Getting Home

The trip home included one last night in Athens, where we stayed at Hostel Zeus, quite possible the seediest place in Athens. We picked it because it was the cheapest place available and we only had one night to spend there. In the morning before our flight left we checked out the Achaelogical Museum to see the mask of Agamemnon, many sculptures, the Vaphio cups, and much more.

With that, we headed back to Zeus to collect our luggage, took the metro to the airport and boarded an Olympic airways flight back to London.

Do to our layover, we spent the night sleeping on a bench in Heathrow airport. This is what I’m talking about when I say I lead a glamorous lifestyle:

Refreshed from our very comfortable accommodations, we boarded an American Airlines flight at 7:00am and watched eight hours worth of movies to kill time until we arrived back in Chicago.

Unfortunately, our adventures weren’t quite over. I noticed a security dog sniffing around the passengers at the luggage corral. I didn’t think anything of it until he got quite excited when he got close to me and jumped up with his paws on my back! I was clearly a threat to national security! Turns out, he was actually an agriculture dog and he was only interested in the two apples I had in my backpack that Eva and I bought in Athens for a snack. I willingly gave up the apples but not before the entire airport had stopped and watched the scene go down. I got a special mark on my customs form that meant Eva and I had to get our bags x-rayed for more illegal produce before we left the airport.

Now we’re safely back in Wisconsin and happy to enjoy our own beds, hot showers, and toilets that you can flush the toilet paper in (ah the miracles of modern plumbing). According to many of the Greeks we talked to, in our three weeks in Greece we managed to more than most of the natives!

Now it’s back to the reality of school, work and responsibility. *Sigh.* It’s a good thing we’re already planning our next adventure, so stay tuned!

Getting there is half the fun!

As Eva and I were sitting in the Chicago O'Hare airport, I pondered aloud, "I wonder if there will be any celebrities on our flight today." Eva laughed and brushed me off, but as we boarded the plane a few minutes later we noticed a commotion in the first class compartment. A flamboyantly dressed black male layered with chains and tons of bling was struggling to get his luggage in the overhead bins. We noticed a huge clock hanging from his neck and realized we had our first celebrity sighting of the trip - Flava Flav!!! Mom and Dad, you probably haven't heard of him but he is a member of the 80's rap group public enemy and is currently starring on a reality dating show on VH1, Flava of Love. He graciously agreed to pose for a photo with us:

Today, we had a long layover in London so we checked our suitcases and ventured into the city for a few hours to explore. We did a whirlwind tour and caught Tower Bridge, London Bridge, The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, The Houses of Parliment, Buckingham Palace, and Harrod's Department Store.

We just got into Athens late tonight and we're staying with Sophia in her cute little flat close to the center of the city. That's all for now, tomorrow we're headed to the Acropolis and the Archaeological Museum.

Another adventure!!

Tomorrow I'm off on my biggest adventure to date! Miss Eva and I are headed to the Middle East for three weeks! We fly from Chicago to London tomorrow night and then Thursday from London to Dubai. All in all we'll be spending 16+ hours on a plane and be traveling for over 24 hours total. We get in to Dubai at 11:30pm on Thursday where we will be meeting Ariane - she gets in about an hour before us.

The rough itinerary is as follows:
Dec. 27-28: Chicago-London-Dubai
Dec. 28- Jan. 2:Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Jan. 2-5: Doha, Qatar

Jan. 5-7: Alexandria, Egypt
Jan. 8-9: Aswan, Egypt
Jan. 10-11: Luxor, Egypt
Jan. 12-16: Cairo, Egypt

Jan. 16: Cairo-London-Chicago (Isn't it crazy that we leave Cairo at 8:30 in the morning and get in to Chicago at 3:30pm the same day!)
I'm so excited for the three of us to be reunited again!

London, Days 4&5

Yesterday I went to the fabulous Tate Modern, the modern art museum of London. It had works from many of my favorite artists....Picasso, Warhol, Matisse, and more. I really enjoyed wondering around the museum enjoying the art. I also did a bit of grocery shopping and updated the blog....did you notice I added three posts!?


Today I toured the Tower of London in the morning. It's a bit chilly here, which is unfortunate because I didn't pack for bad weather. Who thinks about sensible clothing when they're going to an island tomorrow! The Tower of London is located right on the Thames and is famous for being a fortress, a palace, and a prison. It is the place where many famous people were executed from 1000-1600.

A replica of the torture rack:

A little more torture:

Legend has it if the ravens leave the Tower (there are six, and they are named) the Crown and England will fall. We were warned - they bite!

If I only had a twist of lime and some tonic with my Beefeater!

The Tower of London is also the home of the Crown Jewels. I can't even believe how beautiful they are. They took my breath away!

On the way back to Dan's I caught the bridge going up!

I met Dan for sushi! After eating it two or three times a week at home, I was craving it, so it definitely hit the spot. After lunch I went to the British Museum - a lot like the Smithsonian as far as scope and quality of works. The difference is, many of the pieces are not behind glass and you are allowed to photograph everything! There aren't even metal detectors to get in the museum...and it's free!

The Rosetta Stone! Holy crap!

A stoneware figure from the Ming Dynasty. The figure of a judge's assistant is holding records of evil deeds under his left arm.

Think I've become a history buff? Just kidding! I also took a picture of the caption so I could share the story!

