Memorial Day

"Aujourd'hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-etre hier..."

I'd already read Camus' L'Etranger when my own mother died 21 years ago today, so it echoed in my brain that day. It did not move me though, at least not the way hearing James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" a month or so later did:

"I always thought that I'd see you again."

That made me lose it. Even now, so many years later, it's hard to hear.

My tradition for acknowledging the day was to take the day off of work to give myself time to remember. This year, that didn't work out; it feels a little weird. Not sure if it that or something else, but this year it feels like it is weighing on me more. Maybe it's just how large the number of years has gotten. It's amazing.

Day 17: Athens -> Munich -> Denver -> Home

Saturday, September 29

We were awake when Saturday began in Athens, which was 10 hours before it began in Seattle, which meant our Saturday was 32 hours long.

We were camped out by the McDonald's on the second level of the Athens airport. Daniel put some chairs together and slept a bit at one point. There was a television that had on subtitled English television programs, like 'Nip/Tuck' and 'Cold Case'. I mainly did crosswords.

We went to get our luggage around 3:30AM. Were able to check in right after that, but it was still forever until our flight. We headed to the gate. There were shops near security, but we didn't realize there was nothing open past security. We took turns sleeping at the gate.

It was another airport where we boarded a shuttle bus to go to our plane. It was still dark out when we boarded, so we got to see sunrise from the plane. We weren't that far behind sunrise for much of our trip, although our stop in Munich put it out a bit. We had breakfast but otherwise slept.

We wound up not having any time between flights, so it was one gate to the next. Our Munich->Denver flight was on Lufthansa, which was celebrating Oktoberfest. We had a pretty large meal. Our flight also had 'Spiderman 3' and 'Shrek 3' on it. For a change, I slept more than Daniel. We also took ample advantage of the free liquor. Our second meal before landing was small relative to the first.

We had to go through customs in Denver, which meant going through passport control (we didn't have much time between flights, so we were well ahead of most of our fellow passengers), getting our luggage, going through another check point, rechecking our luggage, and then needing to change terminals and go through security. The line for security had more than a 10 minute wait when we got into it, and was just very frustrating.

The flight to Seattle was operated by United, and seemed shabby compared to the rest of our travels. We were given beverages and a bag of pretzels. I had the window seat but wasn't able to see much due to clouds.

At Sea-Tac, we found Judy immediately. She was also picking up friends who were supposed to have gotten in 40 minutes before us but whom she still hadn't found. Then it was waiting for the luggage. I got Daniel's almost immediately. Turned out he got mine. Luckily, we figured that out pretty quickly. When we got to the meeting space, Judy had found her friends, so we just needed to find Jack with the car.

I got my stuff from the house and we just headed to Daniel's. Went to dinner at the Bean Flower restaurant near his house. The sun set while we were there. We watched taped television in an attempt to stay up as late as possible, but gave up once we finished the episode where, near the end, I fell asleep while fast-forwarding through the commercials. I think we crashed around 9:30PM, 29+ hours after our Saturday had begun.

Day 16: Athens

Friday, September 28

We wandered around looking for a place to grab some breakfast. Got something at a bakery and brought it back to the hotel. We swapped our books for different books from their collection. And then we gathered our stuff together to check out. Since our flight was at 7AM, we decided not to get a hotel since we would have had to have left it by 3AM. When Daniel had made the reservation, he'd been told we could leave our luggage at the hotel until the front desk closed, at 9PM. The woman there when we checked out said this was not the case, but gave us a place to try. It was near a place Lonely Planet listed. Her place didn't pan out, but walking to the other, we found a place that did take luggage and we could pick it up at 8PM.

We headed toward the Acropolis and found ourselves at the Roman Forum. Since it was one of the places you could get into on the same ticket as the Acropolis, we went. We then followed poor signage to the Acropolis, entering on the northerly side.

