Greece trip, part 1

WARNING: this post is long. However, it is worth the read; please read it. I have posted it for you.

I think I will post one day of Greece each day, or more, depending on how bored I am. I will try to include as many pertinent pictures as I can; after this journal is finished I will get most of my pictures on Facebook and I will let you know when that happens. You should look at them because they really go hand-in-hand.






London from the plane. That's the Thames River.


Me n' Big Ben!


Westminster Abbey


Stained glass in Westminster Abbey


Athens at night (2:30 AM)

Day 0: Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21
Seatac, London-Heathrow, Athens

I took several days off school to prepare for the trip. My mom was not very happy about the fact that I got my travel insurance the day of our departure, but I didn’t suffer any harm so I think that turned out all right. We arrived at the airport several minutes late due to traffic, but it turned out all right since everyone else was having the same problem. As I stood in a circle with the others, I wondered what kind of a relationship I would have with them at the end of the trip. Everyone says that traveling with someone produces a special bond, so I was excited to see whether I would get 14 new best friends. Security and boarding were uneventful, but the flight was dreadfully long. I got a chance to talk with some of the group, and I did get some sleep, but the flight was still about six hours too long for my taste. I wondered why the stewards made such a huge fuss over closing the windows several hours in; later I realized it was because we were flying through an area that was experiencing day when we should be experiencing night (!)—very interesting. I was tired but excited to arrive in London. This was my first time on non-US or Canadian soil, my first trip abroad (because Canada really doesn’t count). When we stepped off the plane, I was amazed at how large and modern London-Heathrow is, and at the racial diversity there (from all of the Crown’s colonies, perhaps?). It was fun to try out my terrible British accent and to say things like “mind” and “hand baggage.” After getting off the plane and making our way through the airport, we boarded the Tube to see a bit of London. I will admit that I got quite a laugh out of the name of our Tube’s destination, though after the sixth or seventh stop Dr. Pappas shot me a look that plainly said, “stop being juvenile.” We got off at Piccadilly to see the sights. We started at Green Park, a beautiful park full of lush grass, flowers, and birds, and bursting with verdant energy. We continued through to Buckingham Palace Square. The palace was beautiful, ornately built and surrounded by elegant gardening and sculpture. Next we saw the old barracks and continued past more government buildings to Big Ben and the Parliament building, as well as the Eye of London. I was really hoping to get a glimpse of MI6, the British equivalent of the CIA; my friend told me about it before the trip. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite where I thought it was and we didn’t have time to look for it—next time, though!!! I didn’t catch the names of many of the things that we passed; I was in the back taking too many pictures, a habit that I thankfully curbed before we got too far through Greece. Next we went to Westminster Abbey, where Muzio Clementi, father of the pianoforte, is interred. I rather wanted to see all the tombs, but we didn’t have a lot of time and I’m sure they wouldn’t have let us anyway—Ashley did enough to tick them off when she asked for that official to pose with her sock monkey. We passed by Scotland Yard, which was neat, as well as the statue of Lord Nelson, which was tall. We tried to get into a pub for dinner but it was too full; instead we ate in the basement of Italian restaurant with a Romanian hostess who spoke 12 languages. We hurried back on the tube (some Brits “loffed” (laughed) at Dr. Pappas’ directions on the way) and made the flight with not much time to spare. I don’t remember a whole lot about London. Everything moved too fast and it was more of a blur for me, which is funny because some of us (and here I poke fun at a certain Miss Holmes) thought it was the best part of the trip.