Today was spent traveling from one time zone to another. We caught a cab in Poland this morning, walking out on the streets that were filled last night with irate Polacks demanding some kind of consideration from the Russian government. After all this time, maybe the Russians grew a heart when it comes to their silly little neighbors? Fat chance. Anyway, we took a cab to the airport, and suffered through Warsaw traffic, which is horrendous. Small city, but it takes a good 45 minutes to get to the airport, simply because the cars before us were gridlocked for no apparent reason. Our driver was a champ, though, and narrowly avoided t-boning an idiotic oncoming driver who apparently is too stupid to know that Red means Stop.
I know, weak, but I haven't yet included any bad Polish jokes, so I needed at least one, right? Anyway, we made it to the airport without further incident, until we got up to the lady at the desk for check-in. Lot is a Polish company, and flies exclusively through Europe. I had my backpack ready to carry on, sure that it was within the weight limit for carry-on luggage because it's about 19 or so kilograms, and the limit on a later flight is 26. In Poland, the weight limit for carry-on is 6 kilograms. 12 pounds is all you get! I was pissed. That backpack has EVERYTHING! If it gets lost, misplaced, waylaid, or otherwise messed with, I lose my entire wardrobe, my laptop, and all of my reading material. SOL in more languages than I can identify. There was nothing we could do, though, since my bag is well over 6 kilograms. I checked it with great trepidation and chagrin. Only after I watched my little Ergomatic disappear into the vast unknown of Polish baggage handling security did I realize that I'd left all my books and laptop in the backpack, and faced a 2.5 hour flight completely unprepared with entertaining objects.
We ate breakfast in the airport, which consisted of a cheese and dill and spinach panino for myself, which was quite delicious. We sat and talked and looked at the changing departures sign and contemplated Minsk, Moscow, Kiev, and Lvov, in turns. From there, we went into the overpriced book shop to find something to amuse me for the time on the plane. I finally picked up 127 hours-between a rock and a hard place, written by Aron Ralston. This is the true story of a Colorado mountain climber who gets his arm stuck behind a boulder during a solo trek, and his decision. Apparently, the decision is to amputate, as evidenced by the author picture on the back of the book. Kind of a spoiler, but apparently, I'm the only person in the world to not know this story's ending yet. There's also a movie featuring James Franco, which makes me feel even more inadequate.
Anyway, we bummed around the airport for a while, and thought we had plenty of time before our plane, because there wasn't any airplane in sight. We finally got the hint when we realized that it was the last call for the plane, and they were holding it for us. Gill was in the bathroom, and Judy was nowhere to be found. I ran onto the tram as I saw Judy and Gill meet up with Jim, and also get into line to be processed. Apparently, in the Warsaw airport, they take a small bus to the airplane, and you get on via one of those portable staircases.
Safely on the plane, I began to read my book, and didn't look up until we were flying over the sparse coastline of the Greek isles. We landed, got our luggage (everything arrived-thank god!) and stood in line for taxis. There was a group of Italian tourists directly behind me (of course!) who stood uncomfortably close and spoke loudly. We finally got into the cab, and the driver commenced to give me my first educational experience with South European drivers.
Apparently, lanes are more of a suggested trajectory than an actual limitation on where your car should go. Also, turn signals are irrelevant unless you're making a 3-consecutive-lane change at 80 miles per hour, and playing with the radio is an acceptable excuse for drifting two lanes and swerving back while driving uncomfortably close to a stone partition on your other side. Gill said it wasn't too bad as far as these drivers go.
We arrived to our hotel, which is right next to the Parliament building, where demonstrations happen if they happen in Athens. That's all we need now, right? The hotel is beautiful, and the best one in all of Athens, so I'm enjoying temperature-controlled rooms, an enormous bath tub, fuzzy slippers, an electric tea kettle, and soft beds. It's very nice, and I will miss this luxury in three days, when Gill and I are back on the road, and her parents leave.
We settled for a little, and then went outside again to grab some lunch. We walked through the Acropolis, which is a series of very tight streets and overpriced shops with yelling unibrowed Greek men at every turn. I took a few pictures, because it seemed like the thing to do, but I haven't quite adjusted to the idea of being somewhere warm again, so I didn't go too crazy.
After that, we went to dinner in a cute little restaurant with very authentic food and a lot of it. Judy tried the Cretin greens, which are bitter and tasty, and the cuttlefish. Jim had fish as well, Gill had a burger, and I had the grilled squid. It was pretty delicious. For dessert, there was an Oriental style halva (which I LOVE!) with ice cream and cinnamon. After that, we went back to the hotel, and I finally finished uploading the video of the protests in Warsaw last night. To watch, follow the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHOOVZ77ntE
The sound goes in and out, and there's a strange clicking noise whenever I move the camera, but it's pretty interesting, and gives you an idea of what the hell was going on underneath my window last night. It's getting late now, since we lost an hour in the flight, and I still want to take that bath, so goodnight world! See you again tomorrow.
Are you going to Sparta, by chance? X3
ReplyDeleteLawl unfortunately, no. We're leaving Greece tomorrow morning.
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