Athens was very hot our last day, so we tried to keep to the shade and hydrated regularly. We went around the Acropolis, seeing caves, theatres, stoas, shrines, and then the Parthenon. After that, we headed towards the Ancient Agora. Another site on the ticket was a cemetery, so we headed that way. Daniel started getting loopy, though, so we looked for a place to eat. Daniel wanted to try going down this one street, but we didn't' find anything. When we headed towards the metro tracks, we found the cemetery (which didn't seem that interesting) and then headed back towards what looked promising for food places. Ate at a fast-foody gyro place. It turned out the heat was getting to me, too, as I couldn't finish my food.

We sat there for quite awhile, and then decided to go to the National Archaeological Museum, which was indoors. Took the subway to Omonoia and walked up. Were there for hours walking around, taking sitting breaks. Headed out a little before 7 to walk back and head to get our luggage. It took no time and we were at the place at 7:30 but no one was there. This, of course, was something I'd feared in the back of my mind, especially as we hadn't said we were flying out the next morning. Thankfully, this guy next door said they'd be right back. I checked out a cafe just a few doors down while we waited, but we decided just to get to the airport once we got our luggage. The guy we were waiting for came back with his dinner, we got our luggage, and were off.

We took an express bus to the airport that gave us a bit of a tour of the city that we'd not seen. We got to the airport around 9PM. We were told our airline was closed. We got food (well, I got food and then later Daniel did) with the last of our Euros. Checked our luggage at some point. We'd talked to a guy who mentioned the area by the McDonalds on the second level was a good place to sleep. We got a table, but not one with a bench and settled in for the many hours until we could get our luggage and check in for our flight.

Day 15: Santorini -> Piraeus -> Athens

Thursday, September 27

We didn't want to leave Santorini, but had enough ferry issues that we wanted to make sure we made our flight Saturday morning.

We had breakfast at a place called Hook, which had the cheapest breakfast we'd had. I had my last European crepe with banana and Nutella. On the way back to the hotel, we picked up food for the journey--yogurt, cereal bars, and hard-boiled eggs.

We got the woman at the hotel to call a cab, but there weren't any. Eventually, she got her brother to drive us, although we didn't know at first that was who it was. He took us to this winery on the caldera that had a great view. We were a little nervous, though, because we thought our tickets had a sailing time rather than an arrival time. I think we wound up giving him 15 Euros, although he told us that since he wasn't a taxi he couldn't charge, but then said 15 Euros.

We waited for the boat to come in one undercover area, only to be herded later to another loading area. This ferry, the HighSpeed5, was larger and nicer than the other ferries we'd been on, and we even had assigned seats. We sat across from Texas cousins, chatted some, did crosswords, and grazed.

Once back in Piraeus, we found the subway and headed into Athens.

We'd not been able to get the same hotel we stayed at the first time. They said most hotels were going to be full, but we never found out why. We stayed at The Marble House in a room with a shared bathroom. It was close to the Acropolis and also had a stash of books available for trading.

Daniel selected two places from the guide that we could try for dinner. The first one seemed closed, so we wound up at the 24-hour restaurant and had our first meal fully indoors in a long time.

We walked up toward the Acropolis. There were all these book sellers along the lower path around it. Nothing really in English, though. We walked around some more before heading back to the hotel.

Day 14: Santorini

Wednesday, September 26

We decided to have a lazy day of sun and fun. We did another beach trip, with the water remarkable still but with no more visibility.

Daniel wanted grilled fish for lunch, and we found a place that served us 3 small fish each! I could only eat 2. They were local fish and tasted salty as the Aegean is saltier than other ocean water I've been in.

We took our siesta, and then walked all the way down to the end of the shops. On the way back, we looked for books. I'd actually finished both the books we'd brought and was reading a book from our hotel. Books were insanely pricey, and I had a feeling we could do better in Athens.

We got dinner from The Gyro Stop, which was down to the last of each of the meats it served.

Day 13: Santorini

Tuesday, September 25

Daniel was feeling better after some good rest and improved weather. He wanted a full-English breakfast to solidify his recovery. We'd seen places that had it, including the Crepe Academy where I'd eaten last night, but we had a bit of a problem finding things as not everything was open yet.

After breakfast, we went down to the beach, laid on the sand, read, and went bobbing in the water; the waves were pretty strong. It was fun.

