Friday Walk-About - Spring Break Edition

We had planned on checking out a museum or two today on our last weekday of Spring Break, but no luck - they were all closed for Easter, apparently. So we had a nice walk about in the sunshine. Don't be fooled, though...there was snow in the mountains and a bitter cold wind was whipping through Athens this morning.

we discovered this interesting statue of sorts by the National Art Gallery

and this most interesting modern art by the plethora of embassies near Kolonaki (oh, and we found the TGI Fridays!)

Then we wandered back towards our favorite neighborhood, walked around, found some excellent gyros, and walked some more.

we sat and enjoyed the scenery and sunshine in the Thissio neighborhood - Chuck snapped a few pics

After a brief conversation with an older gentleman who wanted to tell us that he remembered the time when it was free to get onto the Acropolis, we decided to walk some more. It was getting warmer, so we headed back into the Plaka, and sat in the sun enjoying cocktails. Finally giving up our table, we ventured into some clothing stores despite the cling-on sales people and found a couple of fun additions to my limited wardrobe. Then we made our way into a wonderful art gallery and found this:

a wonderful painting of the Plaka neighborhood right off the ancient Roman Agora;
the church is one we have visited several times

Then we decided to try a new taverna - the sign stated it was the "most traditional taverna," and they weren't lying! We didn't order from a menu, but the server brought a bunch of dishes for us to choose from on a large tray. We chose meatballs in a delish tomato sauce, gigantic beans, salad (of course), and spicy cheese spread for our bread. Bring on the wine!

now, THIS is good, authentic Greek food!

this was the view from the second floor of our restaurant - the bells were ringing...

and people were coming and gathering - a lot of them, and they just kept coming!