Greece - Day 3

Day 3 - 30 Minute run, drive the marathon course, Expo, downtown Plaka

EARLY morning run. The run was for 30 minutes and started at 6:15!!

I had trouble getting my watch to sync, and by the time it DID, one lady and I ended up losing the group. So we ran together. Her name is Syd, and she is from Utah. She is FAST!! In her fifties, she can easily run a four hour marathon and has done Boston FIVE times! She gave me some advice for how to run the race, and in 30 minutes, we somehow met up with the group. Quick shower and breakfast, then we were off for day.

I didn't pack the right clothes for this trip. The booklet I received in the mail said I "might" need a light jacket but skirts, dresses, etc were good for this time of year. It was freakin' FREEZING when I left the hotel in the morning. I was glad to have brought a sweater and jacket, as well as leggings that I eventually had to put on under my skirt. First item on the agenda - driving the marathon course. I was NOT looking forward to this. I know that a lot of people LIKE to see where they are going to be running. I am not one of those people. An elevation profile is bad enough. Driving it just makes it seem SO MUCH FURTHER. The course actually starts in Marathon. It was a long drive to get there, took maybe 45 minutes. Pictures from the drive:

These signs were all over the city

The track by the start line

Another view of the track by the start line

View of the starting area

Starting plaza

Cool statue and flag of Greece

This is where the flame is lit

Very back of the starting line - this is all tile and marble

This is the actual starting line, where we would all be corralled

 Around the 5K mark, the course goes by the tombs - an archaeological museum.

Map of the archaeological site

View of the gardens at the archaeological site

Most of the course is just through downtown Athens. Lots of car dealerships, gas stations, etc. As I said, I tried not to look at the course. All I know is it seemed like it took a REALLY long time to drive the course.

This statue marked only a mile or so to the finish line!

Known in Athens as the "marble stadium" - seats 69,000 spectators! (aka, the finish line)

After driving the course, we headed to the expo. We were not picking up our packets, but it gave us the chance to check out the vendors and buy any official race merchandise.

Building where the Expo  was held

Inside the Expo

Inside the Expo

Yay!! I found my name! With this being such a special event, we hear that these lists will be memorialized in a museum!

Course map

Pasta lunch at the expo

The expo was INSANE. Adidas was the clothing sponsor and their booth was so crowded I couldn't even see what they had to offer. I didn't even try to get in there. There was only one booth that sold official merchandise and it was beyond crowded. The only way that you could even see what was offered is if you just got in line. I bet I was in the line for at least 30 minutes. I picked up a pin for my race hat and a couple of t-shirts. The rest of the expo was just as packed. No way was an hour enough time to go through it all!

After leaving the expo, we took the bus to downtown Plaka (a suburb or section of Athens) where we were to have the afternoon free.

Metropolis

Restaurant where we had lunch

We stopped at one of the restaurants that the tour guide recommended. Since I ate at the expo, I didn't order anything, but I snacked on some bread and of course Greek salad. The place was... not that great. There were birds everywhere and they didn't do anything to keep them out of the food. They brought out food as they felt like it, so the first people go their food ten minutes before the rest of the table. We ordered wine that they never brought, and it took a really long time to get the check.

Group of us that we eventually dubbed "Team Awesome" - Me, Jennifer, Lynda, John, Greg, Victoria, Nicole, Bill

After lunch, we walked around Plaka, checking out the stores. I actually didn't buy anything!

Downtown Plaka

Streets are narrow and crowded - pedestrians do NOT have right of way!

You can see the Acropolis from almost anywhere

Church

Inside of a church

Parliament

Older churches are everywhere!

Dubbed by John as entrance to the "Zeus thing"

We headed back to the hotel just after 4:00. A group of us met with Greg's parents and walked to downtown Glyfada to a restaurant called "George's" (a steak shop) to have some dinner. Along the way I took this picture:

Another church

Food at George's was amazing. And I am certain we ordered at LEAST one of everything on the menu. Of course the Greek salad, but also fried cheese, fried eggplant, other appetizers that I can't even remember now. I promised myself I would at least TRY everything. (Well, everything except lamb. I just can't do it).

Bread toasted in olive oil

Greek salad with every meal!

Veal meatballs, pork kabobs, lamb chops

We were STUFFED after eating such a big dinner. It had been a pretty long walk to get to the restaurant and originally we had thought about taking the tram back, but we opted to walk and try to burn off some of the dinner. Along the way we saw this stage with a Greek rock band performing. Lyrics aside, it sounded pretty American.

