I am now in Greece on the first leg of my journey. I have been here for one day. For breakfast I had yogurt and bread. I was suprised at how small the breakfast is. It is alot diffrent than being in the US and eating scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and toast. Monastitiki is one of the places I went to yesterday. It is a market place with street performers and booths selling any thing from Roman war helmets to bananas.I got here early and by mid morning the place was packed with shoppers and tourists. No vacation is complete without a souvenir for yourself and something special for your friends and family back home. I chose to stop at Stavros Melissonos. Here he is known as 'The Poet' because his poetry is taught in universities in the UK. All of the Beatles bought their sandals from Stavros. I bought sandals for my brother here. After getting sandals, I had lunch at a cafe. Lunch was a salad with fruits and vegetables that are grown here. Because it never gets really cold here, there are lots of foods grown locally.

I spent the afternoon wandering in and out of temples, mosques, and churches. There are several different faiths practiced in Athens. On top of the ancient worship to Greek gods and goddesses are more modern religions like Catholics, Muslims, Greek Orthodox, and others.

By dinner time, I was starving and tired. I joined a group of young people at a cafe for dinner. Dinner lasted 2 hours. We had a first course of bread and cheese and olives. Next, came a salad. After the salad, I had roasted lamb. Then, came dessert and coffee. This was very different from our dinners at home.

Today, I have a tour of the Athens Art museum in the morning. This afternoon, I have a tour of the Parthenon scheduled. Tomorrow, I have a glass-bottomed kayak rented for the day. I hope that I get the chance to see a sea turtle! Now I am glad I packed those swim trunks and sandals.

The day after that I am going to London,UK. I think I may ship my swim trunks and sandals back home, so I have a lighter load. It would also give ma a little more space in my lugggage for some more souvenirs.