We had lunch at a place recommended by the guide. Daniel had wanted grilled lamb, but the waiter recommended another lamb dish, which was quite good. I had grilled swordfish which wasn't that good.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Fira, the main tourist city on the caldera. The bus was packed. I didn't think we'd be able to get on, but we did. We wandered around, taking in the views. Found a gelato place, which was more expensive than the one in Innsbruck but, just like Innsbruck, everyone was eating it.

We walked north along the caldera, taking lots of photos. Daniel walked even farther than I did. We got back to Fira just before sunset and got seats at a bar to watch. It was a bit hazy in the distance, but still lovely. We had sangria.

Back in Kamari, we picked up the laptop and headed down to the wireless Intranet place for dinner, drinks, and Internet time.

Day 12: Ferry -> Santorini

Monday, September 24

Not really sure when day 12 started, given our marathon time on the ferry in the Iraklion port.

I do remember when Daniel pointed out the distant shape of Santorini. As it grew closer, I wondered if it could live up to all the build up it had gotten for us on this trip.

Sailing up to land takes an amazingly long time. And, with anything large, it always seems closer because you can't truly appreciate how large it is. So, it wasn't until we were sailing past the southern part of the island that Santorini started living up to all the hype.

The caldera (volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption) is breathtaking, from both below and above. Sailing along, there are spots along the top of the caldera look like they are snow covered, but it's really just the white-washed buildings that make up the cities of Santorini. In the middle of it all is a low black island that is the latest output of the volcano that still lives under the sea.

Athinios, where the ships dock, is just a little way-station that supports the coming and going of tourists. It was a sea of people and transport vessels. We tried to suss out what was going on. Daniel walked farther along while I waited. A bus driver whose bus named the city we wanted to head to, Kamari, walked by, picking up a news paper in the shop I was standing in front of. I asked him about going to Kamari and he offered to drive us for 10 Euros. I got Daniel and we were off without delay.

The drive up the switchbacks gave us great views going up. The driver knew the name of the place we wanted, and dropped us off around the corner. Our hotel made me even happier to be in Santorini. I forgot to take a picture of the room, which had dark wood furniture, but it was charming. An older woman runs it who hardly speaks any English, as we'd discovered in our calls to the hotel trying to adjust our reservation.

I think we took a walk around the main beach drag and probably had some lunch somewhere. We got some big waters and Daniel got some more Gatorade, which he'd been taking since he started feeling sick. I know we slept because we were both very tired from the ferry.

I went to dinner by myself to the Crepe Academy. Had a lemon, sugar, cinnamon crepe. The check came in a little Plexiglas stand with a cylindrical area to hold the cash register receipt. The moon was full and looked amazing over the water. I got a pretty good picture.

Day 11: Iraklio

Sunday, September 23

It'd been windy all night so I was doubtful about the ferry coming in. I had the man at the front desk (the father) call the port. We were told it would get in at 11AM and leave that evening at 7 (our fourth delay in getting to Santorini). I was still dubious. We went to the Internet place and looked up the weather. We eventually decided to risk it and checked out of our hotel. Unfortunately, Daniel was totally sick at this point and just wanted to sleep, another reason we wavered on checking out. It was fairly cold and most places were outdoors or very open to the outdoors. By this point, we were also just tired of Iraklio and longing for Santorini.

Not sure where we went first, but I wound up dragging my sick boyfriend around trying to find this one street we'd gone done that smelled good the other day. We did eventually find it and sat down to eat. They were out of what I wanted to order (although someone who came later was able to get it) and they forgot Daniel's fruit plate for a long time. Then we couldn't get anyone to bring us our check.

From there, we went to this hookah place that had couches for lounging and large cups of thick hot chocolate, which they served with small baklava-type pastries. We read while we drank. When it got late enough, we headed over to the port. We still had to wait to board the ferry. I got a spanikopita swirl while we waited.

We boarded the ferry around 6PM with the idea we'd be sailing in a few hours. A few hours turned into over 12 hours (5th delay?). We had gotten seats by our luggage but later moved up to the first class lounge and slept on seats near a very loud television, which I believe caused me to dream an episode of 'Survivor'.

