Athens...

Toured around Athens and stayed in a groovy hostel, Athens Backpacker, run by a bunch of hip to the tilt Aussie's with some truly colorful staff; a green-haired Liverpool bar shark, and a young American bloke in search of his greatest motorbike ride in Athens. The day we arrived in Athens, Ali only had one day and then she had to fly back to reality, Finland. So, we immediately took to the streets of Athens. The highlight...the Acropolis! We were prepared to pay 12 euro to enter the Acropolis and were pleasantly surprised when they said EU students were FREE! (Woohoo, this gig just keeps gettin' better everyday.) Thank you EU! And we can also thank the EU for throwing superfluous euros into the restoration of the Acropolis, as it was just named an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. So, the Acropolis and Parthenon ruins are pretty incredible, it is one of the oldest cities to be discovered in the world and it is built on a flat top mountain in the middle of Athens. The views are pulchritudinous.

Camera. Ready? 1,2,3. Action Shot. We got whistled and yelled at for "disrespecting the ruins" as we attemped to execute action shots. But that didn't stop us from making a trip back at sunset and attempting more action shots.




Before bidding farewell to my Brazilian sister, we had a few Ouzo shots and called it a day. The next day, I hung out at Starbucks, ate a greek salad and was amused by the Greek cafe culture of smoking a pack of cigs, drinking 3 cups of Greek coffee (cold coffee with coffee grounds forming a "mud" at the bottom of the cup), and just enjoying the day pass them by. What a life!!

Cretan Peeps are Magnanimous!

Met up with my Brazilian classmate, Ali, in Crete, the largest Greek island. Now, this place has culture! It is known for it's production of fine olive oil, Rika (an equivalent to the Italian "grappa" spirit), and kind-hearted Cretan people. The first day I arrived (without Ali), I was invited to go "Greek clubbing", was offered (and acquiesced to) 3 FREE shots of "homemade Rika" and was hooked up with a room overlooking the ocean for a mere 20 euros in one of the fanciest hotels in this charming little beach town, called Malia. Once Ali arrived, we laid by the pool, ate greek salads and just relaxed. One day we explored the rolling hills of the Cretan inland via rental car. The Sunday afternoon eye candy included rolling hills complete with olive groves, vineyards and wild goats. We stopped in the tiny little town of Gonies and hiked for 3 hours up the Gorge of Rosa, complete with the sounds of wild goat screams and the aromatic smell of springtime blossoms. Awesome! Then, we stopped in a small tavern for an authenic Cretan lunch; greek salads, Domas (rusk of bread topped with olive oil and chopped tomatos), fava (bean paste) and the local brew, Mythos. A nice Cretan family bought us our drinks and I was like, "What do they want from us?" After much analysis of this kind offer, I finally realized..damn, these Cretan peeps are genuinely magnanimous! I guess I have become a bit of a skeptic when free things are offered to me but this renewed my faith in humankind (or at least Greek people). Our Cretan holiday ended with an overnight ferry to Athens. We were smart (and maybe selfish) and we each took a row of seats and sprawled out for a night of rest. Yes, selfish, but everyone else was doing it too...when in Greek, do like your fellow travelers. Hmmmm, there is something wrong with that statement!

Santorini Island in Greece!

After 3 days of Greek salads, Lucky's famous gyros, views of the caldera, hanging with my "adopted parents" from Pennsylvania (sorry mom & dad), a boat tour with a Greek god (yes, ladies...they DO exist!), a donkey ride up a switchback staircase (which was fun considering it was kind of sacrilegious for the "mountain girl" to be climbing a mountain on a donkey's back); I decided I needed one more day in Oia, Santorini. Oia is the quaintest little village on the Santorini island and I had been living in Fira; the touristy town close to the port. So, I took to the streets or shall I say narrow cobble stone paths meandering up, down and around the white stucco dwellings built on the side of a steep slope of the caldera in search of a hotel with a view. Many of these dwellings are literally built into the earth, they dig out caves on the side of the mountain and then put a face on the cave in the form of a beautiful white stucco building. I found a no-frills room, owned by a charming Greek family, with stunning views of the ocean for 35 euro and called it home for one night. The weather was colder than expected around 15C and windy, however, the hotel balcony overlooking the ocean (see video), was protected and so laying in the sun for 5 hours was quite invigorating.




During my time in Santorini, I met many friends along the way; the crazy Malaysians, "Lucky" the owner of the best gyro shop in Fira (I visited him everyday for some good eats and free 'home made' wine), John & Ann- a retired couple posing as my "adopted parents", and "Papa" the Alzheimer's elder of the Greek family in Oia. That is truly the beauty of traveling solo, you meet so many interesting and convival people with piquant stories.

In Greece!

Be back April 27! Check back for some Greek salad and gyro posts...

Easter Marathon!

Being away from home and the traditional Easter customs, I think it is interesting how we always seem to create our own holiday celebration which tends to be an infusion of cultures. Easter was a perfect example! My roommate, Mary from Belgium, and I hosted an easter brunch at 11 a.m. After a few hours and an Easter egg hunt, there were 4 of us; the Brazilian, Indian, American and Flemish. We painted Easter eggs, drank Russian wine, put stickers on our face, drank Chilean wine, ate an authenic Indian dinner, and watched a funny U.K. comedy, called Coupling until 8 p.m. We don't know how the Finns celebrate Easter but our 9 hour celebration was quite memorable!

St. Petersburg, Russia!

After an amusing overnight train to St. Petersburg (see Moscow video), we arrived in the "Cultural Capital" of Russia. We started off with a city bus tour and got the lay of the land. The highlight for me was the Hermitage, the 3rd largest art museum in the world. The Hermitage was the tsars winter palace from 1762 to 1917 and the magnificent 1057 rooms are nothing but ostentatious and grandiose. We were there for about 3.5 hours and our guide whipped us through the "great works" of Monet, Rembrandt and Matisse. I could have used another day but was satisfied by being in the presence of such artwork.

The travel agency, Aikamatkat Oy, coordinates these Russian tours for students and therefore they are not void of parties. One night we enjoyed a Russian dinner, with Russian performers singing and dancing, a lot of Russian vodka, and a lot of crazy spanish students. Another night we went on a river boat cruise complete with Russian champagne and vodka, many got sick after doing shots of vodka followed by champagne chasers, they call this the "Polar lights". We checked out the nightlife in St. Petersburg and the adventurous part of the evening came when hailing a taxi.

There is no oversight of the taxi business, in fact anyone can be a taxi driver to make extra money. So, you simply hold out your hand to any car that drives by. They stop, you negotiate and hope that this ride will get you home with your money and your pride in tact. Luckily, we got home safe. However, there were a bunch of scams that other students experienced; the cops stopped the "taxi" and demanded money or a night in jail, and the "taxi driver" demanded more money than negotiated and slapped the

student for disagreeing.

A bus took us back to Finland and through the long border formalities (my passport was checked 4 times.) We said goodbye to our new friends from the Uni of Jyväskylä and headed home to Tampere.

Moscow, Russia!

An overnight train brought us to Moscow, where we joined another 110 international students from a few Universities in Finland. We walked out of the train station and it was surreal; Russians buzzing about not afraid to grab the wallet in your pocket, the distinct Russian architecture tantalizing your eyes and the Russian alphabet screaming, "You're not in Finland any longer." We jumped on buses and began a day of city tours. First, the RED SQUARE, with the Kremlin walls beckoning one side of the square, the dazzling and colorful St. Basil's Cathedral at one end, Lenin's tomb and the sassy and upscale mall occupying the Gosudarstvenny Universalny Magazin (GUM) on the northeast side of the square. It was a fusion of incongruous values, yet stunning architecture right in one big square. You could see the wax like-figurine of Lenin's body rolling in his grave as wealthy Russian's throw down big roubles to purchase the latest fashion at Paul Smith & Dior and satiate their voracity with the golden arches of capitalism, McDonald's.



We spent a good amount of time in the Red Square (see pics) and then we wondered safely to the Ulitsa Arbat street, a pedestrian mall lined with cafes, souvenir stands and buskers. We were lucky enough to see the April Fool's Day Parade where heaps of Russian's blow bubbles and parade through the streets (see video).

Another highlight, the Moscow Circus full orchestra. Honestly, the acts with the lions, bears and horses were cruel but the acrobats and orchestra were quite entertaining. Outside the circus ring, the exhibition hallway is home to doped and sedated animals where sleazy Russian's charge a load of roubles to take a picture with the animal (see video).

2 days in Moscow and now the overnight train to St. Petersburg...