Arrived in Athen's around 8:00 AM - took cab to the Intercontinental Hotel where we would be spending the night. Checked in by 10:00 AM and off we went to pick up the hoho bus at Syntagma Square. The hotel had a shuttle that took us to the square and ran every 1/2 hour. Very convenient. The first picture above may seem unusual - 2 big dogs sleeping on the sidewalk. What was interesting to me is that you saw these very large dogs all over Athens -- sleeping. Even at the Acropolis, you would see them laying around. I think I saw 50 of them in the short time we were in Athens. I couldn't resist asking our waiter at lunch "what's with these dogs"? He informed me that they were "street dogs" and were homeless. But - you can see they're not undernourished. He said people feed them anyway -- must feed them very well! 
One of our stops on the tour bus was at the Greek Parliament building which was built between 1834 and 1838 as the palace of the first Kings. The monument of the Unknown Soldier is guarded by 2 guards, 24 hours a day. Check out their uniforms! Short pleated skirts, pom poms on their shoes and white tights. They have a unique march which they perform hourly. They must be in very good shape!
Here we are at the top of the Acropolis in front of the Parthenon. It was another beautiful day for touring. Sunny and about 70-75 degrees. Unusually cool for Athens this time of year, we were told by our taxi driver. Anyway, it was a long walk to the top, but worth every minute. The views were awesome and the experience was overwhelming to me.We walked from the Acropolis to an area called Plaka which was a cool, pedestrian only shopping and eating area. Had a fabulous lunch at a place called "God's". I kid you not. After spending the rest of the day touring, we returned to the Syntagma Square area for dinner and then back to the hotel.
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