Hello Friends,
Now that I am all settled in from being gone (ok I am still a bit jetlagged, but now I am at least sleeping through the night.) I should probably attempt to finish these posts. Rachel and I have finally uploaded our photos, but with over a 1000 shots, the task of sorting them for a sharable album is a bit daunting. Don't fret...I will soon narrow it all down. In the midst of giving notice and having to fill out all my paperwork for my new job I will get right on that. :)
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
A couple of photos to share before I send the entire album
Some of you have asked for photos, so I will take time off the actual storytelling to include some photos. I've also added some to the posts from the last day or so.
Enjoy!
You Spin me Right Round Baby Right Round
...like a record baby, right round round round.
Still a bit jetlagged, so again, I post on the blog. at least I only woke up at 530 this morning. I didnt get up until later though.
Still a bit jetlagged, so again, I post on the blog. at least I only woke up at 530 this morning. I didnt get up until later though.After a quick nap we left for the whirling dirvish show at 7--because it is Ramadaan it started later, so it didnt start until 745. I need to read up on Ramadaan. I think theres a bunch of food restrictions that the peeps have to follow, but I know there's probably other stuff too. I will look up that stuff and get back to you. Anyhoo--when we got there the place was pretty full, but we were able to find chairs on the side right near the "band." The cool thing was that the performance was being held at Sirkeci Station which is where the Orient Express used to depart from back in the days of luxury train travel. The room is pretty plain, but there are some nice stained glass windows near the ceiling.
The show begins with this sufi band playing all these ancient looking instruments. There are 4 musicians and 2 dudes just hanging out in the second row. I was surprised that they even had a female musician. For some reason, I thought the dirvish order were all men...like most everything else in Turkey. Anyway, they start playing this new agey sounding music and the two dudes in the back start singing. It's all very churchy at this point, and then i realize...duh, the dirvishes are a religious order. Perhaps it would be like that one band...was it Enigma(?) that had all that churchy sounding music? Regardless...finally after like 30 minutes the dirvishes come out. The performance is really just a ceremony, and they tell you to remain silent, but you know i was bursting at the seams to talk about it while it was going on.
(as an aside, I am watching the news, and how is it that Jack Bauer got arrested for drunk driving?? Oh Keifer...don't drink and drive. Now they are talking about the Halo 3 Midnight openings....curious. Oh how I've missed my Mornings on 2 news...)
I digress...so the dirvishes emerge in these black robes but you can see their little white gowns peeking out underneath. They have this long ass ceremony...seriously can you just start the spinning. I am impatient. Finally the spinning part starts. Dude, it is weird. Fascinating but weird. And they dont just spin kind of hippie in the field like....they are full speed ahead spinning like tops. There were 5 of them all together....and they each had their own spinning technique. If I were a dirvish, I would definitely keep my eyes closed because the ones who kept their eyes open were just loco looking. They had like crazy eye when they would spin because they were spinning so fast. However they were spinning for quite awhile. It actually made ME a little bit dizzy. So I figured they would just spin and it would be done. But turned out there were actually four spinning sessions, I think each one represented the seasons. I have the pamphlet--i should really bring it out so I can get the facts right, but really...no one cares here, I know that. I am just writing this for my own narcissistic tendencies. And so I will remember what the heck we did on vacation before I attempt to do my scrapbook!
After the show was over, I totally thought there would be a meet and greet photo session....but that was not to be. They came, they spun, they left. And thats pretty much how it went.
Rachel and I got back on the Tram and then headed to our hotel for dinner at the bar. We were the other table there eating. There were some German dudes eating at the only other table that had diners. I ordered tomato soup and some fresh fruit, and it was just mediocre.
After that, we checked the Turkish "office" out. They had a brand new computer that ran Vista, but they had this monitor that was old as dust. It was a huge case with a small screen. Um if you spent the money on the new machine why didnt you get the new monitor??? Splurge a little guys. We tried to log in, but I was having issues since their "i" was some other letter and my email programs were not letting me log in properly. I don't know what was up with the I key this trip. The Hermes in Santorini had a tough time with the I as well. While we were in the office checking our mail, someone went into the adjacent room which was large and totally dark and got his pray on. I dont know if he had a prayer mat, but I did see him bowing towards mecca. Sweet!
Anywho....that's day one of Turkey in a nutshell.
Back soon to talk about days 2 and 3. They are filled with tours, friends and clay shards.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Jive Turkey
Our flight to Istanbul was at the crack of dawn...actually 8 AM but they got us there early, and I swear I think i have had more early early morning flights(either arriving or departing) on this trip then any other trip. Of the flights we took we saw the sun rise on 4 of them. we took 7 flights all together over the course of the trip but actually flew on about 9 planes. Loco I say.