Day 10: Iraklio

Saturday, September 22

Our boat to Santorini was due to leave at 9:45AM, so we were up, packed, and out for our last Iraklion crepes. It was still windy and, when we got to the FlyingCat4, it turned out it was too windy for it to sail. We were told to go to the harbor building to either exchange our tickets or get a refund. We got into a very long line, which wasn't luggage friendly so Daniel took the luggage and went to sit with it. He brought me my book to read while we waited. The group behind me was speaking French and I overheard something about needing to get a new ticket elsewhere. They didn't really speak English so I broke out my rusty French and got the story from them: we needed to get tickets for the large ferry that runs Saturday night and is operated by another company. They held my place while I went to get Daniel to go in the other line (and took back my luggage). [Note: this is our third delay in getting to Santorini.]

When I got to the front of my line, I was told I needed to return our tickets where I bought them since I'd gotten them in Iraklio! I went to watch Daniel in his line. He was moving slowly but eventually he got us tickets for the large ferry, which was now predicted to leave Sunday morning due to the wind. He went the other way when he left the line, and then waved me over to check our luggage. That was before he told me the ferry wouldn't be leaving until the next morning, so I needed to get the person to let me back to grab stuff out of my luggage before we headed out. I believe Daniel called and got us our original room back at our hotel.

So, we went back to the hotel and then over to the Historical Museum where we got a good view of the wind on the water. There was a pizza place I thought was worth checking out; it wasn't. Later, we headed over to the Venetian wall, which a lot of stuff is on top of so that it looks like a vacant lot in places. We also checked out some of the Internet places to see if anything had wireless, but nothing did.

We went back to the hotel for our siesta. Daniel slept, I wrote blog entries. We got up and went over the closest Internet place to upload photos and my blog entries. Daniel wasn't up for dinner, and I wasn't hungry until later so at some point I went out to Izmir Kebap and got take-out donar kebap and a lemon Fanta. I read, Daniel slept. We headed out late to get food for the next morning. Wound up at the place I'd gotten ice cream the night before where we got enormous croissants.

Day 9: Iraklio

Friday, September 21

It was the half-way point in our trip and, since we weren't able to go on to Santorini, we decided to have a lazy day in Iraklio and see some of the stuff we'd not seen yet. We had crepes at a different place (me: banana, lemon, sugar; Daniel: orange marmalade) and went back to the hotel to change rooms.

We started with the Venetian Fort at the old harbor, which had been crucial in holding off the 21-siege of the city. We also walked along the retaining wall that marked the old harbor. I got on the higher level but only Daniel walked all the way out to the end.

We had our Greek-time lunch around 2:30 at Izmir Kebap, then went back to the room for our afternoon siesta. Daniel slept and I wrote postcards and then journaled for 2 hours, which has helped me greatly in these belated travel reports (but which run out after this!). Of course, this meant that Daniel slept for over 2 hours after his marathon sleep the night before. He was officially sick.

We broke out the Lonely Planet for a dinner restaurant. Wound up at a place across from the water down near the old harbor that had an outdoor grill. We shared salad and grilled cuttlefish. Daniel had much of a cute bottle of ouzo. It was amazingly windy out along the water.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel where Daniel slept and I read before turning in.

Day 8: Iraklio & The CretAquarium

Thursday, September 20

I forgot to mention that Iraklio is on Crete. When we started researching our trip, both Daniel and I had been under the impression that Crete was an independent country. In fact, it's been a province of Greece for almost 100 years. It's the largest of the Greek Isles, the 5th largest island in the Mediterranean, and home of the oldest civilization in Europe, the mysterious so-called Minoans (no one knows what they called themselves, with this name coming from the mythical king of Crete, Minos).

Knossos was a definite draw, as was the CretAquarium, which Lonely Planet said was the largest in that part of the world. I enjoy going to aquariums. When I was growing up, I thought about becoming an oceanographer, but between my intrinsic queasiness and my astonishing ability to pick the worst way to do any calculus problem, I never seriously pursued it. Instead, I visit aquariums. The Minnesota Zoological Gardens had some impressive marine mammal displays when I was growing up. Then the New England Aquarium in Boston was a favorite place, even if it was just saying hi to the harbor seals who lived in a display at its entrance. In my travels, I've been to aquariums in Brest, France; Dingle, Ireland; Monterrey, California; and Seaside, Oregon (where you can feed the harbor seals). I also volunteered at the Seattle Aquarium for almost 4 years.

