Marcos and Mia's father and I have talked on the phone and agreed that I will go to their place Sunday and stay overnight and he will take us all to the airport Monday morning. I am relieved. I did not want Theodosia to miss her first day of school or to get up at 5:00 in the morning so she could take me to the airport before school.
I have wanted to get my hair cut for several weeks and the opportunity never presented itself. Today I was determined. Theodosia tried to call her own hairdresser for an appointment - the shop was closed. Since the cell phone they gave me went on the fritz, making connections has been difficult. They do not have a phone book. Theodosia said that shops should be open by 9:00 and might take a walk-in. I left the house and walked to two shops that I had seen in the area. Both were closed. The internet cafe was not yet open. I was headed back to the house when I saw another hair salon with the door open so I walked in and she took me within five minutes. Like most younger Greeks they knew a little English and since I was willing to try Greek, we could converse a little. I am not sure how much they understood of what I said. But when I was done I asked when the internet cafe opened and she said at ten so I waited a half hour and was at the door when it opened and sent my blogs off. In the interim I found a city bus stop and since I wanted to get back to feed the kittens for Theodosia who was giving lessons, I took the city bus up the eight blocks of UPHILL climb to the house. It was worth the half Euro!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
August 28 Kathy Goes Home
Yesterday morning we checked on Theodosia and the kittens. She said she fed them "all night". When they started to cry in early morning, she just put them all on the bed with her - and there they were. They see much better now and cry as soon as they hear voices. Theodosia had to cancel some of the day's lessons so she could clean the house, do mounds of laundry and care for kittens. The ash had sifted onto all balconies and been tracked onto the stairs. Kathy and I cleaned the upstairs balconies, speaking in whispers not to wake the kittens. The ash is very fine. We swept up as much as we could, then hosed down what the water would flush and then mopped up the rest. We carted loads of laundry to the roof to hang on lines. The wind had changed so the bank of smoke was to the south and east of us. We did the noon kitten feeding for Theodosia, The kittens now want to suck long after they are full; they just want the comfort of attachment. One kitten attached itself to loose skin on my arm and by the time we were done feeding and cleaning them, he had given me a "kitty hickey". My strength is coming back slowly. I was good for the short haul down to check email, then I needed a nap. Kathy spent the afternoon organizing and trying to stuff all of her purchases and belongings into her three suitcases. She packed and repacked.
The alarm went off early this morning. The kittens were fed, we hauled suitcases to the car and finally left at 9:20. Since we do not have internet at the house Kathy could not print off her boarding pass and had to get it at the airport. We made a detour by Maria's so she could give Kathy a goodbye gift. We got to the airport at 10:20, two hours before Kathy's flight, a little better than last time when we almost did not get on the plane. And there is more security this time. I helped Kathy drag her three HEAVY bags in and found the long Continental Airlines line. Theodosia parked the car; we were only allowed to watch from a distance until Kathy checked her bags and got her boarding pass, but then we had to say goodbye as she had only 30 minutes left to go through security and get to her gate. Seeing her off was the beginning of "re-entry" for me; I will fly back to Seattle with my charges in six days.
Fires still burn in Greece, but most of those on Peloponnese are out - or there is nothing else to burn. Cooler temperatures and lower winds help. TV has returned to normal viewing except for interviews with victims. I was impressed to see on TV a long line of trucks hauling prefabricated houses to the sites of the burned over areas. Loads of water were delivered; even the bakery truck left of a sack of fresh loaves on the curbside in a village. Phone banks are in place and emergency aid is available. Of course no one is happy. One Sunday morning paper had the whole front page completely black, with three words of text printed in red at the bottom, saying in Greek "There are no words".
