Weekend Shenanigans

This weekend was free for some independent exploration and trouble. Yesterday, I woke up early and hit up some museums which aren't covered with the program, such as the Byzantine, Cycladic Art and Numismatic. The Byzantine museum was pretty cool but slightly disappointing, because the entire section of the Icons was blocked off. The lady told me it should be open sometime next week, so I'll have to check it out again. The Museum of Cycladic Art was really interesting. I've never seen so many Cycladic figurines in one area. The Numismatic Museum was okay. I'm not a diehard coin fan, although some of them were really awesome. The fact, however, that the museum was inside the mansion of Heinrich Schliemann, the discover of Troy and Mycenae, was what intrigued me to check it out. Afterwards, I roamed through Plaka, shopping for souvenirs. Then, I met up with some of the people from the AL in Greece trip, who were in Athens for the weekend. We went to find Stavros, "the poet sandal-maker". He prepares custom-fit brown leather sandals and has prepared them for many celebrities, most notably John Lennon. The pair I got is of the "Julius Caesar" style. Afterwards, we all went out to dinner, and I finally was able to get the Moussaka that I had been craving. Moussaka is like a lasagna, but with eggplant and minced meat. I'm not a big eggplant fan, but it works very well in this dish. Then a few of us decided to enjoy some Athenian nightlife at the Gazi clubs. Hands down one of the craziest evenings of my life. It was so nice to see my fellow Classicists from Alabama again. I'll miss them next year when I head off to UCLA. Then today, a group of us went to Monastiraki, because it hosts a big flea market on Sundays. I was slightly disappointed to be quite honest. I saw nothing I deemed of value, although I'm sure others didn't feel the same way. Anyways, it was good to walk around and sweat out all the toxins from the night before. This afternoon has been pretty chill. I have a lot of reading due tomorrow, and I haven't done any of it since the last quiz, which means I will be reading all night! Things could be worse. Thankfully, I really enjoy the stuff that I am/will be learning this summer!