Anyway, the bus picked us up and we got to the airport. One thing we noticed about Greek airports, is that the Greeks are not one for lines. If they are Greek and speak Greek, then they just go to the front....those lines are really just suggestions for them and not requirements.
We got to Istanbul, and it was way more modern than I had originally thought it would be. The airport was super nice, but as usual our Gate 1 person (Gate 1 is the tour co btw, which i would NEVER recommend even to my worst enemy--they were super lame) was dumb and didnt bother to check off people as they checked in with him so we ended up waiting at the airport about half an hour longer than necessary. Also when we loaded the bus up, we told him our hotel, but they didnt put my luggage in until the end, and how come at the first hotel stop (which was not ours) I saw them hauling away Big Red! So I fly out of the bus into the streets to pry it away from the bellman and place it back on the bus. can you people get a system in place for my trip? hellooooo. So we finally get to our hotel and as per usual it is was in a sort of sketchy location. The hotel and staff were super nice, but the hotel was in this weird part of town that was mainly textile stores, so there were all these people pulling hand trucks with these enormous bundles through the streets. They were all about manual labor in Turkey. It was pretty loco.
We checked in and figured that since we were only there for a couple of days we should book up some tours. People had been telling us that Istanbul was not safe for women to be traveling alone at night so at that point we knew we were not going to be roaming the streets.
We booked our tours, including a Whirling Dirvish show which I will write about later, and then figured we should go get our bearings and take the tram so we knew where things were.
Walking out of the hotel was a very surreal experience. I was totally scared because there are mainly men on the streets, and they were all leering at us. It didn't help that there was pure chaos with traffic so with every horn honking i was completely on edge. I was just clutching my purse like a freak and walking at a clip pace. Of course we took a wrong turn on our first foray out, but we didnt stray far, we found the metro pretty quickly, figured out how to get some tokens and then got on the tram.
The Turkish language pretty much looks like ours (for some reason, i thought it would look more arabic) but the sounds are totally different. They have silent g's and those two dots over some of the vowels, and the language when being spoken can sound really aggressive. So of course i didnt know what the hell was going on--are you fighting? are you talking to me? what is happening.
We got onto the tram after we let one pass because it was ass to elbow crowded and then took the train to the stop that the hotel guy told us the whirling dervish show was at--the show wasnt until the evening, but we wanted to make sure we knew where it was. Of course the guy told us the stop AFTER the w.d. stop and blasted all, it was a super crowded sketchy stop. I think the thing that made me the most uneasy was that there was no personal space and that you always had to know where you were at all times other wise you could get run down.
We found the dirvish spot which incidentally is held at the old train station for the Orient Express and talked to someone from the turkish tourism group, who told us he'd been waiting for us all day long. That seemed to be a theme. everyone we met there had been waiting to meet us for the day, their life, etc. Random. After we cased out the joint we got back on the tram and headed to the Blue Mosque.
We got to the mosque and you had to take off your shoes--they provide you with plastic bags as well as a scarf if your shoulders/legs are bare. That includes guys, so of course i took pics of guys that looked like they were wearing skirts. Those were all tourists of course because the actual worshippers in the mosque would know the dress code before they rolled in to the mosque.
the mosque was incredible. It was ginormous and the decor inside was super intricate. The main worship area was just for men, but in the back and upstairs in the balcony women could worship. Ugh. So sexist. Back of the bus women. Make sure you have my dinner cooked and my babies fed. Sigh.
After we went to the mosque, we paid tribute to the Istanbul Starbucks and had a cold bev and then headed back to the hotel to rest before the dirvish show.
Anyway, the bus picked us up and we got to the airport. One thing we noticed about Greek airports, is that the Greeks are not one for lines. If they are Greek and speak Greek, then they just go to the front....those lines are really just suggestions for them and not requirements.
We got to Istanbul, and it was way more modern than I had originally thought it would be. The airport was super nice, but as usual our Gate 1 person (Gate 1 is the tour co btw, which i would NEVER recommend even to my worst enemy--they were super lame) was dumb and didnt bother to check off people as they checked in with him so we ended up waiting at the airport about half an hour longer than necessary. Also when we loaded the bus up, we told him our hotel, but they didnt put my luggage in until the end, and how come at the first hotel stop (which was not ours) I saw them hauling away Big Red! So I fly out of the bus into the streets to pry it away from the bellman and place it back on the bus. can you people get a system in place for my trip? hellooooo. So we finally get to our hotel and as per usual it is was in a sort of sketchy location. The hotel and staff were super nice, but the hotel was in this weird part of town that was mainly textile stores, so there were all these people pulling hand trucks with these enormous bundles through the streets. They were all about manual labor in Turkey. It was pretty loco.