The alarm went off early this morning. The kittens were fed, we hauled suitcases to the car and finally left at 9:20. Since we do not have internet at the house Kathy could not print off her boarding pass and had to get it at the airport. We made a detour by Maria's so she could give Kathy a goodbye gift. We got to the airport at 10:20, two hours before Kathy's flight, a little better than last time when we almost did not get on the plane. And there is more security this time. I helped Kathy drag her three HEAVY bags in and found the long Continental Airlines line. Theodosia parked the car; we were only allowed to watch from a distance until Kathy checked her bags and got her boarding pass, but then we had to say goodbye as she had only 30 minutes left to go through security and get to her gate. Seeing her off was the beginning of "re-entry" for me; I will fly back to Seattle with my charges in six days.
Fires still burn in Greece, but most of those on Peloponnese are out - or there is nothing else to burn. Cooler temperatures and lower winds help. TV has returned to normal viewing except for interviews with victims. I was impressed to see on TV a long line of trucks hauling prefabricated houses to the sites of the burned over areas. Loads of water were delivered; even the bakery truck left of a sack of fresh loaves on the curbside in a village. Phone banks are in place and emergency aid is available. Of course no one is happy. One Sunday morning paper had the whole front page completely black, with three words of text printed in red at the bottom, saying in Greek "There are no words".
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
August 26 Difficult Days
It has been a very difficult four days. Kathy decided to join Theodosia on Aegina and went by bus and boat early Thursday morning. I took the city bus into Athens and went to the Goulandhris Museum of Cycladic and Ancient Greek Art, where I spent a couple hours viewing a special video exhibit and then the permanent exhibit of Cycladic and Cypriotic art of the Bronze age - an excellent collection. Then I walked down "tourist row", tried on a few clothes, bought a few trinkets and came back to the house. Almost as soon as I got home, the cold that I had been fighting for several days overtook me, my sinuses filled up and my nose began to run. I went to bed. Friday was a haze of medicated misery, drifting in and out of sleep and seeing the first TV reports about the fires. Friday evening Christos took the boat to join the others in Aegina for the weekend.
Saturday when I got up for the bathroom I noticed the door to the "kittens room" was closed. That puzzled me. We were keeping the door open so the mother cat could come and go. Perhaps Christos shut the cat in for the night when he left so she would not get locked out. Feeling a little less congested but still pretty weak, I lay in bed and watched TV recordings of the fiery holocaust on Peloponnese. There was little else on TV. At 4:00 the electricity went off. I got up and once again saw the door to the kitten room closed. I peeked in; they were crying. I checked with Aris. Where is mother cat? He hunted but could not find her. He did find another of Theodosia's cats lying dead in the dumpster at the top of the street. We feared the worst.
I fed the kittens. Maybe the strongest ones would survive. They are just three weeks old. Only a few of them took much milk from the syringe but I got some down most of them and they quieted. They are just starting to navigate on all fours and still do not see well. I fed them again at 8:00. Three of them are getting the hang of taking milk from the syringe. One still refuses the syringe as he has from birth. TV reported that fires had encircled a village in Peloponnese and the whole village was killed, 40 people. The heat must have been intense; pictures of cars showed nothing but the burned out shell of metal. The videos of the fires look like movie special effects - so huge and spectacular. All TV stations cover little but the fires, over a hundred of them, driven and spread by wind and temperature. Ashes fell over the city of Athens; the sun was blotted out by the smoke. I kept the windows closed. The electricity came back on in two hours, perhaps a planned outage to prevent a total collapse of power as has happened in the past. The government declared a state of emergency. No rain in sight. Fire departments totally overwhelmed. Many planes from other countries doing water drops. Nothing helps. The death toll goes to 52. I fed the kittens again at midnight. They are more frantic; about five of them could take a half syringe each. The stubborn one still would not eat. I don't think he can last long.
