To The Acropolis...and Beyond!

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Even though only about 24 hours has passed since my last entry, it feels like we have packed an entire week's worth of activities into that time!

Just before I left my room last night for the welcome reception, my dad texted me to say that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Darn. We could have had the dinner outside after all, but we agreed that we felt pressured by the hotel to avoid the slim possibility of bad weather by having it inside. We realized that although for most people a little chill in the air and some small rain drops would be okay, for the Greeks, it was unusual and as a result, reason for concern. At any rate, our host (and the delegates) were very disappointed to miss the Athens view by night, so he arranged with the hotel to have a closing drink upstairs after dinner.

Dinner itself was a Greek buffet, and I'm still not sure exactly what it was that I ate, except for the tzaziki dip and a chicken skewer. I also had some rice, but the other dishes were a mystery (though slight heartburn causers, since I'm not used to this food!). The desserts were very good though, and I had a lovely table, so we enjoyed the conversation as well. After a brief welcome from our host, we were invited upstairs to experience the view from the Roof Garden - despite seeing it almost twice a day every day this week, it's hard to tire of it. We were actually worried that we wouldn't get people to come down to the meeting this morning from breakfast, because we'd be unable to tear them away from the view!

Shortly after we arrived at the Roof Garden, we got a chance to see the changing of the guard at the Parliament building, which is just catty corner to the hotel. The guards have a very funny way of marching when they change, keeping their feet strongly flexed, raising their knees and kicking their lower legs out. They change guards every two hours on the hour, and a number of tourists gather to take pictures of them. I'd love to see it up close, since it is pretty comical!

Finally it was time to sneak off to bed, so that we could be ready for an early start this morning. It was a full morning, starting with introductions of new firms, member firm updates, the Directors update, the Administration update (which included about five minutes of comments from me), a short roundtable discussion, and then three speeches from our host, a local business professor, and a lawyer/archaeologist who spoke about the impact of ancient Greek law on the current legal system. As per usual, despite building in some time, we were running about 10-15 minutes behind by the end of the morning (which will throw a whole day off). Our host had arranged for a special treat for everyone, so we encouraged everyone to rush upstairs to change before returning to the ballroom.

Once there, his father (also a lawyer at his firm) introduced four professional ballerinas studying at his wife's ballet school (one of two in Greece where you can get a degree in dance), who performed four Greek dances. The dances were lovely, and the dancers wore authentic costumes borrowed from the museum. We learned from one of our German lawyers with Greek ancestry that the more gold coins the women wear around their necks, the more attractive they are to potential suitors (it seems to indicate a large dowry). The dancing put everyone in the right jovial mood to head out to lunch at Dionysos restaurant.

In the shadow of the Acropolis, Dionysos is a fairly upscale restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating - I don't think there's a place in Athens without outdoor seating! We were sitting inside today, which initially I had been disappointed about until I realized how warm it was. The view was spectacular, but over my shoulder, so I had to periodically turn around to look at it. We were fortunate to sit with one of our Greek hosts and his colleague, who have known each other since grade school and now work together. Both of their children work together with them at the same firm as well! He was still working on fixing me up with his younger son, Agamemnon (yes, that's really his name), which he started asking me about five years ago in Barcelona! Some things never change...

The meal started with a mushroom risotto, which was delicious and basically satisfied me for the afternoon. But it was followed by a salad, which unfortunately had just a bit too much dressing on it, so after a few bites of that, I was content to leave it. The main course was chicken with potatoes, which most likely was delicious to most people. However, it was COVERED in rosemary. If you're familiar with my eating habits (or lack of eating habits shall we say), you may know that I can't stomach rosemary. I was fine with it until I got to college, where they must have been able to get rosemary on the cheap because it was found in everything. When it made its way into my french toast one morning, I was finished with it for good. I tried to scrape it off the chicken, which was very tender, but after a few bites, I really was mostly full and so I gave up on it. Dessert was a type of vanilla ice cream with some fruit, which was delicious and refreshing, but by this time, we were pretty well itching to get up to the Acropolis. Although we weren't too busy to find out that one of the women affiliated with a political party here was entertaining a group of women at the same restaurant for lunch. With elections coming up here on the 4th, that was very exciting. Even better was that we have a former king staying at our hotel with his wife, who is Danish (which thrilled some of our Danish colleagues) and apparently the princess walked right by them as they were waiting for the bus to dinner. I seem to attract the heads of state at these meetings instead of the Hollywood stars that everyone seemed to see at every meeting before I joined the ILN!

But anyway, this afternoon, despite a lovely breeze, it was HOT and even hotter when we started our way up to the Acopolis and were in the direct sun almost entirely. I was glad not to be wearing dark colors, but everyone was getting sticky. Before we left the hotel this morning, our host warned everyone that we would want to wear flat shoes with rubber soles to the tour, because after so many visitors, the stone is worn smooth and is incredibly slippery. Since I already fell on non-slippery concrete last week just walking the dogs, I didn't have high hopes for my grace and balance. Fortunately, I managed okay, but it was HIGH. As we ascended the steps and the city of Athens opened up before us, it literally took my breath away. But then, we kept going higher and higher and the stones became more and more smooth beneath our feet. Twice, I told my dad that I really didn't think I was going to make it up, and that even if I did, I would be unlikely to make it back down again. But fortunately, he encouraged me, because it really was beautiful to see the Parthenon and the other temples up close (though these days, they only let you so close to the artifacts - only right of course, but disappointing nonetheless). There were a couple of points when I wondered why, if they were replacing the stones periodically on the paths (they're not original, they're just what they "think" the original stones "might" have looked like), they couldn't also add hand railings. I felt it was a bit treacherous in some places, but we did eventually make it to the top (and the final set of stairs was wooden and had hand railings), and the view was really incredible. I actually felt a bit better at the top, because it plateaus into quite a wide expanse, so you can stand in the middle and not feel as though you're just about to fall off. Plus it was less slippery and not as steep, with angled steps like on the way up!