Greek rap band!

Got back to the hotel, and again, had some drinks in the hotel bar.

Greece - Days 1 and 2

Day 1 and 2 - Travel

It was going to be a LONG day. The problem with not booking your own flights is that the person who IS booking often cares more about price than schedule/convenience. I wasn't that amused to have a 6 am flight out of Denver, only to have a connection in Cincinnati - for FIVE hours, plus ANOTHER connection later in Paris before arriving in Athens, Greece.

So the plan was to meet Nicole at the airport around 4:00 am. Meaning... I of course had to get up earlier than that. Blah. I was up at 2:55 am, which gave me time to double check my bags, get ready, wake up J, and drive to the airport. What they DON'T tell you is that Delta doesn't turn on their check-in computers until 4:15. So even though I was there on time, I had to stand around and wait fifteen minutes just to check in. Gave me a chance to chat with Nicole and her dad a bit. Finally, we got our boarding passes, checked our bags, and we were on our way.

Flight left on time, around a two hour flight to Cincinnati.

sunrise from the plane

 I was REALLY unimpressed with having such a LONG layover. Five hours??? Really??? I didn't want to be sitting around for that long since I still had a VERY long flight ahead of me. So I paced the airport. Literally paced it for hours. Talk about boring.

At least they had a Starbucks!

Lunch - Grilled chicken salad

My travel outfit :D

As if our layover wasn't long enough, our flight to Paris was delayed another 20 minutes on top of that. So yes, I got up at 3:00 in the morning and at 4:15 pm, I'm only as far as Ohio. Blah.

YES!!

I was really surprised at how empty the gate seemed to be, even with all the delays. Boarding went really fast, and we were PSYCHED when we discovered that the plane was probably only 1/3 full. Nicole and I each ended up with rows to ourselves! I might survive the flight after all!

Dinner - Chicken, rice, salad, etc

Dinner was served pretty early, and it was actually good! I initially was going to try watching a movie, but the headphones kept cutting out and the angle I had to sit to see the big tv was uncomfortable. So I tried to sleep. I dozed on and off for a few hours, and then I was pretty much up for the rest of the flight. I read, I ate, I was bored. But at least I had room. That was nice.

Breakfast

Outside Charles de Gaulle airport

Welcome to Paris

Nicole

French Pepsi Max - cost me 3 Euro!!

The airport in Paris is under construction and we had to walk for a good 15-20 minutes to check in for our flight. Only to discover there was a strike and our flight was cancelled. Oh. Great. So, our two-ish hour layover turned into an almost SIX hour layover. Combine that with NO food on that side of security and I wasn't very amused. The interesting thing was that they combined two flights and we got a chance to visit with other people at the gate. I bet at least half the people on our flight were doing the marathon.

The flight to Athens was PACKED. I got stuck in a middle seat toward the back. Between a heavy guy who had terrible BO and a smaller, older man who had no concept of personal space.

Lunch - that colorful stuff on the right was sort of like coleslaw? Only gross and with pickles.

By now I was completely exhausted and I actually fell asleep a bit. I woke up when the older guy actually CLIMBED OVER ME to go to the bathroom. Yeah. He stepped on my tailbone. Really? You couldn't just tap me and ask me to move? I dozed off and he did the same crap to get back to his seat. Oy. And then... FINALLY!!

After more than 24 hours of travel - FINALLY!!

We met up with the tour group fairly easily and we got on a bus that was going to take us to the hotel. Athens is a pretty dirty city. Lots of trash. Lots of abandoned buildings. TONS of graffiti. Blech. We get to the hotel and have a few hours to kill, but there isn't really anything close by.

My home for the next five days

Originally, my sister was supposed to come with me, and we would have shared a room. Unfortunately, she didn't raise enough money. The tour asked if they could book me with someone, but apparently I was the odd man out, so I ended up with a room to myself. YAY!!!

Delivery from room service - perfect timing, I was STARVING

View from the balcony of my room

I cleaned up a bit, and then took a quick nap. Then it was time for orientation - we would get to finally meet some of the people who organized all this, as well as members of AHEPA - the non-profit that I raised the money for in order to be able to go.

Awesome team track suit!

"Dinner"

 There wasn't anywhere close by, so a few of us hung out in the hotel bar - had a few drinks.

Me and Laurie

Laurie was also from Denver, but she left 12 hours earlier than me and ended up with a whole extra day in Greece and was able to do a tour of three Greek islands! (Jealous!!) Headed to bed around midnight - I can't believe I stayed up so late.