Still not feeling well, I did sleep all night and woke this morning, Sunday, to kittens squalling at 7:3o. More of them are taking milk better. The holdout still has had only a squirt or two. How is he still alive? They have now attached themselves to me, their surrogate mother. They know my smell, even though they can not see far yet. They swarm all over my feet, try to crawl up my leg, suck on my toes. I use a big box. As I feed one of the nine I put it in the box. When they have all had half a syringe I offer another, taking them out of the box one by one. Some will take a second syringe now. Then I clean their eyes and wipe the milk that has dribbled down them. I smell of milk myself even after I wash my hands. My clothes get soaked with milk. I rinsed the ashes off the balcony outside my bedroom so I do not track it through the house. I took a shower and went back to bed, spent by only that little activity.
When Violetta came home from church she saw the mother cat lying dead on the lower garage level. I fed the kittens again at noon. By now all but two or three are getting a fair amount of milk. I try to force some milk into the mouth of the stubborn one, but he fights me very hard. The fires continue to rage. Death toll now is 60. The satellite picture shows smoke rising from all of Peloponnese. I can not watch much TV; it is heart rending. People with garden hoses frantically facing a towering wall of flames approaching their houses. Police have blockaded roads and assist the elderly to leave; helicopters rescue the stranded. It goes on and on. It seems like all of Greece is burning. There is ash again on my balcony but not as much as yesterday. The southern sky above the city is still a great wall of smoke, but the wind now blows away from Athens.
I fed the kittens again at 5:00. Each feeding time I first pour a little milk into a saucer. By now they know the smell of the milk but they still want to suck so they get it up their nose and they back away. I hope they will begin to get the idea soon. They are gaining in ambulatory ability. They will not stay in their bed - their mother is no longer there. Their mother now sits in a chair in the middle of the room and sweeps them off the floor and shoves a plastic nipple into their mouth and dumps them in a box! The room smells of milk and cat.
I know Theodosia, Christos and Kathy are coming from Aegina today but I do not know when. At 9:30 I learn from Aris that they are returning on the last boat which leaves Aegina at 10:30 p.m. I feed the kittens again. Most of them are now taking two half syringes of milk, some greedily, but there is still the holdout. When Theodosia came at 1:30 a.m. she immediately fed them. Even if they did not want it, she held them up and squirted a whole syringe of milk into them, even the stubborn one. Sated and sleepy they quieted quickly as soon as we turned off the lights. I was very happy to relinquish my surrogate mother duties and amazed that all nine are still alive. I am feeling better but still do not have my energy back.
Saturday when I got up for the bathroom I noticed the door to the "kittens room" was closed. That puzzled me. We were keeping the door open so the mother cat could come and go. Perhaps Christos shut the cat in for the night when he left so she would not get locked out. Feeling a little less congested but still pretty weak, I lay in bed and watched TV recordings of the fiery holocaust on Peloponnese. There was little else on TV. At 4:00 the electricity went off. I got up and once again saw the door to the kitten room closed. I peeked in; they were crying. I checked with Aris. Where is mother cat? He hunted but could not find her. He did find another of Theodosia's cats lying dead in the dumpster at the top of the street. We feared the worst.
I fed the kittens. Maybe the strongest ones would survive. They are just three weeks old. Only a few of them took much milk from the syringe but I got some down most of them and they quieted. They are just starting to navigate on all fours and still do not see well. I fed them again at 8:00. Three of them are getting the hang of taking milk from the syringe. One still refuses the syringe as he has from birth. TV reported that fires had encircled a village in Peloponnese and the whole village was killed, 40 people. The heat must have been intense; pictures of cars showed nothing but the burned out shell of metal. The videos of the fires look like movie special effects - so huge and spectacular. All TV stations cover little but the fires, over a hundred of them, driven and spread by wind and temperature. Ashes fell over the city of Athens; the sun was blotted out by the smoke. I kept the windows closed. The electricity came back on in two hours, perhaps a planned outage to prevent a total collapse of power as has happened in the past. The government declared a state of emergency. No rain in sight. Fire departments totally overwhelmed. Many planes from other countries doing water drops. Nothing helps. The death toll goes to 52. I fed the kittens again at midnight. They are more frantic; about five of them could take a half syringe each. The stubborn one still would not eat. I don't think he can last long.
