Doesn't feel much like Greece when it's windy and rainy and cold, but we managed to keep ourselves busy...
It started to rain a bit on Thursday just as we were wrapping up for the day so we didn't do the BBQ lunch that we'd originally had planned (that's been moved to next week). Instead, we found out that Hetti and her husband were going to have us all over for dinner!
Leesa, Michelle, Amanada and I had been planning on going out for dinner together at Pentieli's but this new development led to our decision to do lunch instead :) After lunch we headed back to the hotel with just enough time to do some laundry and head back to the Hercules building (our classroom) for some pottery washing/reading.
We all headed straight to Hetti's for dinner after our pottery was clean and Geoffrey had taken some time to teach us how to read it (figure out what kind of pottery it was, where it was from, when it was from, etc.). Dinner was amazing! Hetti had made us lentil soup, Kefalonia meat pies, pasta salad, avocado/potato salad, tzatziki... yum.
Friday was rainy... so I went with Michelle, Leesa and Mike to Skala. A cab's only about 15€ so split between four people it was definitely worth it. We need to go back when it's sunny though -- the beach there is a lot nicer than the one in Poros!
One thing we hadn't thought through very well was the fact that everything closes from 2-3pm until 6pm! We arrived in Skala at about 1:30pm so didn't have too much time to shop before everything closed up for afternoon siesta! Bah! Still, I found a tablecloth for my mom and it was perfect -- when I went back to get it, that's when we remembered about the 3pm closing thing. The store where I'd found it was already closed!! Luckily, Leesa, Michelle and Mike didn't mind waiting around 'til it reopened. I also picked up a few other odds and ends for Christmas and am almost done my souvenir shopping! Definitely a productive day. It's warm enough that the rain didn't really bother us too much -- except maybe Michelle; she didn't bring a jacket.
Friday night a bunch of us watched The Fifth Element in the Hercules building... Weird movie!!!
Yesterday (Saturday) was even more rainy than Friday so we headed into Poros to check out some of the other souvenir shops that we hadn't already been to. We got pretty wet (rain will do that to you) and decided to stop at Pantieli's on our way home for some hot chocolate... We = Michelle, Leesa and I. Mike had come to town with us but needed to grab some groceries on the way home too. Anyway. We were there for just a few minutes when Pantieli brought us out a plate of cake and ice cream to share! He said his mom had put it together for us (she works there too). Sweet!!!
You know you're probably spending too much time at a restaurant when they start bringing you goodies for free... In any case -- still loving the small town-ness of this place.
Except for today... when it was STILL rainy. I made real food for dinner (haven't done that since I've been here) and it was fabulous (if I don't say so myself). Michelle tried some though, and she agreed. It really was good. Salmon (with olive oil, lemon juice and salt 'n pepper) and potatoes -- sliced up and baked in the oven with onions, carrots and zucchini.
Other than that... we did a lot more of nothing today. Michelle and Leesa convinced Mike and I to watch "The Dark Crystal" with them. Oi. It's a Jim Henson movie... I'm so not a big fan of puppet movies. But whatever -- I'm so picking the movie next time :)
Then Michelle and I played cards for like... two hours. And now... Now I'm about ready to head to bed early so that I can be all cheery and energized tomorrow for digging. It's nice outside now -- the sky has cleared up because the weekend is over. *sigh*
I'm so not showering after the dig tomorrow. Straight to the beach for me!
Muchos love friends. Next weekend will be much more exciting because the sun will be shining and we'll be traveling together to Ithika! Woot!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Adventures Continue...
I posted pictures already, but now it's time for some details regarding our more recent adventures in Poros! I'm catching up... Soon I'll be able to post CURRENT news!
On Saturday we were treated to a boat ride on a glass-bottom boat to a bea-u-tiful beach that is only accessible from the water! The captain and first mate were fabulous. They let us take turns driving the boat and seemed so excited to be able to give us this incredible experience!
The ride took about 20 minutes and they drove the boat right up onto the beach so that we were able to walk off (with the help of the captain -- the plank from the stairs to the beach was a little wobbly).
We spent the next couple of hours swimming around and then climbing back up onto the boat (which was pushed out into the water -- tied to the beach for bringing it back in later) and either sliding down the waterslide at the back or jumping off the side (of the top deck -- HIGH!) into the water below. Good thing the water gets deep quickly out here :)
The captain and first mate then made us an AMAZING BBQ dinner -- tomato/cucumber salad, fresh bread and several variations of pork! We had a big cake to celebrate Julie's birthday too! Fun times!!
After swimming and BBQ-ing we played a few games (we passed an orange from person to person via the neck and, in the same fashion, we passed a cucumber from person to person via the thighs/knees. If we weren't comfortable with each other before... we should be now!
What else? Rocks!! I collected a bunch of rocks between swimming and games and eating... I still need to pick up a container to store 'em in so that I can start drinking out of my Nalgene bottle again (which is their temporary container until I get something else).
On the way back we had a bit of dance party on the top floor of the boat -- there was a Finnish tourist who had joined us for the trip (as well as a family from England, I think) and he certainly seemed to be enjoying himself with all the girls. He chased Amanda for a bit at first and then moved around to everyone else after he determined that she wasn't interested in dancing. He stood by the stairs when we arrived back at the harbour and proceeded to give everyone hugs goodbye so I grabbed Michelle when it was my turn and our hug became a group-hug instead. This, apparently, did not deter him -- he kissed both our cheeks and then moved on to whoever was behind us. Yeesh.
So that was Saturday...
Sunday was slower (whew) and Monday was our first day of actual excavation!!!
We spent most of the day measuring elevations, taking notes, and photographing the site before FINALLY using the last hour to DIG! Taking elevations is sometimes a little tricky...
Michelle, Leesa and I didn't do much excavation but we did shovel away some of the dirt that was being dug up by group three. While cleaning, we found some bones in the dirt (that was the day I found a knee cap) SO...
On Monday, Michelle and I ended up working on a small area (she wrote about it below, so I won't go into too many details...) for the whole time. It was only a small area but because the bones we were finding were just little fragments, it took us quite a while to finish it up. As meticulous as it was, I had so much fun!!
Today is Wednesday and we started the day off cleaning up the debris being dug up in our new trench -- Trench V -- but Michelle and I swapped in for the afternoon and spent a few hours "articulating" pebbles. Cassandra had dug through most of the top soil so our job was to clean up the area below -- taking away any clay and then sweeping so that when a picture is taken of the trench, it is easy to spot the pebbly area that Cassandra will start excavating tomorrow.
Sounds like Michelle and I will be moved, with Simon and a few others, to a more permanent place in Trench VI tomorrow! Woot! Finger are crossed -- let's hope we find a burial to excavate!
PS -- we found our FOURTH scorpion today! Gah!! I did get a picture before we killed it though...
PPS -- We are visited everyday between 8:30am-9am by a huge herd (flock?) of goats.
On Saturday we were treated to a boat ride on a glass-bottom boat to a bea-u-tiful beach that is only accessible from the water! The captain and first mate were fabulous. They let us take turns driving the boat and seemed so excited to be able to give us this incredible experience!
The ride took about 20 minutes and they drove the boat right up onto the beach so that we were able to walk off (with the help of the captain -- the plank from the stairs to the beach was a little wobbly).
We spent the next couple of hours swimming around and then climbing back up onto the boat (which was pushed out into the water -- tied to the beach for bringing it back in later) and either sliding down the waterslide at the back or jumping off the side (of the top deck -- HIGH!) into the water below. Good thing the water gets deep quickly out here :)
The captain and first mate then made us an AMAZING BBQ dinner -- tomato/cucumber salad, fresh bread and several variations of pork! We had a big cake to celebrate Julie's birthday too! Fun times!!
After swimming and BBQ-ing we played a few games (we passed an orange from person to person via the neck and, in the same fashion, we passed a cucumber from person to person via the thighs/knees. If we weren't comfortable with each other before... we should be now!