We checked in and figured that since we were only there for a couple of days we should book up some tours. People had been telling us that Istanbul was not safe for women to be traveling alone at night so at that point we knew we were not going to be roaming the streets.
We booked our tours, including a Whirling Dirvish show which I will write about later, and then figured we should go get our bearings and take the tram so we knew where things were.
Walking out of the hotel was a very surreal experience. I was totally scared because there are mainly men on the streets, and they were all leering at us. It didn't help that there was pure chaos with traffic so with every horn honking i was completely on edge. I was just clutching my purse like a freak and walking at a clip pace. Of course we took a wrong turn on our first foray out, but we didnt stray far, we found the metro pretty quickly, figured out how to get some tokens and then got on the tram.
The Turkish language pretty much looks like ours (for some reason, i thought it would look more arabic) but the sounds are totally different. They have silent g's and those two dots over some of the vowels, and the language when being spoken can sound really aggressive. So of course i didnt know what the hell was going on--are you fighting? are you talking to me? what is happening.
We got onto the tram after we let one pass because it was ass to elbow crowded and then took the train to the stop that the hotel guy told us the whirling dervish show was at--the show wasnt until the evening, but we wanted to make sure we knew where it was. Of course the guy told us the stop AFTER the w.d. stop and blasted all, it was a super crowded sketchy stop. I think the thing that made me the most uneasy was that there was no personal space and that you always had to know where you were at all times other wise you could get run down.
We found the dirvish spot which incidentally is held at the old train station for the Orient Express and talked to someone from the turkish tourism group, who told us he'd been waiting for us all day long. That seemed to be a theme. everyone we met there had been waiting to meet us for the day, their life, etc. Random. After we cased out the joint we got back on the tram and headed to the Blue Mosque.
We got to the mosque and you had to take off your shoes--they provide you with plastic bags as well as a scarf if your shoulders/legs are bare. That includes guys, so of course i took pics of guys that looked like they were wearing skirts. Those were all tourists of course because the actual worshippers in the mosque would know the dress code before they rolled in to the mosque.
the mosque was incredible. It was ginormous and the decor inside was super intricate. The main worship area was just for men, but in the back and upstairs in the balcony women could worship. Ugh. So sexist. Back of the bus women. Make sure you have my dinner cooked and my babies fed. Sigh.
After we went to the mosque, we paid tribute to the Istanbul Starbucks and had a cold bev and then headed back to the hotel to rest before the dirvish show.
Our last Triumphant day in Athens--the recap edition
I am still in the running to become Greece's Next Top Tourist. At the Temple of PosseidonHello Friends--
Still awake with the jet lag, so I am posting more while I am up.
Our last day in Athens was simply fantastic. It was just a great day overall.
In the morning we just relaxed since we booked an afternoon tour of the Temple of Possideon and that didnt leave our hotel until 2. So the morning we spent lounging and catching up with our German MTV. It felt nice not to have to be on the go from the early morning hour.
We drove the coast to get to the temple. It was really really pretty, but a lot of the seaside towns look the same, and it seems that they are very seasonal, and since we came in at the end of the summer season, the places looked really desolate and dead. I dont even want to think about the kind of crowds the summer season would bring. Plus it would be all hot with all that BO. Ewww...honestly, I just kept wanting to bring out lysol or Fabreeze at every step of my trip. And believe me, I would have been a user as well as a provider. It was hot and sweaty and I am sure I was not up to my freshest, but damn, some people's bo was making my eyes water.
Still awake with the jet lag, so I am posting more while I am up.
Our last day in Athens was simply fantastic. It was just a great day overall.
In the morning we just relaxed since we booked an afternoon tour of the Temple of Possideon and that didnt leave our hotel until 2. So the morning we spent lounging and catching up with our German MTV. It felt nice not to have to be on the go from the early morning hour.
We drove the coast to get to the temple. It was really really pretty, but a lot of the seaside towns look the same, and it seems that they are very seasonal, and since we came in at the end of the summer season, the places looked really desolate and dead. I dont even want to think about the kind of crowds the summer season would bring. Plus it would be all hot with all that BO. Ewww...honestly, I just kept wanting to bring out lysol or Fabreeze at every step of my trip. And believe me, I would have been a user as well as a provider. It was hot and sweaty and I am sure I was not up to my freshest, but damn, some people's bo was making my eyes water.
It took about an hour and a half to reach the temple, and when we got there it was crawling with people. Great. However while there, we had lots of people available to take our photos together so that was a nice bonus. Also we saw the girl from the airport who was honeymooning with her husband from Michigan. So we had her take our photo.
