Athens-Acropolis and Ruins, Happy Train, Plaka, and Acropolis Museum

We went and had breakfast at the hotel and my, it was quite the spread! Breads, meats, cheeses, feta, olives, very yummy thick Greek yogurt with honey drizzled on top, all sorts of little sweet croissants and Danishes, sweet bread, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs etc. Chris and I got our €9 worth each by golly! Ha, the kids were free and put down quite a bit as well. Hailey ended up wearing her orange fruit (which was a darker orange color than usual and more squirty as well)-we had to go change her clothes and rinse out the orange.

We traveled not very far and already stumbled across some ruins:

And then, we saw this thing called the "Happy Train" so I convinced Chris we should do it. It takes you around for over an hour, past all the big sites and you can hop off at the Acropolis and hop back on (and one other place it stopped as well). It was only €6 for Chris and I (and the kids were free) and well worth it! The kids loved riding the little train and Chris didn't have to walk as far with Hailey in the pack and you got to survey everything and decide what you wanted to go back to.

The Roman Agora (Market):

Acropolis through the trees before we climbed up:

Ethan surrounded by olive trees:

Ethan and I outside the Theatre at the bottom entrance of the Acropolis:

Like father, like son (except Chris' legs are much longer):

Looking down on the Theatre and out across the city of Athens:

Temple of Athenian Nike:

Stadium for first Olympics in 1896:

Lunch at cute cafe--LuLu in the Plaka after we exited the Happy Train:

Lunching outside while the parakeets were getting it on in the cage next to us (Chris and I had a good laugh over it):

Places to go, people to see. Looking a little hangry here:

Chris was jealous of my Ferrero Roche dessert (his Black Forest one didn't quite measure up): 

Olives everywhere! Who knew there were THAT many different kinds? Ethan is in heaven!

Temple of Olympian Zeus:

Hadrian's Gate (that Hadrian got around--we've seen his walls and gates several places)!

We walked through the huge National Garden. It also had a zoo inside with goats, turtles, etc. and a huge playground for the kids!

Thought this movie poster in Greek looked cool:

This place was near our hotel with a huge selection and a line out the door. Inexpensive and delicious!

The next day in Athens we headed to the Acropolis Museum. It is huge, pretty new and state of the art. We couldn't believe admission was only €5ea. for Chris and I!

Heck, most museums in the UK are around £12 (that National Motor Museum was around £25!). Anyways, there has to be some way that they can keep the low rate for Greek citizens and charge tourists from outside the country normal museum prices to raise money to pay back all that debt. They had the upper artwork that goes all around the top of the Acropolis laid out above at the museum. And tons of Roman ruins that you can view through glass floors at the huge museum entryway. Lots of statues with broken noses and missing heads and appendages. Crazy that some of these things were from Jesus' time!

We had a coffee and some lemon tart while Hailey slept in the borrowed museum stroller on their huge terrace overlooking the Acropolis. Then we headed to lunch and ate at this traditional Greek family restaurant on the Plaka. They gave us the option of viewing/picking dishes from a big tray they brought over or ordering from the menu. We chose the first option. I wish more places would do that--it's quick and easy and everyone gets what they want!  Ethan loved his meatballs dish, Chris got a sausage dish, I got Moussaka that Hailey and I shared and we all had dolmas and bread with tzatziki--yum!

These street side cafes just have motorcycles and mopeds speeding past them all the time. It sure makes sense to have a motorcycle in this city! And accordion players or small quartet bands come around and perform for money. 

Oh, just as Ethan finished up his last eye drops for pink eye, we discovered that Hailey needed to start the 5 day regimen. Thank goodness it is while Chris is around to help me. It takes two of us to hold her down and keep her eyes open/do the eye drops. Poor girl. Luckily there is just enough in the bottle for her as well.

Athens Arrival and Hotel Attalos

This morning was daylight savings time (it happens a week earlier in England) so it helped to get to sleep in an extra hour before catching our 8:55am flight. This RyanAir flight went much better than than the last one we took (to Dublin). There was just one incident where the (bitchy) flight attendant that took our tickets insisted that we couldn't use our car seat "per regulations". I argued for a bit saying that we just used it on a RyanAir flight two weeks ago but Chris whispered to me "ah, just let it go and we'll ask someone else on the plane." Which we did and sure enough, they let us use it. The kids did really well on the 3.5hr. Flight! We had two different people around us remark about how well-behaved our kids were and that they couldn't believe that Chris and I could sit there and read a book/magazine while they entertained themselves. We were actually pretty surprised about this too but counted our lucky stars and took advantage while we could. We felt like we had finally hit our stride traveling with the kids. We have it down to a science now, bringing exactly what we need--no more, no less... Two small checked bags. Our only carry-ons were my purse, a bag with snacks, camera, and reading material and Ethan's backpack had their "surprises" and one stuffed animal each. We told Ethan he had to carry it and "pull his weight". :) We gate-checked the baby carrier pack and Chris carried the car seat. 

