One More Try

At planning and this time I hope it works out. Off to Naxos tomorrow morning for a few days. The ferry leaves at 7:25 AM and we plan to be on it no matter what.

Meanwhile my time in Germany was quiet after the first two days. Thursday evening there was the Wine Festival and a good time was had. It seemed like the entire population of Wiesbaden was there. I did get to visit with my aunt and uncle twice, met a cousin I hadn't seen since childhood and do a little shopping, well a lot of shopping actually. I really do love the style in Germany and had overweight on my luggage. I will say that Agean Airlines handled it with grace and didn't charge any extra, nice airline.



Much wine was consumed...







Some really cool jazz and blues straight from Detroit...



My friends Petra and Hildegarde



And then came this...



I'm happy to report that by the time I left the cast had come off and was replaced with a bandage and a brace. It is a torn tendon and will of course require a few weeks healing.

Meanwhile I hope to have a good time on Naxos and will have free internet at the hotel. Whether I will feel like blogging though is debatable...ciao

The Best Laid Plans

Of mice and men... or something like that. I had a fairly decent flight from Athens to Frankfurt where my friend picked me up. There was the Wiesbaden Weinfest (wine festival) happening so after a short rest, off we went. I was a ton of fun and of course as usual on my first night in Germany, I drank too much. It seemed to me that the entire population of Wiesbaden was there. There was one man in particular who caught my attention and I couldn't stop looking at him. He so reminded of of my uncle Heinz who in turn looks exactly like my late father. Funny how family resemblances happen. I was tired, I'd had too much wine and I think I turned shy otherwise I would have asked him what his name was. When I mentioned it to my aunt the next day after a quick phone call, it was confirmed that it was indeed my cousin Rainer who I had not seen in close to 30 years. I hope to meet up with him on Friday.

So, back to best laid plans... we were meant to leave Monday for the roadtrip south destination France. Saturday afternoon my friend tripped on a lose stone and tore a tendon in her foot. We spent Saturday at the hospital and after x-rays she sports a nice dark blue cast. Tomorrow we see the ortho to see how serious this whole thing is and how long the cast has to stay on. Meanwhile on Sunday I fly back to Athens hoping she can cope on her own. She's on crutches and lives on the second floor without elevator.

Our trip, well... there will be other times to come...

Suitcase Packed

Again... seems like I just got here when I'm packing again. Off to Germany tomorrow morning for some fun and frolic (well as much as my wonky hip will let me) with my childhood friend Petra. We meet up once a year and always have a blast for two old broads. We were born three days apart and even though we don't look anything alike we are almost like twins.

We are also taking a road trip here, are you jealous? We will leave from Wiesbaden and follow the wine road along the river Rhine, south to the northern part of France.

Last Saturday night (full moon) we had an impromptu picnic on the beach...


The moon as splendid although my little cheapy camera can't do it justice. It is celebrated in Greece and downtown Athens was party central. The Acropolis and Parthenon were open free. We didn't go though as I've been many times and can't really climb to the top of Acropolis right now. I hope you all saw that splendid moon.





So tonight I loose my mobile internet stick and in Germany unless I can find Wifi for the Ipod things will be quiet from my end. I did get a present from my sweetie before we left Canada. He bought me a Kindle 3G (mostly so he wouldn't have to lug my 50 pounds of books) and I can get emails on it. It is not possible to post, its not that sophisticated a device. If I find Wifi then I can use the Ipod. We'll see, meanwhile I'm off to parteeee...

Life's A Beach

Yes it truly is, at least from where I am at the moment. Thank god for beaches though, the weather has been brutally hot with temperatures hitting 43C which is 109 F for my American buddies.

We have been to the beach or on the boat just about every day and the water sometimes feels like warm soup but anything to cool off. My Greek relatives find the water cold and I have to laugh at them. They've never been swimming in a Canadian lake, then they would know cold.

Some days trips to the beach are planned and others they are impromptu. One evening our neighbor Sophia came upstairs just as we were sitting down to eat our very simple supper of scrambled eggs and fried eggplant and announced that we were heading to the beach. I watched in awe as she put together a picnic using my meagre offerings. Scrambled egg sandwich for everyone were prepared in moments and we were off. I have to to say it was lots of fun to swim under moonlight.



Being on the boat away from people suits me just fine too. The swimming is easier when I don't have to walk into the water and it's better exercise for my hips in deeper water. I'm brave for a non swimmer, I just jump right off the side of the boat. Of course I'm holding my noodle and have a life belt around my waist so there is no danger. Getting back in the boat up a tiny ladder is a little trickier but I've managed. After doing that a few times yesterday I did find myself very stiff and sore today.


Lunch on the boat is always a pot luck affair. Yesterday we had Mousaka, various cold meats and cheese, fresh bread and a nice big watermelon, yum.

On Saturday there will be a full moon and a full moon in August is celebrated in Greece. Our plan is to head to the beach where there will be a part with live bands. Should be fun. I am borrowing an internet connection until Sunday. I'll try to post some photos on Sunday, after that it will be hit and miss probably only posting from the Ipod when I'm at a hot spot. Next Thursday I head to Germany for 10 days and I don't know if I'll be posting from there.

It's Hot

We have safely arrived in Greece and I'm bitching as always. It's hot, it is so hot that I'm sure an egg would fry on the sidewalk. The thermometer showed a whopping 41C yesterday. Human nature I suppose, we complain when it's too cold and we complain when it's too hot. My sweetie on the other hand, loves this weather.

I've been in the Mediterranean and it was heaven. My BIL took us out on his boat and we spent hours in the water. I look like of funny wearing a lifebelt around my waist and a noodle under my arms and everyone kind of laughs at me but what the heck, better to look silly than drown. I'm not a swimmer and if my footsies can't touch bottom I panic.

Our trip was close to ten hours and I wish I could say something nice about Air Canada. I seem to have problems with airlines but this airline beats anything I've endured for my last five trips. We were lied to regarding cost of extra luggage and and pre booked seats. I swallowed the extra cost and decided to settle into the seat given without complaint. But the food, oh my god the food... the only thing I can say about the food is that I wouldn't feed it to my dog if I had one.

We were given dinner within the first hour of flight (on a ten hour trip) and it consisted of a small piece of chicken, a serving of rice, a small bowl of cold corn, a teeny weeny bun and a small piece of chocolate cake. I asked them if if there was more food available and was informed there would be a continental breakfast within an hour and a half of landing. I asked would there be anything offered in between and was told, nope, that's it. Could I buy some food I asked and again the answer was no.

Let me tell you about the wonderful continental breakfast. There was one muffin which my husband told me tasted like straw (and he's not fussy), one small yogurt (which I hate) and juice and coffee. I didn't eat any breakfast but did ask for two glasses of juice and coffee which was grudgingly provided. Good thing I had some power bars and chocolate bars in my carry one and that carried me through the flight. You do have wonder though how on a flight that costs over fourteen hundred dollars a ticket they can justify giving their passengers such a cheap meal. I figure that it didn't even cost them 5 bucks and that's being generous.

I am putting this out of my mind for the time being and when it's time to fly home I will be sure to have a packed lunch with me.

I'll write again when I get internet again. For the moment I'm borrowing my neighbors mobile WIFI stick.