After about 10 minutes all of a sudden the temple was empty--most of the buses were going to be leaving so people went to get drinks and use the WC and stuff, so we were able to get a lot of photos without lots of people in the background. So that was cool. What wasnt cool, is that I asked some guy Georges to take our photo and he was great and taking the pics, but he had serious bo, and kept putting his arms around us. Poor Rachel--he put his arm on her and kept it there, and hi, when we got on the bus, her shoulder still smelled like the dude's B.O. It was very Seinfeldian. Luckily i had purell and lotion so she could try to disguise the funk but how gross is that???
After about 10 minutes all of a sudden the temple was empty--most of the buses were going to be leaving so people went to get drinks and use the WC and stuff, so we were able to get a lot of photos without lots of people in the background. So that was cool. What wasnt cool, is that I asked some guy Georges to take our photo and he was great and taking the pics, but he had serious bo, and kept putting his arms around us. Poor Rachel--he put his arm on her and kept it there, and hi, when we got on the bus, her shoulder still smelled like the dude's B.O. It was very Seinfeldian. Luckily i had purell and lotion so she could try to disguise the funk but how gross is that???
Georges rubbing his Bo on RachelWhen we got back from the tour, they let us out at Syntagma Square, and i think we have this impeccable timing with guard changes. It happened while we were in London and also every time we went to the monument in Greece. We would walk up and then like 2 minutes later they would do the guard changing ceremony. However this one was special--they actually changed out the guards from one shift to the next so there were 4 guards rather than 2 and then they did a prolonged ceremony.
After we saw that, we walked a bit in the National Garden which was described in the brochure as a "lung paradise". Sadly we didnt spend too much time there since it was way too close to sunset, and as soon as we got in there we saw a guy peeing---not really the lung paradise I had imagined. there was a random animal menagerie in there that had like cats and dogs and peacocks and chickens, goats and donkeys living together in like 4 cages of Greek harmony.
We were going to call our friends from the tour, but the tour ran a bit late and we needed to finish up some last minute stuff in Athens. Since the tour was picking us up at 5 AM for our flight to Istanbul, we needed to make sure we got it together and finished our shopping.
As we were shopping we encountered some super annoying urban American youth. It was so embarassing--makes me see why people hate Americans sometimes. These guys were a-holes and were walking around with a very sick air of entitlement. I already hate that kind of stuff here, let alone in foreign countries. Can you get it together please American Youth?? Anyway...We got the rest of our souvies and then decided on a place to have dinner. I was so flipping sick of Greek food at that point, and we both wanted pasta, so we walked the streets looking for a place. We stumbled on this one place that looked cute and then we found out the guy who was the person responsible for filling the restaurant with peeps from the street was part filipino. (that info was volunteered by him when he found out where we were from) We ended up not going there at first because their pasta selection was limited, but ended up there anyway since every place had basically the same menu with only like 2 pasta dishes on the menu anyway.
When we first got in there, it was packed. There was one table left with one chair, and so they added another chair and we were in this make shift situation. It turned out to be awesome though. There was a table of old men next to us in this elevated part of the restaurant and they were so adorable. They were having a guys night out or something. So cute. So we listened to the live Greek music they had going on and then they brought the guitar over to the old dudes, and they started belting out the tunes. So hilarious. They were actually really good. There was a Japanese couple at the table next to us, so after the first set of old guy tunes, they clapped and were leaving. As they were leaving, the waiter yells out Domo Arrigato! and then one of the old dudes yells, SAYONARA! super loud. At that point, i just about fell out and lost it. However it gets BETTER....one of the guys gets up and starts doing Traditional Greek Dancing. However, because he was old, the dance was all like slow-mo style and geriatric. I loved it. The waiter also brought us free watermelon for dessert (that seemed to happen a lot...after dinner fruit or apperitifs just appear on the house) and then the old guys shared a glass of wine with us. It was really nice of them. Unfortuntely the wine tasted like Pine Sol. However those dudes were taking it out by the bottle so we drank it since we didnt want to be rude. So back to the dancing guy...Just as he was dancing, Chad's mom walked into the restaurant! So she told us they'd waited for our call. :( sad. We felt like jerks for not calling, but were so excited that they ended up at the same place as us. It really was fate, because there's like 5 gazillion restaurants in that little area, and the place was like all the others, nothing particularly special about it...so it was great that we saw them. As we were talking to Chad's mom, the main old guy asked what our friends name was, so we tell him, and he starts yelling. "Patricia! Come and dance with us!" Dying.
After we saw that, we walked a bit in the National Garden which was described in the brochure as a "lung paradise". Sadly we didnt spend too much time there since it was way too close to sunset, and as soon as we got in there we saw a guy peeing---not really the lung paradise I had imagined. there was a random animal menagerie in there that had like cats and dogs and peacocks and chickens, goats and donkeys living together in like 4 cages of Greek harmony.
