Where is Steve?

After a 28-hour* day, my 23-day European Economic Recovery has come to an end. It was the absolute time of my life. With great travel partners, wonderful weather, and amazing food, I fulfilled a childhood dream. Through all of it, I was able (for the most part) to live in the moment and did not worry about all the things I have and want to do starting tomorrow. That alone was a HUGE accomplishment.

Words cannot express my excitement and joy. There are so many aspects of this trip to remember, so I look forward to going through all 4,500+ of my photos. If even 500 are usable, then I will be quite happy. (To top it all off, I get to see Lion King 3D in cinemas because they extended the run.)

I will post photos and further thoughts as the month goes on. It will likely be at least a few days if not a week or two as there is a lot to go through.

Thank you for reading and commenting. Y’all made the trip even better.

It’s time to start saving for Hong Kong 2012!

Miles walked: 5.31

*28-hour day: I woke up in Athens at 8pm Central US time.

I helped a senior couple check into their flight. The husband then asked if I was from Seymour, Iowa. He said I look like someone he knew there, someone who also smiles bigly. That made my day. I like smiling bigly.

Today was my last full day in Europe. It is a) surreal to think I have been here and b) surreal to think it has actually been three weeks. It feels like two at the absolute most!

I had raspberry gelato for breakfast. It was one of the best breakfasts ever! For those keeping track, my gelato ratings:
Mango
raspberry
scacciatella (like chocolate chip ice cream but creamier)
Mint chocolate chip

I got up at the crack of dawn so I could walk around the Acropolis once more. This time I did not take my camera – on purpose. I wanted to experience it without the interruption of taking pictures. And it was a different experience. It was easier to get lost in all of it. It was well worth paying the €12 admission price again.

I left my hotel this morning for the airport hotel. By changing hotels I actually save money and don’t have to get up ungodly early tomorrow.

For those who care, my rankings of metro systems:
DC
London
Amsterdam
Athens
Paris
(I’ve not used Chicago’s enough to include it in the ranking. And yes I like metros a lot. A lot.)

The rest of the day was spent swimming, shopping, and chilling.

Champaign, here I come!

Miles walked: 5.6

I swam in the Aegean Sea today! Yep, it was beach day. I could have done more touristing but I actually like spending a day on the beach.

It was quite scenic. It wasn’t the most beautiful beach I’ve been to, which is the beach in Punta Cana.

I was there for about 7 hours, most of it was spent walking up and down the beach. But don’t worry! I used appropriate amounts of sunscreen and other measures to protect myself. I am not sun burned, which should help the flight home be more tolerable.

I ate souvlaki on the beach. It was better than the souvlaki on the Plaka. That’s probably because the beach makes everything better, just like Cheese Dip.

I sadly have no photos as I purposefully left my camera and phone at the hotel.

I swear I’ve never heard as much honking as I’ve heard in Athens. If you don’t hear a car honking, then you know something is deeply wrong.

Miles walked: 6.1

Today I headed into the Pelopponese for the second of the two tours. The weather was gorgeous except there was lots of wind (although not nearly as windy as the first day in Edinburgh [Day 2]).

First on the list was Mycenae. The Lion Gate was way cool. It’s such a shame that the heads were lost to time. Sadly I did not get a great photo because people kept pooling around it. As far as ancient sites in Greece go, this wasn’t much different: There wasn’t a lot to see, unless you’re a student of archaeology and care about excavated graves. The museum on site was fine. If you’re there, then you might as well go.

The Tomb of Agammemnom was sweet. It has this huge entrance. Not much is inside. It is just one big circular room and one smaller room, which due to structural integrity issues we weren’t allowed in. The entrance reminded me of the entrance to the Way of the Dead in Return of the King. Of course we had neither no heir nor sword but needed neither (again). The Plain of Argolis is where all this went down. The name makes me think of the Plain of Gorgorath and how Justin had to empty it to allow safe passage for Gregg and Dan (One of the favorite pastimes of UIUC philosophy grad students – at least earlier in the decade – is to imagine who would be which character in what story).

Lunch was probably the highlight of the day. The food was rather meh-ish again. The appetizer was the best part. I love mousaka! (I am assuming I spelled that correctly.) But dessert was apples. The cool part was the fascinating discussion I had with educated people of different backgrounds (four biochemists, three from Spain and one from Toronto). The wine we had was allegedly locally made and it was decent (on par with a $10 bottle of wine).

The biggest disappointment of the trip wasn’t lunch but it was the quite insignificant time we spent at Nafiplio. The point of booking the tour was to see Nafplio and all we got was a five minute picture break. That said other parts were unexpectedly excellent so no regrets.

On the way to Epidaurus, I saw the (allegedly) oldest bridge in Europe – dates to the 15th or 16th century BC. Nifty. The theatre at Epidaurus is absolutely amazing. It dwarfs the Theatre of Dionysus in awesomeness. Performances still go on there! It would have been cool (but uncomfortable) to see such a thing there. The theatre has excellent acoustics. It is a very good thing that I did not sneeze in the middle of the stage. I’m pretty sure if I had then the echoes would have caused a new big bang and the end of the world.