What else? Rocks!! I collected a bunch of rocks between swimming and games and eating... I still need to pick up a container to store 'em in so that I can start drinking out of my Nalgene bottle again (which is their temporary container until I get something else).
On the way back we had a bit of dance party on the top floor of the boat -- there was a Finnish tourist who had joined us for the trip (as well as a family from England, I think) and he certainly seemed to be enjoying himself with all the girls. He chased Amanda for a bit at first and then moved around to everyone else after he determined that she wasn't interested in dancing. He stood by the stairs when we arrived back at the harbour and proceeded to give everyone hugs goodbye so I grabbed Michelle when it was my turn and our hug became a group-hug instead. This, apparently, did not deter him -- he kissed both our cheeks and then moved on to whoever was behind us. Yeesh.
So that was Saturday...
Sunday was slower (whew) and Monday was our first day of actual excavation!!!
We spent most of the day measuring elevations, taking notes, and photographing the site before FINALLY using the last hour to DIG! Taking elevations is sometimes a little tricky...
these guys are watching the awkward elevation measuring taking place in the picture above...
Michelle, Leesa and I didn't do much excavation but we did shovel away some of the dirt that was being dug up by group three. While cleaning, we found some bones in the dirt (that was the day I found a knee cap) SO...
On Monday, Michelle and I ended up working on a small area (she wrote about it below, so I won't go into too many details...) for the whole time. It was only a small area but because the bones we were finding were just little fragments, it took us quite a while to finish it up. As meticulous as it was, I had so much fun!!
Today is Wednesday and we started the day off cleaning up the debris being dug up in our new trench -- Trench V -- but Michelle and I swapped in for the afternoon and spent a few hours "articulating" pebbles. Cassandra had dug through most of the top soil so our job was to clean up the area below -- taking away any clay and then sweeping so that when a picture is taken of the trench, it is easy to spot the pebbly area that Cassandra will start excavating tomorrow.
Sounds like Michelle and I will be moved, with Simon and a few others, to a more permanent place in Trench VI tomorrow! Woot! Finger are crossed -- let's hope we find a burial to excavate!
PS -- we found our FOURTH scorpion today! Gah!! I did get a picture before we killed it though...
PPS -- We are visited everyday between 8:30am-9am by a huge herd (flock?) of goats.
Πορος continued...
Actually, the rest of this post is about Assos and Fiscardo!
On our way to Assos (last Friday), we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of Myrtos Beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Greece! There's a book or something that says so.
We all wanted to stop but didn't have time so Geoffrey talked to Vasillis (our bus-driver) and he said that he might take whoever wants to go this coming weekend for a few hours. Woot!!!
Assos was BEAUTIFUL! It's such a quaint little town. There's a big hill that's sort of separated from the town by a tiny bit of land and on the top of that hill is a huge castle! Not huge for a castle, but definitely quite large for a castle on an island. It took those of us who went up about 20-25 minutes to walk to the entrance at the top of the hill (it was SO hot and there was almost NO shade between the start of the path and the end!!!) It was worth it though - I'd never seen a castle before!
After the hike down from the castle I was STARVING. I went to the cafe that others (who hadn't hiked up to the castle) said was the cheapest. I'm quickly learning that a bit of friendliness (aka flirting) goes a long way here. I ordered the same thing that Michelle and Leesa had paid €5 for and, after making some conversation while I waited, was only charged €4! The girls were filling up water bottles in the bathroom and said the water was a bit salty so I asked the same server if there was tap water available in the kitchen. He said yes and brought me back a 1.5L BOTTLE. I waved it away and said that tap water would be fine but he said it wasn't very good SO I asked how much the bottle would cost me. He thought for a minute and decided, "For you? Nothing!"
So. I'm definitely a fan of Greek hospitality :)
Next stop was Fiscardo!
There wasn't too much to see there -- we were supposed to be checking out the style of buildings that were more "historic" to get a better idea of what the island's structures used to look like buuut it was difficult to determine which buildings were the historic ones and which were more modern. When you could tell that it was older, it was often hard to really SEE it because it's a very touristy area and the fronts of the buildings are all little shops and things.
In any case, it was a wonderful day! Definitely glad that we did Assos and Fiscardo on a different day that Argostoli though!
More adventures followed this past weekend and even into this week... will post about those soon!!
On our way to Assos (last Friday), we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of Myrtos Beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Greece! There's a book or something that says so.
We all wanted to stop but didn't have time so Geoffrey talked to Vasillis (our bus-driver) and he said that he might take whoever wants to go this coming weekend for a few hours. Woot!!!
Assos was BEAUTIFUL! It's such a quaint little town. There's a big hill that's sort of separated from the town by a tiny bit of land and on the top of that hill is a huge castle! Not huge for a castle, but definitely quite large for a castle on an island. It took those of us who went up about 20-25 minutes to walk to the entrance at the top of the hill (it was SO hot and there was almost NO shade between the start of the path and the end!!!) It was worth it though - I'd never seen a castle before!
After the hike down from the castle I was STARVING. I went to the cafe that others (who hadn't hiked up to the castle) said was the cheapest. I'm quickly learning that a bit of friendliness (aka flirting) goes a long way here. I ordered the same thing that Michelle and Leesa had paid €5 for and, after making some conversation while I waited, was only charged €4! The girls were filling up water bottles in the bathroom and said the water was a bit salty so I asked the same server if there was tap water available in the kitchen. He said yes and brought me back a 1.5L BOTTLE. I waved it away and said that tap water would be fine but he said it wasn't very good SO I asked how much the bottle would cost me. He thought for a minute and decided, "For you? Nothing!"
So. I'm definitely a fan of Greek hospitality :)
Next stop was Fiscardo!
There wasn't too much to see there -- we were supposed to be checking out the style of buildings that were more "historic" to get a better idea of what the island's structures used to look like buuut it was difficult to determine which buildings were the historic ones and which were more modern. When you could tell that it was older, it was often hard to really SEE it because it's a very touristy area and the fronts of the buildings are all little shops and things.
In any case, it was a wonderful day! Definitely glad that we did Assos and Fiscardo on a different day that Argostoli though!
More adventures followed this past weekend and even into this week... will post about those soon!!
Meticulous Work
I was covered in dirt, covered. A dirt tan if you will. In my nose, in my ears, in my eyes, and in my mouth too. Bleh. Good thing the shower at least dribbled, other wise, my computer would have dirt in it.
Now that that’s over with. What a great day! I’m super tired but today Geoffrey thought me and Shannon did a wonderful job, exposing a layer of rocks through clay and roots and stuff. Picture perfect. Using pick axes and trowels and little tiny brooms we dug through the dirt carefully picking out bits of pottery and a few bone pieces. Vicky and Rebecca found a new Pythos burial in the trench that was built yesterday! This was right next to were Shannon and I were clearing that other layer of dirt and rock. Hopefully by next week me, Shannon and Simon will be able to start digging in Trench 5. I also got to watch/help Geoffrey do a little diagram of the clay deposit that was uncovered above the layer we dug to, by Cassandra and Vicky. At 5:30pm today we have Greek class and...I’m not sure what we are learning, Stella is very vague. We had homework though, changing the lowercase words to all uppercase and vice versa. It was very thrilling. -.-
Now to drink some tea! Mmmm MMmmm Good!
P.S. *wispers* The goats are coming.... Between 8:30-9:30am. Everyday...