We were going to call our friends from the tour, but the tour ran a bit late and we needed to finish up some last minute stuff in Athens. Since the tour was picking us up at 5 AM for our flight to Istanbul, we needed to make sure we got it together and finished our shopping.
As we were shopping we encountered some super annoying urban American youth. It was so embarassing--makes me see why people hate Americans sometimes. These guys were a-holes and were walking around with a very sick air of entitlement. I already hate that kind of stuff here, let alone in foreign countries. Can you get it together please American Youth?? Anyway...We got the rest of our souvies and then decided on a place to have dinner. I was so flipping sick of Greek food at that point, and we both wanted pasta, so we walked the streets looking for a place. We stumbled on this one place that looked cute and then we found out the guy who was the person responsible for filling the restaurant with peeps from the street was part filipino. (that info was volunteered by him when he found out where we were from) We ended up not going there at first because their pasta selection was limited, but ended up there anyway since every place had basically the same menu with only like 2 pasta dishes on the menu anyway.
When we first got in there, it was packed. There was one table left with one chair, and so they added another chair and we were in this make shift situation. It turned out to be awesome though. There was a table of old men next to us in this elevated part of the restaurant and they were so adorable. They were having a guys night out or something. So cute. So we listened to the live Greek music they had going on and then they brought the guitar over to the old dudes, and they started belting out the tunes. So hilarious. They were actually really good. There was a Japanese couple at the table next to us, so after the first set of old guy tunes, they clapped and were leaving. As they were leaving, the waiter yells out Domo Arrigato! and then one of the old dudes yells, SAYONARA! super loud. At that point, i just about fell out and lost it. However it gets BETTER....one of the guys gets up and starts doing Traditional Greek Dancing. However, because he was old, the dance was all like slow-mo style and geriatric. I loved it. The waiter also brought us free watermelon for dessert (that seemed to happen a lot...after dinner fruit or apperitifs just appear on the house) and then the old guys shared a glass of wine with us. It was really nice of them. Unfortuntely the wine tasted like Pine Sol. However those dudes were taking it out by the bottle so we drank it since we didnt want to be rude. So back to the dancing guy...Just as he was dancing, Chad's mom walked into the restaurant! So she told us they'd waited for our call. :( sad. We felt like jerks for not calling, but were so excited that they ended up at the same place as us. It really was fate, because there's like 5 gazillion restaurants in that little area, and the place was like all the others, nothing particularly special about it...so it was great that we saw them. As we were talking to Chad's mom, the main old guy asked what our friends name was, so we tell him, and he starts yelling. "Patricia! Come and dance with us!" Dying.
Although not the traditional idea of Greek Hotties, They were super cute!So she is hanging out and Aunt Linda walks in! We appologize for not calling and the Greek Dancing guy, has Aunt Linda join in the dance festivities. AWESOME. At that point we saw Chad, and he came in too and hung out for a bit. Since we were at the end of our meal, we got our check, paid our bill and took pics with the old guys. We then went outside to talk to Chad and the fam, took pics with them and then took off. we stopped at the Athens Starbucks for nostalgia's sake and enjoyed our last few moments in the Plaka.
All in all, it was a fantastic time in Greece. We really had fun, and were glad that it ended on a high note. Greece in general was tough at times, but it came through in the end with some fantastic memories. Now we had to go back to the hotel and prep ourselves for what was sure to be an adventure in Turkey.
Jet Lag Sucks But at least I'm trying to be Productive!
Hello Peeps--
It's about 5 AM and I have been awake now for about an hour. Awesome. However I did manage to stay up until about 8 last night and then i just had to get some sleep. Hopefully this will be a short lived stay in jetlag land, but you can never be sure.
Since I am up, I may as well post some more things about the trip.
So after our short flight from Mykonos, we arrived back to the confines of Athens. We never thought that we'd be looking so forward to spending more time there. We tried to be sneaky and use our acropolis ticket again so we could take some less "glistening" photos of ourselves at the site, but alas, it didnt work out. Turns out we could use the ticket for other parts of the Acropolis, but not the main pantheon part. Boring. So basically, we had to climb half way up the damn thing in the heat only to be told that we already used the part for the parthenon so either pay 12 more euro or just end the quest. Obviously, we just ended the quest. Instead we headed down the hill and checked out the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch (or Adrian's Arch as the ticket states). It was pretty cool. Not too many people were there so we just took a bunch of dorky photos--posing on statue bases, etc.
After our tour of the Temple, we hung out by the plaka and had a Frappe (our other new favorite find in Greece was the frappe--it is nescafe...yes the powdered coffee...with ice cream. Tasty!) we decided to go back to the hotel, rest for a few and then head back out for some minor shopping and dinner.
