To Glykas

I love you Glykas.

And all of the other more well-behaved than dogs on leashes dogs, and cross-walk using dogs of Greece.

But I love you the most Glykas.

America, F*** Yeah

This was my initial journal reaction when I had landed in Chicago...

I just arrived back in America, and I could not be more disgusted.  Some campy Disney-like video about interracial couples and bears in rivers greeted me at customs.  And on the other side was a McDonalds.  As I glanced around at all the gluttonous white people chattering away their meaningless lies, I felt I had to do something to get back into the 'Merican Spirit.'  So I thought about what it means to be "free" over a Big Mac, cheeseburger, fries and a coke.  If you ask me, freedom is a little greasy and over-salted.  There was a fleeting moment of satisfaction with my gluttonous adventure when a new development from BP cam on the airport television.  I quickly snapped out of my stupor and crapped out any warm feelings I had for this country.

Welcome Back.

Day 20-Really Hotel Astor?!?

As you know we arrived back in Athens at 6am.  Had some breakfast.  Had a little meeting.  The rooms were supposed to be ready at noon, so we went out last minute souvenir shopping and whatnot.  Come back to the hotel at noon.  Rooms won't be ready for another two hours.  Two hours later.  (And keep in mind most everyone had not showered, because the boat bathroom was rather airplane bathroom-like, if you know what I mean)  So we went to lunch and came back.  The rooms weren't ready until like 4!!  It was terrible!  So i took a nap to refresh myself.  We had our last lecture.

He loves that pink shirt...

And had our last dinner.

The Ladies

The Last Supper

The dinner was probably our worst dinner.  And it was terribly sad.  I had made a family with these people in the last three weeks, and I didn't want to leave them and this beautiful country behind.  We all grabbed some booze and lived it up in the lobby of the Astor until the wee hours of the morning.  I went to bed at 1:30am and woke up at 2:30 am, so I could grab a taxi at 3:15am, so I could board the airplane at 6am.

My vacation was over.

Day 19-Back To Athens We Go

Our free day in Crete was Sunday, which kinda sucked because a lot of Greece is closed on Sundays.  We broke up into small groups.  After walking around a bit we decided to have a traditional Greek meal, and see how long it takes for them to bring us the bill--without asking.  In Crete they keep bringing free Raki after the meal (a Cretan booze), and we were interested in how long they would keep providing.

Sam, Kyle, Lyndsi, Sara, Dan and I

After lunch we packed and headed to the port to catch the ferry back to Athens.  While on the ferry,

...we danced...



And it was good.

And as you know, the ferry docks at 6am...

Day 18-Goodbye Roula--I'll Drunk Call You One Day

Today we were visiting the Venetian and Ottoman monuments at Rethymnon. 

The Fortezza Castle

I like being in castles, they make me feel at home.

The Mosque of Sultan Ibrahim

Roula took us to the old Venetian port at Chania.  There we had free time to go shopping and get lunch.  I made a new friend while I was at lunch.

He likes to wear the eyeliner.

After we rounded everyone and got back to Crete we headed to a local bar to watch the Greek futbol game with some Greek people.  Greece lost and that was sad.  But what was even worse is that Roula left us during the game.  Left, as in, you're trip is ending, no more Roula.  She was my Greek mom, and I was really sad to see her go.  I asked for her phone number, knowing full well that I will probably call Roula at some really inappropriate moment.  But I don't think she'll mind, she likes me cuz I'm Greek.

I Love You Roula

If You Look Closely, You'll Notice That We Have The Same Wrinkle In Our Chin

Day 17-We Needed More Time Here

Today was the much anticipated trip to Santorini.  The land of hills with little white buildings with blue roofs.  The ferry ride to Santorini was rather rocky.  And as a tiny person, lets just say I was thrown about a bit.

Here are some obligatory 'It's windy and we're on a boat!' pictures.

Aww, a boat!

Our bus ride to the beach took almost 40 minutes, which cut into the day a lot.  I did see this on the bus however, and it made me happy.

AND! The guy sitting behind me on the bus was singing the entire time!! In English and in Greek! It was hilarious.  We stopped at some beach and had lunch.

The View From Lunch

Everything Is Better With Mythos

My Lunch, and Yes That Shrimp Did Come With It's Face

By the time we finished lunch we only had about 40 minutes at the beach before we had to get back to the port to catch the ferry.

When we arrived back in Crete we grabbed some gyros and headed back to the rooms.

Later that night I was having a cigarette on our balcony.  There were about thirty Greek men playing futbol in a parking lot below.  Men kept driving up on motorcycles and joining in the game.  A group standing on the sidewalk watching the match started lighting off homemade fireworks.  AND THEN!!  This hella drunk Greek starts running up some nearby stairs.  As he is running he starts throwing Molotov cocktails, in the direction that he's running!  He produced five cocktails that were lit from somewhere on his person.

That alone made my vacation.

Day 16-Land of the Sexy Sexy Minotaur

This first day in Crete was really hard.  The ferry landed at 6am and we had stayed up for most of the night on the boat, because sleeping wasn't really an option.  We dropped off our luggage at the Lato hotel and started walking to the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.  The museum was under construction, so there was only one room open, but it did have a lot of good things in it.

