What fun: I just sent e-mail. I wanted to send more but the time ran out. Hotmail was very slow and ate up my time. I’ll have to try another one next time if I can remember. I think Snap is pretty slow too. It was really amazing, as I said, to use the same programs with all the words in Greek. I was able to open Explorer and copy my files from the A drive but it was an act of faith. I clicked buttons with the weirdest looking letters on them. It’s quite a trick getting around here due to strange words and letters. Most of the signs have the name of the street in English letters as well. So I can ignore the sign that says k a n i g g o s  and use the one that says kaniggos but that is still pretty tough. To make things worse I usually can’t pronounce them. In addition, it’s not unusual to find directions written only in Greek. Ah, the adventures of travel; you’d love it. Getting on the computer was fun. If I hadn’t had to pay I could have stayed on two probably three hours easily. What a nerd I am. I’m writing this in the café part of the Internet Café. I got a soft drink for a good price and its warm and quiet up here. Quiet except when the phone rings—what a God awful noise. Maybe they made it loud in case the attendant is in the computer room with a lot of noise. As I said, the café sits on the seventh floor with a view of a busy road. The room consists of roughly ten computers in an enclosed area and a half dozen tables and chairs outside that area. Abstract and artistic photography covers one wall. The only way to improve the place would be to ban smoking. It seems as if very young person smokes.

I think I told you about climbing lykavittos hill. It was an amazingly steep climb and with all my heavy clothes I was soon really hot. One problem with layering is that it is not easy to remove just a little. The only thing that I could easily remove was my rain jacket but I needed it for the windbreaker. The pockets of my vest are nice but to get to the fleece I’d have to take the vest off. So I went slowly, not because I was tired, 

but because I didn’t want to get to hot. Besides the view on the way up was fantastic. I could see the Acropolis below me and Piraeus, the port, in the distance. A bunch of ships sat out in the Saronic Bay. At the top I met a neat young man named Christian who lives north of Frankfurt, Germany. When I said I once lived in Nuremberg he replied that he had lived for two years in Virginia while studying at James Madison University. He had come for the weekend using frequent flyer miles; imagine that.

I was tickled when I got back from the Acropolis and was able to transfer pictures without a problem. I don’t think the problem is solved but I have hope. I had the best meal yet at Brassiere Baker’s, a bakery on a busy street. I bought take-out there once and ate it at a table. This time the woman realized what I wanted and told me to sit. She brought my food on a tray with nice China and a glass of water. She had even heated up my spinach pie (I’m sure there must be a name for this). I had my first cup of coffee of the day and it was delicious. They don’t have regular American coffee so I drink it with cream and sugar. The name and motto of the bakery are written in English. The motto is Fresh, Forward Taste. I just know I like the place.

I discovered this e-mail café quite by luck. I was walking down the sidewalk and saw a sign. I came up and checked it out. Unlike the hotel where it is 1500 for ½ hour, here it is 1500 for one hour and you can upload from a disk. Thus, I could send prewritten letters and pictures. I wish I’d had time to send more. Maybe I’ll come back again. It surely was fun.

I really wanted to find pizza for dinner but haven’t seen a sign anywhere. For dinner tonight Wendy’s came through I got a big baked potato and a Caesar salad for 1600 ($5.80). Along the way I bought an orange juice from a kiosk for 250 (91 cents). At least I’m getting some fruit and vegetables. On they way home a guy asked me to step in and look at his dining room. It was on the second floor with a fire going and almost no one there. It would have been sooo romantic if I wasn’t alone. It also turns out that they sell pizza. When I got back to the hotel I found out that there is a pizza place called Brooklyn on Voulis Street, just a few blocks away. I must have been on every street except that one. Too bad that I’ve discovered all this just as I plan to leave for the islands. Well, if the ferries don’t run due to bad weather, I’ll have something to look forward to.

Saturday, December 19, 1998, 12:45

The cold remains omnipresent. I changed hotels as I found one that is 4,000 ($14.50) versus the 7,000 drachma ($25) I paid at the other place. I found a place that offered me a deal at 8000 and claimed the rooms had heat. I decided that I didn’t believe him. After all, the place I just left claims heat. However, it’s only on for a few hours at night and even then barely effects the room temperature. I worry a bit about getting sick in all this cold but hey the Greeks do it. I walk around with an abundance of clothes and they seem to wear less and do fine. I don’t very often see one of them acting cold. I’m glad I’m not a girl wearing a mini-skirt. This morning I had breakfast at that place I told you about that had the fireplace. I ate downstairs it was good but expensive. Café L A T I F H S was at least warm. On the way out I went by the restroom. Like the one at the Internet Café it had a common sink area and side by side stalls marked men and women. That was weird and I was glad there weren’t a lot of people around, especially when I couldn’t get the door to close tight. What was really interesting was that the men’s stall had only a urinal. What if..? As I left I saw the fellow who had persuaded me to stop last night. He seemed to recognize me and be pleased that I had returned. When I asked how he was he said he had been better. He felt bad because he had been out drinking with friends. He did not think that was a good thing. We had a nice little chat. I pedaled down the street over towards the Arch of Hadrian. I saw a souvenir shop with patches so stopped to get one for my backpack and one for my vest. I also got some postcards. It seems funny to buy postcards because I almost always buy different scenes even though they are all going to different people. The older lady who ran the shop was very friendly and it made me feel good to give her some business.