Before we went back to the hotel, we wanted to go check out the Changing of the Guard again since we only got them at night our first time through. However when we got there, they were just at their posts, and so people were taking pics with them. After we got there i wanted to take a photo with them, but i was not trying to be up in the mix. However, the other guard that I think was the superior over the two actual tomb guards was all, no. For photo you need to stand next to the gun. Excuse me? did you just say stand NEXT TO THE GUN?! Um ok....so the photo of me is all fear stricken. I was just imagining loud noises and then the guard freaking out and drawing his weapon. But the photos are pretty funny. We thought that there would be no ceremony to change the positions of the guards, but when we asked the other guy that was there, he just gave us a look and said it would be 5 minutes. He was funny, it was like he was sharing some deep dark secret with us. We loved him immediately. Did I mention he was HOT too? Ok I probably didnt, but he was cute, and was uniformed. heh heh.
After we left Syntagma Square (where the guards are), we went back to the stanley.
We ended up not having a full dinner that day. Neither of us were very hungry, so we just shopped around and then went to this Ouzo bar called Brettos.
On our shopping trip we found this one trinket store and the owner was super nice--his name was Kostos, and he gave us a lesson on how to use the worry beads that we kept seeing around Greece as well as gave us a free calendar and postcard (so we can remember our time in the Plaka.) Oh Greek people, how you have come to embrace us! I love it!!
After shopping we stopped for a bev. The ouzo bar was really pretty inside because they have all these bottles of colored liquor stacked on these shelves that were pretty much floor to ceiling.
Of course we couldnt visit a bar without incident and so while we were there, we sat at these two stools closest to the door since the place was small and fairly crowded. Pretty much as soon as we sat down, this guy starts talking to us. At first I thought he was Jamaican, but he was just plain old American. And three sheets to the wind. First he asks our names, and I tell him my name and he thinks my name is Flute. Yes Flute, like the instrument. So I was all, um no. it's LU. so he goes. "Oh! Flu. Ok, Flu. nice to meet you." Um yeah ok dude. Flu it is. Then he proceeds to ask if Rachel and I are singers...because we have nice voices. WHOA. First of all, it's loud as hell in there, and secondly you are drunk so you probably don't have a good judge of vocal quality at that point. He was offering to buy our drinks if we could go round for round with him. He was a larger guy--kinda stocky build...we were not trying to get doped up by some random guy and then owe him for the free drinks. It's not free if you have to pay for it later. So we decline, and then he asks the bartender if he thinks we could keep up with him drink wise. Fortunately the bartender was cool and said, "No. Maybe drink number yes, but you drink strong drinks. No." Thank you, I love you. during this time, there were some tourists taking photos of the bar from the street, and then the Jamaican/American guy starts to flip out yelling, "What the F is this Paparazzi? who's trying to take my photo? I dont like that", etc etc. And so a worker from the Gyros place across the way yells out, "Hey Houston, Texas, You need to calm down" in this thick Greek accent. Awesome. Shortly after this exchange, Rachel and I changed seats, the guy brought his drunk friend to the bathroom, probably to throw up gallons of ouzo, and then they left.
Random--while we were in the ouzo place, we saw our friends, Aunt Linda, Mom and G-Ma! (ok these are our friend Chad's family, but since when we met him he was telling us who he was traveling with, they just remained in the names of the family members) So we had a lovely chat and planned to have dinner the next night since it was our last night in Greece and they weren't going to Turkey--they were just flying home to the states.
After we finished our cocktail, we headed back to the hotel and crashed out. Good times had by all.
It's about 5 AM and I have been awake now for about an hour. Awesome. However I did manage to stay up until about 8 last night and then i just had to get some sleep. Hopefully this will be a short lived stay in jetlag land, but you can never be sure.
Since I am up, I may as well post some more things about the trip.
So after our short flight from Mykonos, we arrived back to the confines of Athens. We never thought that we'd be looking so forward to spending more time there. We tried to be sneaky and use our acropolis ticket again so we could take some less "glistening" photos of ourselves at the site, but alas, it didnt work out. Turns out we could use the ticket for other parts of the Acropolis, but not the main pantheon part. Boring. So basically, we had to climb half way up the damn thing in the heat only to be told that we already used the part for the parthenon so either pay 12 more euro or just end the quest. Obviously, we just ended the quest. Instead we headed down the hill and checked out the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch (or Adrian's Arch as the ticket states). It was pretty cool. Not too many people were there so we just took a bunch of dorky photos--posing on statue bases, etc.
After our tour of the Temple, we hung out by the plaka and had a Frappe (our other new favorite find in Greece was the frappe--it is nescafe...yes the powdered coffee...with ice cream. Tasty!) we decided to go back to the hotel, rest for a few and then head back out for some minor shopping and dinner.
