Kalimera, yog er hungrig!

That means good morning (in greek), i'm hungry! (in swedish- and don't quote me on the spelling of that one). These are just a few of the many new things ive learned on this trip! i'm in europe with my brother daryl for 5 weeks, starting sep 4, and ending oct 7, that means were somewhere in the middle. we actually had a long layover in amsterdam, which weve never been to, so we found our way downtown on the trains and walked around for a few hours. we learned a few things about the dutch in this time- they love h&m (good taste) we saw about 5 of them within 2 blocks, no joke. they really must like flowers, because seeds and bulbs were for sale EVERYwhere, including "cannibus" seeds, funny. and in the red light district you can window shop for girls just like seeds, i did not know that before and found it.. kind of disturbing actually. we ended up steering clear of there and finding a nice cappuccino and baguette in a different neighborhood before heading back to the airport. its really a beautiful city, looks incredibly similar to copenhagen i thought, and now that ive seen it, i probably dont need to go back (and i never say that about anywhere) but it definitely was a worthwhile stop. we finally made it to berlin after... i dont even know how many hours (or days?) and managed to find our hostel pretty easily. the next few days were spent walking all over the city and back like 37 times, my poor joints werent keeping up with my muscles very well. but i liked berlin so much better the second time around, we went on an awesome walking tour with this guy paulo from england. he was like a storybook come to life, we learned so much history that day we were just hypnotized by this guy. it was like reading an entire book, and all of it was right in front of our eyes, it really was amazing, and i recommend sandeman's free tour of east berlin to anyone who goes there.
anyway we did some shopping and pub crawling and photographing, day and night, oh and sketching! that was fun even for me, daryl being the architect.
it was a little cold for my taste, which was doubly (is that a word?) made up for with our next move- to greece! we flew to athens at night (the 8th?), and when we walked out of the metro station, the first thing we saw was a huge lit up ruin (we later figured out was part of the roman agora), and behind it, up on the hill, was the acropolis. just there to be revered in all its glory of being on top of the hill. it was quite the sight. and we were afraid eateries might be closed by this time, boy were we wrong! the city was coming alive, people were out everywhere. so we got crepes and sat by this ruin to try to take in our new surroundings. athens is a hot place, literally, and it was nice to be in shorts and tank tops again. everything id ever heard anyone say about athens is that its "dirty" and you "only need a day there" and its "sketchy" and whatever. but my first impression, and lasting impression, is that it reminds me of latin america, and i immediately loved it, narrow streets with local crafts for sale, shops and restaurants everywhere kinda like italy, and then ancient ruins thrown into the mix just for fun. yeah it was "dirty" but nothing compared to some places ive been. it was comfortable, and greek is such a pretty language, it sounds like a mix of russian and italian to me, i want to learn it. so ive learned 4 words for sure- kalimera, kalispera, efharisto, and parakalo- good morning, good evening, thank you, and youre welcome (and please). but everyone speaks english so its easy. anyway we roamed the streets, drank cappuccinos, and of course visited the acropolis, and sketched the parthenon which unfortunately is covered in scaffolding, i think theyre trying to rebuild it (its pretty beat up). but it was well worth it. we spent two days kicking around athens before taking a ferry to naxos, one of the many islands, which is where we are now. staying in a sweet place with 2 swedish girls, our new friends. mt zeus is on this island, daryl keeps talking about running up to the top, but the drinks here have kept him from waking up early. ha. so our time has been spent on the beaches, today we went to one and the water looked like lake tahoe, it was beautiful. we were in the topless section, and realized later that the nude section was just next door. guess im gonna have to get used to this.
little cobblestone streets, shops, restaurants, fresh seafood, another strange square shaped ruin thing, beaches, boats.. and a lot of white white buildings, with cobalt blue windows and roofs. thats what makes up this island. its very pretty. and relaxing. we head to mykonos tomorrow for a few days before going to italy next week, which im so excited about! so until then, kalisomething that means good night:) hope all is well! (pictures to come soon)
j