Two Women Named Sophia

We have been officially adopted by them... They live in the apartment below us and have decided that we are in need of their help. They are grandmother and granddaughter and are probably the most unique personalities I have ever come across. They personify Greek hospitality in a way few can imagine.

From the very first day here they have brought us platters of food daily. The younger Sophia has helped Steve bring up the stove and install ceiling fixtures in our apartment. Steve isn’t crazy about doing electrical stuff at the best of times but the wiring here totally puzzled him.

We have been invited twice this week for dinner to their home where the elder Sophia sets a table that would put me to shame. The collection of guests has been eclectic and thus far we have met a captain for Royal Caribbean from Florida and his pretty young Belarus girlfriend who also works the ships. We have met an expat from Australia who I sensed regrets her decision to live here, various mothers’, grandmothers and aunts. It was an altogether amazing group of people.

We sit around on the patio eating, drinking and having great conversation. Most of the people speak excellent English and it’s been a lot of fun for me.

It is easy to understand why this country is seductive. The temperature as I sit here on the balcony today is a lovely 25c with a nice breeze. But it isn’t always this way. Yesterday the skies opened with a downpour the likes I haven’t seen in a long time. Because two of the mountains behind our house burned in the summer, there is nothing to hold back the water and as a result the streets turned into rivers with water up to the ankles. When it was over stones from the mountain was washed down to the streets. There is nothing to hold them back.

I have learned to be patient about getting things done. My brother in law would much rather be fishing than to help us get a refrigerator and it took two weeks to get the washing machine. There are little successes for me, yesterday I baked my first cake and because it is unlike Greek pastry I was hesitant to take it downstairs with me. I needn’t have worried; it was gobbled up in record time. My oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were also well received. Soon I will make a carrot cake and see how that goes over. I let them bring me food and I bring them cakes, fair trade…

Getting Sucked In - Slowly

Have you ever been newly in love and uttered the words “I’ll go anywhere you go”? Well I did many years ago, twenty five to be exact, and they are starting to come back to haunt me.

There is a lot of family pressure here in Greece for us to stay, to give up our live in Canada and a whole way of life that I have lived for almost 60 years. I’m a little surprised that Steve is even considering it truth be told but the fact that he has bought an apartment here tells me he is in fact considering it.

His brother is trying the soft sell on me just about daily. While picnicking on the beach for example, he throws out his arms and utters things like, you’ll never find this in Canada. Yeh so what, says I… you don’t have beautiful unburned forests and crystal clear lakes. We go back and forth this way with my limited Greek and his limited English. Yes, the Mediterranean is lovely and the sunset was gorgeous last night but there has to be more to keep me here.

His sister too is in on the act but since her English is pretty good I can tell her how I really feel. It’s a beautiful country in its own way, but it’s not my way. I remind her of the time her Mom was in hospital in April and how abysmally she was treated. I remind her of her stresses in daily life. I look at her face and see nothing but a difficult life lived. There is no joy in her face and yet she chooses to live here. She has a choice, she is a Canadian citizen.

I have a son in Canada, I have grandchildren and I have friends. Here I have one friend here, a very good one, but still only one. At my age and with language limitations, making new friends is difficult.

Of course there is the most important reason of all, my favourite yarn suppliers in America, don’t deliver to Greece, sigh…

Then again I may be stuck here for a while. It seems that Olympic Airlines which was sold will most probably not fly us home. The new owners have suspended all flights to Toronto and we will have to find another way back. Just another thing to deal with…

The Father Rhine

I was born in Germany and have been back more than half a dozen times but have never gone down the Rhine on a ship, ever. We did it by car two years ago on our Mosel river trip but decided a boat trip was definitely overdue. Our goal was from Mainz to St. Goar were we would spend a few hours wandering before catching the return ship. That, by the way became another adventure, but that will be the next post.

We started early in the morning and the fog was still fairly dense. Once it cleared it was a perfect day with not a cloud in the sky. The ship, the Koeln-Düsseldorf, was not crowded and we snagged some nice upper deck chairs. That was later to change but for the moment it was very relaxing to cruise down the river through the fog in almost total silence.