Before we went back to the hotel, we wanted to go check out the Changing of the Guard again since we only got them at night our first time through. However when we got there, they were just at their posts, and so people were taking pics with them. After we got there i wanted to take a photo with them, but i was not trying to be up in the mix. However, the other guard that I think was the superior over the two actual tomb guards was all, no. For photo you need to stand next to the gun. Excuse me? did you just say stand NEXT TO THE GUN?! Um ok....so the photo of me is all fear stricken. I was just imagining loud noises and then the guard freaking out and drawing his weapon. But the photos are pretty funny. We thought that there would be no ceremony to change the positions of the guards, but when we asked the other guy that was there, he just gave us a look and said it would be 5 minutes. He was funny, it was like he was sharing some deep dark secret with us. We loved him immediately. Did I mention he was HOT too? Ok I probably didnt, but he was cute, and was uniformed. heh heh.
After we left Syntagma Square (where the guards are), we went back to the stanley.
We ended up not having a full dinner that day. Neither of us were very hungry, so we just shopped around and then went to this Ouzo bar called Brettos.
On our shopping trip we found this one trinket store and the owner was super nice--his name was Kostos, and he gave us a lesson on how to use the worry beads that we kept seeing around Greece as well as gave us a free calendar and postcard (so we can remember our time in the Plaka.) Oh Greek people, how you have come to embrace us! I love it!!
After shopping we stopped for a bev. The ouzo bar was really pretty inside because they have all these bottles of colored liquor stacked on these shelves that were pretty much floor to ceiling.
Of course we couldnt visit a bar without incident and so while we were there, we sat at these two stools closest to the door since the place was small and fairly crowded. Pretty much as soon as we sat down, this guy starts talking to us. At first I thought he was Jamaican, but he was just plain old American. And three sheets to the wind. First he asks our names, and I tell him my name and he thinks my name is Flute. Yes Flute, like the instrument. So I was all, um no. it's LU. so he goes. "Oh! Flu. Ok, Flu. nice to meet you." Um yeah ok dude. Flu it is. Then he proceeds to ask if Rachel and I are singers...because we have nice voices. WHOA. First of all, it's loud as hell in there, and secondly you are drunk so you probably don't have a good judge of vocal quality at that point. He was offering to buy our drinks if we could go round for round with him. He was a larger guy--kinda stocky build...we were not trying to get doped up by some random guy and then owe him for the free drinks. It's not free if you have to pay for it later. So we decline, and then he asks the bartender if he thinks we could keep up with him drink wise. Fortunately the bartender was cool and said, "No. Maybe drink number yes, but you drink strong drinks. No." Thank you, I love you. during this time, there were some tourists taking photos of the bar from the street, and then the Jamaican/American guy starts to flip out yelling, "What the F is this Paparazzi? who's trying to take my photo? I dont like that", etc etc. And so a worker from the Gyros place across the way yells out, "Hey Houston, Texas, You need to calm down" in this thick Greek accent. Awesome. Shortly after this exchange, Rachel and I changed seats, the guy brought his drunk friend to the bathroom, probably to throw up gallons of ouzo, and then they left.
Random--while we were in the ouzo place, we saw our friends, Aunt Linda, Mom and G-Ma! (ok these are our friend Chad's family, but since when we met him he was telling us who he was traveling with, they just remained in the names of the family members) So we had a lovely chat and planned to have dinner the next night since it was our last night in Greece and they weren't going to Turkey--they were just flying home to the states.
After we finished our cocktail, we headed back to the hotel and crashed out. Good times had by all.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
I think I have the black lung
So with all the smoke that has been going about town in Greece I think I could easily have the black lung. Everyone smoked, and seriously i think people were smoking 2 at a time. It was pretty loco. I just got used to feeling polluted. People would actually smoke while eating. So dirty.
We had to take a flight to Athens from Mykonos and the airport was probably as big as the McDonalds parking lot across the street from my house. The line was forming and this one dirty girl on our tour decided that there were two lines (there weren't) and so she cut us in line. I hope that 5 minutes you saved really helped out when you were waiting in the one terminal for the same flight with all the rest of us, dirty whore. From that point on we hated her. She was married to this super annoying Filipino guy too, so that was another strike against her. Ok granted I know that both Rachel and I are half Filipino, but damn, sometimes our people can be so showy....kinda like the other Filipino on the tour. We started to refer to her as "auntie" because she was on the older side and super irritating.
While we were there we also encountered this girl from Michigan who I swore was foreign, until she started speaking to us in English and asking if we were with some random guy at the port. Of course we were like, um no. and so she says that he was creeping her out because he kept circling the area we were in. Of course we didnt notice it until she said something, but then yep, sure enough dude was circling like a shark. That girl was actually pretty nice. She wasnt on oue tour.... She was on honeymoon with her husband--she used to live in Orange County, but she was from like Flint, Michigan or something like that. I kept asking her if she was near Detroit...mainly because I am a geography a-hole and can't grasp the concepts of near and far geographically. Like New York and New Jersey are the same location, and Portland and Seattle are also right next door in my mind. Obviously not, but I digress.
