2009 Greece

15: Going Home...

2009-10-05T18:07:00.000-03:00

Up at 6am, quick eat, on the bus, on the plane, an next thing you know it is 11pm Athens, 4pm Toronto. Our next flight is 7:30pm with a landing at home of 10pm Halifax time. Yeah!!!!!

Please check www.genosajko.com in a few days for more pictures and videos.

...More pictures from Lisa

2009-10-04T14:18:00.002-03:00

Lisa has always tagged me as Karsh, and Wayne as Karsh Jr. Well, now here are more images from our newest photographer... Karshette.

14: Back to Athens...

2009-10-04T03:43:00.004-03:00

A quiet morning with breakfast and hanging out around our room. As always, I take a few wienies from the buffet for our booter-like pusser cat. She's so sweet. She usually waits for me a flight up from our patio (which is yet another 3 flights down from breakfast. Anyway, she eats the wienies, takes some rubs, gives some purrs, grooms after the meal off course, wants to come in for a nap, but remains out on the patio.

Easy checkout, easy bus ride to the ferry, easy upgrade to first class, and then to relax in the wide seats, 4 per section with a large table in between. I came up and scouted the seats and got the only one with a plug for electricity. No worries anyway, 50 seats up here, only 8 people including Lisa and I upgraded. For a 5 hour ferry ride, well worth the expense. And hey, this ship has free wi-fi.

So we are currently 1.5 hours out of Athens, I have been blogging and adding images since we left 2.5 hours ago. I hope to end this soon, but I fear I don't even have enough time to do what I want and need to do.

On the news, on TV, is the Greek parliamentary elections. Polls just closed. Parliament is across the street from our hotel. I hope this won't present problems for us getting in at 9pm and trying to get to the hotel, out for a quick dinner, and to bet for the flight tomorrow.

Of our 15 day trip, one could call 4 days travel. To from Canada, 1/2 day to Mykonos, 1/2 day to Santorini and a day back to Athens. So it is almost like 2 days a week traveling. Doing it by sail is the better option as I see it. You travel, you see, you swim, and you sleep. No pack/unpack, and no excursions to the water. You are on the water. If we ever return, I think it will be to sail. But there is so much more of the world to see, especially other locals in Europe, so we'll see... Santorini was beautiful, but we were far from the ocean atop that cliff. A swim in the ocean was an excursion.

There may be no blog for the next day or so as wi-fi access may be spotty and/or I may be bushed and thinking watching an episode of the "Dream Season" of Dallas on my iPhone may be a more relaxing and well deserved thing to do.

Ja sas.

13: Pool Day

2009-10-04T03:17:00.009-03:00

Today we decided to make it a pool day. I started with a 1.5 hour breakfast where I ate slowly (and a lot less) while I blogged the past 2 days. Besides hanging out at the pool, we spent some time on our patio, the view there amazing.

View from slouched position on patio chairs

View looking up from patio

View looking down to patio

Wayne and I (he is getting too much airtime here), went north from our hotel (first time we ever did) and found many things. The Blue Note restaurant, recommended by a couple of couples at Mykonos town. So this place was earmarked for dinner tonight. The most extensive menu we found to date. We could have eaten here everyday and I would still have no problems selecting from the menu. Nope, no duck Dave, but most everything else.

As we walked to the top, there is always a top, we searched for the way across to that adjoining cliff you will see in some of the images. The extra and a bit lower separate hill/cliff to the left of the resort/main cliff. We could see the path across, way down there, but not the way to get to it Then, alas, aha, yep, I thought I found it, and off I went, little knowing Wayne decided not to follow. I meandered my way down 8 or more flights of steep steps only to hit - a dead end. An entrance to the lowest most hotel or - at this point - who cares. I should have ducked, had a seat and waited for Wayne, so that he could experience the walk. But by now Wayne had found the path. So he (Wayne) says. Anyway, I walked back up the 8 or so stories. I counted the steps, well over 160. Met up with Wayne, and Wayne and I started the now 10 or so stories of stairs downward to the path across to the cliff. Where yes of course, we climbed up and up, Wayne and I, me and Wayne.

Took many pictures along the way. We did not climb to the top, a bit treacherous, and with really no easy visible clue as to how to get there. And I had a nightmare last night where I almost fell off a building roof along a cliff-side something into a gorge with a waterfall or something.

