Stolen Property

When we visited the Acropolis Museum in Athens, we were able to see many of the original sculptures that were part of the Parthenon. We noticed that many of the sculptures are missing and are listed as part of the collection of the British Museum. We learned that the British came to Athens at one point in time and removed a lot of the sculptures from the Acropolis, deeming them their property.

Now that we are in London, we were anxious to head over to the British Museum and check out their display of the sculptures:

Sculpture from the Frieze of the Parthenon.

Sculpture from the Pediments.

More than half of the sculptures no longer reside in Athens, and the British Museum has a large amount of them. The pediment sculptures, in particular, are much more intact than the ones in Athens.

We (mostly Hanna…don’t get her started) are a bit outraged that the Brits won’t give back these sculptures. Their stance is that they are exposing world civilization and history to a larger audience by having the art on display at the British Museum. Here the average person can see the art for free alongside other art from similar civilizations. We think this is bullshit. The Acropolis Museum is a beautiful facility that has reconstructed the sculptures from the Parthenon. Wouldn’t lovers of architecture and history benefit more from seeing the structure in its entirety instead of seeing many blank spots with signs saying that the piece can be found at the British Museum?

We aren’t political people and aren’t that well informed about the situation, but we definitely left feeling not very impressed with the Brits’ stance on this topic. They have an entire museum filled with stolen objects that they don’t want to return.

Maybe we are frustrated because the only part of Athens that we did enjoy was the Acropolis…

A Never-Ending Day

We left Berlin on a 4:20am train today and are scheduled to get into Florence at 8:30pm. This ridiculously long travel day is our payment for leaving Greece early.

An update about how the day went will be posted once our heads are screwed back on again after spending a bazillion hours on trains.

Hanna's Chipper. Mike's Still Asleep.

Creepily Scary Items We Have Found at Hostels, Part Two

We are happy/scared that we are able to post a second installment of the ever-popular “Creepily Scary Items We Have Found at Hostels.” (See the first post here.)

Though we are in Berlin now, we had another creepily scary encounter at our hostel in Athens. The lobby and massive TV lounge looked nice enough. It was only until we started exploring further than we got the crap scared out of us by select items:

He Will Slap You While You’re Sleeping.

Laser Beams Totally Shoot out of His Eyes.

For fear for our lives, we don’t want this series of posts to continue.

The Art of Packing a Bag

So we changed our Athens to Milan flight to an Athens to Berlin flight. Yes, we had to pay a change fee, but we just weren’t all that excited about going to the Greek Islands now, especially when we could be spending up to eight or nine hours on ferries each way for some islands. Hanna didn’t want to relive the nausea-filled Thai ferries. Greece isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (let’s hope), so we’ll come back to Santorini or Mykonos when we are old and rich.

Our anxiety for the day: carrying our backpacks onto our EasyJet flight. European budget airlines are notorious for being sticklers for bag size, but we didn’t want to pay the 15 euros (about US $21.50) each to check our bags. When packed to the gills, our small bags are actually bigger than the allowed size, so Operation Pack Tight commenced the night before our flight. We wanted our bags to appear as small as possible. Since EasyJet has the ridiculous rule of only allowing ONE carry-on bag (yes, that includes a purse or other small handbag), we tried packing all of our goodies, our messenger bag, and Hanna’s flowery tote bag into our backpacks many times. Lots of frustration and yelling at our stupid bags ensued. Doing the same action over and over truly is the sign of insanity.

Upon arriving at the Athens airport, Hanna put her dumpy hiker cargo pants over her leggings and shoved a bunch of items (including a sports bra) into her pants and coat pockets, while Mike put his baggy convertible pants over his jeans. We nervously approached the check-in desk, and the woman behind the counter asked to see our carry-on bags. She sized them up, smiled, and said. “Well done. Very good packing.” Phew, we were fine.

