When I turn 46, I say "No more nonsense": Parts Totally Unknown : Zeus (and Thi Lan) be with me ! .... Athens

5:30

I wake up because pain in my neck is killing me. Was it sleeping on the couch? The A/C blowing on my neck? Or might it have been that bottle of Rose consumed within only 3 hours?

morning moon over the Acropolis ...

Light is rising over Athens ....

Freshly brewed coffee (Thank you, Konstantinos, for equipping the loft so well) seems to alleviate the problem, but I'm pretty sure I will need a nap later ...

The rising sun highlights the spots I have to get much closer to today ...

At 7:15 I have finished sink laundry and self-laundry and can already see tourists marching down the street below towards the Acropolis. I'm still dead tired but.... 'when in Rome ...'.

When I leave open the front door at 7:30 there are two 'rubbies' squatting on the door step. No, they're not drinking rubbing alcohol at the moment (booze is cheaper in Europe), but one of them is rubbing what looks like a scratch-and-win ticket. I make sure the door locks behind me.

crossing Monastiraki Square

Yes, Google Maps tells me to through here ....

There are no signs so I blindly follow the blue line on my cell's map display

How could I NOT go up there?

the view is the reward...

The view in 3 directions is amazing.

I don't even twist my ankle but after that single wrong step one of the bones in my foot feels just WRONG !

It's limping time from here on ....

People line up standing for 20 minutes at the ticket office (still closed in the above picture) while I just sit on my park bench in the shade ... I join the queue when ticket sales begin, get my ticket .... and keep climbing ...

The strange thing is.... all the people who lined up early to get the first ticket..

...are horribly slow once they actually enter the site....

I easily pass most of them, even with my limp

climbing higher and higher......

.... full of anticipation ....

.... to see the famous images that so far I've only seen second-hand.

All those soldiers who arrived half an hour earlier at the outer gate, and marched up the hill with great fanfare are now raising the flag.

The Parthenon

I don't stay up here for long.... The crowd of people who I passed and those who got their tickets after me, are now appearing on the plateau. And it is getting annoying. There is always someone standing in the pictures that I want to take and I can feel and see that I AM always disturbing the pictures others want to take.

Temple of Zeus

Amphitheater

Athens is big

I am SO glad that I came early and didn't get caught in the syrupy mass of people that now glacially seeps into the site.....

Holy Crowds

Morning Moon over the Acropolis

I'm back in my room before 9:00

My phone rings at 11:00.
Thi Lan is downstairs at the door!

Thi Lan unpacks her suitcase. And she's getting out bottles in protective wine boxes, all wrapped in a blanket. She unloads FOUR bottles, ranging from Rose over Chablis to a veritable bottle of two French characters, M&C.

She brought these in her suitcase from Paris. Oh, maybe I haven't mentioned that other small but very important fact. Thi Lan does NOT drink alcohol. ZERO alcohol. But she didn't shy away from all this weight or expense. And the only beneficiary is I. I blush internally. I still have a lot to learn before I come close to thinking like a Vietnamese person.

Konstantintos recommended the restaurant across the street, so we try it for lunch. After a few bites, we agree that this was a BAD IDEA.

So for dinner, we plan to buy stuff at the Central Market and cook it at home:

I meant to have a nap by now but talking to Thi Lan is just too stimulating.

But tiredness finally wins:

I picked a good apartment ;-)

I am humbled. I lounge on the terrace. Thi Lan cooks mussels.

Time to call Grandma. Oh NO, yet another DRAMA without any basis. Grandma clams she hasn't had her medication for 3 days now. But I was THERE when Jessica delivered the new supply. After I mention that, Grandma switches stories "She brought the WRONG ONES!" Then I get an e-mail from Nurse Next Door alarming me about the same story. BULLSHIT. I talk to Jessica the next morning and the pills were the correct ones. Just another moment where a female member of my family makes a lot of people run for NOTHING.

Drink, chat, until 2 am !!!!

7 am
That's only 5 hours of sleep
My head hurts, but fortunately there is enough booze in the house for a hair-of-the-dog treatment ;-)

I read about this store in the internet. Melissinos, The Sandal-Maker-Poet.
What is most amazing: His store is on the ground floor of the building in which we occupy the penthouse.
Apart from that: the usual tourist HYPE. His sandals are UGLY and overpriced.

It's time to hit the Central Market again...

....but this time we're taking a detour....

.... to check out the location and route to a restaurant we might eat at later.

FRESH FISH !!!

At some point during this ...

..... while admiring the fresh produce .....

..... of HIGH quality and LOW prices ....

these are PLASTIC display sausages !

... and while smelling this city.....

you can't even imagine
what kind of signals my nose and eyes are sending to my brain right now ;-)

.....I start falling in love with this city.

This only happens in a very few places, but I KNOW that I will come back here.
People are still HUMAN here !

Thi Lan buys some sandals for her nieces. From a place that is operated by a sandal maker that does NOT write poetry.

Hunger strikes !

But this time we're not following the advice of Konstantinos. I had actually consult Tripadvisor. Wanted: A good seafood restaurant close to our Loft.

Tripadvisor said: Atlantikos. And we checked out the route there this morning.

Thi Lan has the better meal: Grilled fish

These are my Calamari and the excess flour batter lets them taste a bit floury

This time I take a closer look at the sausages and hams. They're FAKE! Un Mar de Plastico, LOL

fake sausages on the ceiling, real ones in the counters

Thi Lan is practicing her Tai Chi using a video on her tablet perched on the bed. HEY, there is someone who can teach me that stuff. NO, I don't mean any disrespect any respect at all, I wanted to take a Tai chi class already years ago in Hong Kong ;-)

Oh.... did I forget to mention?
Thi Lan brought chocolates from Paris too ;-)

Time for an excursion suggested by Thi Lan. I normally wouldn't be caught dead at a Changing of the Guard, but I am trying to be a good travel companion.

Nice stockings

just look at those ruby-red lips !

TL is happy we are here

Then there is some confused parading back and forth.

and more...

Oh, give me a break: Can this be any GAYer?

There are men in stockings and skirts dancing around each other.

It looks and feels like an avian mating dance!

Having spent some utterly nonproductive life in an army myself at one point in my life, I am not impressed.
Like tropical birds wooing each other, both waving their tail feathers.

What do you get when you have a drunk German and an audience?

You get an incident, LOL

roof top bar hotel freezing and expensive, almost lose camera

hotel

go eat more seafood. in the garden with cat

hotel
1:00
Wow, traveling with Thi Lan I get REVERSE jet lag. I'm going to bed at 1 am again, LOL.

7:00
OMG, only 6 hours of sleep again. I NEED COFFEE !

Laundry

9:30
How about leaving the hotel for a while?

mot con rua, LOL

16:00
OMG, Tempus Fugit !
My time in Athens went by SO QUICKLY. Thi Lan, who does not drink ANY alcohol, is afraid that she has to take the bottle of Moet&Chandon back to Paris.

NO WORRIES, LOL
I'm glad I'm stepping onto the balcony to pop the bottle, because the cork takes about 4 seconds to come back down to my level, only to plummet down into the street below after.