Probably the best part of the day, and one of the highlights of the trip was catching a play at the replica of the Globe Theatre. The show, En Extremis, was a play written just for the theatre. It's the story of two lovers who struggle with the religious views of the time and try to make religion more accessible for the masses. I bought a very cheap ticket (10 pounds) but got the best seat in the house! I was in the front row center of the first level. The play was great...very modern with a lot of activity. One memorable line was said by the Mother Abbess: "There will be no more f*ing in the trees!" Like I said, this was a modern version of Shakespeare. The show was amazing.

On the way back to Dan's I once again caught Tower Bridge rising:

Quickly though, everything returned to normal:

Tomorrow afternoon I catch a flight to Ibiza! I can't wait to do nothing but sleep, lay in the sun, and sleep while laying in the sun! It's going to be spectacular!

London, Day 3

My friend Richard, who I met while traveling in Argentina in January, took the train from York to visit me in London on Saturday! It was so great to see him again, we had a blast together in Buenos Aires and a day in London with him more than exceeded my expectations. We took the Tube to Picadilly Center to find a pub to watch the day's football match in. Chelsea was playing Manchester, and I was informed more than once that the game was the equivalent of our Super Bowl. Tickets were going to 2,000 pounds on Ebay...that's almost $4,000! We settled on the pub Moon Under the Water, and were promptly accosted by three English men who were having a debate on who had the nicer shirt. One thing led to another and we ended up watching the entire game with them. The guys were hilarious! Raucous, raunchy, un-PC, and pissed (very drunk for all you non-Brits out there).

Richard and I:

I got to see some of the finest drinkers in the UK in action. Pint after pint was poured, I lost track but I know that each one had upwards of 15 pints! I knew I couldn't keep up, so I just took sips of Richard's pint(s) every once in a while. The guys had been drinking since noon, so after the game we decided to go to Chinatown to get some cheap-but-delicious grub. The meal was served with these delicious-but-strange looking....crackers:


After dinner, there was no talking of taking it easy or relaxing.....the boozing had to go on! We headed to Soho...the so -called "gay district" of London. We stopped in a couple of pubs there. The thing about our new friends was they had no problem talking to anyone! One of them sat down at a table with three gay gentlemen and started telling them raunchy jokes. Luckily, they found him hilarious:


Our pub crawl continued when someone mentioned an Irish pub somewhere nearby that had a tree growing in it! Because we have one of the same in Madison, I demanded to see it. Just like the one in Madison, the original tree had to be cut out and replaced with a replica due to safety issues, but I still gave it some love:


We also managed to end up in a pub that The Streets, a fantastic British band, often drinks in. They even mention it in their lyrics!


It was so fun to experience London from a non-touristy point of view. It was so great to see Richard again, even if it was only for a day, and meeting Tom, Tommy, and Callum will probably be one of the best memories from my trip!


And, as a public service announcement, drinking can cloud your judgement and make you less inhibited. This could lead to bad decisions, such as embarrassing tattoos:


Always know your limits!

London, Day 2

I got up (fairly) early Friday and spent all day doing the tourist thing. I caught the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace and then wandered up the Thames seeing all the must-sees in London: Westminster, Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey. I even bought a ticket to see a performance at the Globe Theatre...a replica of the one where Shakespeare's works were performed. Here is a smattering of photos from my day:

The famous Tower Bridge, 2 minutes from Dan's place:

No caption needed:


The luxury SmartCar, shorter than me!


Guards at Buckingham Palace:

The changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace was quite the ceremony. It lasted upwards of 45 minutes. The band played a bunch of patriotic music, as well as classics such as....Everything's Coming Up Roses...? The soldiers got yelled at by their superiors if they were not lined up correctly and there was a lot of ceremonial shuffling of feet in the gravel to get lined up again. All and all, an impressive show, but I don't think there will ever be anything quite as eloquent and emotional as the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Storm Troopers, I mean palace guard, waiting to escort the queen out of the palace before the ceremony. At least I think it was the queen...a couple of flashy cars pulled out of the palace with the motorcycles escorting them. The crowd started clapping and someone yelled, "she's wearing a purple hat!" Therefore, I'm maintaining that I saw The Queen leave the palace, even though I really have no idea who it was, or what was going on. She probably was just headed to the mall or something.

Nice view of the palace gates:


Some of the gardens near the palace:



Big Ben:


Westminster:


Westminster Abby:


Hogwarts was also taking a field trip in London on Friday:


The London Eye:


An unexpected tourist attraction: The Dreadlocked mullet:


The Scientology center of London. I thought about hanging out to see if I could catch Tom Cruise, but instead I might go back to see an informational video on Monday. It's the only free thing that Scientology offers.


Artsy-fartsy picture of a pedestrian bridge:

Dan and I also went out for tapas and then met some of his friends for drinks. Most of the pubs in London have a midnight last call, so drinking starts pretty early! Places start filling up with people around 8 o'clock and the place we went to for tapas was packed with people starting their weekend right after work! As I travel the world, I become more and more convinced that no one knows how to booze like the British. Their stamina and tolerance is staggering.

Perfect lighting for an evening shot in front of Tower Bridge:

Random pose:

American Girls in London:

Security!


As tempting as the name was, we decided to find a different place:


My humble "bedroom":

I'm still working on my post for Saturday's events, I'll probably post it tonight!