Plaka is the neighborhood located just below the Acropolis. Its jumbled streets are as confusing as the mixed message that the neighborhood gives you when you walk past a authentic Greek restaurant sharing a street with a kitschy tourist-trap shop. I wandered the streets of Plaka this morning, trying to navigate my way to the Archeological museum. Luckily I ran into Mia, a girl I had met last night, she was able to direct us out of Plaka and to a metro station.

Athens’s National Archeological Museum is one of the premier museums in Western Europe. But unlike other museums, which pride themselves on the geographic breadth of their collection, the Archeological Museum -almost arrogantly- displays exclusively Greek treasures. This anomaly reflects the extreme pride that Greeks take in their culture. Some may find this pride pretentious, but I find it inspiring. Coming from a hodgepodge of ethnic backgrounds I am jealous of those who are so firmly rooted in their culture and their past. On the other hand, I realize that my lack of roots is what inspires me to travel. As a third generation American, I am constantly struggling with the question of where my roots are planted. They branch out all over the world, in a tangled path that seems to lead nowhere. The further back I search, the more ambiguous my cultural identity becomes. I am therefore forced to find another way to define myself. As I travel and interact with new cultures, I am allowed to take a part from each one to form my own unique roots. Piece by piece I am slowly forming my own identity.

The view of the Acropolis from Plaka

I thought Rome had a lot of ancient ruins... Rome can't even compete with Athens

For some reason I was fascinated with the Greek Orthodox Churches in Greece, they seem like a strange hybrid of the churches of the West and the Mosques of the East

Athens had some of the strangest and most beautiful graffiti I have ever seen. I found this piece disturbing and honestThe one-legged smoking bird, found only in Athens

Damn, even the graffiti is more beautiful in Europe

Athens' skyline isn't like typical cities, it reminded me of American urban sprawl

From left to right: ancient Athens, religious Athens, modern Athens

A church dedicated to St. Paul, next to the ancient Agora, where he converted his first Athenians Another church, they were everywhere

The National Archaeological Museum

Thousands of years later and we are still wearing the same jewelry!

This was a beautiful sculpture of a goddess sleeping, unfortunately my camera does not do it justice

I've re-named this one, "How to keep the Greek men away"

The National Museum was fantastic, like Disneyland for history majors

All the Italian men were doing the same pose in front of the statue, it was pretty funny