Positively Parliament and Unabashedly Benaki

Today was one of our favorite days yet! We started the day with a visit to the Greek Parliament and were able to sit in the actual chairs that Parliament Members sit in during their meetings which was pretty cool if I do say so myself. We learned a lot about the history, purpose, and processes of the Greek Parliament. Then we were able to spend an hour (or 2 🙂 )  with Mr. Dimitris Kammenos, and actual member of Parliament! He gave us a lot of great and candid insight on what exactly went down in Greece to throw it into such a crisis.

Jenny listening super intently

 

Joanne accidentally throwing some major shade at Chelsey!

We then grabbed a quick lunch, at least quick for Europe, at the Byzantine Museum before heading over to speak with the CFO and the Director of Development of the Benaki Museum. The Benaki is the second most popular museum in Athens aside from the Acropolis so it was a pretty big deal that we were able to steal some time from some of the busiest people in the organization. They spoke with us about the difficulties that nonprofits face in Greece and what needs to happen in order to become a self-sustainable business. This was one of my favorite business visits thus far and then to top it all off, the Director of Development led us on a private tour of the museum, which we had all to ourselves because it is closed on Tuesdays.

 

Some artifacts in the Benaki Museum

After we left the museum we had a short break and the we had the privilege of having a very professional Q&A with Dr. Stelios Zachariou (Eleni’s son!). He offered a lot of valuable information on what is currently happening in Greece and what it means for the future of the nation.

Then we all parted ways and went to dinner. The group I was with decided to eat at the hotel so that we could take in the great views that our hotel has to offer. Did I mention yet that our hotel has some great views? Because it totally does…

But that wasn’t the end of the night for all of us. Oh no, Rebecca and I decided that we wanted to do a little more exploring of Athens. We came across multiple embassies and a giant glass statue of a man running.

Then we did a 180 and walked further than we had yet where we found an amazing square featuring fountains and some great people watching. But perhaps the most amazing of it all was what we found across the square.

McDONALDS!

Becca and I decided that we should probably try it out. She got a happy meal and I got a Greek Mac (basically a gyro with McDonald’s hamburgers as the meat), and some Chicken McNuggets in case I didn’t like the Greek Mac. I ended up surprisingly enjoying the Greek Mac, though! Here’s a little bonus vlog of Becca and I trying our Greek McDonald’s.

Well, folks, that’s it for today. Now it’s time to get some shuteye because tomorrow we hit the winery and take the ferry to Aegina!

Deuces Mooses!

Steven