Marky Mark Gettin Lucky

Sorry Mark, but that is puke breath...

Mark atop the mountain in Kalavrita

Mark Skiing...He is a little top heavy...

Social Comentary

Here are a just a few things you need to know about Greece and Greeks:
-A 1/2 mile is too long of a walk for them
-Most things are exaggerated
-Bad plumbing, hence throwing the tp in the trash
-Not a pedestrian friendly city, they do not stop
-They do not drink
-The guys love American girls, the girls ignore American guys
-Elevators = coffins
-They do not say sorry or excuse me here, trust me don't even bother
-They strike almost every day of the week
-Buildings can be taken over, still have no idea what this means, but it involves flying black flags on the building that has been taken... maybe by pirates?
-If you ask a question, the response will take at least 30 minutes
-Goodys fast food is not actually good
*If anyone else is reading our blog in Greece, let me know what I'm missing!!

Random Fact #6: Cheeseburgers were first served in 1934 at Kaolin's restaurant in Louisville, KY. But this was only after the Hamburger was invented in Seymour, WI.

Our internet has been down for over 24 hours, sorry about the late blog post! Just been resting and detoxing from this last weekend. It was fun. Making Greek coffee as we speak. Its different here than in the states. You boil a pot of water and dump the super fine coffee grounds into the water. As it starts to boil you take it off the burner. Pour cold water into the pot and let the coffee settle. It kinda looks like... poop to be totally honest with you. Its kinda Gritty but it does the trick!

Skiing in the Greek Alps...

So if you read Jamie's earlier post you will note that someone in our group suggested we stay up the entire night until we had to catch the bus that morning at 5 am...It sounded like a great idea on paper, but in actuality it was a different story.  We documented what the bus ride that morning looked like from our perspective...

Waiting for the bus...

On the bus...

In the chalet...

We came to Greece in anticipation of chilling on the beaches, not skiing.  So we had to mix and match our gear to try and come up with enough warm clothes.   Eventually we made it to the hill and it was pretty good time.

For Me Mum

A picture map of our running route through Athens...

Good Morning America!  Hope you are reading this in good spirits and aren't bored on a Saturday trying to kick your hangover from last night.  Anyways Jamie and I just got back from our run this morning and wanted to show you the route we have been running while we are here.  We are very fortunate to live in the heart of Athens and get to run past some amazing sights along the way.  This post was inspired by the oldest Bradford brother Matty, and his blog http://www.mattyrunrun.com/, check it out!

This is map of the route we run.  The "X" next to Plaka is where our apartment is located and is our starting point.

For whatever reason this little street has track lanes painted on it...probably because Ancient Olympians use to run along this street...

As we come around the corner off of the track street by the campus library lies the Temple of the Winds.

It is quite the climb up sooo many stairs to get to the base of the Acropolis.  In the Plaka district where we live the streets are extremely narrow and this is what the buildings look like.

Once at the base of the Acropolis we climb St. Paul's Rock for a quick breath and take in the view of the Ancient Agora along with the view of Athens.

With the Acropolis to our south, we are at the base of Filopappos Hill and begin our climb...

While climbing Filopappos, we discovered the prison in which the kept Socrates while he awaited his trial...we had no idea it even existed until we saw the sign.

From the top of Filopappos Hill we take another quick stop to take in the spectacular view of the Acropolis.

While still at the top, Filopappos offers a great 360 view of Athens...this is the view of The Port of Piraeus.

Another view of Athens, and a glimpse of the stairs we have to descend...

The Acropolis Museum , which is brand spankin new...have yet to go in though.

The wall on the back side of the Acropolis

Turning the corner to head back to the Apt.

Kalavrita

Random Fact #5: The world's first successful hand transplant was performed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1999 by a doctor from University of Louisville.
After a long night and an hour of sleep, we headed to the Olympic stadium to hop on a bus to Kalavrita. The bus ride was pretty long, about 3 1/2 hrs. It was a long and winding road, past the coast and through the mountains. I found myself having Road to Hanna flashbacks as we drove along the cliff edges. It was nice seeing another part of the country though. The mountains were very different from the ones back in the states. Anyways skiing was a blast! Helped teach some newbies. The conditions weren't the greatest, but we made the best out it.

