Nine hours later, at 5:00 am, we hit Athens, exhausted. Barry had changed seats to an empty one two rows forward about half-way through the trip, and Connor joined him later while Tess and Margaret stayed where they were, but none of us had had much of a rest. Eek.

We got to the Hotel Neos Olympos at 6:00 am. This involved catching a city bus followed by taking the metro to Larissa Station and then asking some cab drivers for walking directions to the hotel. We couldn't check in until 9:30 am, so we went up to the 5th floor, pulled out our sleeping bags and pillows and fell into a blissful sleep on the hard marble floor. It sounds bad but - trust us - it felt great to stretch out!

At 9:00 am, Barry got up and checked us in, then woke us up and we moved into our air conditioned room and fell asleep again until 1:00 pm. We got up, showered, and explored our latest home. It was a five storey building built in 1938 with no elevator. Instead there was a spiral staircase. Since there was no phone and we were on the 4th floor, all inquiries of the front desk required a work out. We are going to be the stair master champions when we get home. Everyone seems to speak English here, so we understand why everyone we know loves Greece so much. It's exotic but accessible!

We walked down to the Metro station, delighted with how well laid out the system was and how easy it was to follow. Soon, we found ourselves in the Monastiraki neighbourhood. It's a bustling marketplace of street vendors, wonderful shops, and little restaurants spilling out into the streets. During much of our trip, Tessa has lamented not having a skirt with her. She's been dreaming of the perfect one - the color, length, fabric, and style - and she finally found it in Monastiraki. She did a little bargaining and got it for 15 Euros instead of 20 so she was thrilled. Moments after Tessa's purchase, a DVD street dealer came by. We have been very wary of most street vendors, but we've also become quite bored with the daily battle with them, so we finally broke down and bought ten DVDs (including new releases such as Die Hard 4, Fantastic Four, Hot Fuzz, Hairspray, …) for 30 Euros. A little while later, we were walking through a lovely narrow tree-lined street filled with tables and music, when a young man approached us to eat at "his" restaurant. He was very charming, so we said no, because charming usually means expensive. We knew that take-away food (souvlaki or gyros) would be cheaper. However, on second thought, we decided to eat a "sit-down" meal, so we looked for the young man again, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, an even more charming waiter approached us. We asked him why it was so much more expensive to sit down and he explained that there is a table fee, gratuity built in, and we pay more because we get more food than you get with take-away places. Before we knew it, we were seated and being talked into a great meal.

Later, when we saw the young man looking at DVDs and CDs from a street vendor, Barry called him to our table and asked if we'd gotten a fair price for the DVDs we had bought. He replied that because we weren't Greek, our price was higher but still very good. It turned out that he wasn't Greek either; he was from Egypt and would be heading back there soon to complete his Business Admin degree. When he found out that Cairo was our next destination, he encouraged us to contact him when we got there, which we - of course - agreed to do. Who knows, maybe he'll show us around Cairo!

While enjoying our meal, another street vendor came up. We all shook our heads wildly to discourage him, but, as he walked away, he mentioned the name of a perfume that Barry had first noticed on a hotel receptionist in Malbork, Poland. He had brazenly asked her what it was, and we've been stopping at perfumeries ever since so that Margaret can spray herself from the tester bottles to "keep the magic alive". As we've travelled, the price of that perfume had varied from 95 to 99 to 85 Euros. However, the street vendor offered it to us for 30 E and Margaret countered with a quick "no", then he said 20 and Margaret followed with another "no", but when he said 10, she bought it! Eek! Somehow, it didn't feel right (how can he sell so low?), but Margaret does smell a lot better so…

Back at the hotel, we ended the night watching Die Hard 4 (lovely family bonding) until the bootlegged DVD crashed. Ah, Karma!