Ok, I think we can get back to it now. After our embryo transfer, we hopped a train from Thessaloniki to Athens. The train ride itself was such a cool experience. We had pretty much a whole car to ourselves, so we could look out the windows on both sides and take it all in over the 5 hours. We are really glad that we decided to return the rental car last week and take the train instead of driving to Athens. Kyle really got to enjoy the trip rather than focusing on getting us there. We got to our AirBnb in Athens at almost midnight, so we didn’t hit the ground running there, but let me tell you about our view! We had the most beautiful view of the Parthenon on the Acropolis all lit up against the night sky. It was amazing. (And super inexpensive! I’ll link that AirBnb in my travel recommendations blog at the end too, because if you are ever in Athens, this place was a steal.) Side note: have I mentioned that half of my parents have joined us yet? Dad and Melissa like to keep things a little closer to the vest than Kyle and I, but what I will say is that we are so glad we got to have this experience in Athens with them. 

Sunday was our first full day in Athens. We decided to be SUPER touristy and do a hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus, which turned out to be a great move. We got to see so much around Athens without having to walk everywhere in 100+ degree heat. You could spend an entire day or even days at each site in Athens, but since we only had a few days, this was a good way to maximize our time. After “hopping off” the bus for the day, we went to the Acropolis Museum (building highlighting all things Acropolis) for a few hours. It’s all just so enthralling. That night we got the chance to meet up with an old friend that we knew from St. Augustine who moved to Athens a few years ago. He and his partner took us to a great rooftop restaurant and for a minutes we almost felt like locals. (Ha!)

Monday morning we headed to the Acropolis (site of the ancient city) on our bus. That is a looonnnggg line, y’all! It was breathtaking at the top though. We hopped back on the bus and went out to Piraeus. This is another place we could have spent a lot more time. There’s so much to see and do, and we walked for hours trying to get it all in. We got back into Athens and finished up the day with the Ancient Agora and another rooftop dinner. I guess there really isn’t a place with a bad view in Athens! Tuesday was our last full day in Athens so we had to squeeze in a few more things on our list- Kerameikos, The Roman Agora, the flea markets, Monastiraki square, and of course HardRock cafe. (Okay, so HardRock wasn’t on our list of must sees, but they had good AC and wifi so it was a nice pitstop.) Wednesday we took the train back from Athens to Thessaloniki to start getting ready to head back home. I’ll keep you guys updated on the traveling, but we won’t have any IVF news to share for a while. I do have a bloodwork appointment scheduled back home in Florida already- my doctor there has been just so helpful and put the order in as soon as I told her when I would need it. I’ll be back to share the results of them once Kyle and I have had time to process everything.

Thank you for following along so far! This process can be a very isolating one, and being able to sit down and share not only my feelings, but also a really different side to IVF has helped me through it all. I was telling Kyle earlier that I’m having trouble sorting out the emotions of all of it. On one hand, we just had the most amazing experience in Greece. But on the other, we would have traded all of this to be at home with the baby we lost. Or to never have had to experience the pain of infertility. This is a trip that we will never forget, but also one that we never wanted to have to take. I hope that if nothing else comes from this blog, it can help just one family find a little hope.