Touring Athens

Athens, 5:00pm -

We had dinner at the hotel last night. Afterwards, Alison took me a rock outcrop with a great view of the Parthenon to meet some of her friends. They were all very nice. This morning we had a guided tour of Athens. She was a really good guide, very knowledgeable. We spent the majority of our time touring the Acropolis and Parthenon, but we also saw some other areas of Athens, giving us a very general feel for the layout of the city. (Our guide said the reason the city is so spread out is because they are prohibited from building too high because of all the seismic activity in the area.) We had lunch at a little place in Plaka and then visited the archeological museum in the afternoon, which had many old Greek statues, pots, jewelry, etc. Still adjusting to the time change a bit, so we came back to the hotel to rest a bit before going out to dinner tonight. I think one and a half days in Athens is just about the right amount of time. Tomorrow at noon my parents and I are catching a flight to our first island of the trip, Mykonos. Alison is going to meet us there a few days later, she has one more job in Athens.

Greetings from Athens

Athens, 2:15 pm - I have now been traveling for nearly 24 hours with very little sleep, but we have arrived in Athens. We just checked into our hotel and are attempting to freshen up a bit before going out to explore the Plaka. We are staying near the city center at the St. George Palace. Alison is working today and we hope to meet up with her later this afternoon. My first impressions of Athens include 1) Traffic laws are optional, especially when riding a scooter/motorcycle, 2) It's very hot and the landscape is very dry, and 3) Athens is a big city (our cab driver told us Athens accounted for about five million of Greece's 11 million citizens).

I'll try my best to update my blog once a day, probably in the evening so I have something interesting to report.

Host Family/Travel Itinerary

Sorry I didn't post sooner, but I found out who my host family is. Their names are Jutta and Juergen Schenkel and I am told they are very experienced host family. I received a short email from them introducing themselves and asking for my arrival information. The university in Berlin is just southwest of the city and from what I can tell the Schenkels live just southwest of the university. It's hard for me to judge the distances/times from the map, but I would guess they're about 15-20 minutes from campus and 45 minutes from the city center.

The program in which I'm participating in Germany is called FUBiS-Programm. FUBiS is an acronym for Freie Universität Berlin internationaler Sommer, which means Free University of Berlin international summer. The program runs six weeks from 6/7-7-17.

Here's a rough itinerary for my entire travels:
5/27 - Depart Denver (layovers in DC and Munich)
5/28 - Arrive in Athens
5/28-6/5 - Tour Athens and the islands of Mykonos and Santorini
6/6 - Depart Athens
Arrive in Berlin ~11:00am
6/7 - FUBiS program orientation
6/8 - First day of class
6/20 - Weekend Trip to Hamburg
7/3 - Weekend Trip to Weimar
7/17 - End of FUBiS
7/18 - Travel to Munich where I'll meet up with Kevin
7/18-7/19 - Munich, Germany
7/20-7-21 - Paris, France
7/22-7/23 - Brussels, Belgium
7/24-7/25 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
7/26 - Depart Amsterdam for the USA
(5.5 hr layover in Chicago)
Arrive in Denver ~7:00pm

The Traveling Blakeburys

I'm sitting on the porch at Gigi and Papa's house in Lincoln, NE writing my first post for my new blog. After seeing how often Gigi checked Alison's modeling blog, I thought why not make my own? After all, I will be in five European countries during the summer and something interesting might just happen along the way. Who knows?

If you're wondering what exactly a Traveling Blakebury is, I'm sure you're not alone. I wanted a title that was generic enough to allow for the blog to live on past this summer's travels (should I feel compelled to do so) and also a bit more creative than "Blake's Blog." Too boring. I have been listening to quite a bit of the Traveling Wilbury's recently, so 1 + 1 made 3 and the ugly duckling that is "The Traveling Blakeburys" was born.

If you're not familiar with the Traveling Wilburys and like rock, and maybe even if you don't, I highly recommend acquainting yourself with them. The Wilburys were an all-star line up of rock legends from the late '80s/early '90s. The members of this accidental band were George Harrison (former guitarist/vocalist from the Beatles), Jeff Lynne (producer & former member of the Electric Light Ochestra), Bob Dylan (enough said), Tom Petty (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), and Roy Orbison (rock-and-roll pioneer). It's hard to go wrong with so many greats in the same room. Here's a link to the first song written by the Wilburys, entitled "Handle with Care": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJWv3Xw5QrY . Enjoy.

When I get back to Denver on Sunday I'll post my itinerary. I need to think of a trade mark sign-off...Bye.