Still not feeling well, I did sleep all night and woke this morning, Sunday, to kittens squalling at 7:3o. More of them are taking milk better. The holdout still has had only a squirt or two. How is he still alive? They have now attached themselves to me, their surrogate mother. They know my smell, even though they can not see far yet. They swarm all over my feet, try to crawl up my leg, suck on my toes. I use a big box. As I feed one of the nine I put it in the box. When they have all had half a syringe I offer another, taking them out of the box one by one. Some will take a second syringe now. Then I clean their eyes and wipe the milk that has dribbled down them. I smell of milk myself even after I wash my hands. My clothes get soaked with milk. I rinsed the ashes off the balcony outside my bedroom so I do not track it through the house. I took a shower and went back to bed, spent by only that little activity.
When Violetta came home from church she saw the mother cat lying dead on the lower garage level. I fed the kittens again at noon. By now all but two or three are getting a fair amount of milk. I try to force some milk into the mouth of the stubborn one, but he fights me very hard. The fires continue to rage. Death toll now is 60. The satellite picture shows smoke rising from all of Peloponnese. I can not watch much TV; it is heart rending. People with garden hoses frantically facing a towering wall of flames approaching their houses. Police have blockaded roads and assist the elderly to leave; helicopters rescue the stranded. It goes on and on. It seems like all of Greece is burning. There is ash again on my balcony but not as much as yesterday. The southern sky above the city is still a great wall of smoke, but the wind now blows away from Athens.
I fed the kittens again at 5:00. Each feeding time I first pour a little milk into a saucer. By now they know the smell of the milk but they still want to suck so they get it up their nose and they back away. I hope they will begin to get the idea soon. They are gaining in ambulatory ability. They will not stay in their bed - their mother is no longer there. Their mother now sits in a chair in the middle of the room and sweeps them off the floor and shoves a plastic nipple into their mouth and dumps them in a box! The room smells of milk and cat.
I know Theodosia, Christos and Kathy are coming from Aegina today but I do not know when. At 9:30 I learn from Aris that they are returning on the last boat which leaves Aegina at 10:30 p.m. I feed the kittens again. Most of them are now taking two half syringes of milk, some greedily, but there is still the holdout. When Theodosia came at 1:30 a.m. she immediately fed them. Even if they did not want it, she held them up and squirted a whole syringe of milk into them, even the stubborn one. Sated and sleepy they quieted quickly as soon as we turned off the lights. I was very happy to relinquish my surrogate mother duties and amazed that all nine are still alive. I am feeling better but still do not have my energy back.
August 22 We Go To The City
Theodosia is on Aegina Island at another of Sophia's summer houses. I opted out having had a lot of sun and water at Rafina and wanting to see at least ONE museum before returning home. Christos returned to work. Kathy was undecided about Aegina but can go later if she chooses. For now she is in Haidari.
Tuesday Kathy and I set off early for Athens. It was very hot. We took the city bus and then navigated the Metro (subway) after studying the system map. It is really very well labeled, put in place for the 2004 Olympics. We went to Omonia square and had turopita and bougatsa for brunch, checked out a large department store, the greatest virtues of which were clean restrooms and a cafe on the top floor; we utilized both. Then we walked to the Hellenic American Union to check on the cost and format of the intensive course for non-Greeks. 400 Euros for one month, five days/week, 3 hours a day, morning or evening classes. I had purchased a child's story book (7 years and up) in Rafina to help me learn Greek. The story is so clever and fun to figure out that Kathy wanted one of her own. We found "Little Basoula the Witch" is one of a series and luckily the bookstore had a different one from mine so we can trade them when we finish. We went to the National Gardens for a little shade, but we realized the length of time between our rest stops was getting shorter and we had better head home.