On the climb back, Wayne suggested we walk up the left side of the concrete stairs as they were cracked and split down the center. We wouldn't want to have it crack and fall over. It wasn't that bad, Wayne is a bit of a worry wort.

Once we got back up top, it wasn't that tough. Coming down is more effort, requires more balance, more stability, more planning, watching each step because as I said thee are no standards or building codes for stairs - it seems. Wayne agrees. Anyway, the trip down, across, and back up, with stops for pictures, at our fast pace was still just over 40 minutes.

Back at the ranch, Wayne and I went for another swim. Wow that felt good. We were hot (as our wives pointed out) and so we thought we'd cool off. And we did. And when we got out, they still said we were hot. So we got back in. After several more attempts, seems the water did not make us "not" hot.

Dinner at the Blue Note, back to our patio for some reminiscing, drinks, cheers - the girls like to do the cheers thing with every drink. Wayne and I limit it to the first and last drink of the trip. The last will happen in Athens tomorrow night.

A couple of cats came around, including our cat, for some snacks. Hm, reminds me as I eat breakfast to bring some cocktail wienies down for our cat. She will be there when I get there. Oops, I'm talking about now and not yesterday.

As I look through my images to select for post, I realize how magical a place this is, the history, the beauty, the scenery, the people. Amazing...

12: Kamari, Oia, etc.

2009-10-02T02:29:00.012-03:00

Today we decided to go to a black beach (Kamari) on the opposite side of the island. Imagine a crescent moon, and that we are on the inside edge just above center. The beach is on the outside, just below center. So a quick walk to the bus stop in Fira, a 25 minute bus ride, and we are there.

The black beach (for me) was a disappointment. It was a black stone beach with rocks larger (but smoother) than your typical gravel driveway back home. Here are some highlights. Lisa found a patch of black sand, about 4 or 5 shovels full. Linda got a couple of beach chairs for 6E. The rest of us, yes Wayne included, since he is standing over me now asking if he is in the blog, walked the street of the small village, we had real pita (chicken) gyros (pronounced "heros").

All but me got in for a swim. It was as much painful to watch as it was painful to get in. Stepping bare feet on stones, and losing one's balance as you fall quickly into the water. I have and will post video of the torture. Lisa and I forgot our pool shoes at the hotel.

After the bus ride and walk from Fira home, we hung out at the pool. Nice, refreshing water, great vista, what's not to like about that?

Later in the afternoon (4pm or so) we headed for Oia, the town at the top of the island. A one street town, yet so beautiful, so white, so peaceful. The shopping here was more to my taste, less tourist crap and more real art. We visited several artist's shops and nearly bought (to have shipped home) some original art. We have their website URLs and so who knows...

While taking pictures, Wayne and I, and yes even Lisa, (Lisa has become more than just a self portrait specialist) we noticed people lining the walls, every crack you could find, for the event - the Santorini sunset. We hunkered down in a spot, and waited. There was at least an hour or more to wait. Unfortunately, the sky had some clouds down low, and the event, while an experience, turned out to be not quite the event. But I can see the attraction. Watching the sun drop into the ocean atop a cliff-side. Again, what's not to like.

11: Sail Day

2009-10-02T02:28:00.010-03:00

View above out through our window at sunrise or thereafter.

bird that joined us for breakfast

Early breakfast, then off to the bus stop rendezvous.

While waiting, someone commented on my Tommy H. tee shirt ($30US Florida about 10 years ago). Then Lisa mentioned he is also wearing a Tommy swimsuit ($50CDN Halifax just recently). Then I noticed I was wearing my white Tommy sneakers ($70US Florida 5 years ago). Outfit (priceless), unplanned, but funny. Never wore the shirt much until this year. Bought it because I liked it, was always a bit tight until this year. As for the sneakers, never wore them until this year because they were white - I didn't want to get them dirty. Anyway. Ball cap, Columbia. Oh well.

On the bus for a ride to the south end of the island, and on the sailboat "Angelica" (42' Jeanneau), ten of us and a crew of two, the captain one of the 3 sons of the owner. Very nice young man. We sailed around the tip of the island viewing the red and white beach on the way.

