Europe....here I come

So....I made it to Athens fine. But poor Piya's flight out of Dulles was delayed 3 hours. Then she missed her connection in Copenhagen. Then she was rerouted down to Rome...causing us to both miss our connection to Santorini. Then the Santorini hotel wouldn't refund out money AND we had to pay extra for the Athens airport hotel. And to top it all off, THEN the airlines lost Piya's bag and didn't even know what city it was in. Good times.

Other than that, Santorini rocked! Truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Our hotel was friggin moneeeey, best view on the entire island as far as I'm concerned. We made ourselves very busy doing boat tours, laying by the pool, having cocktails at the pool bar, walking to the local winery for wine tasting over sunset, shopping and I know not what else. Lots to pack into 2 days though, next time I'm going to Santorini for like 5 or 6 days.

We've finally returned to Athens at this point and are having a chill afternoon relaxing as it's Sunday and most stores/sights are closed. Acropolis bright and early tomorrow morning though! Will check in later if I make it to the internet cafe again...

Well yesterday concluded the "epic hangout," as Jordan so eloquently put it. We started out late, being a little under the weather from the massive toga party/pub crawl from Tuesday night. Yeah, good thing that the national holiday doesn't affect the bar scene, right guys? Tho for 20 euro, you would think the free shots were a little bigger. Memorable parts include the "laurel" wreaths, Margo doing body shots, me almost getting beaten up in the bathroom line, the Sarahs, the Norweigan girl who knew Fosses(!), and "whateva, whateva" from the ADD Aussie guy. Dude, please. You're not that hot. Also I'm pretty sure that I hopped on the back of a Vespa and got an impromtu tour of Rome from some guy in a toga.

So...some indeterminate amount of time later, Margo and I met up with the boys again (sunglasses were definitely on even inside) and painstakingly slowly, made our way to San Palore to hit up the beach. But so nice! The weather was great, hot but plenty of breeze and fortunately you can rent lounge chairs so we lived it up. I cannot even count how many peddlers came by but I think Jordan bought something from every one of them, haha.

Well, Rome's been a blast. After about the millionth round of pizza tonight, well...there may be another pub crawl. We'll see how things go

So, it was a very quiet day in Rome, as it is a national holiday and most things were closed. Margot and I just walked around Borghese Park and rented one of those little ricshaws. Faster way to see the park and exercise all in one! We then made our way over to the Spanish steps. Unfortunately, all the shops we walked past were closed, which was sort of heartbreaking but maybe we can hit up some of em tomorrow. I did manage to find a cheap(ish) swimsuit and we're gonna try to hit the beach tomorrow! Wish us luck...as of right now we have no idea how to get there.

Signing off for now b/c I have barely any time to get ready for this pub crawl.

And I have walked across most of it. BLEH, I am tired. Started out today at the Vatican and Sistine Chapel, went over and did St. Peter's Basilica. Walked all the way back to the train station from there, on the way hitting the Castel Sant Angelo, Pont Sant Angelo, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Piazza Colonna, and the Fontana di Trevi. THIS PLACE IS FRICKIN HILLY.

Switched hostels b/c that place was foul. Never stay at M&J's Place Hostel! Completely skank. I'm much happier here and have met 2 nice girls in my room. We all went out for a big Italian dinner, complete with Chianti and tiramisu. Good times. Gonna have a brief drink at the bar before hitting the hay. Bonna cera everyone!

WOW, is all I can say. I haven't even seen much of this city yet and I am blown away. I mean, my hostel's crap (and I thought the Venice one was sketchy, lol. I didn't even know) but it's within walking distance of the Coliseum, so I was very productive in my late afternoon today and got that accomplished. Really glad I did too, b/c the late afternoon light on the ruins was phenomenal.

Although I will say that, again, this stuff is smaller than I was expecting! The Coliseum arena was like.....not big enough to accomplish much, that's all I'm saying. But it's purty. I just can't figure out where everyone was supposed to be sitting. Later I walked down to the Vittoriano - now THAT was massive. Wish I knew what it was. Oh well, there's a project for tonight: figuring out what you just saw that day, haha. I need to pick up a Rome tourist book in the morning so I have a reference.

Speaking of tomorrow, it's going to be St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, all that good stuff. I had to buy a shawl b/c apparently women are required to cover their shoulders. Good to know...also, does anyone have a clue where a girl can buy a new memory card around here? I've been a wee bit prolific with the photo taking....