We just finished dinner at Goody's, a fast food knock-off next to the Holiday Inn here on Odos Attiki near the Athens Airport. The hotel is okay, they tried very hard to make it a Star Trek type of place, ugly from the exterior, the interior will be dated very soon. The Goody's place was okay. We drove a total of 950 kilometers over the last two days, about half of them coming today, at altitudes up to 1600 meters and torrential rain. I have had enough of driving for a while. The car, a Hyundai Accent, in the event I neglected to mention it struggled direly to hit the 130 km/h, about 80 MPH on the home stretch from Corinth to Athens. First Toes in the Aegean We did not have time to stop at ... read more

A short break on Aetoma Hotel's computer here as since I had to reload Windows XP on the laptop it does not recognize WPA networks. So still no photos, sorry. On top of that the laptop charger was left in the Hilton Athens guestroom and we do not return there until the 9th. Corinth Not that big of a city, but when you have the kind of location it has on the narrow piece of land (isthmus) that leads to the entire Peloponnesian Peninsula, you are going to end up having a disproportionately large reputation. We only saw the suburbs as we went to visit the famous Canal of Corinth that was built in 1883 and is about 6 kilometers long connecting the Saronic Gulf to the Aegean Sea. It would otherwise be about 425 miles ... read more

They Crack Smiles We were told by our very friendly Northwest flight attendant that the KLM stewardesses are very professional but would "not crack a smile," we found that this was not the case but that the airline is definitely stale, there is something unappealing and archaic about the color schemes of those KLM airplanes. Arrving at the Athens Eleftherios Airport was about the easiest international arrival we have ever experienced, it is not that big of an airport but more importantly there is absolutely no passport control which is shocking when you think about it. It makes you wonder what they already have in the country if they're not so worried about what might come in. We took a taxi to the Athens Hilton, 28 Euro with tip, our lady was doing 130 km/h in ... read more

Here we go again, see the attached map for a more detailed route guide for the next 14 days. We are in Detroit Airport for a 7 hour layover (there are worse airports we could be at). No upgrades on first leg, Northwest has really been disgruntled since the Delta acquisition, very unfortunate for them and for us as a result. Will work magic on the Detroit Amsterdam leg. We had a bit of hummus and some cocktails just now in anticipation of the real thing in Turkey. No photos until we reach Athens, but the restaurant manager got a shot of us in the Mediterranean Grill which we will post.... read more

Nassau is not like I remembered it in 1991, but then I guess that is because a lot of time has passed. Paradise Island The action is no longer in downtown Nassau that is rundown and just plain stinky, it is all in Paradise Island. Nassau is good for what the rest of the Bahamas are for when not on the beach - island culture and colonial cityscapes. On Paradise Island, you go to Atlantis . . . all $1.8 billion of it (so far). We first tried to make a day of it in downtown Nassau, but soon decided to take a water taxi to Paradise Island. Beyond the rich and famous’ houses, Atlantis is is definitely a cool resort, very Disney-esque in its scale and attention to detail. Or maybe Las Vegas-esque since there ... read more