Sun, Sand and the Mediterranean

Athens is a city that never sleeps, at least it sounds that way to me. I refer to Athens generally but we are in fact 30 clicks south of the city in a suburb called Glyfada although comparing it to a North American suburb would be foolish. People here live cheek to jowl and there is no room to live (lebensraum) and there are certainly not the spacious backyards we are used to. Every available bit of land has been built up with apartments and life is lived on balconies from morning to night. Kids roam the streets till midnight just having fun and creating mayhem, and dogs, well I’m not sure what I can say about them except they simply never stop barking. Even with earplugs it’s been difficult to sleep. As was the case last year, I will adjust, it will just take a few days.

Our home (borrowed) is a bit rough at the moment. We still don’t have hot water in the apartment and showers are taken al fresco on a patio. We did finally score an air bed but with my bad luck (murphy’s law) the sucker leaks and it has to go back for an exchange. But hey, with my experience at our cabin roughing it is in my psyche. Tomorrow my sweetie is going in search of a washing machine. Last year I did our wash by hand for the whole 7 weeks and that is an experience not to be repeated this year.

Lest your think it’s all bad, rest assured there have been some great times already. My BIl has had us out on his boat twice and to say it is beautiful is an understatement. The sea is a wonderful green color and you can see right to the bottom. Jumping in off the back of the boat has to be the greatest thing to do. I just wish I could swim better and didn’t have a fear of drowning.






The time passes quickly and on Thursday I leave for 10 days in Berlin. Since I am a glutton for punishment, it's Olympic Airlines once again. It's a relatively short flight though so I'm not terribly worried. My cousin will drive from Greifswald, about three hours to meet me, we will tour Berlin a bit and then head back to my mother's birth place. I can't really describe how I feel about that right now, I'm sure with time the words will come, just not yet.

And, there has been knitting...

My next post will be from Germany...