Saturday October 17 Start of cruise

We had a late checkout today. The weather was bad outside. Went to the cruise terminal at 3:00
Our travel agent Barbara Stein surprised with a gift of a meal at the Pinnacle Grill. It was a wonderful meal. Thanks Barbara!

RE: Friday October 16 Athens

It was rainy when we woke up this morning in Athens. After breakfast
we decided to take a local tram to Glyfada, which is a seaside resort
outside of Athens. For 1 euro each we travelled out to the beach.
The sun came out as we wandered around the town, and the rains came
pelting down again as we took the tram back to Athens.

When we arrived in Athens the sun had come out. We got off at
Syntagma square and watched the changing of the guard at he parliament
building. We then went for a long walk through Kolonaki an elegant
charming area of Athens, we walked to the foot of Lycabettus Hill.
Kolonaki is considered one of the poshest areas of Athens. Lycabettus
is the highest hill in the city. We took the cable car to the top.
On the top is the picturesque chapel of St. George dating from 1780.
The view of the city is spectacular.

After taking the cable car down, we walked back to Syntagma square and
continued on to Monastiraki, Alot of the locals hang out at the
coffee shops there. We had coffee and watched The Nigerians selling
knockoff watches and scattering when the police swept through the
streets.

Re: Athens, Greece

Athens, is a charming friendly city. We are staying at the Royal
Olympic hotel which is very lovely and centrally located. We walked
everywhere.
We covered a lot of territory today. The new Acropolis Museum which
only opened a few weeks again is a beautiful museum, no headphones
yet. It has a large section on the Parthenon. The Greeks are still
angry with Lord Elgin for stealing a great deal of the antiquities
from it.
We visited the Acropolis and the Parthenon. There is a great deal of
renovating going on there as they attempt to restore it. We also
visited Hadrian's gate and the Temple of Zeus. The Plaka was our
choice for tasting the gyros that Athens had to offer. We also sampled
coffee where ever we went.

RE: Pre travel jitters

Oct 12 Getting ready to travel has always caused me a huge amount of
anxiety.
Being a type A personality doesn't help. I feel tense, driven and
anyone who is around me during this time wishes they were somewhere
else.
As soon as I board the plane, and my adventure begins I begin to relax.
So far that hasn't happened.

Re: Testing my blog off line

October 2009
This is a good chance to test my blog off line and see if it can work
so that I can type and not have to make notes on a pad.

Rosemead, Ca.

Today is October 1. I am celebrating my birthday with friends. I am starting to get ready for my trip so now I am playing around with fonts and checking to see how they look I am such a Libra I will probably take a long time deciding.....

I'm at  Mexican Sugar Skull headquarters. Not lightning here. Just testing....