Saying goodbye (part II)

We got up this morning and headed out for a tour of Athens.  We got to see the Olympic Stadium, which was pretty cool, but the Acropolis absolutely took my breath away.  The Parthenon was so huge, and, just like in Rome, it was hard to imagine how they built it without all the modern machinery we have today.  I'm glad I got a chance to see it.

After the tour, it was time to say goodbye to most of the rest of the tour group.  I had absolutely no intentions of crying when I said my goodbyes.  It's not like I became super close to anyone, but I guess these people touched me more than I realized.  The waterworks started when I said goodbye to Aaron.  He was the first person on our tour that I met who wasn't online beforehand.

  I met him 23 days ago, and today I had to hug him goodbye, with the realization that I'd probably never see him again.  Then there was Cassie, who I barely spoke to at all on the trip, but I was still crying.  Canadian Mike hugged me and it was all over from there.  I had the first optional meal with him, and he made me laugh so many times throughout the tour.  It was tough saying goodbye to himj.  From there it was all a blur because my eyese were so messed up from crying.  Mike told me to cheer up when I said goodbye to him, but that didn't help.  I was ready to go home, but also really sad that it's all over.  It's like, I was sick of being with the same people 24/7, but it kills me that I'll probably not see any of them again.  

After saying goodbye, those of us who were left went back to the hotel to relax for a while, then all decided to have one more farewell dinner.  The front desk staff told us to check out a restaurant a bit down the road... he said they had anything we could possibly want on their menu.  All 20 of us got there, and tried to order drinks.  That took forever, and I (along with several others) were already unimpressed.  When we tried to order food, we found out that most of the menu items were not available.  We also found that pretty much the only things were available were Greek salads, pasta with lamb and beef, swordfish, and kebabs.  Most of the group went for salads and kebabs.  Those who ordered salads (myself included) were fine.  The kebabs were another story.  The people who ordered kebabs were expecting meat and veggies on a skewer.  Instead, they got a big, long round hunk of meat, that literally looked like shit.  Apparently it didn't taste too good either.  Glad I didn't have to find out for myself.  It was definitely nothing like the optional dinner we'd had the night before, so I was very disappointed.  On the plus side, I got some tiramisu on the way home, so that helped a little.  We got back to the hotel, and I went to sleep.