Miles walked: 5.3

Today I visited the Oracle at Delfi. I contemplated the mark that I would leave on the world, perhaps a similar contemplation was taken by another man who stood there ~2,300 years ago. Given he’d go on to conquer the known world, I’m sure we came to different conclusions.

Delfi is gorgeous! And the nearby town of Aravaho was absolutely picturesque. I love mountains. That said, Delfi has a LOT of bees. I’m scared of bees (and all flying insects that sting or perhaps buzz loudly). In contrast, the Attican countryside (before you climb into the mountains) is boring. If it weren’t for topographical variation and signs in Greek and sheep, I would’ve thought I was in Central Illinois.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the ruins at Delfi given there isn’t much left there (like much of the Athenian archaeological sites). For a historian and philosopher, it was a pretty deep experience and one that didn’t even set in at first.

Interestingly, the Delfi museum does not allow you to pose next to the exhibits (but other non-flash photography is allowed). I suppose they don’t want frat boys denigrating “their” millennia-old antiquities by taking “inappropriate” photos. We ate lunch in a restaurant tucked into Mount Parnassus. It was fine but disappointing in terms of what was served. It was chicken, rice, a kind of quiche, and then watermelon for dessert. Dessert was probably the most disappointing; I was hoping for something more Grecian. Oh well. It was included in the tour cost so I’m not going to complain too much. I will say that a doctor from Malayasia was equally disappointed as me so at least I had company.

Some interesting tidbits:
-There are cars and motorcycles everywhere in central Athens but I have not seen any gas stations (I saw some as we got toward the “suburbs”).
-I saw an auto shop called “computer car service”, which either specializes in fixing the computers in cars or there is a translation issue
-I saw sheep and a sheep herding dog! I saw a herd of sheep running down the service road! It was cool.

My favorite comment of the day: How can you be [a white] American and so dark? (from a couple from South Africa) The answer is it’s what happens when you are 3/8 Italian and in the Mediterranean.

Today I achieved a seven-year long dream. I stood where Alexander the Great once stood.

Miles walked: 4.9

I had souvlaki – pork on a stick – today in the Plaka. And it was wonderful! I followed it up with locally made mango gelato, which was stupendous. Not as good as nutella Crepes in Paris but still nom nom nom.

Today was a fairly light day since I couldn’t get to the National Archaeological Museum as originally planned. I started at the Acropolis museum, which is arranged very efficiently: You see one half on the way in and the other half on the way out. The experience is a little disjointed since you go forward in time then backward in time. Speaking of which, to quote Paul, “If you think about it, it’s like time travel.” okay… Maybe not.

The English translations there are best of what I’ve seen on the continent. It’s just an interesting observation. The amount of information in the museum compared to the archaeological sites themselves is staggering. It’s the difference between night and day.

My favorite sentence from a relief: “The crab on the left assists the Hydra.” I don’t know any hydras but the Kraken wouldn’t need a crab’s assistance. This is at least the second crab in art I’ve seen this trip: the other one I remember is the van gogh painting “crab on its back”.

Of course my favorite moment was near the end of the museum when I looked into the eyes of Alexander the Great (as sculpted by Leochares). There’s just something so cool about doing that here. Sadly, no pictures were allowed in the museum (and there was a staff member every five feet).

As an interesting aside, I’ve become addicted to fruit flavored mentos on this trip. It started because they were the only candy I could find in a store near the hotel in Paris. I don’t know if the addiction will continue when I am back in the States with abundant access to skittles and starbursts.

After wandering the streets some more (I really was wandering; I wasn’t lost), I headed over to the Temple to Olympian Zeus. I had read online it is best to go between 3pm and 4pm because of the shadows the sun creates. As far as I could tell, it was totally correct! I spent more time there than I thought.

I wandered across the street to the park in front of the exhibition hall. There was a cool fountain there, which reminded me that the fountains in Versailles were off when I was there (bugger). It also reminded me of Russell park in London and the cool photos I got there. There are so many parts of this trip to remember!

I just finished watching that show where the guy decided what wire to cut in a bomb by flipping coin. And wow is that a mediocre show. Now there is some movie with Morgan Freeman as an art thief on tv.

Miles walked: 6.2

The Acropolis. Wow. I should stop typing there because nothing else I say can do today’s experience justice. The weather was absolutely perfect. Except for the wind. I can’t imagine coming to the Acropolis in the middle of summer. I think one must roast up there in the summer. I suppose that helps the crowds to keep moving.

I found lots of good spots for taking in serene scenes. But my favorite spot might be sitting in the Theater of Dionysus for quite awhile and just reflecting and imagining what it would have been like back in the ancient days.

