Fall is here

Boy with dog known as "The Little Refugee"

Well, after the crazy week we had and the pouring rain which started on Thursday, we decided to focus on indoor tourist attractions this weekend.  Karina, Brittney, and I started by going to the wine tasting at Grande Bretagne Hotel in Syntagma Square.  It is a very fancy hotel right in the heart of downtown; we had to dress up to go there and there were 5 other people, all American and all staying at the hotel.  The sommelier was very informative.  We didn't mind spending the 20 Euros for the tasting after he left the 3 of us with the rest of the wine in the bottles to go up to his job at the restaurant.  The other tasters had dinner reservations.

wine tasting at the Grand Bretagne with Brittney and Karina

Then we stopped at a Greek restaurant to listen to a live band playing traditional Greek music.  We danced.

traditional music with some traditional instruments

After enjoying the band, we found a karaoke bar and went there to perform a few songs.  Brittney and I did Lady Marmalade to get warmed up, RESPECT, and finished with Uptown Funk.  Karina (the Aussie) sang Land Down Under with Brittney backing her up.

As Rod would say, we got back to the apartment "very early"-- at 3 am!  Luckily we could sleep in the next day.  However, it was not all partying.  I cultivated my mind by taking advantage of the free admission this weekend at the National Museum of Archeology.  Here are a few of the really cool things I saw (including the statuette at the top.)

a rotating window

The Acropolis is always visible at night downtown.

After Roberta left, another teacher joined the language center: Kati from Finland.  Here we are eating Brittney's amazing curry at the apartment.  You will notice a lack of chairs.  They are all down in the classrooms.

I now have students from many different countries: Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, etc.  My classes are full, but there is a huge demand for English, so students stop by all of the time to see if any spaces have opened up.  If there is room, they appear in our classes; it is never boring.  Hopefully the sun will come out and it will warm up again.