It was a long flight to London, but we made it — and we managed to spend a good part of the day at the London Museum, reviewing the Greek collection. After seeing the Parthenon Marbles and other treasures from ancient Greece, we caught the Underground back to Heathrow Airport and took the flight to Athens.
- The very impressive British Museum
Arriving at 4:00 AM is not great fun — especially since none of us had much sleep during the past few time changes. There was a long wait for baggage, and then we discovered that our bags (mine and Duane’s) had not arrived in Athens with us. Everyone else on the crew had their belongings, so we filed a missing baggage report and looked for transportation into the city.
We managed to find the Express 95 bus to Sintagma Square. That was an accomplishment in itself. It was a wild 40 minute ride into the city, with the bus driver zipping in and out of traffic. Upon being deposited at Sintagma Square, in front of the Parliament Building, we shouldered our gear and started a long walk down Erlou Street to Athinas.
- Parliament Building on Syntagma Square before sunrise
Of course we couldn’t check into the Hotel Cecil until later in the morning, so we dumped our gear in the lobby and went looking for breakfast. It was only a short walk to the Plaka, where we found a small cafe just opening up for business. A coffee frappe and sweet rolls can make the world look much brighter.