As we passed through security, they pulled us over and made us take out almost everything we had tightly packed. Thanks, guys. Though we had all of our liquid toiletries in quart-size bags, they asked what was inside of every single dumb bottle. What concerned them the most, however, were Mike’s three bottles of contact saline solution (all bought for really cheap while in Asia) that are totally bigger than the allowed size for liquids. We pulled out our trump card and insisted that they are medical necessities. (Look it up on the TSA website…it’s true!) A supervisor was called over, and lots of debating in Greek occurred. We were on pins and needles, but finally the guy let it go through. Glad they were so worried about that, but somehow they didn’t catch the large pair of scissors we have in our first-aid kit. You’ll all be proud to know that Mike will continue being the recipient of Hanna’s awkward haircuts.

Final Thoughts: Greece

We’ve written a lot of these posts recently, so we’re not each going to craft a comprehensive one for Greece. We were only in Athens for three nights, totally changed our plans, and hightailed it out of there. The bottom line? The Acropolis and its affiliated museum were truly impressive; the rest of the city, however, was not. We felt like we were constantly watching our bags, avoiding looks from shady men, and commenting on the dirty, graffiti-laden city. We have not felt this way about any other city thus far on this trip. Our initial impressions about Athens really did not change after three nights. Sorry, Athens.

One final Greek story: Hanna was looking out the window from our top-floor hostel room onto the train tracks below. She spotted a man peeing on the tracks and commented how classy that was. Twenty feet down the tracks, she spotted a teenage boy sitting and reading a book. She assumed that he was doing homework while waiting for his dad to relieve himself. The peeing man approached the boy, said something quickly, and then walked off of the tracks.

Hanna was intrigued and continued to watch this drama unfold. It turns out the boy wasn’t reading; he was pulling papers and books out of a black purse that Hanna originally thought was a school bag, flipping through them quickly, and then throwing them to the ground. He kept repeating this action, and Hanna finally realized that the boy had stolen some woman’s purse and was perusing through its contents. He kept acting more and more suspicious, looking over his shoulder constantly. Eventually he pulled a wallet out, took some cards and money from it, and then threw the purse back on the tracks. He tucked the wallet into the waist of his pants, pulled his shirt over it, and quickly ran out of there. Hanna couldn’t believe what she was witnessing and became quite enraged when she imagined it was us this was happening to. It must feel so violating to have some dumb teen digging through your purse and then discarding it onto train tracks. Sketchy-looking characters kept coming on and off the tracks and talking for two seconds. This must be their meet-up point after robbing innocent victims. That, dear friends, is another reason why we were ready to leave Athens.

Days Spent in Greece: 3

Total Money Spent in Greece: US $207.24
(This includes cheap lodging, transportation to and from the airport, a piece of baklava, and free admission to all of the sites. Thank you, student card.)

Average Spent Per Day in Greece: US $69.08
(Not too bad for three days, no?)

Average Spent Per Day for the Whole Trip:US $73.26
(Thanks to relatively cheap days in Greece, our average went down by five cents. We’re proud.)

Hanna Is on the Left. Mike Is on the Right. The Parthenon Is in the Background.

A Very Serious Chat at the Agora

We feel like we have seen many of the major sites in Athens, and we spent our last day here sitting in the Agora to discuss some very important issues. We have made a huge decision regarding our trip, so here we go…

We originally budgeted for about ten months of travel, and thus we planned on coming home around June 1. While we were in New Zealand, we considered extending our trip to mid-July because our money has been going further than expected. Thinking about it more now, we have made the very hard decision to come home as originally planned (early June). It doesn’t make sense to pay rent on our Manhattan apartment while it sits empty for six weeks. Although we don’t want to go home early and don’t want to feel like we are giving up, it’s probably a wise idea to make smart financial decisions, especially because we don’t have jobs lined up when we go home.

Most around-the-world backpackers that we have met are moving in with their parents when they go home, but we unfortunately don’t have that luxury. We have a lease on our apartment which we need to re-sign, and only a fixed amount of money waits for us at home. It seems silly to us to pay rent and bills while also paying for expensive European travel.