Phaistos Disc--I've had one on a necklace for as long as I can remember

From the museum we went to the Palace of Knossos.  Which, originally I was uber exciter about, but it ended up being the most "touristy" out of all our destinations in Greece.  There were lines for the throne room, and the utter chaos of people everywhere really took away from the archaeological site; that and what Arthur Evans did to it...

Paint By Numbers With Arthur Evans

The Throne Room With A Line Like Disneyland

More Paint By Numbers With Arthur Evans

The building itself is rather Labyrinth-like, with multiple levels and many rooms.

A really really old theatre at Knossos

After Knossos, we went in to the village of Archanes for lunch.  Then to the Peza co-op.  Where they had wine and olive oil tasting for us.

Heraklion is Cool!!

Then it was back to Heraklion for dinner and evening shenanigans.

Day 15-Every Day Should Begin With Waffles and Ice Cream

I literally think that everyday should begin with waffles and ice cream.  There was this place in the middle of Nauplion that had a sign for it!  So on our last morning in Nauplion before we headed out for the day, Dan and I decided to have them for breakfast.  Best idea EVER.  The rest of the day was absolutely amazing, all, I think, because of the waffles and ice cream.

We drove to the nearby town of Nemea, and of course we stopped at the museum first!

Columns At the Entrance to of the Tunnel That Leads to the Stadium

We took a nice sprint in the stadium.

A Fallen Column at the Temple of the Nemean Zeus

The Temple of the Nemean Zeus

To tell you the truth, everyone was pretty excited to get out of Nemea, because we were going wine tasting next, and that was REALLY exciting.  What was even more exciting is that at the Skouras Winery (where we went wine tasting) the spittoon had my name on it!! Spelled the right way! (which was I think the only time in Greece I saw my name spelled like that...) 

Destiny

Every winery needs a pony-tailed man.

We drank too much.  We bought too much.  And just as we were leaving the pony-tailed man called me into the back room and asked me about my last name.  Apparently the only Master of Wine in Greece has the name of Konstantinos Lazarakis.  Pony-tail gave me Lazarakis' wine book for free, which kinda made me feel like a celebrity.  We boarded the bus and headed to the ferry.  We were headed to Crete!!

Day 14-Epidaurus and The Asklepieion

Asklepius

We viewed the archaeological museum at the Asklepieion before walking the archaeological site. 

The un-traditional circular Tholos

The Actual Rooms People Stayed in Are Behind This

THE THEATRE OF EPIDAURUS!!!

Here is a pretty theatre.

Here is me standing in front of the pretty theatre.

Here is me doing my Phaedra monologue in the pretty theatre.

The theatron is huge!  And the acoustics in the theatre are absolutely perfect.  I wasn't using a level 1 voice and I could hear myself at the top of the house and encircling behind me as well.  It was a totally amazing experience being able to do a monologue there.  Way cool.


Everybody Loves A Nerd:

The Skene Building at Epidaurus

After a lecture at the top of the theatron we headed to another ancient theatre, simply called:

At this point I was still riding high from Epidaurus, and none of us had had anything to eat.  It was also very hot that day, and the second theatre was entirely in the sun.  We went back for a lazy rest-of-afternoon and just enjoyed Nauplion.

Day 13-Mycenae and I'll Show You Zorba the Greek!

Our day began at the Tomb of Agamemnon/Treasury of Atreus.  The tomb had been raided previously to be "discovered," so there weren't any fun goodies inside; however the tomb with beehive-like dome is still in very good condition structurally.  From here we moved to Mycenae.  They say that Agamemnon's sleeping outline can be seen on the hillside opposite Mycenae.

The valley in between Mycenae the other hills is literally perfect for battle.  It is possible to literally see anyone from any direction they are approaching.  Good locational choice!

A Valley

Lion Gate!!!

Supposedly somewhere around here Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon...

We went to the museum and then it was off to lunch.  We went to this place that literally looked like it good have been Aphrodite's Palace from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."  And this is what came of it...

After we went to an authentic Greek ceramics workshop.  We got a demonstration of how the pieces are constructed; which is still traditional.  And then we got to shop around.  Just as we were about to leave someone heard a cat stuck somewhere in the bus.  It took the 28 of us, Yiannis, plus two other dudes to try and find this effing cat.  Roula said this has never happened to her in her however many years of tour guiding.  People were actually getting emotionally concerned for the cat.  I was concerned for the bus.  Darwinism.

How Many People Does It Take To Get A Cat Unstuck From A Bus Motor?

The cat got out safe, but Roula needed to bum a cigarette off me in order to be okay.


We had a group dinner that night in Nauplion at the taverna 'Kipos.'  Then we received a special treat!  We had a folk dancing demonstration, which ended up being more of

Hey, Danielle, you're Greek, come up here and dance with us.

I only knew one Greek dance at that point, which wasn't one of the ones they were demonstrating.  And surprisingly, I knew them.  Something came out of me that night, and I'll never know what it was.  But I was Greek, and there was no denying it.

Roula took us out for ice cream after.  Nummy.  And then we went to the club...

...and we had fun.