Wednesday, May 31st, 21:53

Saturday we took a tour bus up to Delphi to see the ruins of the famous Oracle. We got to see much of the middle countryside on the way – it’s a beautiful land, full of small villages, winding roads, farmland and rolling hills. I’m not really sure I had truly understood what rolling hills were until I saw them here – picture the blue ridge mountains, only with short plant life and without the sharpness of tall, jagged rocks and edges. While many mountain ranges look like they were simply dropped in place, Greece appears to have been carved with care.

Delphi was once the most important site in the world – for centuries it was the pinnacle of power in its large sphere of influence. Even the Persians paid homage at to the Oracle, consulting it for advice. Rarely in history has a group held as much power as the priests did here, centuries before Christ lived. It was easy to see why this place was chosen for such a sacred spot… such a beautiful place. Wandering up the path to the ruins I could look out and see the land below reaching out for miles, only stopped by other mountains. I’ll have pictures later, but there may be some up on the group’s blog site now. After a long climb we reached the top where there was a stadium for athletic games. Naturally we decided to race even after the long climb up, which turned out to not be the best idea ever…

That night we grabbed some dinner in Plaka, listened to some Indian street performers playing music from ‘The Last of the Mohicans’, visited the national gardens (saw a species-confused peacock that thought it was a cat) and then saw the changing of the guard. Amazes me how these men can stand perfectly still for an hour. It took about two minutes of us watching him for him to even blink. We then got lost around Omonio Square trying to get home – not exactly the best part of town to be lost in. It was fun, though. Getting lost always is, unless you’re like one of our group and wander around the city for six hours before finding your way home.

Sunday we went to Syntagma as a group to see the weekly parade for the changing of the guards – much more pomp than there was the previous night. Then saw several various sites, such as Hadrian’s Gate, the Ancient Agora, the Temple of Olympian Zeus & the rock from which Paul preached to the Athenians. Some of us went back to Plaka for lunch – split Octopus & Squid for appetizers. Both were good, especially the octopus (suckers and all)

We then got lost on the tram trying to get to a beach. Eventually found the public beach and spent time there, but it was crowded and windy and there was barely enough room for a Frisbee. Took a completely packed tram home – some of the worst 45 minutes of our lives. Coming back to the hotel we went to the rooftop restaurant for an incredible meal – grilled quail, red wine & some of the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. We stayed up later than normal; sipping wine & staring across at the beautiful night view of the acropolis. I’m not sure there’s much that compares to that view.

Nothing much happened Monday. It rained. Alot. We went to the national archaeological museum and saw a lot of marble statues. Got lost in the city, again (this time on purpose). I think I then napped? Not quite sure, exactly. By now the days are starting to become much calmer – I’ve gotten over the feeling of “Oh, wow, I’m abroad and have to be doing everything” and begun to take things the European way. We’ve slown things down, spend a lot of time on the roof just sitting and talking, and don’t always feel the need to be rushing out to do something. We’ve already started eating later – lunch at 2 and dinner at 8:30 is common. Even when we’re busy, we seem to take things slower than we did. We’d rather just walk around and do nothing than visit site after site.

Tuesday was very similar to Monday, minus the rain. Still very peaceful.

Today we went to some random museum which had more modern artifacts than the previous ones, from the Christian & Turk era of Greek history. Not too interesting, but better than more marble. We then had our first business lecture at the Athens University of Economics & Business; where we heard all about the Greek economy. I’d rather look at more marble statues…

Visited the 2004 Olympic Complex, which was really cool. Completely deserted, so we got to walk all around and see everything. A few of us then went to The Mall (actual name) to see Pirates 3. Words cannot really describe this theatre – it was about as fancy as Proctors or the Palace Theaters. The entire mall was amazing. Crossgates seems very, very lame in comparison.

Not too much else to say, now. Busy past few days. I can’t believe we left home over a week ago. Tomorrow will be similar – we’re visiting the Athens Stock Exchange, the US Embassy and then having dinner at the highest point in Athens, next to the Monastery of St. George.

Another update will come in a few. Meanwhile, check out the group blog for some pictures; I believe Sham updated the second or third picture page with some photos I’d taken.

Quick update from Greece - this email is from the Siena group mailing list; I'll repost it here. Later, if I have time, I'll put up some of my own thoughts.

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Greetings from Greece! We all arrived in Athens safely…a little jet-lagged and weary, but ready for adventure!