When we arrived, it was warm and sunny. We took a 45min. train into Athens (we had to run to catch it and get on and make sure it was the right one because trains pulled up on both sides at the same time). Oddly enough, the people I asked were from Seattle! We overheard them talking to a super friendly Greek guy later. Our hotel, Hotel Attalos, was just a few blocks from the Monastriki train station and a great location, right in the middle of it all. Easy walking distance to all the sites, close to the square and the Monastriki flea market and shops. I like to boast to Chris that "his travel agent did really well." :) There was this tiny little tap with clear liquid and little clear Dixie cups at reception which I assumed was water until I saw the sign stating that it was alcoholic. Must be ouzo. Such hospitality. :) And a candy dish. A Greek fellow gave Ethan a handful of candy and Ethan was still talking about it days later how nice that guy was and how he wanted to see him again. Candy is definitely the way to Ethan's heart. :)

Check out the view of the Acropolis from our room balcony!

View of Athens:

Relaxing in the warm sunshine:

Hailey making herself right at home in her new slippers:

Monastriki Square with the Acropolis behind:

Not sure if this is tea or what?

We stopped at the Souvlaki stand right by the train station (our Lonely Planet mentioned it as one of the best in town coincidentally) for dinner and had our first of many Gyros this trip. The total for food for four of us and a drink came to just €11. Nice! Must say--best gyro I've ever had, such great flavor!! We went back there again the next day as well. Afterwards we got dessert crepes. Here are the kids in awe of the yogurt bar (don't tell them that this isn't dessert). :) They have Ferrero Roche flavor for all sorts of desserts (like Nutella with the candy crushed up inside it) for crepes and desserts everywhere here. Which makes me think that Ferrero Roche candy must come from Greece?

The Acropolis all lit up at night:

Chris and I bought some ouzo and sweet wine and olives to have on the balcony after the kids went to bed:

Chris' ouzo face:

My ouzo face:

Yeah, not a huge fan of the ouzo. Kind of a black licorice flavor. One kind was definitely better than the other but neither was that easy to drink. And after awhile we couldn't remember which was which. The sweet wine wasn't our favorite either. But the olives, the olives were amazing!

Pinkeye and Decorating Pumpkins

Ethan woke up Wednesday morning with some goop in his eye. He had a cold and claimed that he got some snot in his eye. Pinkeye crossed my mind but it wasn't that bad yet and I thought, maybe his eye is just a little irritated. But then Wednesday night more mucousy goop appeared in his eye. Several phone calls later, I spoke with a doctor and got him to write an Rx for Ethan that we picked up right before they closed at 6pm and went to ASDA to get the drops. So poor Ethan had to stay home from school on Thursday and Friday right before the school holiday (I'm sure they totally think we are playing hooky and extended our vacation a bit. Not the case this time...). It was incredibly hard to try and keep that kid from touching everything (including his sis). Thursday we rented the new Cinderella movie from the library. I thought it was really well done and had a great message: "Have courage and be kind". Friday Ethan watched his Top Gear episodes twice, we got some money exchanged for Euros for our trip, I attempted to check in for our Ryanair flight and had to call them TWICE to enable us to do so but finally got the departure and return tickets printed (don't get me started on those morons...) and then that evening we painted our pumpkins. We looked at some ideas on a Red Tricycle email and Ethan wanted to do a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pumpkin.

I don't know why I bother laying out paper on the floor because the paint goes everywhere but the paper (the floor, themselves, etc). Oh well, they had a great time!

Example A. Caught in the act: One is about to taste paint while the other has taken to painting himself directly. :)

A million wet wipes later, cleaned up with our finished masterpieces:

Chris has been working super long days all week and has had a nasty cough so we are all ready for a vacation! I think I am the only healthy one out of the bunch right now (Hailey has a cold too). Here's Hailey with her first pigtails (she pulled them out two seconds later). It is impossible to do anything with her hair right now because she pulls clips and bands out right away but every once in awhile I try.

Leaf Headpieces Never Lose Their Appeal

The kids have been really enjoying collecting leaves to update their wicker head pieces:

 New gorgeous multi-colored leaves we got from this tree on the walk home from school: