Greece Part 1

Hi everyone! Took a long hiatus from blogging, especially after going on such a long trip and having to prepare for exams after that. Well, I have to admit that blogging is no longer such a high priority for me now cuz I have to sift through the photos and publish the photos that I want to show selectively. Well, I will be dividing my greece trip into 2 parts. The first part is mainland Greece:

Kelvin, Kandy, me and Andrew who was with us for the first 6 days of our trip before we went on to the islands. We were at the highest point in Athens to wait for the sunset. Not sure if you can see from the photo but the wind was blowing really hard and it was really cold. Greece in general is a lot more sunnier than London (then again, that's not very hard to achieve!)

Sunset in Athens. Something that we always like to do during our trips is to either wake up early to catch sunrise or stay at some high point to catch sunsets. Rather ironic to me cuz the sun rises and sets every day. But it helps, I guess, if there's a nice view to complement it at the same time.

Here's the Parthenon at the Acropolis. Probably one of the more well-known places in Athens or Greece for the matter and ironically, most of the artefacts are actually located in the British Museum which is not too far from where I stay. The whole place is not as nice now cuz they have lots of scaffoldings as they are carrying out conservation works. Nonetheless, a great place to go see and marvel at what history has left us. I definitely know very little (especially compared to my friends here) but it's nice to come by and take a look, even though it gets grating to see rubles after rubles. It does help to appreciate the history behind it all but I guess I am still very much a visual person after all.Went to Olympia for a day where the ancient Olympic site was located. Where I am standing was the starting line of the ancient Olympic race. I think it's amazing to be able to see a place where the ancient Greeks conducted their Olympics. There were many Americans on tour there too cuz I think it's their spring break.

This statue appears behind the 2 euros coin for the 2004 olympic edition. Anyway, this is quite special to me because we are not allowed to pose with statues and I managed to find an opportunity to take one with this statue (owing to my photowhorish nature =p) but too bad andrew didn't take it with my legs. A lot of statues have not stood the test of time and are either half gone or probably sort of disfigured due to like acid rain and other pollutants.

Must be wondering why I am showing a toilet bowl right? Well, this is no ordinary toilet bowl. It's the one I used on the train from Olympia back to Athens and I saw that the hole actually leads to the track, which means it's actually a HOLE! Imagine if someone wanna do big business ...yewww

Joined a group tour to Delphi and Meteora and we got to stay in a posh hotel for one night, which was like a welcome respite from the usual repertoire of hostels. Always nice to soak in the bathtub for once. Anyway, this is an archaeological site in Delphi and I can't remember it's name (Not that I think I even remembered it in the first place.) Below me is the ancient theatre and we were told that there was no need for any form of background because the scenery that you see behind me already forms such a great background for their performance. How amazing huh?
Subsequently went to Meteora after spending a night at Kalambaka. This is where monasteries are situated atop cliffs like those behind me in the photo.

Pondering the vastness of the world and my place in this world .......

Part 2 will be about the islands. Can't guarantee when it will be up as my first paper is in a couple of days' time. Anyway, I'll be back in Singapore by end June. Will be going for a total of 3 trips right after my last paper. First up is Southern Spain, followed by Easter Europe and possibly France just before I come back. In the meantime, good luck to all taking exams and hope everyone is having fun too=)