Once we actually arrived in Athens, we had the best Gate 1 experience of the entire trip. Our person who met us was named Dimitris, and provided maps and pick up information. What? I dont know who brought you, but you are great.
However this elation was tarnished with the people on our tour who kept asking asinine questions, like "why is the Acropolis tall?" "what do you mean by different lines for the metro?" and "what do you mean when you say Tram?" yes, those all were asked...by the same person. She too was from Michigan. Do not know what cave she crawled out of, but she was a complete idiot. I was so put off by her and her annoying bf. He tried to cram a regular suitcase into the overhead compartment on the ferry a couple days back so I was already over them the first day I ever saw them. To my dismay the only other people at our hotel were the Filipino guy and his bitch wife that cut us in line. GREAT. Turns out our other American friends got a sweet upgrade to a nicer hotel after Aunt Linda bitched out Gate One for being overall idiots and inconsiderate of the needs of G-Ma. So we were stuck with those other two idiots. So while we are dropping everyone off, this Filipino dude goes off on this tangent to Dimitris about why he and his friends (THAT HE MADE ON THE TOUR) were separated and had different flights, and how would he get in touch with them, etc. etc. etc. It went on for seriously half an hour. "they are 7 hours ahead of us, so I don't know if we can book the tour, because we are doing whatever they are." Can you call the hotel and find them for us? do you think they are in the lobby? how are we supposed to find them in Athens. There are 5 of them and only 2 of us. What can we do? I need help. SO ANNOYING. You have known them for about 3 days, I think it will be ok if you see Athens WITH YOUR WIFE who you came with. LAME.
We had to take a flight to Athens from Mykonos and the airport was probably as big as the McDonalds parking lot across the street from my house. The line was forming and this one dirty girl on our tour decided that there were two lines (there weren't) and so she cut us in line. I hope that 5 minutes you saved really helped out when you were waiting in the one terminal for the same flight with all the rest of us, dirty whore. From that point on we hated her. She was married to this super annoying Filipino guy too, so that was another strike against her. Ok granted I know that both Rachel and I are half Filipino, but damn, sometimes our people can be so showy....kinda like the other Filipino on the tour. We started to refer to her as "auntie" because she was on the older side and super irritating.
While we were there we also encountered this girl from Michigan who I swore was foreign, until she started speaking to us in English and asking if we were with some random guy at the port. Of course we were like, um no. and so she says that he was creeping her out because he kept circling the area we were in. Of course we didnt notice it until she said something, but then yep, sure enough dude was circling like a shark. That girl was actually pretty nice. She wasnt on oue tour.... She was on honeymoon with her husband--she used to live in Orange County, but she was from like Flint, Michigan or something like that. I kept asking her if she was near Detroit...mainly because I am a geography a-hole and can't grasp the concepts of near and far geographically. Like New York and New Jersey are the same location, and Portland and Seattle are also right next door in my mind. Obviously not, but I digress.
Once we actually arrived in Athens, we had the best Gate 1 experience of the entire trip. Our person who met us was named Dimitris, and provided maps and pick up information. What? I dont know who brought you, but you are great.
However this elation was tarnished with the people on our tour who kept asking asinine questions, like "why is the Acropolis tall?" "what do you mean by different lines for the metro?" and "what do you mean when you say Tram?" yes, those all were asked...by the same person. She too was from Michigan. Do not know what cave she crawled out of, but she was a complete idiot. I was so put off by her and her annoying bf. He tried to cram a regular suitcase into the overhead compartment on the ferry a couple days back so I was already over them the first day I ever saw them. To my dismay the only other people at our hotel were the Filipino guy and his bitch wife that cut us in line. GREAT. Turns out our other American friends got a sweet upgrade to a nicer hotel after Aunt Linda bitched out Gate One for being overall idiots and inconsiderate of the needs of G-Ma. So we were stuck with those other two idiots. So while we are dropping everyone off, this Filipino dude goes off on this tangent to Dimitris about why he and his friends (THAT HE MADE ON THE TOUR) were separated and had different flights, and how would he get in touch with them, etc. etc. etc. It went on for seriously half an hour. "they are 7 hours ahead of us, so I don't know if we can book the tour, because we are doing whatever they are." Can you call the hotel and find them for us? do you think they are in the lobby? how are we supposed to find them in Athens. There are 5 of them and only 2 of us. What can we do? I need help. SO ANNOYING. You have known them for about 3 days, I think it will be ok if you see Athens WITH YOUR WIFE who you came with. LAME.
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