We also sailed past the Akrotiri excavation site, which has been closed for nearly 4 years with at least 1 more year before it reopens because the glass floor that allowed viewing the archeological dig collapsed killing a tourist and injuring others. Around the horn of the island, we stopped at the hot springs which is located on one of the small center islands where the active volcano still exists. To get to it was a 40 meter or so swim from the back of the boat. Wayne and Lisa dove and swam like fish. I climbed into the water and swam like a - well, I got there minutes later.

The water got warmer as we got to the spring. And you could smell the sulfur, and the water color got more and more "orange" in color. The hot spring was not that impressive. In several places you could see a few tiny bubbles coming up from under the water. I've produced more bubbles than that in my bath tub or even the hotel pool. Anyway, one had to experience it. The swim back was another 20 meters longer than the swim in, I made it. Climbed aboard and off we went to a small cove on the other island where they active volcano is for another swim and to view a small shipwreck. Again we got in and again Lisa was impressive with her swimming. Wayne aka Man from Atlantis needs no mention.

From here we sailed to the old port in amongst the large cruise ships. We could see our tiny hotel room up the cliff in the distance. Cool. And from here we sailed heading home, and stopped at the red beach, but far from shore. For a few minutes. Lisa again dove in, Wayne didn't want to get wet. He was in drying mode. I skipped it as well. Lisa even got out, back up onto the boat, and dove in again. I wasn't ready with the camera the first time.

Back aboard, back to the marina, on the bus and home. Back at the hotel we stopped for beers at Wayne and Linda's, then did a cool swim in the pool, then down to our cliff-side for more drinks. And planned our return to Fira for the evening for dinner and more walking around. Found a store carrying Tommy - no ball caps!

I love the walks down and back. It is the only exercise I am getting. And the walk back does produce a bit of sweat. Back at the room, I am now blogging the past 3 days since we left Mykonos, and tomorrow at breakfast, hopeful I will get this uploaded. The wi-fi seems to be at poolside only. Ya sas.

PS. The weather here is warmer than Mykonos in that there really is no wind, even atop these cliffs, not much wind.

10: Trip to Fira.

2009-10-02T02:26:00.008-03:00

our room on the cliff

A good walk, 20 plus minutes, mostly downhill, which means it is mostly uphill coming back. In town, from the cliff, you can see the old port. To get down off the cliff to it, you take either a cable car or walk the meandering sidewalk all the way down - 527 steps. Not ordinary steps. They are 2 or 3 paces wide, and also angled downhill like a ramp. So a good workout and my guess 30 office stories high from bottom to top. Oh another way up or down is via the stairs "on donkey".

Wayne, Lisa and I decided to walk down. Occasionally a herd of donkeys either empty going down or loaded with people coming up came upon us and in most cases they went around us. In a few cases we shimmied to the sides. A great experience. Hard working donkeys, but they looked very well taken care of. Could have been a total of 100 donkeys. Each night, after the business closes, they hose down and wash the sidewalks. Oh did I mentioned we had to dodge a few poop loads?

Wayne and donkeys

Lisa and donkeys

At the bottom is a tourist trap type port. This is where the cruise ships drop their guests coming to spend a day in the town.

We took the cable car up, 4E each, they can move 36 people, 6 per car up while the same amount come down the other cable. My quick math, they do about 80E gross per minute on that cable car. Sweet.

Then we met Linda at the top and traversed the town's narrow streets and shops, stopping (again as in Mykonos) often to take pictures, and into each and every jewelry store, right Linda?

Then the upward walk back to the hotel. At the hotel we headed for the terrific pool, had a swim in the refreshingly cool water, relaxed, and cleaned up for dinner that night. Back to town, for a sunset dinner on the cliff, more shopping, and the walk back. A busy, fun and filled day.

You can see out our window the half dozen or so cruise ships of all sizes that come in during the day, and usually leave at dusk.

09: Mykonos to Santorini (Thira)

2009-09-29T05:13:00.008-03:00

Had problems sleeping last night, not feeling well, had the chills, ate almost nothing for dinner, and again this morning for breakfast. Got 11 hours of sleep, still a bit light-headed, but hoping the sleep will take care of it.

