Athens, part 2: Ich Bin Ein Tourist

[I've combined part 1 & 2 together at the pics page, where you can view the post with thumbnail previews. Combining them here would mean loooong posts, so that's why they're in seperate posts here]

Oh yeah, the hotel. I almost forgot about it. We had a private bathroom (it was optional). See the door that leads to the bathroom?

Me neither. That provided some akward situations...

So, well rested we went off to see Athens' main attraction: The Akropolis.
At the entrance we saw that it was possible to get a student discount. Unfortunately, neither of us thought about bringing along our student cards (when do you ever use it at all?). I did however bring my OV kaart (public transportation card for students), and after some supsicious glances at the card (which is in Dutch :P) and a few more attempts at enquiring where I was from, they decided to grant me a free entrance! Chan unfortunately left his OV card at the hotel, but we split the cost afterwards.

As it turned out, the student discount was for European students, which is why they kept asking me where I was from (a couple more checks were held in various places). Anyways, we started our ascent where the fun stuff was: lovely views, cool Kodak moments, a great place to get a tan and stray dogs.

Yes, stray dogs. They a big problem in Athens. Well, not so much a problem, but they just seem to be everywhere. Even at the top of the Akropolis they were present. The strays here seem to be much more 'civilized' though. They don't bother people or get in their way and they seem pretty healthy (for a stray dog anyway). And no, the above one is NOT at the verge of dying, as someone pointed out before. It's hot there, very hot. And what do animals do when it's hot? That's right, they avoid moving as much as possible.

At the top it also became clear where all the tourists had gone. Chan does not like big crowds (or even small crowds), which accounts for his facial expression on this pic.

The Akropolis wasn't just fun for tourists and students like us, kids also seemed to enjoy themselves there..

There was also a museum there. Now most museums will either allow or prohibit the taking of pictures. The museums in Athens, however, have some strange rule about not having any people in the shots, so we were only allowed to take pictures of the object itself (without a flashlight as well). I had been meaning to ask why, but I never got around to asking somebody.

Since most of the day was spent at the Akropolis, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest, so we would be able to go out at night again. Nightlife was okay, but nothing very special. There were people selling things on the streets, but all of it was touristy things. I did get something there, and fueled by my enthousiasm Chan also got one. I still had the 'being a tourist' in my mind, so I figured I could try some things I would usually never do. I got a henna tattoo. Just having something painted on me with black henna, which will stay on there for a couple of weeks. It could've been painted on better, and it's already gone by now, but it was a lot of fun to do it.

We walked some more in the places-to-go-to-at-night area, but after finding out just a beer cost 6 Euro's already, we decided not to stick around long, but instead seeing more of Athens at night and then head back to the hotel and got a couple of beers there for a much cheaper price. And that ends the second day.