The Bois Family Trip to Athens

March 15 - 22, 2001

March 20, 2001
Adam's Birthday

Adam turned 16 in Athens, and like most teenagers, he didn't want to do anything.
He wanted to sleep. So, we let him sleep.

Danusia and I had breakfast and went to an Internet café to check our email.
A local man started a conversation with us and suggested a nearby travel agency
that had a one-day cruise to three islands. He thought the bus drivers' strike was over
and offered to walk us over to the travel agency. We bought tickets for the next day.

On the way back, we stumbled across a demonstration that was just starting down Mitropoleos Street.
The sign says, "18 years is not enough?" We can't figure out the rest of it, so we don't know what they were protesting. Email me if you can tell what it's about.

A block down the street, a police bus blocked the way. Maybe you can see the police in dark blue uniforms in front of the bus. We decided not to stick around to see what happened.

When we got to Ermou Street, we heard a whoosh that turned into a roar. A jet fighter went over very low and very fast. A second one came a minute later.
The locals didn't even look up so we guessed it's a frequent occurrence and had nothing to do with the protest a block away or the fighting in Macedonia.
I got my camera out and managed to get a few pictures of planes. Mostly though, I got pictures of blue sky.

Back at the hotel, Adam was still sleeping. We decided to leave him there and go to National Gallery of Art.
Did I mention that there are a lot of dogs and motorcycles in Athens?

On the way to the museum, we saw another protest. One of these signs said that something is not economical, but we don't know what.

While most museums are closed on Mondays, the National Gallery of Art is closed on Tuesdays.
We decided to go across town to the Municipal Art Gallery, stopping for lunch along the way.

When we got there, it had closed for the afternoon. Giving up, we walked back to the hotel
by way of Monastiráki. We did a little shopping there too.

Back at the hotel, Adam was awake, listening to CDs and playing his Game Boy. It was mid-afternoon and he hadn't eaten, but he was happy to not be dragged from one ancient ruin to another by his parents on his birthday. He opened a couple presents we brought with us and a Limp Bizkit T-shirt we had just bought in Monastiráki.

The original plan had been to take Adam to McDonald's on his birthday. He wanted something familiar rather than some strange new food. However, he had seen that the McDonald's here have Veggie McNuggets and that seemed sacrilegious to him. Instead, we went to Brooklyn Pizza.

And we spent the rest of the day lounging around the hotel.
It seemed only fair the we got to go to Sounion on our anniversary,
so Adam should get to do nothing on his birthday.

Next: March 21, 2001 - Poros

March 15, 2001		From Florida to Athens
March 16, 2001		Arrival in Athens, the Acropolis
The morning of March 17, 2001		The Agora
The afternoon of March 17, 2001		The National Garden and Lykavitós Hill
March 18, 2001		The Monastiráki Flea Market and the Plaka
The morning of March 19, 2001		Our Anniversary, more at the Acropolis
The afternoon of March 19, 2001		Sounion
March 20, 2001		Adam's Birthday
The morning of March 21, 2001		Poros
Noontime of March 21, 2001		Hydra
The afternoon of March 21, 2001		Aegina

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	When we got to Ermou Street, we heard a whoosh that turned into a roar. A jet fighter went over very low and very fast. A second one came a minute later. The locals didn't even look up so we guessed it's a frequent occurrence and had nothing to do with the protest a block away or the fighting in Macedonia. I got my camera out and managed to get a few pictures of planes. Mostly though, I got pictures of blue sky.