We check out at noon, get our bus at 2pm, get on the high speed ferry at 2:45, and are in Santorini at 5:30 or so. The forecast calls for 25C daytime and 21C nighttime for the next 4 or so days in Santorini. However, except for Thursday at 8kph, the winds are forecast at 20-30kph.

High speed ferry, upgraded to 1st class. Arrived at the new port and got on the waiting bus. Got to the hotel around 6:30 (30 minutes or so later), checked in, had a complimentary cocktail at the pool (otherwise they are more than 11E each), got a lovely room,cave-like overlooking hanging off the cliff. Our picture window is just that. A drop straight down the cliff to the ocean.

Had dinner nearby in this village Imerovigli, where our hotel is located. It is called Honeymoon Petra Villas. Sounds tacky, but isn't. The owner used to sail the ocean years ago, in the shipping business, to the Great Lakes and back. An earthquake almost leveled this village in 1956. The owner helped rebuild it. He now owns the hotel, and a sailing business. A catamaran, at least 2 sailboats (40 and 50 footers) and a speedboat. Since we are staying over 4 days, we qualify for a sail day - whoo hoo!

Here are some images of the resort, and the views from various positions including our patio/room immediately above and below.

... Videos

2009-09-28T13:16:00.007-03:00

Click on links below to view videos.

View from small pool
View from room patio
Tour of room
Geno and Lisa

08: Last day in Mykonos

2009-09-28T12:51:00.003-03:00

view from our patio

Tomorrow just after noon, we high speed ferry to Santorini. But hey, we still have over a day here, and this is really nice. The upgraded room Lisa sprung for paid off. Large patio, great view, steam room in the shower, etc etc. She knows how to pick them. Here is a link to our resort. Petasos Beach Resort an Spa. Where they do everything right, except they don't know how to sell. Cut the drinks price in half, and I think they'd sell 10 times what they sell. The poor girl at the small pool bar doesn't make more than 3 or 4 drinks per day. Dumb dumb dumb - oops, I think I've already said that. Also, the drinking water here is very safe, but the ph is higher than we are used to so they tell us not to drink it. Brush your teeth, gargle, rinse, take your meds with the water is fine. But quantities of it, we are not used to. So, the hotel should provide no charge drinking water - a necessity of life. Even in the poor countries of Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Mexico, they provide free unlimited bottled water. I see sparkling and mineral water on the mini bar price list, but not regular drinking water. Maybe I'm missing something here, maybe I should call room service and ask for drinking water.

Anyway, slept in today, then did a short stint at the small pool. I then took a long walk up to the other beaches on the coast. Paraga, Paradise and and Super Paradise. A beach is a beach is a beach to me. It is a place of sand and water to lie and swim in. Nice beaches, not crowded this time of year. Not the sandy, long endless beaches of the Caribbean, but nice in their own different way. The land, coastline here reminds me of the French Riviera - cote d'or. Dry, burnt, not much green, rocks, rocky shores. Actually, the French coast did have much greenery, but here, nope.

After the walk up thru the hills, took me nearly 2 hours, great exercise, needed it to battle the 5 pounds I think I gained since I arrived. Took a quick swim the the ocean, got a Greek salad at Nikos' to go, and headed back to our warm sunny deck to dry, eat and relax.

Tonight the others want to eat down from Nikos' at a place that has lamb giros, so, I will go with the flow. Tomorrow night I will (try) to update from Santorini, let's hope for a reasonably priced Wi-fi connection.

07: Pool and Mykonos

2009-09-27T17:52:00.004-03:00

Today we slept in (again) and then headed for the quiet smaller pool. Pretty windy today. We (Lisa, Linda, her husband and I) went downstairs (near the pool) to the SPA for a complimentary soak in a large pool with various jets to squirt into all and various parts of your body. We had the place to ourselves. I'm still stuffed up from the experience. Who knows what aromas (chemical and natural) were in the pool and water.

After some more time at the pool, Lisa and I had a salad and headed for the room. We were to meet Linda and her husband in Mykonos town tonight. They were leaving earlier than us, Linda wants jewelry.

Time for an opinion, I know, I don't have many. Seems in Canada, USA, England, France, Croatia and I'm sure elsewhere, there is no smoking in a restaurant. Here not so. People light up and smoke their stupid brains out during the whole meal. Disgusting. Had a few meals where I had to smell other peoples habit while trying ot enjoy my meal. OK, enough said on that subject.