As I walked away from the theater I passed a mom from Texas with her two daughters. The mom said, “Oh look it’s that theater.” I sighed heavily. I guess it’s good that she properly identified it as a theater.

There are dogs that roam up on the Acropolis. Although they are likely wild, they just bask in the sun and look really cute. Yes I have pictures of dogs at the top of the Acropolis.

I wrote most of this post while on the west (I think) slope of the Acropolis where I had a strawberry slushy and Oreos. I ran into several nice people from the LA-area and Canada.

Before going to the Acropolis this morning I ended up wandering around the Plaka looking for my preferred guidebook. Sadly I only found it in French.

I reluctantly left the Acropolis proper for the Areopagus. And holy moly sweet lords of Kobol! The view was amazing! I love that place. The zoom on my camera is so good that I got pictures of a ship off the Athenian coast.

Then it was onto the Agora where I fell in love with the Temple to Hephastius. I also witnessed a British family walking on the Great Drain because they were too lazy to walk the few meters to the next walkway.

What has really stood out to me is the lack of signage and information (including audio guides). I guess they do this so more people will hire their tour guides. The lack of protection for the antiquities is startling. There are so few staff members that it relies on the honor system in a way that art museums don’t. And as we all know from XKCD, the honor system is very problematic. (I believe XKCD did a cartoon about the requirement to turn off one’s phone when taking off and landing. The gist was anything that is necessary can’t rely on the honor system. I think.)

After being beaten by the Athenian sun for 8 hours, I’m beat. I’m going to watch Hanna then turn in.

Miles walked: 7.10

I am writing this post while looking up at the Acropolis at night. It is absolutely breathtaking. The flight in was very smooth but a little late. The seats were quite comfortable and roomy. Olympic Air is much better than EasyJet.

My only gripe about Olympic Air is the steward waking me up to ask if I want food. I need a do not disturb sign. If I’m asleep on a flight, please leave me be! Also in the Athenian airport I could not find a bookstore. I really want to get DK’s Top 10 Athens guide. The Top 10 guides to cities have become my favorite guidebooks. The food recs and maps are particularly helpful.

As the post title suggests, my grandfather is celebrating his 82nd birthday today! Happy Birthday Grandpa Jack!

A word for the wise, Accuweather is quite inaccurate in Amsterdam. We’ll see how well it does for Athens.

Tomorrow is the Acropolis and a lot of walking since there is a two day public transportation strike in Athens.

Also Patrick and I parted ways this morning. Thanks for accompanying me the past two weeks, Patrick! They were extremely historic and very unique.

Miles walked: 5.83 (the Amsterdam airport is huge and I had time to kill)

Today was my first introduction to Indonesian food. And it was a good one! We dined at Sahid Jaya and had a sampler of eight dishes. My favorite was the lemon curry followed by the teriyaki something (riblike) followed by the coconut curry then green beans then peanut satay then beef something then fried egg thing. I liked all of it but the lemon curry won hands down. Sadly there was nothing that involved unusual animal innards.

We began the day with a canal tour (free with the I Amsterdam pass), which was great. The only exception was that it was not an open air boat so many of the pictures may not turn out. Did you know the canals are about 9 m deep at the deepest? I didn’t but it makes sense given how relatively close to the streets the metros are.

Lunch was divine and pretty cheap! We ate at De Engelbewaarder, which if you aren’t careful you can walk right on by. I had a Mushroom sandwich that had something that started with an m and is similar to hummus. I can’t remember the name though. I also had a sour beer, which was quite enjoyable.

We then explored a very interesting museum about the Dutch resistance to The Nazi occupiers. I learned a lot and it did a great job showing what life was like between 1940 and 1945. But it was disappointing because I thought it would touch more on the Resistance movement itself.

We didn’t get to see Rembrandt’s house because it was temporarily closed for the day so an exhibition could be moved. That’s really something that should be done outside visitor hours. Sheesh.

Tomorrow I leave for Athens and Patrick heads home. So ends week 2! It really doesn’t feel like it has been two weeks, more like 5 to 7 days.

Miles walked: 5.2

For five years I have been a strong advocate for the idea that the Esquire in Champaign has the best French fries in the world. Manneken Pis in Amsterdam has come closest to taking the Esquire’s title.

Pis Was once voted best French fries in the Netherlands. It has been well over a month since I’ve had esquire fries. Given we should not discard longhand beliefs lightly and this is no transient matter, the Esquire still holds the title. But Pis have definitely given the Esquire a run for its money. Both places sell large amounts of fries for a low price.

Today we museumed in Amsterdam. Similar to Paris, we have the IAmstersam cards that give free access to many museums and free public transport access.

The Van Gogh museum was quite interesting and took us a couple of hours. My favorite is probably the crab on its back. The rijks had a great collection and we were able to get through it because it is under renovation so most of the collection was not for display. The Amsterdam historical museum was one of the best local history museums that I’ve been to.

Miles walked: 7.65