Now that that’s over with. What a great day! I’m super tired but today Geoffrey thought me and Shannon did a wonderful job, exposing a layer of rocks through clay and roots and stuff. Picture perfect. Using pick axes and trowels and little tiny brooms we dug through the dirt carefully picking out bits of pottery and a few bone pieces. Vicky and Rebecca found a new Pythos burial in the trench that was built yesterday! This was right next to were Shannon and I were clearing that other layer of dirt and rock. Hopefully by next week me, Shannon and Simon will be able to start digging in Trench 5. I also got to watch/help Geoffrey do a little diagram of the clay deposit that was uncovered above the layer we dug to, by Cassandra and Vicky. At 5:30pm today we have Greek class and...I’m not sure what we are learning, Stella is very vague. We had homework though, changing the lowercase words to all uppercase and vice versa. It was very thrilling. -.-
Now to drink some tea! Mmmm MMmmm Good!
P.S. *wispers* The goats are coming.... Between 8:30-9:30am. Everyday...
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Digging
So today and yesterday were pretty much the same day, dig-wise anyway. Lots of waiting, more waiting and also listening to Geoffrey dictate the Preface to Our 2009 season, which is required for our end of term paper on our findings. But once we did start digging yesterday (with like and hour to spare) we found a third metatarsal! and then parts of the rest of the foot and maybe some fingers today. Apparently, well there are two burials in this area. First Burial A4 (I think) is just above burial A3 and the bones we found were in between the two. It's hard to explain without a picture, we shall try. After Burial A4, was completed, then new Burial A3, just below the bones we found, partially cut Burial A4 order to complete the burial, but Burial A4 was re-dug in order to reuse the grave and ended up cutting into Burial A3. Or something like that. Very confusing, with the stratigraphy and all. Shannon and I worked in this small area (the one i just talked about) of about 1'x1' (its supposed to be cm but :P) for almost the whole time, there were so many teeny tiny fragments it was crazy meticulous, and so fun! XD We also opened a new trench (well not me, Simon, Pericles, Vicky, Casandra, Rebecca, and Amanda).
Other than that, after we got back I did a little shopping, read Eclipse on the beach (and no, it did not enhance the romance of the book because there is none) got treated to Pantelis! Hooplah! for economical leftovers! And discounts! And soon I will be watching Firefly! Go Simon!!!
New Greek Phrase: Τι Κανες; Πολι Καλα! - (How are you? Very well!)
Other than that, after we got back I did a little shopping, read Eclipse on the beach (and no, it did not enhance the romance of the book because there is none) got treated to Pantelis! Hooplah! for economical leftovers! And discounts! And soon I will be watching Firefly! Go Simon!!!
New Greek Phrase: Τι Κανες; Πολι Καλα! - (How are you? Very well!)
Monday, September 21, 2009
More Pictures! Field Trip #1 and our Glass Bottom Boat Adventure!
Field Trip #1 to Argostoli (the capitol city of Kefalonia), Assos (they've got a castle!), and Fiscardo (the only town on the island that wasn't destroyed in the earthquake of 1953!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622418086138/show/
A local captain hosted us on his glass bottom boat on Saturday late afternoon thru early evening -- free of charge! He took us about 20-min away to a beautiful beach only accessible by boat and fed us an incredible BBQ while we were there!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622293502033/show/
As always -- see comments about each photo by clicking on "show info" on the top right corner of the slideshow screen!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622418086138/show/
A local captain hosted us on his glass bottom boat on Saturday late afternoon thru early evening -- free of charge! He took us about 20-min away to a beautiful beach only accessible by boat and fed us an incredible BBQ while we were there!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622293502033/show/
As always -- see comments about each photo by clicking on "show info" on the top right corner of the slideshow screen!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Pictures of Poros and Pronnoi!
Check out some pictures of Poros and Pronnoi -- Pronnoi doesn't actually exist anymore; it's the ancient city-state where we're excavating.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622292520407/show/
Don't forget to click on "show info" on the top right corner in the slideshow to read the titles and information about what the pictures are of!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622292520407/show/
Don't forget to click on "show info" on the top right corner in the slideshow to read the titles and information about what the pictures are of!
The Hefty One.
*stretches* I guess that was a pretty good sleep, bed was hard but I slept right through.
After we went to the Acropolis Museum we went back to the hotel for about an hour and then about 17 of us went to The Hill of the Muses for sunset/night shots of Athens. It was totally spectacular there was this winding path leading up the hill and then on the top this monument which was like half a wall with a statue (I’m guessing of a muse) and a straight on view of the whole Acropolis site it lit up after dark was so great! Then after (by this point there were only a few of us left) we headed back to the hotel to go to Strophies. The view from the restaurant was amazing! All Acropolis, all the time. The food, despite Geoffrey’s ravings, wasn’t fantastic but good enough to fill me up. After there was just lots of sleeping! Untill 8 the next day -.- Ugg earliness.
The next morning we visited the South Slope of the Acropolis which is like the entertainment district of the ancients. Theater of Dionysus was pretty sweet, we could only walk on a certain row of seats, but you could see the back of the stage with all the carvings and the “high class” chairs were still mostly intact. After we headed to the Roman Agora, or city center of Athens, which had a “House of Simon” and we made him (the real Simon) pose, also museum full of angsty guards and of course the HUGE, most intact temple in Athens *drumroll* the Temple of Athens and Hephaestus. Which was spectacular, no statues which I really love, but still an almost perfect condition temple is rare. Also Socrates walked there, seriously awesome.Next was the National Museum which I wish we had more time in, but I got a lot of pictures. Most exciting was the first part where we got to see the Mask of Agamemnon! :D Soooooo cooool. Tru Dat. We had to rush through the classical statues *sigh* but it was still worth it. Bought lots of souvenirs in the gift shop though since they were not 3,300 euroes, but only 33. Haha. Took us (me, Leesa and Amanda) forever to decide what to buy but eventually settled on stuff for 100 or below (that’s me!) I wouldn't reveal what we bought in case they are for presents ;)From the National Museum we took the metro to....this hill (see below) I can’t remember the name i’m sorry. On the way though Geoffrey got pick pocketed! We were getting on the metro train being pushed in by al these other people, so me and Leesa went in the other door. But, as the next stop came we heard Shannon yell to us to get off, so a little confused we did and then saw Geoffrey yell something in Greek and push this dude, almost in the throat, with his arm and then got off the train. Oh, he was so upset and repressing it. I mean he was really good about it but this happened even after he lost his camera bag (which he found, thank goodness it had his passport in it to). What an unlucky day eh? So when that was all over with, we parted ways; me, Shannon, Katie and Rebecca to the top of the hugest hill in Athens (about a 30 min walk, including the massive set of stairs to get to the base of the mountain) which was nice but it was cloudy and not as breathtaking as the Hill of the Muses night. I think there was some alter of some Saint man, with a big bell, and a cafe! Which looked very pricey so we didn’t go.
The next day we headed to Poros! It was a looooong looong drive from Athens to Killini (I think) the port for our ferry, which according to Geoffrey was “very similar to the ferries in Vancouver”, only it about 100 times nicer. Arriving at about 7ish we settled into our apartments and prepared for our welcome dinner at Pantelis, where we get discounts! XDFor the next three days we all spent our time mostly on the beach, shopping for food supplies and pretty much doing nothing.
The week didn’t start to get interesting until wednesday, our first day of digging! It’s about a 30 minute drive from our hotel to the site, through windy roads and very precarious corners of cliff edges! I mean, seriously steep, like nothing in the rockies you could ever imagine. Simply amazing. Once we all arrived, trying not to fall off the edges of the road Geoffrey gave us a tour of the site, basic this is here, and this is this old kinda logistic stuff. Then there was much sitting while he, Yuria, and Odysseus (and yes, I’m dead serious his name is Odysseus, it’s freaking awesome. He’s the representative to the Archaeology society in Athens watching us. Coincidence, I think not!) made plans for the day. We didn’t end up doing anything exciting, just clearing the site and preparing it for excavating the next day! Which we didn’t do. Because it rained, a lot. So as a group we decided to go to Argastoli to go North American shopping! We didn’t get a huge chunk of time IN the city to shop (I wanted a dress, everyone else does and I feel lonely being like the only one) in fact I think we had more time at the “super market” (not) than in the city. The museum wasn’t anything to jump up for joy about either. I am glad we went on friday because we were supposed to do both Fiscardo and Argastoli in one day, but that would have been going around the entire island in one day which would have been mostly bus and just ridiculous.
