Friday 9 November

Thursday and Friday blends together.  I had to wake up really early, or really late depending on how you look at it. I set my alarm for 1:30am, although it was pointless as one of my roommates was still awake and the other was just getting home. Regardless it was a decent nap. We walked briskly to Paddington Station to catch the bus to Victoria.  I couldn’t believe how bustling the city was at 3:00am.  This isn’t like NYC – the city that never sleeps.  This is London, where last call is usually around 11:30PM. We bought the wrong tickets the night before, which were actually the right tickets, we think.  The guy at the station got us on the trai9n to Gatwick (not the Gatwick express, which saved us about 15 euro).  We boarded early and landed early – not a bad way to start the trip.

Living in London makes getting around everywhere so easy.  I’ve gotten so used to public transportation. Although first thoughts getting off the plane in Greece, looking at the Greek signs was “What did I get myself into”, slightly harder to maneuver the city without a romance language to rely on.  We got to our hostel – Hotel Zeus – without getting lost. It wasn’t quite what I was used to but it’s quaint.  We were greeted by a friendly yet sketchy Greek man smoking a cigarette “35 Euro – Your room is on the second floor”. We walked up the 54 sunken in marble stairs to our room with two bunkbeds, four pillows and blankets, a sink, a bureau, a desk and..a WINDOW. And I was lucky enough to see out the window from my top bunk. We wasted no time – grabbed cameras and headed back out.

We decided to walk in the opposite direction that we came up to the hostel in – turned out to be a terrible idea. Flags should have started going off when people were getting really close and ‘friendly’ and eyeing me and my camera up for an uncomfortable amount of time.  I was snapping a few photos and we turned down exactly the wrong street when I heard the words but never saw the person they came from “not a good idea…” I grabbed my travel buddy’s arm in a semi-panic and went down another street to get away from the crowd – another big mistake.  It was bigger than an ally but with all the uncomfortable characteristics: it was somehow darker than all the other streets despite being the middle of the day, unsavory characters, the gut feeling that I would grow to regret my left turn.

The aforementioned unsavory individuals approached. Circling us like hyenas, whispering in a low voices things I’m glad I didn’t understand.  One of the men was inches from my face when I noted his friend sitting on a crate on the ground – I don’t remember anything else other than the blood running down his forearm while he was holding a bent spoon over a lighter.  He smiled at me – somehow, I feel his smile was innocent enough.  I’m sure I looked terrified but tried to stand tall and and just put my arm up to push the guy away from me, enter adrenaline as the world around me moved slower. I was trying to move back towards the crowded street just waiting for a grab, a touch, an attempt at something – but it never happened. I don’t remember seeing knives or needles – but I have a feeling they were there. With eyeballs looking us up and down we moved quickly back to the main street.  All I remember was the smell of fish – so I followed it knowing it must take us to the main market. I didn’t want to look, talk, or push past anyone.  I just wanted a little space. I just surved my first “you’re on your own with the repercussions of only your own decisions” feeling.

I read in my athen’s Rough Guide book about XXXXXX – it’s a steep hike but the view at the top makes it.  I must have checked my map every single street to make sure we were going in the right direction.  We got to an area that felt like we were walking through the back porches of people’s houses. We finally got the top of probably a quarter mile of stairs – which doesn’t seem like a lot – but trust me – it was.  There was a woman speaking in Greek gesturing for us to keep going.  Not sure if it was encouragement or kicking us off her patio.  There were these gigantic aloe plans, like the ones I remember in Antigua, with paths all around them. The whole walk up the view was amazing, absolutely breathtaking.  It was almost sunset and we were nearing the top and the view will be part of my soul forever. WELL worth the effort. We spent a lot of time taking photos of the 360 degree view. You could see acropolis and the Mediterranian in the distance. We went into St George’s Chapel – reminded me of England. We found a café at the top. Best Olives, olive oil, and bread.  All from the olive trees at the top of the ‘hill’ with a ‘greek salad’ although somehow I imagine they just call it a salad.  HUGE homemade croutons over tomatos, cucumbers, onions, olives and feta cheese. It was the best salad I’ve ever had in my life and it was only 8 Euro. The café was all windows so the view was absolutely amazing.  We took the tram down (where was this before?!) because it was dark, cold, and windy now.  We roamed around the city on the way home with confidence again.  We stumbled into a chocolate store to pick up a few truffles – only 2 euro!