In town, I got some great images, the wind was working up a surf, the lens got wet several times, and they will need some photoshop to do them justice. Hopefully they won't be too blurry, it was hard to even stand there and try to take an image.

Dinner was nice, Greek lamb kebab platter, Greek salad of course, and two half litres of wine. After which we were back in our rooms just after ten for a shower and steam. Ya sas.

...More images by Geno

2009-09-27T10:19:00.008-03:00

Athens below in background. The city goes on forever up and around many small mountains.

06: Lazy day at the hotel

2009-09-26T12:47:00.005-03:00

Today was a R&R day. Late breakfast, then to the quiet pool overlooking the bay. Got showered on for 15 or so minutes, very light and very warm. Then for a salad at Nikos' where I found out the nice man that greets us is named Sakis. Then for a nice swim in the ocean where it was much warmer today. The fish were swimming in amongst us, very cool, I never get tired of that. Then back to the pool, to relax, and swim. The pool as well was more than acceptable in temperature.

view of beach from small pool

This place is great. The hotel I high recommend. Hotel Petasos. Very high end. Drink prices are ridiculous, stupid sales technique on their part. I think the bar tender at the pool may have made 4 drinks today, two of them ours. Stupid stupid stupid. It drives us to drink at the beach a mere minute away, no more than 300 yards from the pool.

Back at the room by 6pm for another great steam. I must install one o these sat home, sounds like bathroom reno may be next, ahead of kitchen. :)

Tonight, Linda and hubby will come over for drinks on the patio. They bought a bag full of booze at the market (again a mere few minutes from our room). Stupid stupid stupid hotel.

...Pictures to date by LISA

2009-09-26T02:58:00.010-03:00

Lisa bought a new camera, not a point and shot, not a DSLR, an in between, the Canon G10. And she is doing great, learning quickly, still mostly using fully automatic, but her compositional skills are improving quickly. And of course, as all us photographers do, we have our style, or favorite type images. Lisa's is "self portraits". You know all about these Janet. :) That's all I wanted. She is having fun with the camera, and that's all that matters. Actually she would dispute my remark and say it is not all I wanted, and that I want a student to teach. True enough. And I've learned to go slowly...

05: Trip to Delos

2009-09-25T13:03:00.006-03:00

Breakfast, included here, spectacular, and we eat it on the deck outside overlooking the bay. Spectacular.

A half hour ferry ride and we come to Delos, an important archeological site, according to myth the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. What fascinating history. Worth a read, google it. That will save me time. Some words that originate from there are hypocrite and panic. Look up why... We had a guided tour. The weather was warm, the sky partially overcast, a couple of showers on a couple of occasions lasting a couple of seconds. Only felt a couple of drops.

Back in Mykonos, where we got on the ferry, we split up (oops forgot to mention Wayne), and decided to do our own things as couples for the rest of the afternoon. While I was photographing a fisherman, who was attracting gulls while he cleaned his catch, Lisa met a couple of couples who just came from Santorini. They gave her the scoop of the things to see, and places to dine. Good to know. Then a few more pictures o the windmills (from the coastal view that we didn't come across yesterday) and off for a late lunch. We always start with a Mythos and share a Greek salad. Nice, tasty and healthy. I have the calamari. No calamari yet can match Nikos' where we'll dine again tonight. While eating in a quaint and busy seaside taverna, they were filming a movie right there. I got some video of the filming, and some stills, and who knows, I may show up in it, but I doubt it. An Australian movie called "The Kings of Mykonos". Look for it when it comes out. The music in the background as they filmed was "Down Under" by "Men at Work".

Back at the hotel I went for another steam. Our room has a separate shower/steam room, fantastic, never felt better. It's been years since I enjoyed so many steams.

Tonight, we ate at Nikos'. I had the calamari. We tried ouzo, not my drink. Then it was back to the room to do this blogging while Wayne convinced Linda to walk the beach in the dark so he can get his trip sand. The sand we were standing on was not acceptable - but the sand on the other side of the beach (same beach) (same sand) was oh so much better. See ya guys...