The trip lasted four hours and anyone visiting the area should do this trip. If you are in the country on the third Saturday of September you can do this cruise in the evening for the special day called Rhine In Flames. I have never been fortunate enough to see it but hope to some day.

Cafe Weisses Haus - Wiesbaden, Germany

Americans will appreciate this photo. It is a replica of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Way back in the early 1900’s there was a gentleman named Friedrich Wilhelm Soehnlein, (sorry, my keyboard doesn’t have umlauts, those funny little dots that go on top of the o’s and u’s in German words, hence the oe in this guy’s name). He was a well known rich dude who produced sparkling wine (Sekt) in the region and contracted to build this villa for his wife. She was the well know Emma Pabst of the American brewery family and he wanted her to feel at home in far away Germany hence the name Weisses Haus,(White House).

There’s a bit of history as well with Americans as they liked the house so much the American military took it over in 1945 and used it until 1990. The family that owns it now started restoring in 2006 and about two weeks ago it opened as a café. I wish them well but have serious doubts about the success of this café. The setting is to die for with beautiful gardens and a wonderful view of one of Wiesbaden’s many gorgeous parks across the street. The service is another matter altogether.

It was a comedy and a tragedy and in spite of being annoyed, my friends and I couldn’t stop laughing at the comedy of it all. When you enter this café you choose your cake and are given a slip of paper with the cake number written on it. It appeared not help an iota as two of the three were the wrong. Our coffee arrived first and by the time the cake eventually arrived at our table it was actually cold. We observed two couples actually get up and leave in frustration. There were four wait staff and a supervisor type person and all appeared totally clueless. There was not one dedicated waiter per table and we personally were served by three different people. We watched as three waiters and supervisor got into a loud and heated discussion at the next table with the customers over the bill. We watched and laughed as waiters came out of the restaurant to the patio and went from table to table asking if this was their order! Kind of bizarre as each table was numbered and if the staff was dedicated to a table this would never have occurred.

We ordered some wine since it was my last day. The menu offered .1 liter and we asked for double that amount. We watched as the waitress brought the wine out and again went to four different tables before finally getting to ours. She simply could not remember an order from 5 minutes earlier. But the icing on the cake so to speak, we were not allowed to have a double glass of wine. Even though the glass was large enough and showed the .1 and .2 liter marks we were told, sorry no can do… We decided not to have a second glass and they lost about 12 euros on us. When the we asked for our bill another comedy ensued. The waiter didn’t know exactly what we had and my friend Petra quietly told him what we owed.

I don’t usually comment too much on restaurants but this time I couldn’t help myself. This is not an inexpensive place by any stretch. The simplest of breakfasts will set you back 15 euros and a piece of cake comes in around 4,70 euro. Mistakes like the ones we witnessed should have been ironed out in the first week max and this place should have been running like clockwork. Sadly it was not. Will it survive? Probably… but only because of the amazing ambience, not the service…

We Have Arrived

After a twelve hour flight finally, Athens. Olympic Airlines didn't disapoint. I had low expectations and so it was. The only good thing this, the flight wasn't full so there was lots of room to stretch out. I scored a row of four seats and was able to stretch out and snooze most of the flight. The food was abysmal but the flight attendants were friendly, definitey a bonus. I guess since the airline has been sold everyone is worried about their jobs.


This is our new apartment. We have bought a two bedroom unit on the second floor. On a clear day you can see the Mediterranean.

For the moment it's fairly empty. We have a little fridge, a blow up bed and a couple of patio chairs. Of course I expect that to change fairly quickly. On Saturday I leave for Germany for one week and during that time my sweetie will get us a new fridge, a stove and a washing machine. There will also be some furniture from his late mother's home that we can have. When I return we will see what else needs to be bought. I think a trip to IKEA is in the cards.

It's kind of exciting furnishing another home. I think our plan for this apartment is to rent it out during some of the summer months to tourists. It would be a waste to have it empty ten months of the year.

I will not post from Germany since I'm not taking the laptop. I'm going to have enough trouble just taking me...