I’m almost caught up, and I promise the posts will get shorter. So on friday the 18th, we went to Fiscardo and Assos. It’s about an hour and half through windy roads and little towns to Assos, a the cute not overly touristy town attached to this land growth which housed a Medieval castle used to protect certain cities from the pirates which used attack Kefalonia on a regular basis. Me, Leesa, Amanda and few others didn’t walk to the top which I am kinda glad about because the city was cute and the castle wasn’t as spectacular as Geoffrey and Heti (the Greece side organizer of our trip) convinced us it was. Equally disappointing was Fiscardo, the Northern most town of Kefalonia. It was supposedly the only town which survived the 1953 earthquake (8.9 Richter, holy crapola right?) and was supposed to have all this cool old architecture, and a Roman Odeon. Ha! a likely story to reel in suckers like us. It was really touristy, and there was almost no old architecture and the Odeon was like one seat. So I think most of us were pretty disappointed especially because the weather was perfect for fabulous pictures! Gah! You know what I dislike very much? People taking pictures of me while I sleep! You know who you are! *leery eyes and pointy fingers* This was the story of the bus ride back, it was only one picture, but certainly not a glamourous one. I think I will only fake sleep on the bus from now on, and keep the element of surprise in reserve for a special occasion...This is the last part which I have not wrote about, and guess what? It only happened yesterday which means…I'm all caught up! Huzah! *dances like at the end of zelda*
Yesterday (whoo!) at about 4pm we got to take/drive a glass bottom boat to this little beach only accessible by boat to have a grand Greek Barbecue with cucumber girl to boy passing and all! And yes, it really is the dirty thing your thinking. Remember that orange game we played in elementary school? Like that...but lower. So after swiming, and finding cool rocks, and stuffing our faces full of free food we headed back to the harbor in Poros, having a dancing party on the boat. When we arrived me and Shannon received a kiss on the cheek from a very friendly Finnish tourist on our trip and we decided to go to the bar in Poros. I was back and forth for the longest time deciding to go or not go. Luckly when they all were making their way down past the common room, upset that I didn’t want to go, Brayden dragged me over the balcony and carried me part of the way down the hill, so I went. And I had a ton of fun! Dancing at a bar, which we rearranged to be able to dance. I don’t usually drink a ton but I did have a few Smirnoffs and a cinnamon shot, which was very very tasty. Leesa gained a creepy stalker Greek man (who was definitely not 27 O.o) who wasn’t really harmless, just buzzed up a bit. I didn’t really like it, and would have left if that happened to me. We left at about 2ish and I hit the hay at about 2:30am; the latest I’ve stayed up in Poros so far. I think that’s it!
And today, I wrote this, and slept in and now I’m going to go make my peroges (maybe) and potatoes with oregano, basil, olive oil and le lemon. Nummy!
Oh by the way, we have a Harry Potter House Sorting Hat count!
Gryffindor: Myself, Amanda, Mike, Rebecca.
Hufflepuff: Leesa, Cassandra, Shannon.
Ravenclaw: Nela.
Slytherin: Simon.
There is more, I just can't remember now.
Vasillis Dancing at the Mayor's Hotel
This is a video of Vasillis (our anarchist bus driver - not sure on the spelling) dancing at the welcome party the mayor threw for us last week at his hotel in Skala...
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Pictures of Athens!
Check 'em out! Be sure to click "show info" on the top right corner of the screen to see the names of pictures and any comments that I included to fill in the details!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622398631228/show/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622398631228/show/
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Πορος!
Poros! That's the name of the town where we'll be living from the start of the last week until the end of November!
It's a tiny town on the island of Kefalonia -- one of the Ionian Islands located south-west of mainland Greece. The people here are sooooo friendly!
We get discounts at several of the restaurants and at least one of the three small supermarkets gives us small discounts or free goodies almost every time any of us make purchases simply because they're all almost as excited that we're here as we are to be here!!
We arrived on Friday evening (Sept. 11) and had dinner at Pantelis -- this has become THE hang-out because the food is fabulous, Pantelis (the guy who owns it and who I've come to believe NEVER leaves) and the rest of the 'help' (his mom...) are super friendly, and... they have wireless Internet and oodles of plug-in places all over! Plus, because we all spend so much time here, they don't mind if you sneak some free Internet once in a while when you're not hungry (or don't have the money) to buy something.
Oh. And the ice cream is also the best in town. I had some chocolate-banana tonight while Interneting before bed.
ANYWAY.
So we ate here for dinner on Friday night and for breakfast on Monday morning. After that, Hetti, who is very involved in the planning and organizing on the Greece end of the getting our program running and whose husband was the mayor here until he retired just a year or two ago, gave us a quick tour. Quick because the town is small; it only takes about 20 minutes to walk through all of it.
Then most of grabbed some groceries and headed straight for the beach!
We spent most of the rest of the weekend on the beach...
Then on Monday and Tuesday from 10am - 1pm (ish), Geoffrey (our prof and guide and translator, etc.) gave us some background and instruction in preparation for the dig which officially started yesterday!
I feel like other things happened over the course of the weekend... But really, I think we did just spend most of our time on the beach! Or sending e-mails and skyping home to tell everyone about how beautiful it is here!
On Monday NIGHT we experience just a little more of the kindness of this tiny town when the mayor threw a party in OUR HONOUR at his hotel in Skala (the next town over). This party included a buffet dinner and an open bar -- for 19 university students! Crazy! We were also allowed to make use of his incredible pool but sadly, none of us brought swimsuits (except Amanda, who didn't go swimming because obviously no one else was up for joining her...)
The night also inluded some live music and lots of dancing! It was both hilarious and FUN! Thalia (Pantelis' wife who works for the municipality) and Yuria (who is one of the other 'real' archaeologists working with us on site) taught us some Greek dance moves -- I'll post some pictures and maybe even some videos as soon as I can!
In any case, I learned something about Greece... They don't measure alcohol here. It's all free poured. Generously. I was definitely feeling it a little by the time we headed home. I was feeling a little more back to myself once we got back to our hotel and decided to join a few of the others for some night-time swimming in the sea and it was SO perfect! I can't get over how WARM the water is here! Soooo good.
Wednesday... was our first day on site!
I felt nausiated by the time we got to the site but it wasn't because of motion sickness (though it definitely could have been!) but rather because of my fear of heights (and edges of cliffs) and how close we CONSTANTLY were to DRIVING OFF OF ONE. Gah. Not a fan of these narrow winding roads with no barriers. Especially in big buses. With large windows. *shudder*
Once we recovered from our bus ride to the site we worked hard to clean it up! Lots of moving rocks and sweeping... it was so incredible to see the difference between what it looked like when we arrived and what it looked like when we finished! I'm so excited to begin excavating!!
We were supposed to begin our excavations today buuut... it rained. We were able to measure the absolute elevations for the site and then it started pouring. The rain won't always mean that we have to pack it all in but a more real concern is lightning (we're working on the top of a rocky mountain, completely exposed and with a bunch of metal tools...) and there was a lot of thundering and lightning going on leading up to the downpour. SO. First day of excavation... we didn't actually do any excavating. *sad face*
We did, however, decide to split up the "field trip" that we had planned for Friday. On Friday we were to go to Argostoli (capitol city of Kefalonia) and check out the museum as well as the giant supermarket (cheaper than Poros and with more selection). It was also the place where we could pick up other odds and ends that we'd all forgotten at home. Poros, being the tiny town that it is, doesn't tend to carry things like headsets. Headsets (with microphones) are pretty much a must-have here for those of us using skype to keep in touch with family and friends (and boyfriends) back home.