Crete was actually third on my list of islands to visit. Santorini was definitely #1. Rhodes was #2, but sadly it is part of the Dodecanese islands while Santorini is part of the Cyclades and travel between island groups is not easy. Rhodes is also the farthest out of the Greek islands, so we reluctantly gave up trying to go there.

So, Day 8 we got up a little after 7. We packed before heading out as we were supposed to change rooms that day (when Daniel had called from Athens, we were told we'd have a room with a bathroom for 2 nights, but when we got there, we were told it was only available that night and we'd need to switch to a room with a shared bathroom for the second night).

I'd seen a French bakery, complete with mini 3D Eiffel Tower on its sign, the day before and with some effort we found it. I regret not taking a picture of it or its display case. Daniel got an apple-filled turnover-like thing and I got a croissant that looked like it would be almond but turned out to be filled with banana creme. We ate in the park where there were some impressively fruit-heavy palms, and then headed down to the bus station, stopping to get fruit and water at a small grocery store.

We were able to get tickets for both the bus and the Aquarium at the bus station. We were told to wait outside for the bus. The benches outside seemed fine until one realized the pigeons in various places above. We didn't really notice until one of them shat on me. *sigh* I was able to wash off in the bathroom and we stood away from the overhang until we figured out which bus was ours.

Now, all our information had talked about "bus to the Aquarium". That was a bit of a stretch. We were told which stop to get off at and then we followed the sporadic signs, mainly heading towards the water. It was a 15-minute walk. The Aquarium was pretty nice. A lot of the animals themselves were repetitious from tank to tank. They had two sea turtles, one of which had been rescued after swallowing a fishing hook and will likely be released back into the wild at some point. We also saw a bit of a film about the ocean, part of which was about how orcas hunt other whale's calves just to eat their brains and move on.

We had lunch at the cafeteria there (spanakopita) and then walked down to the water. Daniel went in but I didn't have the right shoes, so I just photographed him. Then we headed back to the bus stop to catch one of the few buses back.

When we got back to the hotel, we had the same room. The people who were going to be there wanted to go to Santorini Friday but couldn't get tickets. This immediately made me concerned as we wanted to go to Santorini the next day, which was Friday. We tried to get a ticket but the ferry was all booked (note: this is the second delay in our getting to Santorini), so we got tickets for Saturday morning. Daniel made a reservation for a hotel on Santorini, too. We also extended our stay at our hotel, but were definitely going to need to change rooms to a shared bathroom one the next night.

In the afternoon, we did laundry, which actually just meant dropping it off a place to have it done. We went searching for the Bembo fountain and, as we walked along, I tripped over a pipe sticking up from the sidewalk. A taxi driver actually laughed and pointed, a la Nelson. I wouldn't have minded so much but I was now wearing sandals and I caught my big toe's nail on the pipe and shattered it a bit, which was quite painful. I happened to have a band aid with me so I put that on and went on, feeling a bit wobbly.

After checking out many places for dinner, we wound up at the first restaurant we'd looked at. Daniel got goat. It was okay, and the wrangler guy seemed pretty nice. It was across the street from a super market so we checked that out, getting some breakfast bars (a staple of the trip). We got our laundry and headed back to the hotel.

We'd been planning to do a night out, since we'd not really done that yet, but Daniel collapsed at 7:30, saying he needed 2 hours. I was betting 14. I went out without him. Twice. The first time, I got postcards. The second was after he admitted my bet was more on the money. I just walked around, though, not really wanting to go any place by myself. The city was amazingly vibrant at 10PM. The guide books said that it is after 9 or so when Greek's eat their dinner (breakfast being a slice of bread and a cigarette and lunch being a big meal around 2; by the end of the trip, we were more on the Greek food schedule, although generally had a more substantial breakfast). I did get an ice cream at one place. I'd been looking for gelato, but no luck. It was nice being out and seeing so many people enjoying themselves.

