We’ve slept like rocks for two nights in a row now. We’re staying at the Grecotel Palace Athena, a small boutique hotel with modern, funky design. Evie sleeps in the pack n play provided by the hotel. We have a large balcony with a view of the square where we played with the pigeons yesterday.

This morning we set out on a mission for breakfast. We binge-watched travel shows on Netflix and YouTube to plan our trip. One spot that surfaced on every show was Stani. Known for their fresh dairy and honey breakfast/desserts (fine line here), there are two staples to try. The Greek yogurt with honey and nuts and the simple cream with honey top. We didn’t even make it to the loukoumades or baklava.

After breakfast, we walked to the metro station and rode it three stops on the red line to Acropolis Museum. The metro was easy to navigate, even with a stroller.

The Acropolis Museum opened in June 2009 and had won numerous well-deserved awards. As you enter, you walk atop a glass floor that lies above the ruins of the old city . There are circles within circles, rooms, fountains, walls, staircases. All of the functional elements reveal themselves if you look closely enough.

As you enter the Museum and walk up the steep ramp to the exhibits, you get to peek at various frescos and statues – an amuse-bouche to the main course.

There are three main floors to the museum, with the first floor housing a visiting exhibit, the second floor endless sculptures, and the third floor an experience in an of itself.

It’s interesting to think about how we view these ancient civilizations through the carvings they left behind. Why did they choose to carve what they did? they chose the story they left behind. Many of the fresco carvings depict romanticized versions of battle war or opulent feasts.

I was left wondering what wasn’t depicted. What was the boring day to day of life in Athens in 480 BC? We see only these romanticized scenes and snippets. Is what these artists did that much different than what we criticize people for doing today with social media? Showing only a glorified and glamorized version of ourselves?

As you reach the top floor of the museum, you suddenly realize you are inside a modern rendition of the Parthenon. There are 17 columns spanning the longest side of the museum, and in between each are carved marble blocks which were once part of the upper ceiling of the inner portion of the Parthenon. The pieces were excavated years after the ammunition explosion that destroyed much of the structure. Also from the top floor, huge glass windows allow for parallel viewing of the real deal.

I do have to give a nod to the museum for having my all-time favorite family changing room on the first floor of the museum. Complete with changing table, toys, kids table and hand sanitizer, it was everything you need right in one room. It was also nice that all three of us could go in together since changing a diaper on a two year old often requires four hands.

We opted to walk back towards our hotel rather than taking the metro just so we could see some new sights and grab a small snack along the way.

Every hour on the hour, there’s a changing of the guard at the palace. We decided to catch the guards and then head to the National Garden before sunset. They have a large playground with swings and slides, and entrance is free.

On our walk back from the National Garden, we stopped for dinner at Diporto, another hidden gem we discovered during our Netflix binge. There’s no sign and no menu. A true hole-in-the-wall place, you just walk down into a basement with paper-covered tables, wine barrels and not a word of English. You sit down and are served within 3 minutes, which is easy to do when there’s no choice of what to eat.

The only choice we made was to have “vino” with dinner or not. Not red vs white, just “vino.” We stuffed ourselves full for a mere €18.

And as the life of the toddler parent goes, we were warned by our little, “I need poop.” Diaper changes have been the rate limiter to a lot of things these past two years. Diporto for all its charm, didn’t have a restroom nevertheless a changing table. We settled up and headed back to our hotel. Tomorrow we’ve booked a food tour – as if we haven’t been eating enough already!