After Argostoli, the plan was to visit Assos and Fiskardo -- Assos to see the town because it's beautiful and also to visit the HUGE castle on a hill that was built as a defense against pirates and foreigners back when they used to frequent (and raid) the island on a regular basis. Apparently the most frequent course of action was to kidnap a bunch of people, keep 'em on a boat off shore, and demand ransom money from those remaining on the island in exchange for the return of the hostages. Fiskardo because it was the ONLY town on the island that escaped destruction in the 1950's when Kefalonia was hit by a really big earthquake (rated 8 point something on the richter scale).
ANYWAY.
We decided that since Friday would otherwise be a LONG day, we would do Argostoli on Thursday (since we'd been rained and lightning-ed out of digging) and Assos/Fiskardo on their own on Friday.
To be continued...
It's a tiny town on the island of Kefalonia -- one of the Ionian Islands located south-west of mainland Greece. The people here are sooooo friendly!
We get discounts at several of the restaurants and at least one of the three small supermarkets gives us small discounts or free goodies almost every time any of us make purchases simply because they're all almost as excited that we're here as we are to be here!!
We arrived on Friday evening (Sept. 11) and had dinner at Pantelis -- this has become THE hang-out because the food is fabulous, Pantelis (the guy who owns it and who I've come to believe NEVER leaves) and the rest of the 'help' (his mom...) are super friendly, and... they have wireless Internet and oodles of plug-in places all over! Plus, because we all spend so much time here, they don't mind if you sneak some free Internet once in a while when you're not hungry (or don't have the money) to buy something.
Oh. And the ice cream is also the best in town. I had some chocolate-banana tonight while Interneting before bed.
ANYWAY.
So we ate here for dinner on Friday night and for breakfast on Monday morning. After that, Hetti, who is very involved in the planning and organizing on the Greece end of the getting our program running and whose husband was the mayor here until he retired just a year or two ago, gave us a quick tour. Quick because the town is small; it only takes about 20 minutes to walk through all of it.
Then most of grabbed some groceries and headed straight for the beach!
We spent most of the rest of the weekend on the beach...
Then on Monday and Tuesday from 10am - 1pm (ish), Geoffrey (our prof and guide and translator, etc.) gave us some background and instruction in preparation for the dig which officially started yesterday!
I feel like other things happened over the course of the weekend... But really, I think we did just spend most of our time on the beach! Or sending e-mails and skyping home to tell everyone about how beautiful it is here!
On Monday NIGHT we experience just a little more of the kindness of this tiny town when the mayor threw a party in OUR HONOUR at his hotel in Skala (the next town over). This party included a buffet dinner and an open bar -- for 19 university students! Crazy! We were also allowed to make use of his incredible pool but sadly, none of us brought swimsuits (except Amanda, who didn't go swimming because obviously no one else was up for joining her...)
The night also inluded some live music and lots of dancing! It was both hilarious and FUN! Thalia (Pantelis' wife who works for the municipality) and Yuria (who is one of the other 'real' archaeologists working with us on site) taught us some Greek dance moves -- I'll post some pictures and maybe even some videos as soon as I can!
In any case, I learned something about Greece... They don't measure alcohol here. It's all free poured. Generously. I was definitely feeling it a little by the time we headed home. I was feeling a little more back to myself once we got back to our hotel and decided to join a few of the others for some night-time swimming in the sea and it was SO perfect! I can't get over how WARM the water is here! Soooo good.
Wednesday... was our first day on site!
I felt nausiated by the time we got to the site but it wasn't because of motion sickness (though it definitely could have been!) but rather because of my fear of heights (and edges of cliffs) and how close we CONSTANTLY were to DRIVING OFF OF ONE. Gah. Not a fan of these narrow winding roads with no barriers. Especially in big buses. With large windows. *shudder*
Once we recovered from our bus ride to the site we worked hard to clean it up! Lots of moving rocks and sweeping... it was so incredible to see the difference between what it looked like when we arrived and what it looked like when we finished! I'm so excited to begin excavating!!
We were supposed to begin our excavations today buuut... it rained. We were able to measure the absolute elevations for the site and then it started pouring. The rain won't always mean that we have to pack it all in but a more real concern is lightning (we're working on the top of a rocky mountain, completely exposed and with a bunch of metal tools...) and there was a lot of thundering and lightning going on leading up to the downpour. SO. First day of excavation... we didn't actually do any excavating. *sad face*
We did, however, decide to split up the "field trip" that we had planned for Friday. On Friday we were to go to Argostoli (capitol city of Kefalonia) and check out the museum as well as the giant supermarket (cheaper than Poros and with more selection). It was also the place where we could pick up other odds and ends that we'd all forgotten at home. Poros, being the tiny town that it is, doesn't tend to carry things like headsets. Headsets (with microphones) are pretty much a must-have here for those of us using skype to keep in touch with family and friends (and boyfriends) back home.
After Argostoli, the plan was to visit Assos and Fiskardo -- Assos to see the town because it's beautiful and also to visit the HUGE castle on a hill that was built as a defense against pirates and foreigners back when they used to frequent (and raid) the island on a regular basis. Apparently the most frequent course of action was to kidnap a bunch of people, keep 'em on a boat off shore, and demand ransom money from those remaining on the island in exchange for the return of the hostages. Fiskardo because it was the ONLY town on the island that escaped destruction in the 1950's when Kefalonia was hit by a really big earthquake (rated 8 point something on the richter scale).
ANYWAY.
We decided that since Friday would otherwise be a LONG day, we would do Argostoli on Thursday (since we'd been rained and lightning-ed out of digging) and Assos/Fiskardo on their own on Friday.
To be continued...
Sunday, September 13, 2009
First Instalment
So here I am, sitting on my new Greek flag towel, my foldable beach mat and on the coast of the pebbly Ionian sea. I have no idea what time it is here or at home, which I’m thinking doesn’t matter so much right now. Unfortunately, that’s not entirely true. This was my intention (and I did beach lounge yesterday) I was just too lazy to bring my labtop to the beach today so really I’m on Shannon’s balcony overlooking the harbor.
It’s been a crazy week so far with mass confusion and more laughs this week than I’ve had than in any other period of time in my life. So i guess it’s a good time to recap! *ripply memory effect*
I did manage to have a relatively good sleep the night before I left, not sure if it was because of the Miki of Grey Goose me and Brandon drank (which honestly we were “supposed” to have one shot each per orange juice & vodka/lime and water and vodka but Brandon completely gave me more I just didn’t tell him because I knew he was proud of himself for trying to get me more drunk. Not sure if thats good or bad.) Irregardless, I slept surprisingly well. The day I left I don’t think I’ve ever been more panicked, running around the house because I was completely not ready to go, and I’m sure I was making Brandon feel terrible because of it. But, oh well I got it done and only forgot one adaptor plug (stupid grounder thingy!!).
I didn’t cry at the airport which was nice, but I sure as hell felt like it.
The trip there was an ORDEAL, you have no idea. YVR was fanatic as usual met everyone (Shannon, Amanda, Lessa, Simon, Neil and moi) safe and sound at Gate 64. Flight was good we did leave 20 mins late because some boozes decided to not go on the flight after all their luggage had been checked *shakes fist* . But, because of these boozes we were late to Heathrow, and with only an hour connection anyway, which is never a good thing. So after talking and fussing, and poking and prodding at the airline they finally decided...not to hold the plane for us. Uhhhgg. So they booked us on another airline, Olympic, for a 4:35pm causing us to wait for 5 hours. Horrible right? It gets better. So we went from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2 without a hitch to wait for our flight, but upon arriving at said Terminal the man who was supposed to give us our boarding passes informed us that we might not get our luggage on the Olympic flight because of some mixup between the numbers on the baggage from BA and those of Olympic. So back to Terminal 5 we went (which is about a 15 min trek through security and bus) to talk to BA about this mixup. Apparently though all the baggage numbers are interchangeable and the man “who has been working for the company for 17 years” didn’t know this. Again back to Terminal 5, including security, and getting rid of water, but this time with a hitch (Oh by the way we’d been at the airport for like 2 hours now during this ordeal). Shannon had gone through security the first time with all her medical supplies including contact lense solution just fine, the second time however the security was adamant about not letting it though which is silly just because they let it go the first time. Whatever we were pissed of enough at this point that, this was completely outrageous. Finally with about an hour or so before we had to board we ate food with our 10 pound vouchers that we demanded from British Air and flew off to Athens. I’m not even going to talk about the food on the flight, lets just say I like hot dogs and I like chicken, but I do not like it when chicken tastes like hotdogs and leave it at that.
