(If you want to see pics of my trip, click the following link:)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117297&id=751722138&l=e17161e39a
Im on the plane right now flying back from my wonderful little break in Athens. I’m so thankful to my gracious hosts Evi and Regina Varti. (Evi is the one in my acting class and her sister Regina lives in Athens.) It was simply wonderful. I spent a lot of time with their family including Evi’s husband Spiro (A Gulf air pilot), and two children, as well as their parents. Everyone was so gracious and hospitable. I’m so thankful. I think I saw a side of Greece that most tourists don’t get to see. I did go through a few of the touristy things, but just walking around everywhere (we walked a lot) was so enlightening. Now I’ve raved about how nice and beautiful I thought Greece is, but there are few downsides. It has roughly 4 million people, roughly the size of Chicago, all jammed into about half the space of Chicago. Its very very densely populated. Thus the “Smart Car” the tiny little cute one, is the car of choice, as well as scooters. The dense population is similar to Taiwan, only it seemed worse. Houses were stacked on top of each other…actually I didn’t see any houses it was all just a series of apartment buildings and offices or so it seemed. The streets were absolutely tiny, similar to the small alley ways of Bahrain. One car, maybe can fit down some of these streets as long as there is no pedestrian walking down as well. Thus with all these 5-7 story apartments with no parking structures whatsoever, parking is a real problem. It was hard to do any urban planning when your urban plan was 3000 years ago where you needed a place to park your chariot, not your Hyundai. So parking was a real issue..I know it might not seem like a big of a deal. But you simply cannot park far away and walk to your car/apartment. There just isn’t a place to park. Regina told me stories of having sometimes to drive around for 1-2 hours just to find a parking spot. By the time she got home she was in tears because of the frustration. So America…appreciate your parking spaces.
I didn’t get to see everything, but I feel like I saw just enough. I’m not sure what I appreciated more, the sights or spending time with the Varti family. Its trips/occasions like this that creates lifelong friends. I felt very unchivalrous, Regina and Evi simply would not allow me to pay for everything. It got to the point where I really insisted and If I would have paid it would have breached some sort of etiquette. I have always tried to be generous to others…in this circumstance I feel like the reaping and sowing thing was coming back to me. They all made quite the impression as you can see.
The Varti sisters are insistent that I come back in the Summer to Santorini, their summer home. It won’t take much convincing. Santorini is one of the Greek islands that is full of color and the water is simply crystal clear. Maybe I can get back around August, when things in Bahrain slows down a bit. I had such a fun time going through the souks yesterday. I bought my kids a ton of really cool Greek Artifacts. I spent a bunch of money on them. I figure if they can’t be here to experience with me, at least I can send a little bit of my experience to them. I have posted a bunch of pictures from my trip at the request of some of the readers. They are below. There are a couple pictures with Pigeons…that was a weird experience. They have a parliament building where the guards are like the Beefeater guards in London or the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier in the U.S. They just don’t move. Its kind of an unwritten rule, if you live in or visit Athens, you have to get your picture next to one of the guards…so I did…along with hundreds of others that day. It was weird. But right outside the parliament building are hundreds of pigeons. We bought some pigeon feed for a Euro, and in two seconds (literally) from opening the bag, they were all over me. Talk about creepy. I was starting to get weirded out and feeling like a statue when seven of them were on me at one time, including one perched on top of my head. It was disturbing and pretty funny at the same time. Im sure it wouldn’t have been a big deal if I hadn’t seek Hitchcock’s “The Birds”
I didn’t get much sleep these past few days. We stayed out sight seeing and going to cafes till 2 and 3 in the morning. Apparently its normal in the summer for these cafes to stay open to 6 am. Now there are clubs, but the outdoor cafes are different. Much more subdued relaxed, classy and casual. I took a couple of photos of these outdoor cafes.
What impressed me about Greece, was that it was teaming with culture, history, and style. Plus all the food that I ate was delicious. I imagine that Greece is very similar to Italy, since its so close, an hour by airplane. If I could close my eyes…I could probably convince myself I was in italy. But that was just my opinion. So even though I chose not to sleep as I wanted to maximize my 48 hours, I still feeling amazingly refreshed and rejuvenated. Im getting back to Bahrain at 8 tonight Bahrain time. I was invited to a club by the owner as he’s doing a special promotional event…I am probably going to go, but I don’t want to stay long. I just want to sleep, recuperate from a great trip, and be mentally prepared for my acting classes tomorrow. I truly am blessed by being here. Wow…what a last 48 hours it has been.
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