Finally...home? Spring Break '09: A week in pictures

Alright, everyone...as promised, pictures from my 10-day stint around Athens, Prague, and London.

We started off our week by flying into Athens on Friday afternoon, eating lunch, and settling into our hostel. Saturday we woke up eaarrlyyyy (like 5am) to catch a ferry to Mykonos, one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited.

This is what all of the streets and buildings looked like...stone roads and white buildings with blue shutters and roofs. Straight out of a movie.

I included this picture because you can kind of see the town from this point. The whole thing is built on a mountain, making it even more gorgeous in person. This picture includes my friends Heather (right) and Emily (left) as they gaze at the pelican that happened to cross our path :)

So we left Mykonos on Sunday, and Monday morning woke up and did everything that makes Athens Athens. Our first stop was to the Acropolis, which included visiting the Parthenon and numerous temples in the surrounding area.

This was the theater that Greeks used to start oral tradition...think...all of those stories and myths that everyone knows about today STARTED here. It gives me chills to think how old this thing is.

By FAR one of the highlights of my Spring break was visiting the Parthenon. Walking around the area and being able to see the entire city from its location was a breath taking experience.

It looks a little strange with all of the scaffolding up, but it was still beautiful. And old.

The Parthenon was built in tribute to the Greek Gods, and was made to overlook the entire city, and the builders successfully completed their task! Standing next to the Parthenon and looking down into the city gave me this view:

The patch of light green grass to the right is what holds the remainders of Zeus' Temple. To its left is the first modern Olympic Stadium used in 1896. You can sort of see the top portion of the bleachers through the dark green trees.

All in all, Athens was a very successful destination! But there was one thing each of us had to do before we left...
Eat a traditional Greek salad! In Greece, their salads don't really include lettuce, but rather all of the vegetables normally used in a salad, put in a bowl, covered in olive oil, and then loaded with feta cheese. And might I add: this was the BEST feta cheese I have EVER HAD in my life. In the words of my friend Sylvia, "heaven will have feta cheese."

We left Athens on Tuesday night and slept in the London Luton airport until our flight for Prague left on Wednesday morning. Like I said in my last post, Prague is a beautiful city and has a lot of "old world charm." Being surrounded by such beautiful and old buildings made me appreciate the architecture of the city.
This is the main street in the city. You can tell that it definitely looks different from almost any downtown city in the states.


One of the thousands of side streets in Prague. This gives you a better view of what the buildings look like.
A plaza in the center of Prague. Beautiful buildings with a beautiful sunset to match :)

Thursday we spent the day touring the castle of Prague, home to the President of the country and saw various artifacts about the history of the Czech Republic. We spent a lot of time walking, so by the time we got back to our hostel, we were pretty beat. We went to bed early so we could get up in time for our flight to London on Friday.

Like I said in my last post, London is one of my favorite cities in the world. Those of you who have known me for more than a couple of years know that I travled to England, Ireland, and Wales six years ago with People to People. While I had already seen most of what London had to offer then, I now feel like I really know the ins and outs of the city and what makes it "tick."

We got to our hostel around 3pm, and I have to say it was a little overwhelming. I stayed in a 15 person room, while my other friends were in a 24 person room! There were constanly people everywhere and my room was never quiet. It was the first time I really felt like I was in a true hostel. After we got settled, we left for what I called the "London at warp speed" tour, seeing Big Ben, Parliament buildings, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye all in the course of about 2 hours! While it may sound like a lot, all of those things are located relatively close together, within 2 underground stops of each other. But the best part was being able to see everything at night: the city looks so different then when compared to the day.

Buckingham Palace! Say hi to Queenie- she's home! The British flag is flying atop her house.

We went from the Queen's house to the Prime Minister's home, 10 Downing Street.

Being tourists, we couldn't not take a picture of a red telephone booth. Its almost impossible not to.

I have a picture that is identical to this one from six years ago...same corner, with the same landmarks in the background.Westminster Abbey. If you can't tell by the photo, this place is huge.

Our night concluded with a trip on the London Eye, at night, a MUST SEE for everyone going to London! Unfortunately I cannot put anymore pictures on this post, so I will finish updating everyone about my trip to London tomorrow...stay tuned for cool shots of the city by night, a trip to a wax museum, and an escapade around platform 9 3/4! It only gets better from here! :)