Greece is the word!

It's been almost a month since we got back from Greece. What a shame it has taken me that long to blog about our {awesome} trip!

Friday: Herb let me go early. Finished packing. Drove to Arlington to stay with my cousins for the night. Got pulled over on the way there by a cop. Was asked if I had every been out of the country before with "this man." Was grateful I was able to say yes (honeymoon!). Bought some summer clothes for Sean at the mall. Ate pizza with Chad, Connie and their triplets: Ryan, Kyle & Emily. Watched a basketball game. To bed.

Saturday/Sunday: Ate an awesome breakfast that Connie made. Packed up and got ready for traveling. Made it to the airport. Flew from DFW to Philadelphia. Flew from Philadelphia to Switzerland overnight. Took some fantastic "No-Jet Lag" pills. Watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Flew from Switzerland to Athens. Were so glad to finally be done flying. Took the Metro into Athens. Ate McDonald's out of sheer hunger and convenience. Noticed about half of their taxis are Mercedes. Met up with Sean & Susann at our hostel. No time to shower. Went to Piraeus for the soccer game. Olympiakos v. AEK. Great game. Ate dinner near the water in a cute restaurant. Bed.

Monday: Up early. Heard there were strikes but that it didn't affect us. Ate a delicious pastry filled with creme for breakfast. Took a tour bus around Athens. Got a call that our hostel in Olympia went bankrupt and that we would be staying at a different place. Worried. Saw the Acropolis. One of my favorite parts of the trip. Found out the new Acropolis Museum is closed on Mondays. Ate a really good gyro for lunch. Followed with a cone of chocolate gelato. Saw Hadrian's Library, the Roman Agora, and the Ancient Agora. Went to the National Archaeological Museum. Ate a not so great gyro. Bed.

Tuesday: Up even earlier to catch the bus to Olympia. Found out we had an hour to spare once we got to the station. Hours of riding the bus. Arrived at our replacement hotel. Awesome. Went to the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. Went to the ruins of Ancient Olympia (where they held the games). Went to the Olympic Games Museum. Drank some wine and ate pizza. Chilled in our hotel's classy bar. Watched Hitler's Downfall remakes. Bed.

Wednesday: Up early. Caught the bus back to Athens. Made it to our hostel. Heard there were strickes but they didn't affect us again. Went out to get our ferry tickets to Santorini. Ran into the rioters. Heard them shoot off tear gas. Saw lots of police, broken glass, burned trash cans and cars. Ran into many places with tear gas. Were interviewed by a news station on our thoughts of the riots. Bought a cool book as a souvenir and bars of soap for my friends at work. Found out the ferry ticket place was closed. Tried the Acropolis Musem. No good. Workers were striking. Walked back to our hostel to meet up with Sean & Susann again. Took forever and was kinda scary. Ate dinner at a great place. Sad bye to Sean & Susann. Bed.

Thursday: Up the earliest ever. Trucked all the way to Piraeus. Took an 8 hour ferry ride to Santorini. Kinda sucked. Got to our hostel in Imerovigli. Totally awesome! Ate spaghetti at the hostel's restaurant. Took a small nap. Watched the sun set. Explored the tiny pathways along the caldera (cliff) to Fira. Ate some great pizza and gelato. Heard Kesha playing in the gelato store. Fell in love with Santorini. Bed.

Friday: Up early. Breakfast at our hostel. Discovered a love of plain Greek yogurt with honey. Fed some of the breakfast to the cat so we didn't look rude for not touching what they made for us. Took the bus to the ancient ruins of Thira and Kamari Beach (black beach). Went up the top of the mountain and saw the ruins. Came down and ate pizza by the beach. Layed out. Nathan swam in the Mediterranean. I got in up to the tops of my legs. Way too cold. Ate some gelato. Took the bus back to Oia for a dinner at sunset. Great food. Saw a paraglider. Walked through Oia. Back to Imerovigli. Bed.

Saturday/Sunday: Finally slept in a little. Ate breakfast at our hostel again. More yogurt with honey. Threw an egg over the cliff to again not be perceived as rude. Took the bus to Fira. Went to the Museum of Ancient Thira. Bought a bracelet and some coasters as souvenirs. Ate pizza. Remaining 48 hours were the most miserable ever. Took the 8 hour ferry back to Piraeus. Got in at almost midnight. Dead tired. Took the Metro halfway to the airport. Metro closed. Took a taxi the rest of the way. Stayed in the airport for 5 hours. Flew from Athens to Germany. Flight delayed due to volcano erupting. Board plane. Sit on plane for about 2 hours waiting for a takeoff slot. Get a slot. About to takeoff. Have to return to gate because of some breaker that is causing our navigation system to malfunction. Wait on plane another hour. Are told we might have our flight cancelled. Get fixed. Back in line for a takeoff slot. Finally take off. Are the last to take off. Airport closes literally five minutes later. Get in the air. Pilot tells us our flight will be extended due to the fact that we must fly all the up to Iceland/Greenland in order to go around the erupting volcano. Watch lots of movies. See Iceland/Greenland. Supposedly could see volcano erupting. Apparently our eyes aren't that good. Finally land in Charlotte. Go through customs. Have missed our connecting flight to DFW. Get in line with the rest of the plane to get rebooked. Wait forever. Are sure that we will get put up in a hotel in Charlotte and get to fly out the next morning. Really looking forward to sleeping and in a bed. No such luck. Have to fly out that night. Make phone calls to jobs to let them know we won't be in Monday morning. Fly from Charlotte to DFW. Get in after midnight. Finally get our car and get to a La Quinta. Shower and Sleep!!!

Monday: Up early. Take my car to get it's Texas inspection. Breakfast at Taco Cabana. Drive back to Shreveport. In a daze. I go into work for a few hours.

The End.

It was such a great adventure. Literally. Our absolute favorite was Santorini, but we knew it would be. Nathan really liked seeing the ruins and artifacts in Olympia and I really loved the Acropolis. Of all the disaster we could have encountered, our only disappointment was not being able to see the new Acropolis Museum. And now we can tell our children that we were in Athens when the riots of 2010 were happening. Heck, we witnessed the aftermath! We are pretty done with flying and extensive traveling for a while though and are totally looking forward to our vacation in July to celebrate our first anniversary. More on that some other time.

I'll leave you with some pictures.