Spring Visits: Round 2

To start with, I’m perfectly alright, and I just put Andy’s parents on a bus to the airport, so they’re safely on their way to Paris. Athens is a bit of a mess, and it’s actually a little strange how today everyone is just going back to work and going about their business. At any rate, I’m ready to be back in America.

But now to tell you what I’ve been up to. The Baxters arrived this past Saturday; for those of you playing along at home, it was Labor Day, so many people were striking and protesting (this is normal for Labor Day), but the Metro and the buses were supposed to be operating after 7:00 AM. Around noon I went down to get the Metro out to the airport, but found that the airport line was not running. Then I went to the bus station; the X95 pulled up, drove past the stop, put on its four-ways and took down its sign. I asked the bus driver if he would be going to the airport, and he said, “Next driver,” then got out of the bus and walked away. I waited around about twenty more minutes, then guessed that no other bus or driver was coming (the X95 runs every fifteen), and walked home (through a crowd of a few thousand protesters, who were walking down the street in the opposite direction that I was going, so that I had to shove my way through). A little later I walked down to the Hotel Amalia where the Baxters were going to stay, and on my walk I breathed in tear gas, and it was kind of awful. First it hit my nose and made it burn, and then seconds later my eyes began to burn, and the feeling sort of crept back into my throat, which continued to burn for a few hours. I got to the hotel lobby and sat down, and then had my first bit of luck that day, as two minutes later the Baxters walked in. After settling in we went and saw the changing of the guard at Parliament, then walked through Plaka and saw bits of the Agora, Roman Agora, and Library of Hadrian, and finally grabbed some dinner at Ithaka (which was good, except my gyro platter came with some kind of mustard instead of tzatziki – sacrilege! alternately, crazy Northern Greeks!)

The next day we went to the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum, and we had drinks outside at the cafe in the museum, which was very nice. We then took the Metro down to the National Archaeological Museum and looked around there. Their new exhibit on Eretria is open, which is very exciting (if you’re a big nerd, I suppose, but I fit the bill). They have the Lefkandi Centaur, except when we were in Eretria with Sylvain Fachard he told us they couldn’t take the Lefkandi Centaur, so maybe it’s a fake. Either way, it’s a 3000-ish year old representation of a centaur, and it’s totally awesome. We grabbed a late lunch at the Museum Garden restaurant, and then took the Metro back to the hotel. Mom walked with me back to the American School and I gave her a little tour, and then she went back to the hotel for the afternoon. In the evening I went back down and we walked around the National Gardens, then got some dinner.

Monday we took a cruise of three islands of the Saronic Gulf. I got to the Amalia around 7:15, as the bus was to pick us up at 7:30 (it got there around 7:50, but that’s pretty good for Greece). We went to the Piraeus and got on the boat; it had three decks, each with a bar where waiters came around and served you, and shops – so, very fancy. We first went to Hydra, which is actually the furthest island. Hydra is very picturesque; the city is right on the harbor and climbs up a mountain, and they have some of their fortifications from the period of the War of Independence, and there are no cars allowed in the city, only donkeys. We walked along the waterfront and then on the road that led out of town for a bit, and finally turned around and got drinks at one of the cafes on the waterfront. On returning to the boat we were served lunch (beefteki, and the lemoniest dessert ever) as we went to Poros. Poros is very small and there’s not much going on there. I saw a sign for an archaeological museum, but as it was Monday it would have been closed anyway. Mom and I walked up to the clock tower on top of the hill that the town is on, and then we walked around the waterfront a bit before returning to the boat. We then went to Aegina, and we walked around the town a bit and then stopped somewhere for ouzo and mezedhes (they had kolokuthokephtedes (fried zucchini balls), so it was very exciting for me). The boat then brought us back to Athens, and Mom and I grabbed some gelato before I headed back.

Tuesday morning we went to Lykavittos and took the funicular to the top, and got a chance to see the whole city. We stopped at the ASCSA again for a few minutes to give Dad a little tour, and then they went to their hotel for the afternoon. They walked around and enjoyed the city, and I went to the library and did work. We met up again for dinner, first going to the Zonar cafe right by the Acropolis to have some drinks while the sun set, and then to a taverna for dinner. Wednesday I didn’t see them at all, and just stayed at the school and went to the library to work, and that was probably for the best. And then this morning I met them at the Amalia and we all had breakfast together (the breakfast was amazing: there were fried and scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, broiled tomatoes with cheese, fried mushrooms, fried potatoes, vegetables, fruit, granola, yogurt, multiple kinds of cheese, multiple kinds of meat, bougatsa, chocolate filled croissants…). Then Mom and I took a last walk around Plaka, and I directed them onto the airport bus, so they are off to Paris, where hopefully everything will be calm during their stay.

I should be going over to the library now. I have a few pictures of Hydra (my battery died after about fifteen minutes), and a few pictures of Athens from this morning. They are here. Click here to listen to Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth as you look at them; it adds atmosphere.

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