Athens

Elliott and I are spending our first night in Athens. We had quite an
experience finding our hostel, but eventually after taking a bus and
the metro, we took a taxi. When we got the taxi, we were five minutes away from the hostel.
It cost us 5 Euros for the taxi. The bus from the airport was packed
with tourists. Cost 3.20. Metro was 1 Euro. On the bus we sat near a woman from
Winnipeg. She was a pharmacist, one year out of school, taking her first European vacation on her own. No one we asked knew where the address was on a map. They
didn't even want to help. However, most everyone we asked were
immigrants. Not very helpful. Finally we asked a beautiful blond
woman, who spoke great English. She was Greek and knew the city. She went out of her way to help us. Temperature is about 80 degrees. A good time to come to
Greece. The deskman at the Athens International Hostel speaks good
English and knows the city. We're discovering how really helpful and friendly the Greeks are.

The trip went a lot faster than I would have thought. I watched 3
movies from Newark to London and slept from Heathrow to Athens. The
food was good on Olympic Airlines. Lamb with pasta, salad and filo
pastry. A touch of Greece. Elliot thought the baklava was too sweet so gave me his.

One suggestion. I put my backpack in a duffel bag with rollers. It
was hard to maneuver through crowds. I should have just carried my
backpack on my back. It would have been easier.

Ef-ha-ri-sto, John

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