Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Athens, actually

Thank you, T, for that riveting (and somewhat accurate) picture of our neighbors across the Atlantic. We are doing catch up on the blog today because Turkey wasn't exactly the most blog-friendly country.

Athens in a nutshell:
"Help! I'm a big city trapped in a tiny nutshell!"
We liked it. The ruins were absolutely fascinating. The people were friendly and we had a much needed noodle house near our hostel. We ate there not once, not twice, but thrice-- Greece did not exactly have the most diverse restaurants.

Our newest computer wrinkle is that this computer won't let me post titles for pictures or change format, so here's some pics and you figure out the rest...












Athina

OK, so it is my turn to write this blog now, and the first thing I have to say is that Europe is just not all that it's cracked up to be. The people speak another language, possibly Dutch, they eat wierd stuff, and they have little or no concept of personal space. In fact, I woke up after spending the night on a park bench and this homeless guy and his dog were splitting a falafel right on top of me, and they were using no napkins of any kind! How rude. Also, once, in France I think, I saw a hunchback, and quite possibly a dwarf. Could have been the same person, but my spatial perspective was all messed up from staring up the belfries of decrepit churches all day. The National Health Care doctors here tell me I have the wickedest case of Knave Neck they have ever seen. But, Athens? Athens was by far the worst. The Parthenon is way more run down than the one in Nashville, the gyros lack the proper amount of tahini sauce, and the democracy is sub-par. I did like the people, or at least I liked that one guy who fell down from dehydration. He was a hoot. As this will probably be my last blog entry once my darling wife finds out what I have been up to, let me add one thing. Hey! Greece! Make a decent lamb chop, and then talk to me about culture!

Port O' Patra

From Corfu, we took a ferry to a port city in Greece called Patra. This ferry experience was quite the opposite of our previous from Italy to Greece, thank goodness. We were happy to find a pool on the top deck and soaked up some Adriatic rays along the way. Approaching Patra, we saw their beautiful bridge, the world's largest cable suspension bridge. We didn't know much about Patra, but it turned out to be decent place to stay for the next day before we could hop the train to Athens. Our place was called Pension Nicos and they had a great little rooftop terrace. Patra had a pretty happening nightlife, and we went to a little club called CiboCibo. While there, we ordered what we thought would be 2 seven year old Havana Clubs, but instead ended up with 4 glasses of tequila. Not wanting to be rude to our new Greek friend, we of course drank them. Next morning---- ATHENS!

Suspension bridge


On the ferry