Our guide was a bit loquacious (nice way of saying most of us quickly tired of listening to her) - she was very good, but in many cities, their history is not quite as long as it is in Greece, so she had more to tell us about than some other places might have. At any rate, I took a number of photos instead, trying to avoid including the scaffolding wherever possible. We did wonder what kind of progress they're actually making because everyone we spoke to who had been to Athens in recent years said they had been doing construction for years and years. Perhaps they're just leaving the scaffolding up and have no intention of finishing! One of the companions told me that they were also doing construction when she was here five years ago, but she thought that if she put the pictures from this visit and that visit together, she might be able to see the Parthenon without scaffolding!

But with a nice breeze blowing and the beautiful scenery both in and around the Acropolis, it was quite a lovely afternoon. We decided to head back down earlier than everyone else, so that if I had to go very slowly because of my fear, we wouldn't be late getting to the bottom. Fortunately, it went smoother than expected, though even when I wasn't looking, it was as if my body could just sense the drop and it would start to freeze up. It's a very frustrating fear, but it's definitely something I have no control over no matter how many heights I've pursued. One of the companions who was in Santorini and another Greek island last week with her husband told me she was thinking of me as their bus navigated these hairpin turns, and they really were just not sure if they would survive the drive or not! She remembered how terrified I had been in San Francisco on the bus (which is much worse than walking, let me tell you), and after she told me her story, I'm wondering if I ever will go to the Greek islands - maybe just by boat. And I will just stay on the boat.

Once at the bottom, after a quick soda, my dad took a taxi back to the hotel while I lounged in the shade of some olive trees waiting for the delegates who planned to take the bus. A few people had ridden back in taxis, while others walked, so there was only about 20 of us left. We were supposed to stop off at the Olympic Stadium, but decided instead to split the group up and those who wanted to go there could, but the rest of us returned directly to the hotel. I opted for the hotel, since I was pretty hot and tired, and it was nice to get an extra 45 minutes before having to get ready for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at Figueira on the sea coast about 12km away. We knew that traffic wouldn't be great leaving the city on a Friday night at rush hour, but although it took us about 40 minutes to get there, we were almost always moving. The restaurant itself is stunning - if you go to one place when you visit Athens, this must be it. It's actually two restaurants, known collectively, I think, as Vive Mar (or run by the Vive Mar group, I'm not sure). They are connected to each other and one turns into a club around 11pm (we learned that most Greeks don't go out until at least 11pm and some stay out as late as 5am). Our tables were arranged outside on the deck, overlooking the water. The lights from the restaurant made the first three feet of water glow green and blue in the darkness, and as the moon rose and the stars came out, it was really magical. We had a small round table of eight, right in the far corner of the deck and although it was a bit chilly, it was worth it for the beautiful view. We all agreed that there's something about the sea air that is so soothing and wonderful - that's the reason I moved to the beach! When I can stand on my deck at night and smell the sea from my house, there's just nothing better.

I enjoyed the food as much as the company, but a few people complained that it was too cold. I think the restaurant was not as equipped for big groups as they could have been, and so had prepared much of it in advance, and since we arrived a bit later than expected, it was not as warm as it could have been. But I thought it was delicious. We started with a cheese tortellini, which everyone sort of giggled over as it's obviously more of an Italian dish than a Greek one. Our next course was a salad with vegetables - despite the fact that we were dining by low candlelight, I still managed to move the vegetables aside so that I could just eat the lettuce. The main course was the most difficult and complicated of the evening. I had sent an email to the delegates in advance asking them to choose fish or meat. We agreed that the restaurant would give the fish eaters a card at the table so that they would know who was having which dish, but instead of asking everyone what they had ordered, they asked them to order the fish or meat. This created a major issue - first, we had 45 orders of meat and only 15 or so of meat (it was supposed to be 35 fish and 30 meat). Then, they went back to find out what people had originally ordered, which confused some people who thought their original order wasn't the email they had sent me, but what they had told the waiter. That ended up with 42 fish dishes and 18 meat. So then we ended up switching a few people from fish to meat to even it out a bit and hopefully everyone was relatively satisfied. Not surprisingly, I had the meat, which was good, but by that time I was already quite full, so I only had a little.

For dessert, we had a delicious panna cotta, another Italian specialty. Whether or not it was funny to have Italian food in Greece, it was very good, so I'm just happy that we had a nice meal. But by then, everyone was clearly exhausted. We finally rounded everyone up and herded them onto the buses before we had a short 20 minute ride back to the hotel. Now, I'm totally spent and exhausted and we have to get up and do it all again tomorrow!

Tomorrow, we have another morning of business, followed by lunch in the Plaka and a free afternoon, during which time I think I will be getting a massage - my shoulders and neck are so tense I can barely sit still! Then, we have our Gala Dinner on Lycabettus Hill, which boasts the best view of the Acropolis in the city - I've convinced them to let us sit outside there as well, so it should be another lovely evening. Even though we have to be up fairly early on Sunday morning to catch our flight, since our host has arranged for us to go to one of the best nightclubs here in Athens, I think we will be working off some of the calories we've tallied up in the last day by dancing into the wee hours of the morning!

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Comments

[Jess]

Wish I was there too!
Looks so beautiful there Lins! Cory has been a few times for work and loves Athens. Thanks for making me feel like I'm right there alongside you :) And boo to the rosemary -- what a way to ruin a perfectly good piece of chicken, yuck!