Views from our room

04: Mykonos - Trip to town

2009-09-25T12:43:00.004-03:00

After breakfast, we hopped a bus to Mykonos town. A town on the shore on a hill, typical Mediterranean. Beautiful, quaint, narrow pedestrian paths, all buildings in historic times fairly new, and painted white. Is it Korcula? Or Hvar? Nope. But different, and nice, and what's not to like. We meandered up and down, east and west, in shops, past shops, taking pictures left and right. And all was good. Had calamari for lunch, as I did yesterday, and plan to get as much of it as possible. After all, this is not duck country.

Upon our return, we headed for the beach for a swim. Because my buddy owns Nikos Taverna (great place to eat) (Lisa and I had lunch there the other day). So free beach chairs for us. Wayne always asks me if I mentioned him in the blog. All last year through Croatia, everyday, did you mention me. So here goes. Wayne.

So we ordered a beer, "Mythos", Linda will eventually learn the name, because we are all drinking a lot of it. And then into the - COLD - water. Wayne dipped his toes, the rest of us swam.

For dinner Nikos' again. I had grilled calamari this time, yummy. And in bed by 11:00.

There are thousands of unowned dogs and cats roaming the streets of many Greek cities (Athens) and towns...

03: To Mykonos

2009-09-23T17:23:00.010-03:00

Syros (above)

After a drink and cookie in the lobby, the bus picked us up and we were off to the ferry, where we upgraded our seats to get to the more comfy seats front of the boat. Always worth getting away from the commoners. The high speed cat was very nice, with stops in Syros and Tinos before we got to our island. All in all, very comfy and easy, the just under 4 hours just blew by. And I got to watch two episodes of Dallas (Season 9 - The Dream Season) en route.

View of our hotel in the distance, at the end of the peninsula, between the 2 white boats

On the island, a quick bus ride to our hotel and our rooms were ready. And they are very nice. The hotel has 2 pools, both salt water. The rooms below us have semi private pools, cool. The beach is a mere minute down the path below our hotel.

While Lisa and Wayne and Linda sat at the main pool, I strolled down to the smaller pool for a fancy drink. Twelve Euros. And it wasn't that good. So that will be my first and last at this hotel. Other drink menu items include milkshakes for 9 Euros - $13Cdn. Are they wacko or what?

one of the views from our patio

Out Transat rep gave us the low down on the island, and it was unanimous that it was the best brief we ever got on any trip anywhere.

Finally we got something to eat at a taverna, called Nikos (traditional Greek food restaurant) on the beach. It was great. The beaches here are public, the chairs and umbrellas on the beach are owned by the tavernas usually and can cost between 10 and 30 Euros each depending on the beach. The chairs in front of this taverna will be free for the week for us since we ate and will eat here. Our beach, the chairs are typically 10 Euros each.

Lisa just in the smaller more private pool - a bit cold. I know I stuck in my toe, that was enough. I then talked her into the other pool, which has two levels, and it got warmer each time she went to the next pool. I stuck my toes in - too cold. The sun was going down, the air cooling. The weather so far has been sunny skies, temperatures 25-30C during the day and 20 give or take in the evenings.

Dinner was at Nikos' competition on the beach. And it was ok, the service ok. And that's being kind on both counts. We ending the evening with drinks (tiny little booze bottles we gathered during our club class flight from Toronto) on our deck that overlooks the ocean - spectacular. Images will be coming soon.

Ya sas.

02: Athens and the Acropolis

2009-09-23T17:06:00.003-03:00

Up early this morning for a nice breakfast and off to the Acropolis. Very cool, much reconstruction going on there. Don't think one will be able to get a crane-free photo of it for years and years, and even then, due to the rebuilding, you will see more structure due to the newly added rebuilt portions. The old ruins as they were, never to be the same again. I skipped the Acropolis museum that the others took in for a walk around the area for some people watching and people photos.

We met at the Athens Metropolis Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Next to it a Starbucks, so by the time the joined up with me, I had my grande skinny hazelnut latte. Yummy. For lunch a real giros near the Monastiraki subway station. And of course a Greek salad.

After that a short 30 minute walk past the National Library, University, Academy of Arts, St. Dennis Roman Catholic Cathedral (which Wayne and Linda visited on the way back) to the National Archaeological Museum. Interesting, not as good as the billing, much pottery, and for me a pot is a pot. But you gotta do it.

Nice dinner and off to sleep. We are up tomorrow at 0500 to high speed ferry to Mykonos.