On our first day in Athens we visited the Acropolis (of course) which was fantastic, and not deathly hot which was also fantastic. Then we headed to the Plaka for lunch where I had some nummy nummy strawberry sherbet and some chicken souvalaki in a pita which was really really good eats (tribute to Altdon Brown I <3>
And now, since I forgot my three prong plug, my battery is dying so I have to steal Amanda’ss so I can charge my labtop! More soon hopefully, I’ll catch up eventually.
Athens!
It's September 13th -- It's been almost 7 days since my last glimpses of Vancouver!
We're in Poros, Kefalonia now, all settled in and aquainted with the town (and the beach!)
Athens was stellar! Definitely wouldn't want to live there - it's not a very clean city - but it was soooo interesting and different and quaint!
The six of us who had travelled together on the flight I described in my last post arrived at our hotel around 12:30-12:45am. Michelle, Simon and I shared a taxi and after comparing prices with everyone else found that we'd been given a pretty good deal (about 38 euros, a lot of others paid closer to 40-45 or even 50!).
Geoffrey (our prof) was waiting up for us and welcomed us each with a hug and a huge sigh of relief. He let us call home with his phone card and offered to venture out to find us some food if we needed it. His friendliness was just what we all needed, I think.
I fell asleep as soon as (or maybe even before) my head hit the pillow and felt fairly well-rested by the time I had to get up for breakfast and head with the group to start our 2-day archaeological tour! We started by walking up to the Acropolis (pictures to come...) which was incredible (though crowded). I still can't believe that we were staying within a 10-minute walk from it! We were also within walking distance of everywhere else we went to other than the national museum on day 2.
After the Acropolis we went to the "Plaka" (market) for lunch and to grab a few souvenirs for those so inclined. After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the brand-new Acropolis Museum! No pictures of the inside of that because there were a few items on display that are still unpublished (how cool is that!?)
In the later afternoon, Michelle and I decided to walk up the "Hill of the Muses" which was right behind our hotel to get some sunset and night shots of the Acropolis. Much to our surprise, 16 or 17 of the 19 people in our group decided to join us! Fun times! I think this was one of the highlights for me... It was one of the first more low-key adventures that we've had. On our way down the hill, Michelle, Leesa, Amanada, Katie and I (who had stayed up at the top of the hill for a few minutes longer than the rest of the gang) met an American from Washington, DC who let me borrow his tripod to get a SWEET photo of the Acropolis after the sun went down.
In the evening, the six of us who had been stuck in Heathrow together (and Katie) decided to check out the restaurant that the group had eaten at the night before... Geoffrey's favourite. It was called "Strofi's" and it was definitely worth it! We ate on the roof (I don't know if an inside option even existed) and had a perfect view of the Acropolis. It was still warm enough to be wearing shorts and a t-shirt AND the food was fabulous too. I've decided that when buying groceries, I'm still going to avoid meat BUT when eating out, I'm not going to worry too much about it. The only option at Strofi's for vegetarians was the Greek salad sooo I opted for trying rooster and eggplant. Delicious!
Day two...
We started at 9am again and headed first to the Southern Slope of the Acropolis where we checked out the Theatre of Dionysus, an ancient road-way, an ancient burial site... a few other ancient things. Then we headed back through the Plaka, past a Roman something (I'll have to ask Geoffrey what it was called)... It was a type of monument anyway and at one point it had been hollowed out and made into a small library (where someone famous lived for a little while -- again, I'll have to check in with Geoffrey for these details. My head only holds so much information).
Part-way through the Plaka (maybe between Plakas?) we past Hadrian's Library! I love libraries...
Then we headed to the Agora (which in Antiquity was kind of like today's version of a downtown core)!
Aaahh! This was another highlight for me. We passed the house of Simon the cobbler (or so they think) Archaologists found shoe nails there which means that a cobbler lived there AND it was located right beside the political centre of the Agora; Plato writes that Socrates often used to philosophise at the house of Simon the cobbler which was located right next to the political centre since he wasn't allowed to philosophise in the Agora (sacred ground!)...
Anyway -- whether or not Socrates existed, Plato wrote about his activities, many of which took place in this Agora, which means that even if Socrates didn't wander around there, Plato certainly did! And me!! I wandered there too. How cool!!!!
After the Agora, we took a break for lunch and then went to check out the National Museum. Busy day! On our way home, however, Geoffrey was robbed on the subway! Gah!!
A few people had headed back early to the hotel but those of us who remained were going to head to one main subway stop and disperse from there (a few to go shopping and a few of us to hike up another large hill with another monument at the top...) ANYWAY. The plan was to hop on and get off in two stops and then we'd be given directions to our destinations at that point. There two were pushy guys (obviously, in hindsight, working together) who boarded the subway right after us and we were all surprised when Geoffrey instructed us to get off at the next stop (the first one) instead of the one we'd originally agreed on. We managed to spread the word to everyone in our group on that subway and we all hopped off.
Apparently a few of us (myself not included) had felt the thieves trying to get into pockets, but they'd been unsuccessful in getting anything from anyone other than Geoffrey who ended up having all the cash he'd been carrying disappear. He looked pretty stressed out (obviously) but kept himself well composed and continued to ensure that each of us knew where we were going, etc. CRAZY!! On the bright-ish side, at least we all know that pushy is not just a Greek thing and we'll all be more careful next time we experience something like that!
Michelle, Rebecca, Katie and I were the only ones interested in hiking up the hill at this point in time so we headed there together and, with the help of a Greek woman who showed us which street led to the hill from our metro station, we found our way to the top! (Lots of stairs and lots of cacti, but not nearly so bad as the Grouse Grind!).
The pictures from that hill aren't quite as good because it was kind of cloudy... Too bad because the hill was WAY higher than the one we went up on the first night!
We got back to our hotel around 8pm and hung out on the roof for a bit. I love that so many buildings in Greece have little roof-top hang outs with fabulous views and cute tables!
I went to bed early and set my alarm for six so I could watch the sunrise over the Acropolis... Unfortunately, it was cloudy in the morning. I did watch the clouds get brighter though! Then headed back to bed for another hour or two of sleep before breakfast and heading out to the van to meet our "Anarchist Bus Driver" and start the final leg of the journey to KEFALONIA!
And now we're here and we've been here for 2.5 days and it's beautiful and perfect and I love it. Will write more on what we've done since our arrival later. Much love!!
Shannon
We're in Poros, Kefalonia now, all settled in and aquainted with the town (and the beach!)
Athens was stellar! Definitely wouldn't want to live there - it's not a very clean city - but it was soooo interesting and different and quaint!
The six of us who had travelled together on the flight I described in my last post arrived at our hotel around 12:30-12:45am. Michelle, Simon and I shared a taxi and after comparing prices with everyone else found that we'd been given a pretty good deal (about 38 euros, a lot of others paid closer to 40-45 or even 50!).
Geoffrey (our prof) was waiting up for us and welcomed us each with a hug and a huge sigh of relief. He let us call home with his phone card and offered to venture out to find us some food if we needed it. His friendliness was just what we all needed, I think.
