Day 25-Greece, Thessaloniki

We've reached Thessaloniki! I'm way excited for two reasons: 1) I can finally do my laundry that definitely needs done and 2) it's Saturday night which means Sunday's tomorrow! I love church and (believe it or not) love getting a break from school. It's the only day of the week we don't do anything officially as a group, although we usually end up all going somewhere together. Good thing I don't mind :)

Today Yani drove us to King Philip II's tomb in Pella (the only royal tomb other than King Tutankhamen's in Egypt to be found with all it's treasure inside) where I saw the most exquisite in tact gold laurel wreaths I've ever seen (not that I've seen any before). They were so amazingly intricate with these incredible floral motifs twisting and tangling together to shape a single halo of gold. My favorite was one of King Philip's wives who was probably killed just after his death to be buried with him. So fascinating.

After emerging from the tomb, I went and bought some fresh peaches from an old lady who insisted (I couldn't understand anything she was saying, but body language gives a lot away) I needed 10, not just a few. It was worth buying more than I expected because I've already eaten more than I originally intended to buy :) I also enjoyed the cherries Pella is famous for during the last leg of our road trip. Fruit is so amazing!

After an hour of discussing purely food in the back of the coach (before it was Star Wars and Donte), we arrived in Thessaloniki and a group of us girls wandered around the second biggest city in Greece. Somehow we found ourselves in the midst of a lively fish market (you could tell the guys working were getting a kick out of the five of us because we kept slipping from the water they were using to wash the blood from their stands and also from the hilarious expressions I know we all wore...the "don't look panicked now, but how in the world did we end up here?" look) and couldn't get out fast enough. I'm definitely not used to such an intense fishy smell! After that little adventure, we found the sea and then a little later somewhere to eat where they were so patient with us. It was nice and a great end to the day :) Can't wait to have more adventures in Thessaloniki! Yassou!

Ps. Sorry about the lack of pictures...I'll be better tomorrow?