Since Christos went back to work and Theodosia is on Aegina the pantry at the house in Athens had not been restocked. Coming home from Athens yesterday I recognized the supermarket where Theodosia took me when I first arrived and it was only a block from the local bus route. So this morning Kathy and I went shopping as early as we could get away. It was still hot. A third wave of temperatures over 100 degrees - never before heard of here! We bought the bare minimums as we were carrying two heavy bags each on the bus but at least we had some necessities - like toilet paper.
Tuesday Kathy and I set off early for Athens. It was very hot. We took the city bus and then navigated the Metro (subway) after studying the system map. It is really very well labeled, put in place for the 2004 Olympics. We went to Omonia square and had turopita and bougatsa for brunch, checked out a large department store, the greatest virtues of which were clean restrooms and a cafe on the top floor; we utilized both. Then we walked to the Hellenic American Union to check on the cost and format of the intensive course for non-Greeks. 400 Euros for one month, five days/week, 3 hours a day, morning or evening classes. I had purchased a child's story book (7 years and up) in Rafina to help me learn Greek. The story is so clever and fun to figure out that Kathy wanted one of her own. We found "Little Basoula the Witch" is one of a series and luckily the bookstore had a different one from mine so we can trade them when we finish. We went to the National Gardens for a little shade, but we realized the length of time between our rest stops was getting shorter and we had better head home.
Since Christos went back to work and Theodosia is on Aegina the pantry at the house in Athens had not been restocked. Coming home from Athens yesterday I recognized the supermarket where Theodosia took me when I first arrived and it was only a block from the local bus route. So this morning Kathy and I went shopping as early as we could get away. It was still hot. A third wave of temperatures over 100 degrees - never before heard of here! We bought the bare minimums as we were carrying two heavy bags each on the bus but at least we had some necessities - like toilet paper.
Monday, August 20, 2007
August 20 Goldfish,Cards and Kittens
We returned from Rafina in late evening on Friday. On Saturday, Theodosia, Christos and Nikos all took the boat for Aegina to join Sophia and her family. Kathy and I spent the weekend with Christos' brother, Vasilios, his wife, Dina, their son, Andreas, and their daughter, Maria and her fiance, Diamondis, in Athens. On Saturday we had a wonderful meal including a souffle that Maria had made. Then they took us to an overlook of the Pireas harbor with a beautiful view. It was actually a large bowling center with bowling lanes downstairs and a restaurant on the upper level. Since this is traditional vacation time for Athens, and a weekend to boot, (everyone who can flees the heat of the city on weekends) traffic was minimal and the restaurant had only a few patrons. We relaxed with (what else?) pagoto, and took pictures of the view. Maria and Andreas translated for us as neither Vasilios or Dina speak English.
While there my minor headache began to pound big time so we returned to their house and I took some pain reliever and laid down for an hour. Who knows what caused the headache. I've only had one other since I've been here. After an hour it had disappeared and I came out of the bedroom to find Kathy playing cards with the family. They taught us a card game called "Kseree" and another card game called "Agonie"and we played until 11:30 when they brought out all the leftovers and we ate again. They took us back to Christos' house to sleep as they did not have room in their apartment for us and came back for us Sunday morning.
On Sunday we ate a little earlier around 1:00 and had "goldfish", a good sized fish, (not the pet variety) and roasted potatoes, salad, tzatziki, leftover souffle, horta and I forget what all else. At 3:00 we took two cars to travel about an hour to Halkuda and Eretria. Eretria is a beautiful resort area on the coast of Evia Island which lies just east of mainland Greece. Actually Evia was once a part of the mainland which accounts for the fact that it is the largest island in Greece. The channel that runs between island and mainland is quite wide in places and ferries ply it at frequent intervals. Eretria had an unending beach and many swam there. There were open showers set up near the beach. Changing rooms are not available at most beaches. An interesting aspect of this beach was the area directly behind a small building, open to the beach and the cafe, where the matrons changed from their swim suits using their cover-ups as a privacy shield, pulling off their swim suits and putting on their clothes under their cover-up. Obviously an acceptable practice.