It’s been a very hard day of thinking for us because we don’t want this trip to end. Facing real life again will be a rude awakening. Upon making this decision, we totally changed our upcoming itinerary. Originally we planned to go to some Greek Islands for the next week, but since the weather isn’t super warm and we now have less time to travel, we are flying to Berlin today. Yes, today. We made a very spontaneous travel choice. We’ll be in Berlin for a few days and then make our way down to Tuscany to meet up with Mike’s family next week. Though we are having a hard time today, we’re excited to see familiar faces once again.

Today reminds us that this trip is ever-changing, and we have to do what’s best for us. Though it will be hard to stop traveling, we are excited to get home to our bed, see family and friends, and watch lots and lots of TV. Crappy reality shows are so much better than exploring the world.

Random Pictures from Athens

Though it seems that all we have done here in Athens is go to the Acropolis and avoid dodgy characters, we have wandered around a lot, and we’ve used our student cards to get into a variety of different ruins. Enjoy a few random pictures from our time here:

Coming to Broadway Soon? We Can Only Hope.

The Janitorial Closet-Turned-Bathroom at Our Hostel.

The Restored Theater of Herod Atticus at the Acropolis.

Hanna's Favorite Building in Athens. They're Columns...That Are Women! Whoa.

Totally Us as Old People. Love the Cosby Sweaters...

Did You Know That One Column Is Made of Many Small Pieces? This One Has Kicked the Bucket.

We Sure Do Love Columns.

A Perfectly-Framed Self-Portrait.

Parthenon or Pantheon?

For some odd reason, both of us have trouble remembering the correct cities for the Parthenon and Pantheon. (For those playing at home, the Parthenon is here in Athens, while the Pantheon is in Rome.) We’ve already seen the Pantheon a few times, so we figured we’d see what all the hubbub over the Parthenon is all about.

In the same vein as Beijing, Athens massively expanded its public transportation system for the 2004 Olympics. From looking at maps, however, we’ve determined that central Athens is pretty walkable, so we made the jaunt to the Acropolis, the home of the Pantheon Parthenon. Did you know that the Acropolis is on top of a massive hill? Did you know that Athens is not a fan of having signs that direct dumb backpackers in the correct direction of the Acropolis?

We started hiking up a hill that we were convinced would lead us to the Acropolis. Fifteen minutes later we discovered it was a dead-end. Awesome. At least we got this view of the city:

Mike Is Convinced That Is Mount Olympus in the Background. Hanna Still Thinks It’s Mount Doom.

We course-corrected and finally found the main entrance. A quick interjection: we love having student cards. Regular admission to most of the Athenian sites is 12 euros per person (about US $17.22 each.) If you are a student, admission is only 6 euros (about US $8.61). If you are a student in the European Union, admission is totally free (about US $0.00). Why yes, we did flash our cards and say we studied in London. We half-debated putting on a fake Madonna accent to complete the ruse. We’re sure that they didn’t believe us, but they didn’t seem to want to bother charging us. We have never had to pay ANY admission fees here.

Thank God for Bullet Point #4. Hanna, However, Was Bummed.

Hanna has studied lots of ancient architecture, so this was a real treat. This is something she’s wanted to see for a long time. We enjoyed sitting at the top and people-watching for a long time on this sunny day. We have a tendency to take stupid pictures while at famous places, so enjoy:

Mike’s Senior Pic. He Was Hot, So He Rolled up His Jeans to Make Them Manpris. So Stylish.

Hanna’s Senior Pic. Miss Personality.

The Best Jumper in the World.

Hanna Apologizes for the Belly Shot.

Following our exploration of the ruins, we made our first purchase of gelato on the European leg of the trip. Many more transactions are soon to come in Italy.

Just down the hill from the Acropolis is the Acropolis Museum. Opened in 2009, this very modern museum is built over a current excavation site, and you walk on glass floors outside so that you are able to see all of the work:

The Museum Entrance Is in the Background, and Someday You Will Be Able to Walk on Metal Walkways through the Ruins.

We thought we might have to pay 5 euros for this museum, but our handy student cards proved their worth once again. The museum holds a massive collection of statues and friezes from the Parthenon and has an awesome view:

Acropolis and Parthenon on Top.

