that I wandered around the hill and saw Socrates prison where hewas held. I ate lunch and also did some shopping. I ended up buying anentire chess set (a luxury I have now that my trip is ending) and also 2statues of Aphrodite and a Greek stone frame for my picture of me with theParthenon.

After this I felt I saw enough and I headed for the train station tocatch the next train out of Athens.

Once I got there I got some bad news, the train was totally booked. Iwaited for it anyway, for a chance to ask the conductor if I could sit inbetween compartments or something. While waiting I bumped into twonon-skanky girls I had met from Texas at the Pink Palace. They were in thesame situation as me, but when crunch time came, the conductor would onlylet one person on. Since I was separate from them and had less baggage, Iwas let on this very uncomfortable and crappy 4 compartment train. This wasthe most pathetic size train I have been on yet, it probably only held 50people. But gladly I was on it so that I could make the connection to the 21hour ferry to the mainland of Italy.

On the train I spoke politics with some Greek guys I could barelyunderstand, and I mostly just nodded and smiled.

I got to the ferry and met a girl from Sweden. We hung out and sat nextto each other on the ferry, but she seemed really preoccupied with planningher trip. I mostly slept anyways. In the morning we made it to Bari just intime to catch the earliest train to Roma.

On the train, I met the next people I would travel with I met Lucy andByron (a married couple from BC Vancuver). They were really warm to me andwe really hit it off with conversation. The reason that they were a littlewarmer and welcoming was because they haven't interacted with travelers muchbecause they have spent the last 2 months in the middle eastern part ofNorthern Africa. Mainly Egypt and Libya. Once we got off the train, we foundaccommodation in the M and J hostel in Roma.

We settled in and then hit up the town after getting a much neededshower. We wandered toward the Roman forum and ate some expensive pizza onthe way as a snack to hold us over. The roman forum wasn't too impressivebecause it was so scattered and not well preserved. Plus I don't know muchabout the history of these rocks and pillars (that's why I am taking a walkingtour to help). We also stopped at this massive tomb of the unknown soldierbuilding and walked up. As we walked up I got my first glimpse of thecoliseum. In the movie I took, I sounded sarcastic, like I wasn't excited,but I really was excited to see it. We walked toward it and I got a pictureof me with the roller coaster excited pose in front of the coliseum. It waspretty cool walking around it and I acted as the guide while reading myinformation on it to them.

After the coliseum, we walked to the fountain de trevi. This was reallybreathtaking and was so cool to look at. We got some good photos here aswell.

Our dinner included the best pizza I have had in a long time, withVegetable soup and cheap 3 dollar wine.

We found our hostel and called it a night after that. I just cant believethat I am in my last city I will visit in my travels! I will be home in alittle. See you guys.