by Addie Pascal
“We popped out of the dusty trail below the Acropolis, sun just beginning to drop in the summer evening sky. It must have been 7pm already and no dinner in sight, which no one really seemed to mind. I mean, we were in Europe after all, and everyone was settling in nicely to the later mealtimes. I reveled in the unstructured day we had just taken part in. Since the onset of this trip, there had been very few of those and it was a refreshing change from the rigorous schedule of the last seven weeks.
A slow morning it was, in our central Athens apartment with the high ceilings, creeky wooden floors and ornate crown molding. Coffee and pastries gotten from the Bread Factory just across the street. A moment to check in with the internet world. Lots of moments to linger in jammies over a shelf of toys- the most the kids had played with since they left home. With rested bodies and croissant filled-bellies, we eventually gathered ourselves and headed out to explore in the very late morning.
The open top bus proved to be more exciting as an idea than a reality. After passing the Temple of Zeus, the National Library, and countless buildings tattooed in graffiti all while narrowly missing getting whacked in the head by branches of creeping orange trees in the tight and winding lanes, we hopped off, never to hop on again, and found a souvlaki joint in Monastiraki Square, near the one we had chowed at the day before…”