I came back and read for a bit before joining Daniel in sleep.

Day 7: Iraklio and Knossos

Wednesday, September 19

The ferry arrived in Iraklio around 5:30AM. Daniel had woken me up when land was in sight. He'd also gotten us a hotel the day before with his trusty Lonely Planet and calling card. They'd said we could check in at 7:30, which seemed amazing to me.

We headed into town using the map in Lonely Planet (neither of us remembered the Tourism folks at the airport had given us a really nice map of the city). At one point, we found a somewhat fuzzy cream-colored dog on the mostly deserted streets who decided he would follow Daniel. I called him puppy. Puppy didn't feel the need to stay on the sidewalk with us, which was a bit unnerving when we got to a major road with traffic. Thankfully, the cars avoided Puppy and I got him back on the sidewalk.

It was only about 7 when we found Hotel Rea. There was a bakery just down the block and we got some rolls that were probably day old and ate those on the raised sidewalk outside. Then we hung out on the stoop of the hotel until they opened up for the day. We lost Puppy sometime in here, but later acquired Dog, a small black and tan dog who followed us to the hotel and waited until we left again.

There was no room ready for us yet (I wasn't surprised) so we left our luggage and went to get breakfast. We were told to try back at 10 or so.

For breakfast, we were told to head towards the Venetian fountain area where places would be open. The fountain originally had a statue of Neptune in the middle but when the Turks took over the city (after a 21-year siege; reportedly the longest in history) they removed that, just leaving the lions and cherubs with water coming out of interesting places.

We were looking at menus in various places when a guy, whom Daniel would later always refer to as evil, cajoled us into eating at his place. One interesting thing travelling in Greece (outside of Athens at least) was most restaurants had someone trying to get you to come in and eat there. Neither Daniel nor I enjoyed this cultural phenomenon, and this was our first taste of it.

We had cheese and mushroom crepes with orange juice. There was way too much cheese in the crepes. As we sat there, the city began to come to life around us, while Dog dozed close by. Dog followed us when we got up and, as we walked down a main drag, we picked up a whole pack of dogs. Most of them only followed us a little ways. The head dog of that group stayed with us longer, but then we were back to just Dog.

We headed to the Archaeological Museum which the guide books said was under construction. It was partially open, but only very minimally. We didn't realize how minimally until after we got our tickets (this was the first time Daniel got to use his student ID, which had helped us get student ticket prices on our trip, too). I had really wanted to see the Dolphin frescoes from Knossos, but they were not part of the open display. There was a good variety of what was on display, but it really was just in one big room of this big museum.

Dog waited for us outside, although he started following another couple when we stopped to use the WC, which was in a trailer across from the museum building. He rejoined us, though soon after we headed his way. We stopped at the Info Center to find out about going to Knossos and see if there were any wireless Internet places in the city (which is the 5th largest in Greece).

We headed back to the hotel, with Dog in tow, but we crossed a crowded street to look at a street market and when Dog crossed later, he headed a down a different street.

The room still wasn't ready when we got back. I was tired and not really wanting to go out again. We talked about going to Knossos but my camera's battery was waning and I needed to charge it first. The man at the desk plugged it in, with the adapter we were using, and we sat and read and waited for it to be done.

While we waited, a young woman (Italian?) started down the polished-marble spiral staircase in her thongs and took a very nasty spill. It was unreal and very scary. The man behind the desk and his father went to her instantly. Her boyfriend came down behind and he and the man behind the desk carried her downstairs. A woman (the mother?) joined the group. The conversation was in English so I was able to help with a word here and there (x-ray) and encourage the woman to go to the hospital to be checked out. I also got them to elevate her foot once they put her in a chair. Daniel headed outside early on to be out of the way.

The boyfriend went to get the car and I waited outside with Daniel until he came back. She actually walked out of the hotel on her own power, so hopefully she was alright. It turned out it was their room we were getting, so it would soon be ready. It also turned out that someone had unplugged the extension cord my camera was plugged into, so my battery was still not charged.

