Mel On...Packet Pick-Up (and our first day in Athens!)

We made it!  The flight over was quick and uneventful (the best kind of flights, in my opinion).  We had to walk what felt like a gazillion miles with luggage and two small kids to find our hotel, though.  Totally underestimated the language barrier on this trip! Athens was a lot prettier by air at that point...

But, we made it!  The kids were troopers, not only did they do well on the flight over but they kept up with us with the least amount of fussing two kids can do going on 5 hours of sleep, 11 hours of travel, and only a bag of M&M's and a roll in their bellies.

None of us were quite fond of our airline lunch....

At least in the airport there was some sort of translation!

Somewhere in Athens...(apparently somewhere no where near our hotel....)

Once we regrouped at the hotel, we took a taxi to the Expo so I could pick up my race pack.  (Neither of us were willing to venture out without a readable map in a foreign country anymore so the $$ for cab fare was well worth it!).  The driver ended up being from NY so he spoke excellent English and was super-nice and in-the-know and was willing to wait for me to go get my race pack (no charge) so he could take us down to a really nice neighborhood by the water for dinner.

I was all about seeing some ocean, so I darted in and got my goodies.  I felt like I jipped myself out of a little taste of "the marathon experience" by not checking things out though.  They seemed to have tons of stuff and lots of cool information.  There was even a video playing of street shots of the race route.  Here are some pics I took as I literally ran in and ran out of the Expo...

No clue what this sign said but I was set on following it...

But, we made a good call on going down to the water to eat.  It was really nice and such a cool experience. The restaurant was a little fancy for our taste; lol, especially when the chef came out with a plate full of freshly caught seafood.  Seeing dead fish with their mouths open and eyes staring into your soul didn't exactly scream dinner to me, but to each his own.  The kids thought it was hilarious, though!

LOVE.  THEM.

So, now that we have full bellies (stuffed feta burgers, chicken penne with Parmesan, and pork fillet stuffed with feta, rocket leaves, sundried tomatoes, and olive tapenade...I'll let you take a gander on who ate what), we are back at the hotel with our feet up ready to get some shut-eye!

ONLY ONE MORE DAY!!!!