Kolby, Me, Amy

On the way back home our bus driver took us to McDonalds. The 2 cheeseburgers and large fry I inhaled were euphoric. I had never thought McD's could ever taste so good. I couldn't tell whether the bus driver was insulting us or not by taking us there, but I'm damn glad he did.

Word to the wise: Stay clear of the McFarm while abroad....

Random Kentucky Fact #4

In Kentucky...by law, anyone who has been drinking is “sober” until he or she “cannot hold onto the ground.”

Michael's Gyro Count

10

Last minute Gazi trip...

After the HOTSPURS victory we decided it would be a good idea to make an impromptu trip to Gazi to celebrate.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the Athens landscape, Gazi is to Athens as Broadripple is to Indy or the Ave to Appleton.  The 2€ tequila shots (or free if you are an American girl...) turned a chill champions league night into one of the craziest nights of the trip.  Gazi definitely puts Broadripple and the Ave to shame...On a side note, Greeks do not dance, after the tequila flowed like milk and honey you can imagine how a group of 20 Americans looked tearing up the dance floor in a Greek bar on a Tuesday night...

First time using an Orange after tequila shots...

Little confused on which straw to use...don't want to get the gift that keeps on giving...

Port of Piraeus

Random fact #3: The old official state tree was the Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus.) The tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is the current official state tree. The change was made in 1976.

After sleeping through our first Port orientation, we decided to do our own exploration. A little disappointed. I had a totally different image of it in my mind. I thought there was going to be fishing boats and fish markets everywhere, but instead the port was filled with cruise ships. Still smelled like fish though. It was cool to see all the different lights and stuff. I have made it a goal to find the fishing port.

We are just finishing up plans to go skiing for the weekend in Kalavrita. Check it: http://www.kalavrita-ski.gr/. Probably going to freeze our balls off, but gotta do it.

P.S. loving all the no wipers here, it makes wiping and throwing it in trash a little less messy.

Now Playing: Blitzen Trapper-Furr

So I met my first Greek god, Dionysus

This past weekend was the Athens Wine Festival at the National Gardens.  It was only 10€ to get in which included a sweet wine glass and had over 10,000 wines to sample.  Soooo of course being the somewhat college students we took the 10,000 available wine samples and turned it into a 10,000 sample challenge.  All of us failed miserably, but we enjoyed some great wine and made a bunch of new friends with the vendors.

 

On the walk back to the apartment we stopped at parliment to check out the Greek guards...he was not to happy with us...

After the 10,000 wine challenge the weak ones were left to fend for themselves...

If you pass out with your shoes on you are fair game right?

Oh, and the scenery wasn't half bad either...these are the photography skills I learned at the Maxwell...

Now Playing

Courtesy of Kelli Parks

Chicken Burritos, simple right?

For dinner tonight we are making chicken burritos in the slow cooker.  To make this in the states all one would need to do is go to the grocery store and get some chicken breasts, salsa, taco seasoning along with all the toppings... In Greece chicken burritos are not so simple...

First we went to the market and purchased a whole chicken.  Then we had to prepare the chicken...

De boned it, made sweet love to it then cut it up.

Apparently they don't have salsa over here, so we had to make our own salsa...

Using individual spices we had to mix together to made a taco seasoning concoction..

Here is the salsa we made and added to the burritos...

Starting to look like burritos now!

Finished product, lookin good eh?

Now Playing, Starting Line - Best of Me

Which do you think is the best?

Tell us what picture you think is the best so far, and why!

1. On St. Paul's Rock in Athens

2. Athens Market

3.  Looking over the Thames

4.  Acropolis in the background

5. Taking the US Embassy by storm...

6. Athens graffiti

7. Tower Bridge

8. At the Panathinaikos game

9. Buckingham Palace, Cheerio!

10. Night atop Athens

11. Daytime Tower Bridge

12. St. Paul's Cathedral in London

13.  Big Ben