Once we got our room, Daniel slept and I read a little and then slept. We got up around 2:50 and headed to catch the bus to Knossos. We got there around 4 but stopped to eat the rest of our food before heading in. The guidebook said we'd need a couple of hours, but we spent maybe 90 minutes touring around. Ruins are not that interesting, and while the reconstructions done here are impressive, the most impressive stuff--including the dolphin fresco--were not currently accessible.

We headed back around 6, getting off the bus by the Information Center to find a seafood restaurant (Daniel wanted grilled octopus). The seafood places were, unsurprisingly, down by the old harbor. We picked a place that had octopuses hanging from the rafters of the outdoor area. Daniel got his grilled octopus and I got octopus Stephano. We had drinks and salad, too.

In addition to the usual bread (pretty much every restaurant in Greece automatically brings you bread that they charge for), this place gave us a bowl of olives. Then, after the meal, they brought out a plate of fruit and rocky, an alcoholic beverage. It was a lovely meal.

Back at the hotel, I showered, we read, and then went to bed.

Day 6: Athens -> Piraeus -> Ferry

Tuesday, September 18

No idea when we woke up but it was our first solid night's sleep since before we left and we finally stopped being exhausted.

Athens was our introduction to Greek showers, which are small square open platforms in the bathroom with a hose and attachment that you had to hang on to while showering and generally wound up getting much of the bathroom wet in the process. I'd tried showering the night before, but there was no hot water then; another theme in travelling.

We wandered around our neighborhood (Omonoia) and found a bakery. We never really got much Greek down, but this early interaction showed it wasn't really needed. I got a chocolate croissant and real low-fat milk (the label was in Greek on one side, English on the opposite); Dan got some custard filo concoction. We ate in the park by our hotel.

We checked out then hung out in the outdoor lobby area using the hotel's free wireless Internet connection, uploaded photos, looked into travel stuff. Eventually, Daniel scoped out a place for lunch and I had my first gyros pitta of the trip.

We caught the 49 bus to Piraeus, the port city of Athens. It was a great way to see the city. We went through crowded streets with Chinese and other non-Greek signs. At one point, I looked back at the city and saw the Acropolis in the distance.

Our bus stopped far away from the commercial area, where we picked up two tickets, and even farther away from our ship's gate. Our ship was Festos Palace, a cruise ship sized high speed ferry that had numerous restaurant areas, a store, Internet access, and bars. We boarded around 6:30 for a 9PM sailing. We only had seats, and weren't clever enough to take more than one each as many folks did, and sadly ours were right near a light that never turned off.

Daniel went exploring first, then we had some of our food (sausage, cheese, and bread) and I went exploring. We both went up to watch the boat depart, only 15 minutes late.

We got drinks at the outside bar and took insanely windy seats along the side of the boat. We went back inside and played a round of cribbage before going to bed. I wound up sleeping curled up on the floor, with Daniel on the two seats we had. Definitely not a quality night's sleep.

Day 5: Innsbruck -> Munich -> Athens

Monday, September 17

Jamie had actually said he'd be back by 10PM on Day 4 to show us pictures from Africa,. We were a little worried when he wasn't back by 11, but since he'd originally said 2AM, I wasn't sure what to think. Daniel had knocked on his door around 10, when we were checking out. Then, before we went to bed, he left his name tag on his door with a note.

Between our early wake up time not hearing Jamie come home, neither of us slept well that night. When our alarm went off, Daniel knocked on Jamie's door and roused him. Turned out he'd gotten back before 9, crashed, taken a shower around 10, and headed back to bed without checking in with us. Daniel and I were relieved because we didn't know what we should do if he didn't.

Our taxi came just before 5 and took us to the Innsbruck train station. We'd looked up the route we needed to take online the day before, but the ticket sales didn't begin until 6 and the machine only sold tickets within Austria. I finally stopped someone who looked like they worked for the railroad and he helped us get our ticket and get on an earlier train than we'd planned on, which was good as our train later was running a half-hour late.

The sun didn't come up until around 7 (equinox time and all) so much of the journey was dark. We also hadn't had breakfast, although I ate most of a Clif bar on the way. We had to change trains in Kufstein and buy tickets to Munich. The train filled up with school children along the way. We got out at a metro stop to change to the light rail to the airport.