We stopped briefly in Halkuda to see the place where water runs under the bridge in one direction for six hours, and then changes direction and runs the other way for the next six hours. A mystery. It was not an allusion; you could clearly see the water flowing strongly against the rocks at the bridge abutment. Kathy proposed a theory that since the sea is close at hand and may in fact circle the area, it could have generated a reciprocal motion where the water flows one way until an equilibrium is passed and then it changes and flows the other way. She consulted Maria, who has a mechanical engineering degree, as to her idea, but Maria did not seem interested in positing a theory. In essence her reply was "Pios nakseri" (who knows). Some mysteries are best enjoyed and not explained.
The demise of two kittens was wrong. Only one died. Amazingly the other nine are alive and their eyes are open and it won't be long before they will be wandering from their bed. Already one has fallen over the side and as we watched, she worked and worked to get back into the bed and finally made it unaided. We have been supplementing mother's milk with milk from a syringe and many of the kittens are getting the hang of taking milk from the syringe. It is so much fun just to watch them pile on top of each other to find a comfortable place to sleep. They are working to get their legs to obey them but they are already surprisingly strong and by instinct stretch and curl up like any older cat.
While there my minor headache began to pound big time so we returned to their house and I took some pain reliever and laid down for an hour. Who knows what caused the headache. I've only had one other since I've been here. After an hour it had disappeared and I came out of the bedroom to find Kathy playing cards with the family. They taught us a card game called "Kseree" and another card game called "Agonie"and we played until 11:30 when they brought out all the leftovers and we ate again. They took us back to Christos' house to sleep as they did not have room in their apartment for us and came back for us Sunday morning.
On Sunday we ate a little earlier around 1:00 and had "goldfish", a good sized fish, (not the pet variety) and roasted potatoes, salad, tzatziki, leftover souffle, horta and I forget what all else. At 3:00 we took two cars to travel about an hour to Halkuda and Eretria. Eretria is a beautiful resort area on the coast of Evia Island which lies just east of mainland Greece. Actually Evia was once a part of the mainland which accounts for the fact that it is the largest island in Greece. The channel that runs between island and mainland is quite wide in places and ferries ply it at frequent intervals. Eretria had an unending beach and many swam there. There were open showers set up near the beach. Changing rooms are not available at most beaches. An interesting aspect of this beach was the area directly behind a small building, open to the beach and the cafe, where the matrons changed from their swim suits using their cover-ups as a privacy shield, pulling off their swim suits and putting on their clothes under their cover-up. Obviously an acceptable practice.
We stopped briefly in Halkuda to see the place where water runs under the bridge in one direction for six hours, and then changes direction and runs the other way for the next six hours. A mystery. It was not an allusion; you could clearly see the water flowing strongly against the rocks at the bridge abutment. Kathy proposed a theory that since the sea is close at hand and may in fact circle the area, it could have generated a reciprocal motion where the water flows one way until an equilibrium is passed and then it changes and flows the other way. She consulted Maria, who has a mechanical engineering degree, as to her idea, but Maria did not seem interested in positing a theory. In essence her reply was "Pios nakseri" (who knows). Some mysteries are best enjoyed and not explained.
The demise of two kittens was wrong. Only one died. Amazingly the other nine are alive and their eyes are open and it won't be long before they will be wandering from their bed. Already one has fallen over the side and as we watched, she worked and worked to get back into the bed and finally made it unaided. We have been supplementing mother's milk with milk from a syringe and many of the kittens are getting the hang of taking milk from the syringe. It is so much fun just to watch them pile on top of each other to find a comfortable place to sleep. They are working to get their legs to obey them but they are already surprisingly strong and by instinct stretch and curl up like any older cat.