It’s pretty quiet here in the Plaka area of Athens this time of year.  Several people have told me stories of the mobs that descend here in the summer. You get to the Acropolis by follwing streets, which turn into paths. It feels as if you must betrespassing as you practically enter some of the cube houses. The Acropolis is packed so I had a real advantage in that regard. I passed by the Arch and pedaled around to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. A few giant columns are all that remain of the largest temple in Greece which took 700 years to build. 15 of the 104 gigantic columns remain. It was started by Pericles 500 years BC and finished by Hadrian in 131 AD. You can see it pretty well from outside so I elected not to pay the 500 drachma to go in. I then pedaled over to the Olympic stadium. It’s not overwhelming but is interesting the way it is built into the ground between two tree-covered hills. The stadium was built in the 4^th century BC and remodeled by the Romans for Hadrian’s inauguration. It was ignored for many years and then restored in 1895 for the first of the modern Olympics.

I then had some fun taking pictures in the park area. I especially liked the picture of the balloon vendors in front of the Zappeio, an exhibition hall built in the 1870’s. I saw them coming and thought they would make a great focus point in a picture but the passed before I could get them between me and the building. I pedaled on thinking about a great picture missed and then saw two more coming. I rushed to the right spot and presto! As happened yesterday, all eight pictures developed slowly but without that dreaded error message. Well, I’m typing this in my room with no heat so I’ve got to sign off and seek heat

4:09 p.m.

HI again. Talk about the simple pleasures. I got a room with heat. When I got back from my trip to the Olympic stadium a ten-year old girl asked if I were the man in room 7. I said yes and she said she had a room with heat for me. I moved there and what a nice feeling. I actually took a short nap without my coats on! I also found a pizza place. While devouring a whole cheese pizza in a warm place I sent postcards to my sibs, and friends. What a nice feeling it was to eat all I wanted in a warm, sit down place. After all that good stuff I went for a walk in the National Gardens to see if I could find some pictures to take. I snapped another kiosk this one covered with ads for Cooper, a brand of cigarettes. This ubiquitous product features a picture of a guy who looks like a real loser and carries the slogan in English: Be You, Be Cooper. To us he looks like a flake but to some he must look cool.

As I waited to cross into the park I stood next to a man with two small daughters. Carefully he told them where to stand and then held their hands as they crossed the wide street. Frequently the pedestrian crossing light doesn’t allow much time. I don’t see how an old person would get around here. Once the light changes the motorcycles, which have made their way through the cars to the front, take off like gangsters without regard for humanity. Anyway the man and the daughters made it across and I saw that he was taking pictures of them as I headed off into the park. I walked down attractive paths with countless benches the presence of which tells you that people spend a lot of time sitting in the park. Right now they are mostly empty. I also passed a small zoo with goats in one pen and a variety of birds in others. As I came by a duck pond I couldn’t believe the number of ducks. Then I saw the man with his daughters. Carefully he stood them on little green chairs and then dug some bird food from a bag. At that point ducks flocked all around the girls perched safely above them. He then turned to take a couple of steps back for his picture. I thought I would volunteer to take one of the three of them. However, one little girl moved a step on her precarious perch and fell face first into the dirt. He didn’t even see as his back was to her. I pointed and before he could get back to her she was squalling for all time sake. Oh, the way fate can step in and change the flow of a day. Later I got a Japanese man to take my picture next to the pond.

I then tried my debit card in a bank machine. At first the card would not go in but finally it did. I punched in my code, asked for 75,000 drachma ($274) and waited and hoped. It took a little while and then gave my card back. Then the money came and a receipt. Yeah! One less worry. Debit cards allow me to avoid the hassle of cashing travelers checks and changing money. They couldn’t be simpler but don’t always work. How do carry money that way when you can’t rely on it? In Venezuela the machine not only didn’t give me money but made me think it wasn’t giving the card back. That is not a good feeling.

I like my new room a lot. It costs 4,000 versus 7,000 and has heat. Also there is toilet paper in the bathroom and a top sheet on the bed—practically luxury. I’m still in Plaka so it’s a great location. I think I’ll stay at least until Monday. To catch the ferry I need to get up about 6 and that’s tough. I have a hard time getting up at 10 right now. The other choice is to take the 5 pm ferry but in doesn’t get to Paros until 10 p.m. and that’s late to be looking for a room. Besides I know my way around here now.

From where I sit at my computer I can see a tiny vacant lot where a guy parks cars. He packs them in one on top of the other and it seems like an awful chore. NEXT CHAPTER     PREVIOUS CHAPTER