Back in Athens!

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I'm sad to leave Turkey though I'm much relieved not to have to pay anymore for the privilege to use a squat toilet and then flush my business by hand with a water jug. As with all of my other trips to third world countries they always seem to give me the parting gift of serious travellers stomach upset. Janice and I both got it, and luckily I have ciprofloxin with me. We did contemplate going to get Janice her own personal antibiotics but that would require going to a hospital. Do they not have personal doctors operating out of small clinics that like dealing with friendly travellers like us?

We spent a day on the island of Samos suntanning in the little town of Pythagorias. I'm proud to say I've finally immersed my whole body in the ocean. The water is really cold on the other islands and stepping on rock beaches is not the greatest experience. Pythagorias had a quaint harbour with lots of restaurants on the waterfront. I sampled some tasty local Samos white wine and sweet wine. Mmm...

Now that we're back in Athens, we went to see the Temple of Olympian Zeus, panathenaic stadium (I think this is where the marathon finishes where runners go 42 km from Marathon to Athens) and the First Athens cemetary. I studied a lot of statues in my classical art courses - a lot of them came from funerary statues which were greater than lifesize and tended to immortalize the person. What worked then seems to work today. This modern day cemetary contains many expensive marble lifesize statues that stands over family crypts. It was an interesting place to visit as its a bit different than cemetaries back home. There's not a plot of glass to be seen anywhere there.

Tomorrow we're headed off on a tour of Mycenae. We've looked into the plate breaking and we seem to get strange looks with each person we ask. I thought plate breaking was traditional... apparently not. Alas, we might have to end out trip without ever having experienced that.

For those of you dying to see my odd-angled pictures they will be posted as soon as I get home which will be Thursday!!! The prices of the internet cafes here are a bit ridiculous at times. See you guys soon!

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