Today, we got up early, so we could get an early start on a
full day of activities. It turns out
that it was a waste of time, because apparently the Sacharidous take longer to
get ready in the morning than the Knottses.
We didn’t leave the house until around 11:00 a.m. So, with a half a day wasted, we headed to
the parking for the subway.
Apparently, today the subway workers decided to strike, so
the subway was only working on select lines at select times. They were nice enough to leave a note,
though, so we knew to find alternative transportation. It took us another 20 minutes to find a place
to park, and we ended up walking several miles to the nearest taxi stand. It turns out we didn’t need a taxi after all,
because there was an open subway line next to the taxi stand. So, we headed off to Syntagma Square.
The subway let out right next to the Parliament House
square, which was packed with hundreds of people waving protest flags. Ignoring them, we pushed our way across the
street to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where they were changing the guard
(the Evzones) at that exact moment. So,
we got to watch the complicated ceremony, which features the guard dressed in
traditional uniform, complete with skirt, stockings, and shoes with pom-poms. It’s pretty cool if you’ve never seen
it. This would be our first unexpected
gem of the trip.
As we made our way
down to the Benaki Museum (Μουσείο Μπενάκη), we realized just how dangerous the protests could be. There were police and military everywhere,
armed with machine guns and riot gear.
Hurrying along to avoid getting caught up in anything, we arrived at the
museum to find that admission today was free.
You can’t beat that! The museum
houses an impressive collection of sculptures, paintings, jewelry, pottery,
artifacts, and traditional outfits from thousands of years of Greek history. The beauty and detail of some of the pieces
is remarkable considering the tools they had to work with at the time.
From there, we headed
out to lunch and coffee with Anna Papaeti, one of my wife's childhood
friends, at the Rock and Roll Café. The
food was just okay. The company was
great…and I’m not just saying that because Anna spoke English the whole time,
so I wouldn’t feel left out. She was
very nice and sweet. The biggest
drawback to the experience was something that I had completely forgotten about
Greece. The number of cigarette smokers
in this country and Athens in particular is ridiculous. You can’t get away from it. It’s everywhere. And they let them smoke in the restaurants,
so you can’t even enjoy your meal without it being encompassed in a haze of
smoke.
We found ourselves in
a corner booth, and all three of the tables around us had smokers at them. At one point during the meal, I counted seven
cigarettes and one cigar being burnt and puffed in my general direction. At that one moment in time, I inhaled enough
second-hand smoke to kill a large elephant.
And there was no reprieve. As
soon as they finished one, they’d light up another. The guy next to us didn’t even stop smoking
while he ate. He had a cigarette in one
hand and a fork in the other! Needless
to say, my eyes were burning, and I had a headache by the time we left there.
After saying our
goodbyes to Anna, we headed to Monasteraki to try to do a little shopping
before everything closed. We didn’t get
in much, but we managed to buy a few souvenirs for friends before heading home. While in Monasteraki, I was confused as a
Russian mobster. Some Russian guy
sitting on a stool started chasing me down the street and speaking Russian. When I ignored him, he said in broken
English, “I’m sorry, but do you speak Russian?”
I politely replied that “no I do not,” and he left. I figured he was about to take me upstairs,
share a bottle of vodka with me, and plot out a plan to take down the
Turks. My wife said that I looked
Russian, so that’s probably why he made the mistake. I’ve never been confused as Russian before. Interesting…