Friday, August 17, 2007
August 17 Goodbye to Rafina!
We are leaving Rafina and returning to Athens this evening. Our things are packed and we have had one last swim in the sea (we are already nostalgic) and we are at the internet cafe so we can check our email and I can do my blog, while they finish closing up the house.
Besides swimming and eating and sleeping, we have done a FEW other things. Wednesday was a holiday in Greece, a family day; all the stores were closed. Theodosia, Christos and Nikos went to church services. We were kind of looking forward to a festival, but we missed it, I guess, as shortly after we went to bed Tuesday night, after midnight, there was loud music. I thought it was somebody with a loud car radio, but the next morning Theodosia said it must have been from the village. We were disappointed. To make up for missing the festivities, on Wednesday night we went up the coast to a very nice place right on the sea, La Costa hotel. The water was lapping right next to our table. A band was playing some good dance music, but it was too difficult to dance on the pebbly beach. We ordered tall glasses of pagoto, which were delivered to our table with sparklers flaring on top of them. Very nice place.
Thursday when we came in to the internet cafe we had barely sat down to the PCs and got started when there were electrical problems and they had to close the place down. A bystander said there was a fire somewhere and that might be causing the problem. So we got no internet time and we had an hour and a half to kill. We did some shopping and then saw some roadies setting up equipment on a stage in the square. Obviously a band was going to play. Kathy asked one of the men when and he said 9:30, so we asked Theodosia if we could come in early in the evening to get seats and she brought us in, saying she and Christos would come later. They waited too long. The first 45 minutes by the Upside Down Band was some pretty good rock and roll. Then they changed to Pink Floyd and the music was okay but they used way too many strobe lights to be comfortable. Unfortunately that's when Theodosia and Christos came. We retired to one of the outdoor restaurants and had chocolate and banana crepes. Wonderful creations. Better than the one I had on my first trip to Greece. So the evening was not a whole loss!
We are looking forward to seeing the kittens in Athens, now two weeks old.
Besides swimming and eating and sleeping, we have done a FEW other things. Wednesday was a holiday in Greece, a family day; all the stores were closed. Theodosia, Christos and Nikos went to church services. We were kind of looking forward to a festival, but we missed it, I guess, as shortly after we went to bed Tuesday night, after midnight, there was loud music. I thought it was somebody with a loud car radio, but the next morning Theodosia said it must have been from the village. We were disappointed. To make up for missing the festivities, on Wednesday night we went up the coast to a very nice place right on the sea, La Costa hotel. The water was lapping right next to our table. A band was playing some good dance music, but it was too difficult to dance on the pebbly beach. We ordered tall glasses of pagoto, which were delivered to our table with sparklers flaring on top of them. Very nice place.
Thursday when we came in to the internet cafe we had barely sat down to the PCs and got started when there were electrical problems and they had to close the place down. A bystander said there was a fire somewhere and that might be causing the problem. So we got no internet time and we had an hour and a half to kill. We did some shopping and then saw some roadies setting up equipment on a stage in the square. Obviously a band was going to play. Kathy asked one of the men when and he said 9:30, so we asked Theodosia if we could come in early in the evening to get seats and she brought us in, saying she and Christos would come later. They waited too long. The first 45 minutes by the Upside Down Band was some pretty good rock and roll. Then they changed to Pink Floyd and the music was okay but they used way too many strobe lights to be comfortable. Unfortunately that's when Theodosia and Christos came. We retired to one of the outdoor restaurants and had chocolate and banana crepes. Wonderful creations. Better than the one I had on my first trip to Greece. So the evening was not a whole loss!
We are looking forward to seeing the kittens in Athens, now two weeks old.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
August 14 Continuation
Sometime Saturday Kathy realized that she was running out of her asthma medication. Too late we realized we might have called Theodosia and had her bring more from Athena. We expected to be returning to Athens ourselves by now, but plans had been changed by her ER visit.