I fell asleep as soon as (or maybe even before) my head hit the pillow and felt fairly well-rested by the time I had to get up for breakfast and head with the group to start our 2-day archaeological tour! We started by walking up to the Acropolis (pictures to come...) which was incredible (though crowded). I still can't believe that we were staying within a 10-minute walk from it! We were also within walking distance of everywhere else we went to other than the national museum on day 2.
After the Acropolis we went to the "Plaka" (market) for lunch and to grab a few souvenirs for those so inclined. After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the brand-new Acropolis Museum! No pictures of the inside of that because there were a few items on display that are still unpublished (how cool is that!?)
In the later afternoon, Michelle and I decided to walk up the "Hill of the Muses" which was right behind our hotel to get some sunset and night shots of the Acropolis. Much to our surprise, 16 or 17 of the 19 people in our group decided to join us! Fun times! I think this was one of the highlights for me... It was one of the first more low-key adventures that we've had. On our way down the hill, Michelle, Leesa, Amanada, Katie and I (who had stayed up at the top of the hill for a few minutes longer than the rest of the gang) met an American from Washington, DC who let me borrow his tripod to get a SWEET photo of the Acropolis after the sun went down.
In the evening, the six of us who had been stuck in Heathrow together (and Katie) decided to check out the restaurant that the group had eaten at the night before... Geoffrey's favourite. It was called "Strofi's" and it was definitely worth it! We ate on the roof (I don't know if an inside option even existed) and had a perfect view of the Acropolis. It was still warm enough to be wearing shorts and a t-shirt AND the food was fabulous too. I've decided that when buying groceries, I'm still going to avoid meat BUT when eating out, I'm not going to worry too much about it. The only option at Strofi's for vegetarians was the Greek salad sooo I opted for trying rooster and eggplant. Delicious!
Day two...
We started at 9am again and headed first to the Southern Slope of the Acropolis where we checked out the Theatre of Dionysus, an ancient road-way, an ancient burial site... a few other ancient things. Then we headed back through the Plaka, past a Roman something (I'll have to ask Geoffrey what it was called)... It was a type of monument anyway and at one point it had been hollowed out and made into a small library (where someone famous lived for a little while -- again, I'll have to check in with Geoffrey for these details. My head only holds so much information).
Part-way through the Plaka (maybe between Plakas?) we past Hadrian's Library! I love libraries...
Then we headed to the Agora (which in Antiquity was kind of like today's version of a downtown core)!
Aaahh! This was another highlight for me. We passed the house of Simon the cobbler (or so they think) Archaologists found shoe nails there which means that a cobbler lived there AND it was located right beside the political centre of the Agora; Plato writes that Socrates often used to philosophise at the house of Simon the cobbler which was located right next to the political centre since he wasn't allowed to philosophise in the Agora (sacred ground!)...
Anyway -- whether or not Socrates existed, Plato wrote about his activities, many of which took place in this Agora, which means that even if Socrates didn't wander around there, Plato certainly did! And me!! I wandered there too. How cool!!!!
After the Agora, we took a break for lunch and then went to check out the National Museum. Busy day! On our way home, however, Geoffrey was robbed on the subway! Gah!!
A few people had headed back early to the hotel but those of us who remained were going to head to one main subway stop and disperse from there (a few to go shopping and a few of us to hike up another large hill with another monument at the top...) ANYWAY. The plan was to hop on and get off in two stops and then we'd be given directions to our destinations at that point. There two were pushy guys (obviously, in hindsight, working together) who boarded the subway right after us and we were all surprised when Geoffrey instructed us to get off at the next stop (the first one) instead of the one we'd originally agreed on. We managed to spread the word to everyone in our group on that subway and we all hopped off.
Apparently a few of us (myself not included) had felt the thieves trying to get into pockets, but they'd been unsuccessful in getting anything from anyone other than Geoffrey who ended up having all the cash he'd been carrying disappear. He looked pretty stressed out (obviously) but kept himself well composed and continued to ensure that each of us knew where we were going, etc. CRAZY!! On the bright-ish side, at least we all know that pushy is not just a Greek thing and we'll all be more careful next time we experience something like that!
Michelle, Rebecca, Katie and I were the only ones interested in hiking up the hill at this point in time so we headed there together and, with the help of a Greek woman who showed us which street led to the hill from our metro station, we found our way to the top! (Lots of stairs and lots of cacti, but not nearly so bad as the Grouse Grind!).
The pictures from that hill aren't quite as good because it was kind of cloudy... Too bad because the hill was WAY higher than the one we went up on the first night!
We got back to our hotel around 8pm and hung out on the roof for a bit. I love that so many buildings in Greece have little roof-top hang outs with fabulous views and cute tables!
I went to bed early and set my alarm for six so I could watch the sunrise over the Acropolis... Unfortunately, it was cloudy in the morning. I did watch the clouds get brighter though! Then headed back to bed for another hour or two of sleep before breakfast and heading out to the van to meet our "Anarchist Bus Driver" and start the final leg of the journey to KEFALONIA!
And now we're here and we've been here for 2.5 days and it's beautiful and perfect and I love it. Will write more on what we've done since our arrival later. Much love!!
Shannon
Friday, September 11, 2009
Group Shot!
(Click on the picture to see a larger version!)
In order from left to right (I think - apologies for spelling errors!):
Chelsea, Cat, Vicki, Nella, Gail, Julie, Rebecca, Cassandra, Katie, Simon, Leesa, Geoffrey (our Prof and tour guide!), Michelle, Michelle (yes, there are two of them), Michael, Amanda, Neil, Braden, Ginny, Me (Shannon)!
This is our ENTIRE group -- we're in front of the Temple of Hephaestus (which was actually most likely a temple for both Hephaestus AND Athena).
In order from left to right (I think - apologies for spelling errors!):
Chelsea, Cat, Vicki, Nella, Gail, Julie, Rebecca, Cassandra, Katie, Simon, Leesa, Geoffrey (our Prof and tour guide!), Michelle, Michelle (yes, there are two of them), Michael, Amanda, Neil, Braden, Ginny, Me (Shannon)!
This is our ENTIRE group -- we're in front of the Temple of Hephaestus (which was actually most likely a temple for both Hephaestus AND Athena).
En Route!
I’m not sure when this post will make its way to our blog because I’m typing in the air somewhere between Heathrow and Athens (I think we’re pretty close to Milan at the moment) but it’s been a crazy day and I figure that perhaps recounting for you the details of our (Amanda, Leesa, Michelle, Neil, Simon, and myself) adventures en route to Athens from Vancouver will help relieve some of my stress and hopefully others will be inclined to fill in the gaps or comment on the different ways that this journey has impacted them!
Our flight was scheduled to leave Vancouver around 5:45pm (Vancouver-time) and so, for me, the afternoon hours were filled with long hugs and copious amounts of tears. I’m excited and thrilled to be going to Greece for the semester – the going part is easy! – but it’s difficult to say goodbye to the people at home. I’ve never been good at leaving.
I was a little worried about getting through customs since I have a larger-than-normal carry-on bag filled with the medical stuff I need to stay alive in Greece for the next three months or so! Here's a picture of everything I am bringing to Greece -- the only bag being checked is the big black one:
My anxiety was completely unjustified, however, and customs in Vancouver was a breeze – as was boarding!
We all found each other at the gate and spent a few minutes chatting before splitting up again (we hadn’t managed to get seats together on the plane).
Our flight was delayed for about 20 minutes because two individuals had checked in and then decided last minute that they actually didn’t want to go to Heathrow. The airport staff were then obligated to remove their luggage from the plane and so the rest of us were stuck waiting – le sigh.