01: Athens

2009-09-23T17:02:00.004-03:00

We (Geno, Lisa, Wayne and Linda) arrived 10 minutes early on a planned 9.5 hour flight. Fairly comfy, Air Transat Club Class, but it wasn't a real 1st class. Bus to the hotel, much much traffic. Took over an hour. Hotel was nice, room was nice, location perfect.

Today we did some walking around. Through a park (National Garden) and around the parliament, watched the changing of the guard. We visited Zeus's Temple, and could see the Acropolis from there. After that we walked by Athens' Olympic Stadium. We ended up at Sindagma Square across from the parliament.

For lunch we had donair like meal, never found the true giros (yet). And for dinner (after a 2 or 3 hour nap), Lisa and I went out for Greek salad and pizza.

Not a bad day considering we missed a night of sleep.

00: Missing Sunday

2009-09-23T16:56:00.002-03:00

We left Toronto just before 3pm and arrived in Athens "next day". And for a few days, we were a day back in our minds, because we didn't relaize we lost Sunday.

T-1: ROM

2009-09-20T01:10:00.004-03:00

Today (Saturday), Lisa Karen and I had a free day in Toronto. We visited the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and a pretty fantastic liquor store. Visited Chapters, and had great pizza for dinner. Subway system is really great. Lisa is now packing, off to Greece tomorrow.

T-2: The NS-ON Championship

2009-09-20T01:05:00.006-03:00

Today (Friday), my good friend Jim Greenway invited me to play golf at his course in Burlington. Actually he was defending the |NS-ON Title that he won the first and second time it was held at Glen Arbour (2006) and Oakfield (2007) in NS. The title was not defended last year, my bad for not coming to Ontario and forcing the issue.Now for some background. Jim is a great golfer, and plays 80 or so games a year. I've played about 40 games in the past 3 or so years, 6 of them this year prior to the match. His index is 11, mine is 13. So we agreed on 18 strokes for me in a match play format. Why so many? Well the 6 games! Rental clubs, course knowledge, etc etc. I used 4 irons off the tee, and had to use a 54 degree sand wedge and no access to a 60 degree lob wedge.

The course was beautiful, very reasonable in length, 6500 yards or less, and the greens were 11 on the stimp meter. I never played faster greens. On the 16 tee, I was up 2. A 313 yard par 4 off of a cliff. Hazard to the right. I elected not to use the 4 iron which I had been pounding down the center of fairways. I wanted to be sure I could not reach the hazard. I hit 5 iron to within 80 yards of the green. Jim drove the green, pin high
on the right side of the pin. Pressure was on me. I tip the 54 wedge 1 foot off the back. I now had a fast downhill putt. I touched it, it rolled, and rolled, missing the cup and tolled 12 feet down past the hole. Oh oh. Jim now had the advantage. He hit the put and it ran 6 feet past the hole. My turn. I drained the putt. He missed. Par each. I get a stroke. I won 3 and 2.

We played on further and so I then won 4 and 0. He shot 83, I shot 89.

Jim was (and is) a total gentleman. He handed over the coveted trophy. An Oakfield hat. He now has to come to NS to try and win it back. My next game of golf will be that game, next July.

After the game, we had a drink and salad, went to his house to pick up his lovely wife Angela and off the Bistro 990 where we met Lisa and Karen for dinner. Great meal, great food, great company. I had the duck. All had a great time.

T-3: Off to Toronto

2009-09-17T20:15:00.002-03:00

On the plane and off in 2 hours and Karen, Lisa and I are in Toronto. The 3 day Toronto leg is includes the U2 concert at Skydome tonight (Lisa and Karen) (too loud for me) (who is U2 anyway) (they did play 2 concerts in Zagreb Hr recently as part of their European leg. Hr? Hrvatska ie Croatia. Tomorrow is my day. Golfing with my good friend Jim Greenway at his course in Burlington. Lisa and Karen will TIFF. Following the ass kicking he will receive, we shower, pickup his lovely wife Angela, then back to Toronto to meet Karen and Lisa for dinner at Bistro 990 on Bay St. Saturday is who knows what day, I hope to visit the Toronto zoo. Always a favorite of mine. Oh, Survivor is coming on, gotta go... Cheers.