Hollins Goes To Greece

First Shot of the Day … Olympic Rings Sculpture outside Athens Airport.

 Flight to Amsterdam & Athens

Both airlines were very nice. We left an hour late & got to Amsterdam an hour early. The attendant at the gate didn’t realize that the plane had already arrived and needed to be prepped for our departure. It was a little unnerving. We were all planning to sleep on the plane but the ammenaties were so outstanding and we quickly got busy with video games, movies, etc. The food was the best we’d ever tasted … at least for airline food. We arrived in Amstadam which was more mall than airport and then boarded the plane for Athens. It was so exciting that we all promptly fell asleep resembling a pile of puppies.We arrived in Athens and were met by Thalia, our great travel agent. We took a bus to Athens and caught our first glimpse of the Acropolis, but it was just a tease.

Our fearless leaders … Prof. Salowey and Prof. Richter

After we dropped the bags at our hotel, our fearless leaders mustered us out for our trek to the Philopappos Monument on the Hill of the Muses. Upon this trek we gained our first canine escort that someone dubbed Charlie. He took his job very seriously guarding us from the southern slopes of the Acropolis all the way to the reconstructed ancient road built by Pikionis. From there we hiked up the Hill of the Muses to watch the sunset while Charlie took a rest. 

After our attempts to keep up with our professor who moonlights as a marathoner, we promptly collapsed in our rooms for a pre-dinner power nap, although some worked at figuring out phone cards while Christie worked out a few kinks with the shower. For dinner, we discovered the true value of our travel agent when we went to have the best food we ever had. Prof. Salowey & Prof. Richter ordered a sampling of traditional mezes each one better than the last although that stuffed zuccini was very hard to beat. From there, Charlie escorted us back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.