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Published: July 16th 2008
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Woohoo!! Guess who went to Greece! Me! Duh...
Never in a hundred million thousand gazillion years did I ever think I'd be in Greece and never in three hundred million thousand jagillion years did I think I would love it as much as I did. I LOVE ATHENS! I want to just go back and stay for two weeks and go to all the Greek Islands and walk around in flat sandals and white gauzy skirts and eat bread and olive oil in outdoor cafes. But not olives because I don't really like olives.
So dumb ass Natashia who ALWAYS ALWAYS carries her camera with her in her purse wherever she goes did not think to charge the battery OR to bring the charger from home. I didn't know I was going to Athens. I was actually on my reserve days. You have to have about 30 years seniority to get an Athens trip. Not 3 months seniority like me. But I guess some old biddy called in sick or something and I got blessed with the trip and about 15 minutes of camera battery left. I bought a disposable camera but the pictures came out crappy. I saved
Intimate moments
Not suitable for those under 13 my battery for my one "must-have" picture, and you already know which one that is.
Anyway, moving on, the super-duper nice pilot let me tag along with him and he was really a NICE guy. Not one of the sleazy kinda questionable ulterior motive type guys but really a genuinely NICE guy. He'd been to Athens before with his wife and this time she sent him back with a shopping list so he told me I could come along since he was going around town.
He took me to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to see the changing of the guard. These guys are like the London Buckingham Palace guards that can't move or speak or blink or anything. They have big black fuzzy pompoms on their shoes and underneath their kilts, they wear thick white ribbed tights like the baby girls wear to church on Sundays in the wintertime. And while they stand there unmoving, there is a soldier in fatigues who comes up to them and lovingly strokes their long ponytails and adjusts their clothing for them. And I do mean lovingly. I almost felt like I was watching something intimate. Like maybe I should
Changing of the Guards
How many guys do you know that can do a leg kick that high? turn away.
So you know I had to take a picture with this guy. I wanted to get a little closer but I was scared that Mister Man in the fatigues would get mad at me for being all up on his hunny-bunch so I kept a bit of distance. *For Athens only, this picture suffices as my policeman/fireman picture.*
In front of the Tomb, there is a plaza area and in every plaza there are pigeons. Some old man was feeding bird seeds to the pigeons and he came over to me grinning and nodding and holding out his hand to me. So, hmmm, OK. Crazy nice old bird man in Athens wants to share his bird seed with me. The same dumb ass Natashia who didn't charge her camera, remember her? She smiled back at the crazy bird man and held out her hands. Meantime, the pilot is GONE. He saw the old crazy bird man and smooth turned around and walked away. HA, but I didn't notice that because I was focused on the crazy man who poured bird seed in my naive outstretched hands.
Do you know ALL the fricking pigeons in fricking
Acropolis
I need to go back so I can really see it. It was really hot that day. And lots of walking. Athens mobbed me and jumped on my hands and you KNOW I am a germaphobe and I HATE pigeons because they are rats with wings so I started screaming and running through the plaza yelling, "THEY'RE ON ME!!! THEY'RE ON ME!! OH MY GOD GET THEM OFF ME!!!"
That damn pilot who was all the way across the plaza was hella laughing at me. When I asked him why he left me, he had the nerve to say that he knew that man was just trying to get us to give him some money for the bird seed. How bout telling ME that??
Next we went to the Plaka, which is a fabulous shopping area. The streets are mostly closed to cars and you can just wander about looking for sandals or gauzy skirts or scarves or jewelry and then when you get thirsty, hang out at an outdoor cafe and have a drink. My type of life. Everyone is laid back and chill. No one is in a hurry and no one seems stressed.
While on the flight, the pilot and some of the flight attendants kept saying that they needed to make sure to visit Yanni. I'm thinking - Yanni, the weird new-age music specials on PBS guy? Thankfully, no.
Near the Plaka, a wonderful, very special artist named Yanni Souvatzoglou has a gallery. www.yannisouvatzoglou.gr
His art includes sculptures made of metals and glass, as well as different creations on canvas using a variety of materials. He is popular with the flight crews because of these glass apples that he makes, and the pilot's wife had sent him to retrieve another apple.
To those of you that KNOW me, this will not be so much of a surprise but some of you don't know this. I have been blessed to encounter angels in my lifetime. You probably have too. Whether or not you recognize and appreciate them is another thing. Shortly before my Athens trip, I was saying my prayers and feeling a bit discouraged about my dwindling bank account and my decision to drastically change careers, however temporarily it may be. In my prayers I asked for direction and validation, and even hinted that I wouldn't mind if He decided to send this by way of an angel, as He'd done in the past. Fast forward to Yanni.
It ended up that the pilot and I met up with a couple of other flight attendants and another pilot to have a drink and we ALL went to go see Yanni. It was a bit chaotic as a battle ensued over who was going to get the "white" apple, bla bla whatever. In the meantime, I was asking Yanni about the meaning behind some of his artwork trying to block out the obnoxious flight attendant buzzing in my other ear. At one point, he pulled me aside, looked into my brain, and out of the blue said, "I need to tell you, Natashia, you need to know this. It is better to be a lion for one hour, than to spend your lifetime as a placid animal." And just like that, he went back to talking about what he was talking about. Blew me away.
The tripped out thing is that when I got home and googled Yanni, I found out that his entire career he has been obsessed with angels.
So this little lion went to Athens and saw the Acropolis. How you like that. And did I mention that the hummus is fricking GREAT!
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That Girl Tam
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I'm so jealous...
Wow...seems to be the only word I can come up with right now. I have always wanted to visit Greece...but of course, that's gonna have to take a back seat until every.last.one of these children is out of my house!! Profound guy that Yanni... Continue having safe travels!! Love you lots!!! Invites to the shower will be in the mail tomorrow...hope you can make it to this one!