More Greece, but Not Much More

Kristin looking stylish as Grant tries to figure out why there is no water in the pond. Oh yea, we were in Greece.

Kristin, Me, Anna. The Park in Athens. Gorgeous. Palm Trees. Yellow Flowers. Random Athenians.

Grant and I at the Olympic Stadium. Very memorable. These are are tourists fingers.

The afternoon of our Akropolips morning was spent enjoing downtown and the markets, getting lost, checking out the Athens Garden, enjoying Olympic sights, and eating more gyros. It is a frightening thing to get lost in a foreign country without a Latin alphabet. We were on the right bus going the wrong direction. That's often how I feel about life. I know how to get where I need to go, but I still get lost along the way and no one seems to speak my language. Usually all is made right through food, and indeed once we got some gyros we were all feeling much better. I have tried many times to decide on my career path over food, but no inspiration yet. I'll keep trying. The rest of Athens was great, especially the Olympic Stadium. Preface: My family loves the Olympics like no other. For example, we don't have a television in our home, but we personally kept "Gray's TV" in Arlington afloat for many years becuase we rented a boob tube for two weeks every other year- to watch the Olympics. I once stayed home from a family vacation and watched eight hours of Olympics straight, with my sister. We were ameciated and fatigued when we unstuck ourselves from the couch, but I will not regret it ever. The only time I really missed watching TV on my mission was when the Olympics were on. In 2002 I went to the Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. All this is to say that the Olympics infatuation in my house is out of this world. For me and my brother to go to Greece- the heart of the first modern Olympics in 1896, setting of the ancient Olympics, and resting place of the 2004 Olympics- was something to check off my bucket list. I don't actually have a bucket list, but I saw the movie and this just seemed like something Morgan Freeman would do. Grant and I dipped in the moment and cried aloud on one another's shoulders. It was very tender. The Greece Crew Girls didn't really know what to do with us sobbing menfolk (they ended up complimenting us on the hollows of our knees- a little awkward but still appreciated). In addition to the ancient sites, there is nothing better than the modern Olympic sites. It just brings such joy to converse unilaterally about the Games in July, 2009, knowing they are only one year away. The National Park in Athens was very shady, but in a good, sun-covering way. There was no water, but there was a zoo with very thirsty animals. I was certainly impressed. The next morning we didn't do many Athenian things, except take a very long Metro/bus ride to the Airport, checking in 8 minutes before our check in ceased. The trip was significantly longer than we anticipated, and it was by far the closest I have ever come to missing a flight (we were still on the city bus at 12:34 and our flight left at 13:30. We made it, and even had time to pool our 1.60 Euros together to buy an incredible gyro. Actually, we bought a croissant, but I've been talking a lot about Gyros so I thought I'd just stick with it. Let the record show that it was a chocolate croissant, however. Athens will have a fond place in my heart always.