It was a little drizzly yesterday (Thursday), but most of us took a mid-day nap. The rain cleared up in time for us to take an evening metro ride to Plaka (old town area), and explore a bit. We had a half-day city tour around Athens this morning (again, a little drizzly, but the forecast for the rest of this week looks good!)...and climbed up to the Acropolis to view the Parthenon, etc. The students are all doing well, exploring the city a little bit and getting used to the food, using Euros, etc. Everyone is happy and healthy...always a good thing!

Dr. Sham has stated a blog of our trip. We expect to add some photos on Sunday. If you'd like to follow our adventures, click on this link:
http://web.mac.com/philoctetes77
The Userid and password are both Greece2007 (case sensitive, so please type exactly as written).

Have a nice day,

Debbie

Deborah L. Kelly, Esq.
Assistant Professor of Management
Siena College

Friday, May 25th, 16:59 - Athens

We arrived safely in Athens early yesterday morning, around 9:30 local time (time difference is -7 EST, so it was close to 2:30). After checking into the hotel and throwing our bags down my roommate, my professor and I walked down into Omonia Square to grab a giro for lunch. Crashed back in the hotel for a 5 hour nap, when we all met in the lobby and headed down to Syntagma & Plaka for dinner, which are the major shopping areas in Athens.

While wandering around on the outskirts of Plaka I found myself in the middle of a police raid of building - about a dozen officers in full SWAT gear (plexiglass shields) jumped out of a van and ran into a building. All of the locals thought it was nothing out of the ordinary. During dinner at an outside cafe we found ourselves surrounded by Liverpool football fans, whose team had lost to Milan the night before in the Euro 2007 championship, all of who sang fight songs for hours.

Today we took a brief tour of the city by bus, stopping by the old modern Olympic Stadium before heading to the top of the Acropolis. We spent a few hours at the summit before heading down to Plaka for lunch. While in Plaka we caught a pickpocket, who was following us around for a few minutes. She was very, very bad at what she did - it was so obvious that she was following us around. Once we started staring at her and laughing she left.

One of the interesting things about Athens is the number of stray dogs that the entire city treats as their own - they're cared for by vets, and fed by shop owners, etc. They'll go to sleep whereever, whenever, and no one cares at all.

Tomorrow we head up to Delphi - I'll update again next week.

Greetings All

Throughout my trip I'll periodically be updating this site with some notes about my trip. I will try to update at least once a week, but I can't make any garuntees.

If you want to reach me while I'm away, send an email to deynar@gmail.com. I'll reply as soon as I can.

For now, I'll leave you with my temporary schedule for how I've planned my trip:

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Greece:
May 23rd: Siena College, 10:00 am
JFK, 2:00

June 8th: Siena group departs
June 9-10th: in Greece. Visit Thermopylae, other sites suggested by Dr. Sham
June 11thish: Overnight ferry from Igoumenitsa, Greece to Bari, Italy

Italy, between June 11th & 17th:
Bari – Amalfi/Naples
Naples – Rome (two days)
Rome – Assisi
Assisi – Florence/Pisa
Florence - Venice
June 17th: In Venice on the 17th with Elizabeth Kays & relatives

Ireland:
June 18th: Fly from Venice to Dublin
June 18th – In Dublin with Irina.
June 19th – 21st: In Dublin with Irina, Charles & John. Potentially visit surrounding area.

June 23nd or 24th - Fly to Amsterdam
June 24rd: Amsterdam, meet Maurits Kersten

Between June 23rd and July 15th:

Amsterdam, Brussel, Luxembourg, Paris (visit David & Chris) Orleans, Geneva, Bern, Zurich, Innsbruck, Vienna, Saltzburg, Munich, Prague, Auschwitz, Krakow, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen.

If there is any time left, head into Norway/Sweden. Unlikely, however.


British Isles:
July 15th: Meet up with Gill Biliski in London
Check into Hilton London Olympia, @ 3:00.
July 16th: Pick up Sean Kelly @ Heathrow, sightsee
July 17th – 19th: In London at the Olympia. Check out morning, 19th.

July 19th – 24thish: Visit Stonehenge. Visiting a Welsh Castle. Visit other stuff, going north. Possibly spend some time in Ireland - quick ferry over.
Spend a night with Rob Goodwin in Sheffield
July 24thish: Meet Sean’s friend Rory Reynolds in Edinburgh for first half of week. Stay with him, explore Scotland.

Sometime between July 24th & July 30th: Leave Edinburgh, stay with Rory’s parents in Glasgow.
July 30th: Morning Flight from Glasgow to Dublin. 5 Hour layover. Meet up with Irina & Daniel for lunch. Early Evening Flight from Dublin to JFK. Deborah Kelly meets us @ JFK @ 7:00; home late on July 30th.