We checked in with Lufthansa for our Aegean Air flight. I ran and got stamps to mail the few postcards I'd written in Austria, then Daniel and I found breakfast: I had a croissant and really gross vanilla-flavored milk; Daniel had another kebap.

Our gate was right by an authorized smoking area, which was completely unenclosed. European smoking came as more of a surprise to me that it should have. Thankfully, we ate outdoors almost all the time so it was never too bad of a problem.

On the plane we slept, but I woke up to eat the meatballs they served. When we were waiting to deplane, one passenger already had a cigarette between his lips.

At the airport, we went to the tourism bureau and got a schedule for the ferries. We picked a hotel out of our Lonely Planet guide, got a phone card, and got a room for the night. Then we boarded the expensive subway into Athens, found our hotel, checked in, changed rooms due to a missing toilet seat, and headed back out.

Our plan was to get supplies and figure out logistics to take the 7:25AM ferry to Santorini the next morning. We found a market and then a place for dinner. Daniel was dragging badly. He was out about 8:30PM, after we made the decision to sleep in and take an evening ferry to Iraklio instead.

Day 4: Daniel's Workshop

Sunday, September 16

It's been a month since Day 4 of my European Trip, which just proves how long a month really is.

Daniel didn't sleep well the night before the workshop, so I didn't either. I got up early to have breakfast with Daniel and Jamie, saw them off, and then went back to bed.

I got up after 10 and got myself out for my last day in Innsbruck. Sadly, I left most of my cash and my cash card, as well as the computer cable for my camera, in my hast to get going.

As I walked the usual route back to Allstadt, I noticed that many of the buildings had tree branches attached and some had long, red and white banners hanging from them. Never found out what they were about. I walked along the Inn toward the University, taking pictures along the way. Found some of the superb European grafitti that I first saw years ago in Switzerland. Got hungry and headed back to Allstadt figuring I'd eat somewhere that took a credit card. Plus, it was Sunday so much of the city outside Allstadt was closed.

One hotel had a menu with venison ragout that I wanted to try, but I sat outside and it was only served inside. It was too nice to go in, and I was tired from the walk, so I had steak with bacon sauce instead. It wasn't that good.

I checked to see if the intranet cafe was open, but it wasn't. I walked the other way along the Inn, coming back via the Hofgarten. Daniel and I had arranged to meet up about 4:30 at SoWi, where his workshop was. I got there early, took some pics, and then went inside to see if I could catch him there. Found Giatano and he said they'd been done for 45 minutes or so.

When Daniel and Jamie got back to SoWi, it turned out they'd been through the Hofgarten, too. Jamie headed out to see the sights, promising to be back by 2AM. Daniel and I headed to get him his first donar kebap of the trip. The kebap place was right by the intranet cafe, which was now open. Daniel had his first beer of the trip, and we booked ourselves on a flight the next day from Munich to Athens.

We got back to Haus George around 9 and checked in with Alexandra. It was while we were waiting for her to answer our knock that I first noticed the sign that said we had to pay in cash only. We filled her in on our plan, asked her to call us a taxi for 5AM, and got directions to an ATM. We went back out and got money, came back and checked out, and then packed up and went to bed.

Jet Lag

I'm suffering from jet lag. We got back to Seattle Saturday afternoon just after 3PM. Our Saturday was 34 hours long, with 22 hours of daylight. We stayed at the airport the night before so I had virtually no sleep for 24 hours before boarding the first plane.

I've been waking up around 5:30AM and crashing by 9:30PM. The crashing has been impressive. Saturday I fell asleep while fast forwarding through commercials on the tape we were watching, trying to stay up to a reasonable hour.

The meaninglessness of time that I had on vacation continues with the jet lag. Sunday I had our leftover hot Chinese noodles at 5:40AM with a caffeine-free Coke before going back to bed. This morning I was paying bills before 6AM, totally foreign given I'm not a morning person (my wake up time has been 7:35AM for most of the year).

It's good to have time not have the same ruts it's had for me lately, and I still am looking forward to getting back to my usual full 8-hours of sleep. Hopefully it won't keep me from getting the rest of the trip blogged much longer.