Ciao and Kalimara!

By the time I post this (probably in two sections), we will be back in the amazing city of London, but I am currently writing this on Tuesday, October the 13^th from the Hotel Herodian.  I am sitting on my balcony and looking at the Acropolis…Greece is incredible. But this post actually begins three days ago and a two-hour flight away in Rome. J

Friday morning, Azzurra and I left for Rome, the most incredible ever.  We settled in with family friends of hers and then explored the city with her cousins.  OF COURSE, we went to Golitti, the BEST golato in the world, hands down.  Then on Saturday we went to visit her Grandfather on the Appain Way, just outside of Rome. (Don’t worry I took around one billion photos that someone who shall remain nameless requested.) It is an incredible road, one of the first in the world. One can still see where the chariot wheels drove on many of the stones as well as ancient ruins along the sides.  Very few cars drive on the road any longer except for the few residents, of course.

After a wonderful lunch with Azzurra’s grandfather, we returned to the city to meet up with our friend Chelsea Corbett who is studying in Florence for the year.  So great to see her, we love and miss her very much!

That night we attended a ball for one of the Orsini daughters, an important Italian fam, and we ate the most incredible food!  The ball was held at the exquisite Villa Medici, as I am sure all of you know, the Medici family was a wealthy banking family from Italy and considered the patrons of the Renaissance.  Coincidentally, we are studying about the Medicis in humanities J  Okay, back to the food.  Each room in Villa Medici had several stations.  A mozzarella station, a gelato station, a crepe station, a chocolate fountain station, a cotton candy station, an authentic burrito station, a sushi station, the list goes on.  INCREDIBLE FOOD! I had a wonderful time that evening and we arrived home, in typical Italian style, around four in the morning; after all, dinner wasn’t served until ten that night.

Sunday was very hectic and let me make myself very clear when I say that I have always dispised and always will dispize Rome Fulmicino Airport. UGH.  THIS TIME, there was a terrible mix up and our flight was not listed, then it was in a different terminal, then the airline was changing carriers, blah blah blah, we did not make our flight and had to purchase a new ticket.  Needless to say we made it to Greece around six that evening just in time to see the group, catch our charter bus and arrive at the hotel.

GREECE IS THE WORD.

Greece. AH, where to begin.  Monday morning we went to the Acropolis, the ancient ruins that include the amazing Parthenon.  A building that inspired the work of the Pantheon, that I had just seen over the weekend in Rome! The Acropolis, of course, is only a five minute walk from our hotel and the view from the hotel Jacuzzi is heavenly.  Speaking of jacuzzi’s the weather is a sunny 80 degrees and all of us Pepperdiners have been using every chance we can to get some sun before returning to the cloudy city of London.  The Parthenon is currently undergoing restoration, but is an awe inspiring building.  The first night here we were all on the roof, looking up at the “city on the hill” and debating the importance of restoration and whether it does more harm than good and what the architects of the time would think of how we are handling preservation of art and architecture.  It was a topic that Americans do not typically think about, but it was a very intellectual conversation for a vaca.  At the Acropolis, we randomly met the newly elected Prime Minister, who was giving a speech at the sight, marking the anniversary that the Nazi’s left Athens, it was a great surprise! 

After we left the Acropolis Monday morning, we went to Mars Hill, the sight of Paul’s famous speech in Acts 17.  VERY COOL.  Not too far from the Acropolis and still high enough to see breathtaking views of Athens.  Then we explored the ancient marketplaces of the city as well as a few churches and the Bernaki Museum.  QUITE an exhausting day.  That night we went to the area known as Plaka, full of restaurants and shops, just to familiarize ourselves with the city and explore.  We talked to some of the locals to find out where are the cool kids hang out and traveled to the area known as Gazi.  Gazi is a square lined with more upscale restaurants and bars with fun music. It had a Miami feel to it.  We hung out there with everyone; first at a bar entitle Why Sleep? Ha, oh the irony, then at a beautiful rooftop garden that I don’t think had a name, but once again we could see the Acropolis.  It is wild to me that everywhere you go in a city like Rome or Athens, some of the most historic monuments and buildings in the world are part of everyday life. AMAZING!

Today, Tuesday, We took a two hour bus ride into the seaside city of Corinth.  We walked through the ancient city ruins and then I CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN and walked the very steps of Paul himself, up to the highest point of Corinth where there are ruins of a fortress.  To be honest it looked a lot like Malibu, it was one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen.  This is the walk that inspired Paul to write his letters to the Corinthians and most likely why Corinth is the city that Paul spent the longest amount of time in…one year and six months.

After climbing all day, we had a wonderful lunch and THEN Claire and I accompanied Azzurra and nine others as they threw themselves off of the Corinthian Canal and plummeted to the water below….the only equipment keeping them from killing themselves…..a tiny bungy chord.  This ladies and gentlemen is true insanity. Almost three hundred feet in the air with windspeeds of at least fifteem miles an hour, I was terrified standing on the bridge filming her, much less throwing myself from the bridge into the canal.  The Corinthian Canal is a famous waterway connecting the the gulf of the Aegean sea to the actual Aegean sea and was used to bring in cargo further into the city.  And now people throw themselves off of it……times are changing.

Now back at the hotel, we are regrouping, and I am writing, before we commence for a night of authentic Greek Kuisine, yep they spell it with a k, and authentic Greek dancing.  Now I have commented on the members of the group before, so as you can imagine, I am more than delighted to see this group of people forced into dancing.  Zu, Claire, and I cannot wait.  This is the end of the first post, but I cannot wait to share the remainder of my trip with you, along with the photos from the week!

Cheers, Mama Mia, and Opa….

Carson