The delay that had at first seemed like only a slight annoyance eventually led to quite a bit more trouble, however, when we arrived at Heathrow and made it off the plane at 11:15am (London-time) only to discover that we were not going to be able to make our connecting flight to Athens. The gate for boarding our flight was closed at 11:30am. We probably could have made it only five minutes or so late (the flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 11:50am anyway) if the airport staff hadn’t had to deal with so much bureaucracy getting us through the fast track and to the appropriate gate but alas – at least 15 of us (six of us heading to Athens together and a few other passengers making the same trips for holidaying purposes) missed the connection because apparently British Airways staff are willing to delay an entire plane for twenty minutes to appease two people in Vancouver but are not willing to delay a similar plane for five minutes to appease 15 people in London...
On a more cheerful note, at least we were together. Time for some bonding!
We insisted on being booked onto an “Olympic Air” flight leaving at 4:30pm rather than waiting for the next British Airways flight (which wasn’t leaving ‘til 9pm) and were assured by the British Airways staff that our luggage would be safely transferred along with us on this new itinerary as long as we gave the Olympic Air people our luggage tags to ensure that it could still be tracked, etc.
We meandered our way to Terminal 2 from Terminal 5 without too much trouble, made it back through security and had only to pick up our boarding passes before we were going to be able to use the washroom, grab some food (they’d given us £10 food vouchers because we complained that we’d starve if they didn’t...), and unwind a bit before completing the final leg of our journey. The guy at the desk who was giving out boarding passes was quite concerned about our luggage and didn’t seem to think that British Airways could be trusted to safely deliver our luggage to the appropriate place unless they’d planned on re-tagging each bag and giving us new luggage tags with flight numbers and destinations associated with our new flight plans. He insisted that we go back through security and bus our way back to Terminal 5 to speak with British Airways again before continuing on...
So we followed his advice and were assured by British Airways people that our luggage would make it and that the guy we had spoken too had been misinformed or was simply an idiot. They never actually said that but it was more or less implied. In any case, tired and weary and deeply frustrated, we all headed back AGAIN to Terminal 2 where I got stuck at security (the SAME EXACT check-in point where I’d gone through only half an hour earlier) and was not allowed to bring my contact lens solution on the plane with me. Bah. Tears didn’t help (for once) and so I’m wearing glasses ‘til we get to Athens because I had to take them out and use the solution I could before they threw the rest of it in the garbage.
Apparently the entire staff at Heathrow switches over around noon because there was someone new at the Terminal 2 check-in point as well! She was MUCH more helpful than the guy we’d spoken with earlier and even walked into the terminal to find us half an hour after we’d arrived to assure us that the luggage stuff had been dealt with; she’d been able to confirm that all of our bags were, in fact, going to be on the same plane as we were. I will let you know if this is actually true when we get to Athens... It does look promising though!
And now... here we are. On a plane only half-full. Which makes for great sleeping arrangements – I managed to get in a good 1.5 hour nap sprawled across three seats before they came to serve what I imagine was supposed to be food...
And that’s where things are at. We’re all a little disappointed that we missed our big group dinner at Geoffrey’s (professor running the trip) favourite restaurant in Athens buuut I think we’re all pretty grateful for the fact that we weren’t alone to deal with all of the mishaps and craziness that ensued! Here we are together, enjoying a few minutes of peace and relaxin' in Heathrow:
Much love friends!
Shannon
----
EDIT: Upon our arrival in Athens we were disappointed to discover that Simon's main bag had NOT, in fact, arrived with us. It's Friday today (three days after we got here) and his bag arrived at our hotel at 6am this morning. We leave for Kefalonia at 11am. Whew!
Our flight was scheduled to leave Vancouver around 5:45pm (Vancouver-time) and so, for me, the afternoon hours were filled with long hugs and copious amounts of tears. I’m excited and thrilled to be going to Greece for the semester – the going part is easy! – but it’s difficult to say goodbye to the people at home. I’ve never been good at leaving.
I was a little worried about getting through customs since I have a larger-than-normal carry-on bag filled with the medical stuff I need to stay alive in Greece for the next three months or so! Here's a picture of everything I am bringing to Greece -- the only bag being checked is the big black one:
My anxiety was completely unjustified, however, and customs in Vancouver was a breeze – as was boarding!
We all found each other at the gate and spent a few minutes chatting before splitting up again (we hadn’t managed to get seats together on the plane).
Our flight was delayed for about 20 minutes because two individuals had checked in and then decided last minute that they actually didn’t want to go to Heathrow. The airport staff were then obligated to remove their luggage from the plane and so the rest of us were stuck waiting – le sigh.
The delay that had at first seemed like only a slight annoyance eventually led to quite a bit more trouble, however, when we arrived at Heathrow and made it off the plane at 11:15am (London-time) only to discover that we were not going to be able to make our connecting flight to Athens. The gate for boarding our flight was closed at 11:30am. We probably could have made it only five minutes or so late (the flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 11:50am anyway) if the airport staff hadn’t had to deal with so much bureaucracy getting us through the fast track and to the appropriate gate but alas – at least 15 of us (six of us heading to Athens together and a few other passengers making the same trips for holidaying purposes) missed the connection because apparently British Airways staff are willing to delay an entire plane for twenty minutes to appease two people in Vancouver but are not willing to delay a similar plane for five minutes to appease 15 people in London...
On a more cheerful note, at least we were together. Time for some bonding!
We insisted on being booked onto an “Olympic Air” flight leaving at 4:30pm rather than waiting for the next British Airways flight (which wasn’t leaving ‘til 9pm) and were assured by the British Airways staff that our luggage would be safely transferred along with us on this new itinerary as long as we gave the Olympic Air people our luggage tags to ensure that it could still be tracked, etc.
We meandered our way to Terminal 2 from Terminal 5 without too much trouble, made it back through security and had only to pick up our boarding passes before we were going to be able to use the washroom, grab some food (they’d given us £10 food vouchers because we complained that we’d starve if they didn’t...), and unwind a bit before completing the final leg of our journey. The guy at the desk who was giving out boarding passes was quite concerned about our luggage and didn’t seem to think that British Airways could be trusted to safely deliver our luggage to the appropriate place unless they’d planned on re-tagging each bag and giving us new luggage tags with flight numbers and destinations associated with our new flight plans. He insisted that we go back through security and bus our way back to Terminal 5 to speak with British Airways again before continuing on...
So we followed his advice and were assured by British Airways people that our luggage would make it and that the guy we had spoken too had been misinformed or was simply an idiot. They never actually said that but it was more or less implied. In any case, tired and weary and deeply frustrated, we all headed back AGAIN to Terminal 2 where I got stuck at security (the SAME EXACT check-in point where I’d gone through only half an hour earlier) and was not allowed to bring my contact lens solution on the plane with me. Bah. Tears didn’t help (for once) and so I’m wearing glasses ‘til we get to Athens because I had to take them out and use the solution I could before they threw the rest of it in the garbage.
Apparently the entire staff at Heathrow switches over around noon because there was someone new at the Terminal 2 check-in point as well! She was MUCH more helpful than the guy we’d spoken with earlier and even walked into the terminal to find us half an hour after we’d arrived to assure us that the luggage stuff had been dealt with; she’d been able to confirm that all of our bags were, in fact, going to be on the same plane as we were. I will let you know if this is actually true when we get to Athens... It does look promising though!
And now... here we are. On a plane only half-full. Which makes for great sleeping arrangements – I managed to get in a good 1.5 hour nap sprawled across three seats before they came to serve what I imagine was supposed to be food...
And that’s where things are at. We’re all a little disappointed that we missed our big group dinner at Geoffrey’s (professor running the trip) favourite restaurant in Athens buuut I think we’re all pretty grateful for the fact that we weren’t alone to deal with all of the mishaps and craziness that ensued! Here we are together, enjoying a few minutes of peace and relaxin' in Heathrow:
Much love friends!
Shannon
----
EDIT: Upon our arrival in Athens we were disappointed to discover that Simon's main bag had NOT, in fact, arrived with us. It's Friday today (three days after we got here) and his bag arrived at our hotel at 6am this morning. We leave for Kefalonia at 11am. Whew!
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