We got back to the hostel around 7pm.  I’m pretty sure we were asleep in 5 minutes of laying down. Fresh air, good food, chocolate, new city – you could just tell this trip was going to be good!

Saturday, 10 November 2007

I woke up to light coming through that lovely window. I check my watch to see the time and it was 11:00!!  WhAT?!  We went to bed so early AND we were two hours ahead. What a waste of a good morning.  We decided to check out Pireus.  The metro was half an hour and we get off the high winds about knocked us over.  We bought tickets to go explore the islands later in the day – unfortunately the winds never died down and we never made it. A trip for another time.  Not a great start to the day so far.  We were itching for adventure now – so we hop on a train for Korinthos to see the ancient ruins (10 euro) and sat next to the most… stereotypically cat lady I’ve seen to date.  She was so friendly and always laughing and smiling. She let us sleep and woke us up at the stop.  There was blue water all around us now as we went by on the train.  The indescribable blue that just mesmorizes you to stare at forever.  Our seat mate left us with her train map and directions on where to get off and what time the last train back was.  It’s so nice running into friendly traveleres around the world.

We get off the train ready to see the ruins by the sea…..  but there was no sea, and definitely no ruins. It felt like we were dropped off at a deserted parking lot in the middle of nowhere. We walked outside into the grey day into what felt like hurricane winds determined to find the ruins. We walk for about half an hour before we see signs for Corinth Ruins…. 7km! Everything was closed, it was starting to get dark and even colder. There was tumbleweed in the road. Honest – to – God… tumbleweed. When I say we got dropped off in the middle of nowhere, I meant it! We get the train back to Athens to roam around where our hostel is. It’s cold and dark and it seems like everything except bakeries are closed. A disappointing day of travel comes to a close as I snuggle up in my bed with a window.

Saturday, November 11

It was out last day in Greece and I didn’t want to wake up late again. We packed everything up to truck around the city for the day before our flight. We took the metro to Acropolis. Today, was BEAUTIFUL out. Bright sun, blue skies, fantastic weather!

The first thing we saw was the Amphitheater. It seemed so intact! It was also one of the only things that didn’t have scaffolding all around it. Coming up on the parthenon wasn’t quite as spectacular as I was hoping for because of all the construction, but it did have a certain Indiana Jones feel to it. School groups and hundreds of other tourists came at the same time as us. Everyone is taking pictures and drawing in sketch books. If you’re quiet enough you can hear just about every major language oo’ing and ahh’ing at the setting. It sits atop a hill with a 360 degree view of the city. In the view we could see the ‘hill’ we climbed only two nights before.

The part that touches my soul every time, is standing at the ruins look out around me. In the same spot and same place and same(ish) view as the hundreds of thousands of tourists before me. But more importantly, everything the history books talk about… I was standing in the middle of it. I was feeling the sun on my face and the wind in my hair no differently than those thousands of years ahead of us did. As though through only a different dimension I could feel their power and their presence.

We went back into the market for some shopping. We roamed around for a while and I’ll never forget turning the corner and seeing the PERFECT Greek market. It was everything I had been hoping we’d run into. Rose and I split to tackle more ground. A few minutes later she comes running up to me smiling…. “They have notebooks!” AHHHH! I LOVE a good notebook and I needed a new travel journal. I went over to the table and there it was – it gave me butterflies. The very notebook I’m writing this in now – a hardcover – carved from wood with an ancient map impressed in it! Has to be…300 pages in it! PERFECT! “20 Euro” – I set it down and walk away. She’s out of her mind if she thinks I’m paying $30 for a notebook. Thank God for Rose “You wanted to find a journal in Greece. You’re going to be so upset if you don’t get it”. (Looking at the Journal now – 14 years later – yes. I would have been upset if I didn’t get it!)

As we’re sitting at the airport we stumble upon another group of American Students studying in London. We didn’t know this from talking to them, but just hearing them across the airport. We noticed this a lot – loud American’s. You can pick them out anywhere. Getting on the plane I see all the greek letters on the signs. The same letters that freaked me out only three days ago when I got off the plane.