I landed and found the hotel carol and I would be staying in with little problem. there was one issue really, culture shock. it was the first time I had really felt it. I was back in the west after five months in the east and it felt so odd. it's hard to describe but I am sure you can understand even having never been to India just how different Athens is from Delhi. I stood on our veranda, my room had a veranda?!? we had been upgraded somehow and I stood there in the nicest room I had been in since long before my trip started and felt dizzy. i was confused, disorientated, sad, overcome with the feeling of isolation. seems like a strange feeling to have even now but I felt it, so strongly. I wanted to go back, I missed India, plain in simple, I wasn't fully ready to leave. but better to leave wanting more than leaving with the vow to never return. I was beginning to get hungry, the flight had served Indian food and I, not wanting my last taste of Indian food to be made in a factory, kept warm for a day and a half and served bland and uninspired, had not eaten. I protested airline food with a hunger strike but it was catching up with me. I left the hotel and the door was opened by a doorman, a door man!?! I can't explain how odd I felt. I walked and walked, in search of something cheap to eat. I found out fast that cheap would not be found. I stood in a window looking at rotating meat, captivated by spinning gyros. but at 9 euros a pop I was unwilling to partake in the first meat meal that I might have had in 6 weeks. I settled for some bread and cheese for a 1/4 of the cost. I also bought a cheap bottle of wine, I wasn't sure if I would need some help to get through the transition haha but I also just wanted some wine, I could count the number of drinks I had drank in India on one hand. I trudged back to the hotel tired and jet lagged. It had been a long and strange day. I was hoping the arrival of my mother would bounce me out of my funk. she was due to land sometime early in the morning. I got right to the finer parts of Greek society, cheese, bread, olives and wine. After the loaf of bread was finished, the wine all but drops left and the cheese taking a heavy beating, i fell into a deep sleep. I woke to someone trying to come in the room. it was a sight for sore eyes. I have missed all you guys so much and the fact that I was actually seeing someone I loved was really really great. we hugged and kissed she thought my beard was amazing and that I should never shave it. I awoke the second time to a breakfast buffet the likes of which i hadn't seen in what felt like a thousand years. the last was the old country buffet i had visited a few weeks before my departure, Lauren had refused to come in and i had sat for a very large very american meal and ate till i felt sick. This was an amazing breakfast, i normally didn't eat breakfast, you save a lot of money if you can shave a meal from your day and it helps shave the inches from your waistline too. After a truly mythical breakfast overlooking the ruins of a once great civilization we decided to check them out up close.
our day was spent walking down into the Plaka, admiring the acropolis and Carol regaling me with stories of when she had visited some 30 years before. It was a really great day and i felt better by the minute. We spent one more day in Athens and then took off for the port to head to Crete. The bus we had been told to get on was indeed the wrong bus and after one more and a good amount of walking we got on the wrong boat, only to back track to the right one. Finally exhausted we passed out in our bunks. 8 hours later we awoke to a ship that was docking in the early hours of the morning, the sun just barely making headway over the darkness. We spent some really fun days on the island five or so in total. Carol had rented a car and we were driving all over the island in search of the old or the beautiful. We found both, lots of both. We visited old monasteries, traditional clay makers, old port cities, small hill villages.
Beaches on three sides of the island and sampled all the feta and oranges that one could ever eat. it was a really great 10 days with my mom. It was sad when those final hugs were given and the last goodbye spoken. Thanks for everything Mom, you took a big ten days out of your schedule even when i am sure Penny made a face.