A full-size recreation of all of the Parthenon’s exterior sculptures sits on the top floor of the museum. We watched a surprisingly well-done video that explained the history and architecture and then wandered around the exhibit once more. We highly recommend this museum.

On the way home, we passed Omonia Square. A massive fake beach (complete with volleyball net, beach chairs, and inflatable pool) was installed for the day, and we’re convinced that MTV Greece was filming their edition of Spring Break 2011:

Note How the Sand Just Turns into Pavement at the Bottom.

This day alone made our trip to Athens worth it.

Quick Thoughts: Athens

When we decided that we were definitely doing this trip, we constantly talked about where we wanted to go, and Greece was always on the list. (It was briefly removed when we found out there are no international trains to and from Greece because of their crappy economy, but EasyJet saved the day by offering a reasonable flight from Athens to Milan in time to meet Mike’s family.) After doing a smidge of research and talking with people who had been to Athens, we second-guessed our decision to be Athenian tourists. Everything we heard about Athens was not very positive. Well, all of the warnings were right so far.

We are trying to put aside everything we have heard and read: Athens is dirty, dangerous, and blah. It’s hard to remove preconceived notions of a city. It really is. Part of it is the area we are staying in. We booked a hostel that is convenient to a main train station that easily takes us to the ferry terminal and the airport. Despite wobbly bunk beds and a bathroom that feels like a janitorial closet, the hostel itself is okay, but the area doesn’t offer much in the way of tourist amenities. We’re having a really hard time finding cheap restaurants. Hell, we are having a hard time finding restaurants period. All that is around are gross-looking cafes, shuttered theaters, and big hotels. Where are those dwellers eating?

After making the thirty-minute walk from our neighborhood to the Acropolis, we are very surprised by the amount of graffiti:

Note the Graffiti on the Door.

It’s not like beautiful murals are painted on blank walls. Stupid tags are everywhere: on awnings, old churches, doors, subway and train cars, and store signs.  We are utterly shocked at how defiled almost every building is.

Athens seems to be frozen in time: rundown and dirty. On many streets we’ve noticed open bags of trash which attract flies and stray dogs.  The latter tend to leave excrement everywhere as well. We don’t feel unsafe walking around the city during the day as many people and police officers are out and about, but we definitely have noticed that people keep a close eye on their bags. Women wear their purses on the front and clutch them with a tight hand. We’ve followed this practice as well. Many questionable-looking men just hang out in packs or alone on sidewalks. Hanna has been stared at a lot by these sketchy characters, and it’s an unsettling feeling.

The city just feels old and tired, and it’s not a charming sort of old. We truly hope our feelings change…

Boring Travel Day

The alarm annoyingly beeped at 6:45am yesterday, and it was time to head to the Istanbul airport. Bonnie’s flight was only half an hour later than ours, so we all took the tram/metro combo together. Bonnie and Hanna got all of their singing conversations out while waiting at the airport because Mike forbade Hanna from singing what she wants to say once our hooves hit the plane. We said goodbye to Bonnie, but it’ll only be about three months until we see her next. Not too bad…

The hour-long flight to Athens held a special surprise: we got an actual meal of chicken sandwiches, salad, and apple cake. This is a major coup for us backpackers as we are used to budget airlines where you have to pay for everything. Mike even followed up an absolutely disgusting glass of white wine with a mediocre cup of coffee.  Hey, free is free.

As we were about to land, Hanna had her hood up and was leaning against the window so that her face was obscured. The flight attendant stopped at our aisle, leaned over to tap Hanna, and said, “Sir? Sir? Window shade up please.” As Hanna turned around, the lady who made a grave error looked surprised and embarrassed that she called this fine-lookin’ woman a man. Mike giggled and won’t let Hanna live this down.

The relatively painless train ride got us to our hostel around 1pm, and we did nothing besides nap, quickly wander around to check out the neighborhood, and grab some dinner. These early morning wake-up calls for the past few days have finally caught up with us.