Date: Sunday, April 10, 2005
Partners for the day: Nkosi Harvey (text) Peter Van Buren (images)
Site(s): Plaka, Monastiraki, Hadrian’s Library, the Laundromat, assorted shops
Weather: Beautifully sunny and warm
I hope everyone has had a nice and relaxing weekend. Today, Sunday the 10th, was a bit dull, but I will try my best to make it as lively as possible. We are back in home sweet Athens after a one week stay on the island of Crete. We shall miss the chocolate crepes and sunny beaches, but we will have our lovely Kinder Kingdom to keep us amused. Some of the members of our group have become obsessed with the toys contained within chocolate Kinder Eggs, a German candy, which serve to amuse us during long bus rides. After a few hours of playing with Kinder folk and a hearty dinner on the boat back to Athens we arrived at the docks of Piraeus at 5 AM. After a quick stroll, we caught the first train into Athens and arrived in good time. We were all safely in bed by 6:20 AM.
After a few hours’ rest, we were up again with the sweet smells of dirty laundry gently tickling our nostrils. Abby, our beautiful T.A., came to our rescue around 10 to tell us of the good news of a cheap laundry service. It was located only minutes away from our hotel, and we all rushed to pay 9 Euro a load for laundry, with the guarantee that our Cretan stained clothing would be ready at the stroke of 1 PM. We were off to once again terrorize the locals and wreak havoc on the streets of Athens. But once again the Athenians were on to our plan and seemed to have deserted the city preferring Sunday service to shop keeping.
At around 1, however, the city seemed to burst with activity. We promptly collected our cleaned and folded laundry, picked up a gyro and headed back to the hotel. Happy and now clean we decided to go back out and brave the great unknown in search of adaptors and Milko. Milko we found, but electronics stores open on a Sunday – not a chance. So it was back to the hotel to take yet another nap and pack for Thebes and the Peloponnesus.
The future remains uncertain, but we are in the process of packing for a 2 week journey across the mainland, where we will continue to enjoy spring rolls from McDonalds and antiquities in areas close to beaches. We hope that you will do the same and to avoid the soy sauce.