Catch Up from EVERYONE

Athens

The boys woke up at 10 for a 1:30 plane flight to Athens. Upon seeing it was a propeller plane, some people launched into the Tailspin theme song and, later, Indiana Jones. Those who were silent probably didn't join in because they were unfamiliar with the references.

When they landed in Athens, they were greeted by Eleni and Sam. After saying hello, the girls related the story of their grueling 40-hour journey from Italy to Athens, including a 17-hour ferry ride involving Italians and fingers in sleeping ears. Everyone grabbed a cab and headed to the hotel, which was a Best Western (Europe). Although apparently in a bad part of town (Eleni's cousin Elias told had told them earlier "I can't believe I'm driving my Porche through here") the hotel was very chic, including chair hammocks in hallways along with lots of curved lines, geometric shapes and metal. For the first couple of hours in Athens, "The Birthplace of Democracy and Some Greek Guys We Met," we just kind of relaxed and talked, barely even registering that we had begun to blog in the first person. We played cards, had some internet time, heard about the first leg of the Europe tour, slept.

At 8, it was time to go to dinner at a restaurant owned by one of Eleni's cousins called Pig Pong. Eleni and Sam had eaten there last night with Elias, and they said it was delicious. Due to a miscalculation by the hotel manager (who, like the one in Santorini, seemed to have little sense of travel time), we arrived in Glyfada, the district of Pig Pong, about half an hour early. So we walked down to the beach by way of a playground whose rotting wood structures made the seesaws and climbing gyms seem exciting and risky even to older kids. It was time to turn around by the time we reached the beach, and we got to the restaurant in time to sit down a little late. Eleni ordered for everyone, and everything was incredible. Pita, feta, greek salad, hummus and souvlaki came to the table, and we ate family style. Her cousin, Adonis, came by the table to make sure everything was going well (he owned the restaurant along with Elias and other family members). Eleni and Sam told him the story of their grueling 40-hour journey from Italy to Athens. He then insisted on paying for the meal.

In fact, after paying, he encouraged us to visit his nearby pastry shop Fresh. It was kind of a heaven for chocolate lovers. All kinds of refrigerated shelves of pastries and brownies and cakes. Everyone filled a giant box with their goodies except Mark, who didn't like chocolate and sulked in a corner muttering. Once we were done selecting our treats, we tried to pay but the woman said "Adonis has it." When we argued that he had already paid for dinner and this was ridiculous, she looked very nervous and said, "Please, I want to keep my job, just go" (really she said this). We did, and ate the food outside of a Starbucks, which had a bathroom and nothing we were interested in purchasing. There was so much dessert that even Eleni and Sam (who had finished most of a box from Fresh the night before) couldn't get through it all, and we went back to Pig Pong. Matt dropped the pastry box along the way, so when we tried to share the sweets with the man who had paid for them they were all crushed. Worst carrier ever.

After some more talk, Adonis took us to a bar owned by a friend of us called Bocca. Located right on the beach, Bocca had red lighted accents and open air tables. It was great, much better than where we had been on Mykonos. We sat and chatted for a while as the waiter kept bringing food and drinks to our table. Pleasant hours passed; Aaron and Mark wanted to dance but it wasn't that kind of bar. When we were ready to go, we asked the waiter for the check. He simply gestured vaguely behind him and said "Adonis has it." This came as a shock to us because we had thought Adonis had left the bar a while ago. Obviously we couldn't get the waiter to let us pay, and in fact the next few days we didn't worry about ordering extra food at any restaurant regardless of location because we felt we could safely assume the waiter would come to us at the end of the meal explaining Adonis would pick up the tab.

We ended the night by walking along the beach for a while. Some romantically inclined couples in the shadows looked at us awkwardly, but we didn't care cause we were Americans and probably didn't understand what love was. It was late, and Eleni and Sam tried to tell us the story of their grueling 40-hour journey from Italy to Athens when we reminded them that we had heard it several times that day. Finally, we caught a couple cabs back to our hotel and packed it in for the night. Tomorrow: Acropolis!

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