Sunday we spent a quiet day resting. As the supermarket was closed, Christos went to town and bought a cooked chicken and some fried potatoes and we had the usual Greek salad. O, yes, and pagoto. Theodosia who can not remain quiet for long, told us we would go to Marathona early on Monday to see where the Marathon race originated and we would be home by noon before the sun was high.
Theodosia told us that older Greeks say you can find your way anywhere by asking people. We supplemented her asking with a very good map of Attica that we bought from the bookstore. When we found the tomb of the Greeks and Persians who were buried on the field of the Marathon struggle, it was closed! It was Monday! A huge grass-covered mound covers their graves. We took a few pictures, then tried to find the place that housed the Marathon Trophy, but the signs we had been following suddenly stopped and we did not find it. Instead we found the 2004 Olympic rowing center. Occupied solely by the guard at the entrance, it is used as a training center, the water having been diverted from the sea; the rowing lanes are visible, the bleachers stand empty. We took some pictures and then Theodosia said we would go and see the only lake Attica has and it is man-made.
The mountains come down close to the sea in Marathona and we drove up the mountain about half an hour to Lake Marathona formed by a dam, which serves a a supply of water for Athens. It was built in 1924, during one of the short periods Greece was not at war. The placard said that the Ulen engineering firm from the United States helped the Greeks to build it. Theodosia says that the older people, when asked if their water is good say, oh, yes, it is Ulen water.
When we returned to the house, Kathy's medical needs were made known to Christos and he agreed to go to Athens to get the medications. Kathy was going too and they would return the next day. He delayed in getting started and Kathy and I played cards to keep ourselves awake. At 12:30 p.m. he startled us by coming into the room and saying he would get the medications, that it was late now, and Kathy did not need to come. So Kathy drew him a map of the bedroom in Athens and explained where the medications were. She said she needed them by 10:00 a.m. the next day. We retired. Theodosia assured us that Christos would have them in Rafina by 10 the next morning - and he did.
Sunday we spent a quiet day resting. As the supermarket was closed, Christos went to town and bought a cooked chicken and some fried potatoes and we had the usual Greek salad. O, yes, and pagoto. Theodosia who can not remain quiet for long, told us we would go to Marathona early on Monday to see where the Marathon race originated and we would be home by noon before the sun was high.
Theodosia told us that older Greeks say you can find your way anywhere by asking people. We supplemented her asking with a very good map of Attica that we bought from the bookstore. When we found the tomb of the Greeks and Persians who were buried on the field of the Marathon struggle, it was closed! It was Monday! A huge grass-covered mound covers their graves. We took a few pictures, then tried to find the place that housed the Marathon Trophy, but the signs we had been following suddenly stopped and we did not find it. Instead we found the 2004 Olympic rowing center. Occupied solely by the guard at the entrance, it is used as a training center, the water having been diverted from the sea; the rowing lanes are visible, the bleachers stand empty. We took some pictures and then Theodosia said we would go and see the only lake Attica has and it is man-made.
The mountains come down close to the sea in Marathona and we drove up the mountain about half an hour to Lake Marathona formed by a dam, which serves a a supply of water for Athens. It was built in 1924, during one of the short periods Greece was not at war. The placard said that the Ulen engineering firm from the United States helped the Greeks to build it. Theodosia says that the older people, when asked if their water is good say, oh, yes, it is Ulen water.
When we returned to the house, Kathy's medical needs were made known to Christos and he agreed to go to Athens to get the medications. Kathy was going too and they would return the next day. He delayed in getting started and Kathy and I played cards to keep ourselves awake. At 12:30 p.m. he startled us by coming into the room and saying he would get the medications, that it was late now, and Kathy did not need to come. So Kathy drew him a map of the bedroom in Athens and explained where the medications were. She said she needed them by 10:00 a.m. the next day. We retired. Theodosia assured us that Christos would have them in Rafina by 10 the next morning - and he did.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
