Descent of Speed

After a long day and night of travel I made it to Greece. I left on the night train from Venice heading to Vienna. The train was hot, but we had a cool breeze coming in through the small window, until the people on the bunk below me decided to shut the blinds.

I got to Vienna at 8:30, at the West train station, and decided to take my luggage to the south station (where I’ll leave for Prague in a few days.) The lady at the info counter said take tram 18 10 stops. 10 stops into the trip, it didn’t look right. So I got off at stop 11 (or did I miss count?) There was no train station in sight, but fortunately there was a Ubahn stop, which had a map. It indicated I was near the train station. About a half hour later, I got to the train station, shoulders sore from dragging my bags. And discovered that 18 does indeed stop in front of the station!

Sudbahnhof only has 24 hour lockers. Lost and found informed me I could leave my bags there for 5 days. I hope my bags are still there when I get back!

I was a little worried about making my flight. Fortunately the airport bus showed up a few minutes after I got to the bus stop, and it was only about 20 minutes to the airport.

Going through security I forgot to take my liquids out (even though I had already placed them in a Ziploc) Security pulled my bag aside, and asked if I had liquids. I took my toiletry bag out, and showed them the Ziploc. They also took a look at my deodorant. She took the deodorant over to someone else, discussed it (hmmm I hope it was over whether or not it is a liquid, and not my personal taste?) and placed it into the Ziploc bag. I’m thinking they would re x-ray it, but instead she hands me the Ziploc bag, and sends me on the way. I guess they are afraid it will spill?

I did my research, and figured out how to get from the airport to my hotel. Take metro line 3, it stops about a block from my hotel. 6 euros, simple, easy, cheap. Well I thought so, until I got to the airport and discovered that the metro is out of commission until the end of the month! I had to take the bus, which stops one stop short of where I expected to be. It wasn’t so bad, just a simple walk through the pedestrian streets to my hotel.

I spent a couple hours wandering around Athens. I visited the old ruins of the Zeus Temple. There are 16 columns remaining (and ONLY 16 columns) one of which fell over about 150 years ago. What happened to the rest of the temple? And why those 16? There are 13 in one corner, and three individual ones in the other corner. Seems a little odd.  There was also a few foundations in the area, and lots of marble. Hard to tell what marble was there before, and what is “new.”

Right now I am sitting on the roof of my hotel, checking out the Parthenon in the distance. I can barely see it. I guess some nights it is lit up, but not tonight. At least the weather is nice and cool. I’ll head up there tomorrow.

Go figure… As I was sitting up on the roof, I kept seeing flashes of light at the Acroplois. Obviously people are up in there taking pictures. Apparently on the day of the full moon in August admission is free, and is open late. Only one day a year, and I find out about it a few hours too late!