We arrived in Athens quite late and were greeted by President and Sister Ludwig, Shauna's parents. They are serving as mission presidents there in Athens. We went straight to the mission home which was a beautiful three story house with lots of marble, wood floors, and beautiful decorations. The next morning we slept in a bit, and woke up to a pancake breakfast prepared by Sister Ludwig.
We went up to the Acropolis and saw the ancient structures. They are barely surviving but Greece is doing all it can to preserve what is left and even try and rebuild some of it. All of Athens can be seen from there and the city looked endless. Six million people live in Athens. There were little cafes along the street, along with a lot of graffiti.
We then went to the parliament building in the city center and were entertained by the guards at the front. It is kind of like in London. They can't move for an hour and they were a funny outfit. They wear a sort of jacket that goes to the mid-thigh, and then tights. They then have these shoes that have a little black ball on the toe and one on the back of the knee also. Their hat was kind of a beret looking hat. After taking pictures the knew soldiers came to trade spots. The way they walked was so funny! One leg would go really high and they would swing it back and forth before they put it down. When the opposite leg was up, the arm opposite of the leg that was risen was swung high in the air. That night we had dinner at the mission home with a few of the missionaries that were leaving the following Tuesday. One Elder's parents joined us also. They were from Italy. It was cool to see all of the missionaries home countries. They were from all over Europe. There was one person that was staying in the mission home that was from Switzerland that had returned to visit the mission after going home four months prior. On Saturday we helped Sister Ludwig get prepared for a luncheon she was having for the Elder's and Sister that were leaving, and then we headed up to Mars Hill by the Acropolis.
It is a Huge rock made from individual rocks it looks like, lots of marble, and the missionaries from three separate zones met for a testimony meeting. The missionaries that were leaving bore their testimonies, and President and Sister Ludwig. It is a pretty touristy area, so people would stop by and listen for a little bit. It was a great place to have it with the whole view of the city.
Making our way back to the metro we bought some souvenirs from a cute loving lady at a shop by the road, and went home. Staying up and talking til the wee hours of the morning we finally went to sleep only to wake up at five to get to the airport for our flight to Rome. Athens was a short stop, but it was the spiritual stop that we needed before heading out to see for two weeks. It was great to finally meet the Ludwigs after Mike had talked about them so much. What wonderful people....on to Rome!!!
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