Pics are: Us w/Lyn & Robert in Athens Studio Apt.; Us at dinner w/Lyn & Robert; the entrees; the acropolis & parthanon; Athens Classic Marathon sign; the Olympic Stadium; one of the runners coming in, either a Kenyan or Ethiopian; Janeen & I at cafe in Plaka; Us on the train to Padras; the ship to Ancona from Padras; a cafe at the port of Padras, Greece; largest suspension bridge in Europe connecting the Peloponnase with the mainland; view of the port city Padras from the ship; the sunset on board the ship heading for Italy.......We arrive in Thessaloniki, Greece on the train from Istanbul around 8:15 a.m. I try to get money at the ATM in the train station and can't. Janeen suggests less money E400 and amazingly that was the problem and I get the money. Go to the counter and book our train to Athens leaving at 12:43 p.m. I discover I have left my Indian scarf in our train compartment so go to try and recover my scarf. Have to go to several offices and finally a man talks to another man on board the train that they have moved into the yard, and sure enough he has my scarf and will bring it to this office I am in. I am so happy to have my scarf back as it was a favorite. We arrive in Athens around 6 p.m. Take the metro to the backpacker and are back in Studio #7, the same studio apartment we were in before. We get the lower bunks and in walk Lyn and Robert from PA traveling for 7 months that they have just begun. They invite us for dinner of pasta, bread, olives and I go out to buy some wine to accompany their dinner. Soon Jeff and Sarah join us. Jeff is studying in Florence and Sarah is traveling. She is a Jewish girl and encourages us to go to Israel. We have a nice evening. Robert has done a great job cooking. We now need toilet paper so Robert and I go out to the backpacker to get some. They give him a bag of 4 and we head back. He suggests a stop at the Regal Bar on the corner. We have both had our share of wine by this time. Meet several people from the backpacker, Phil who has been working in Santorini, a Canadian, and a girl from Boston. We have some beers. I think I pay for one round but really it's foggy! Go to leave and discover someone has taken our bag of toilet paper. Well we both find that extremely funny. Back to the backpacker to get another roll as that is all they will give us this time. I carry it under my jacket, not allowing Robert to touch it, and now headed back to the studio and Robert suggest we stop at Alota Bar, across the street from the Regal. And, of course, I don't say no!!! It's a very cool bar and we have beers. There are several shot glasses w/ouzo on the bar full. I drink a few. Start Greek dancing and the 2 girls at the bar join me. Soon a Greek man in the corner joins us. It's a blast. Then Robert dances with me and he's quite a good dancer. He keeps telling me "we're in trouble!". I tell him "I'm not!". We have the best time and close the bar at 5 a.m. Back to the studio and Lyn gets up! I think she is angry with him. They go to bed and I clean up the dishes and go to bed. I bought some cigs and smoked and shared the entire pack coming home with 2 lighters, one is very cool with Socrates on it. I will save that one. I go to bed. Up late. Missed breakfast at the backpacker. Robert and Lyn have left for the day sight seeing. Stop for a crepe and eat our food in the room. Get on the Internet to book flight to Egypt, no luck. Do the laundry at 5:30 at the hostel. Had to wait so they could finish the sheets. Soon they'll have a facility with coin machines for use by the residents of the hostel. We're to have dinner with Lyn and Robert as we gave him money for groceries. He's making chicken soup. I come back from laundry and Janeen is now making the soup and the dinner out has been cancelled. I'm back at the hostel to finish the drying and put off till tomorrow as they need the dryer. Carry that basket all the way back to the studio full of my wet clothes. Have the chicken soup which is delicious and go to bed. We're up and breakfast at the backpacker which is included in our room. Not so good but the German girl is boiling eggs so I get 2 soft boiled on toast and that is fairly good. We have to move to the more expensive 35E each room for 2. There is a TV and rollout bed besides the room with 2 twin beds. Lyn and Robert have to move too, so we move our bags into #1 and check it out. They suggest staying and sharing the room which I had already thought about. They get a credit from the hostel for Monday nite and tell them they're going to the islands and will be back Monday. It works, very smooth, although Lyn is nervous about it. So now we are sharing this studio apartment for E35 between 4 people. We really score here and feel so smug about it. I check the Internet and still no luck on Egypt. Lyn has given us info and emailed the tour people, there's room for us. We still have no flight and no idea what we will do. I buy a phone card and try to call Roger. Too cold to stand at the phone booth. Will do tomorrow or Monday, as it is freezing here. Have some left over soup for lunch, very good. Go to dinner with Lyn and Robert. The dinner is 10 entrees to share of our choice and a carafe of red wine. Janeen gets a coke. We choose sausage, meat balls, tzatziki, eggplant, wild greens, calamari, saganaki, Greek salad, pork and another dish I didn't note. Stop at a cool bar with colored bottles on the back wall all lite and barrels of wine on the right and they have that blue colored high alcoholic booze for sale here that is banned in the US, Absinthe. I was going to buy a bottle and never did. We should have had a drink here but leave. Lyn and Janeen don't want to stay and I'm the only one who does besides Robert who doesn't have the balls to say we'll stay. Walk back to the studio and I begin to change. Janeen has gone to make phone calls to the States. Lyn and Robert return and now want to stop at the bar Atota as Robert has told her I want to. It's all too weird. So we go to the Atota where Robert and I closed the bar the other night and I have an ouzo, Lyn nothing and Robert a coffee. The man is pussy whipped!!! I pick up the tab, back to the studio and to bed. Hear the kids in the morning as Robert is running in the race. Today, Sunday November 5, 2006, is the Athens Classic Marathon, a 42k race starting in Marathon and ending at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. He runs the 5k and finishes before the professionals come in. We go to breakfast at the hostel and then walk over to the stadium to see the runners come in. We arrive when the dignitaries have been dropped off and watch them walk into the stadium. You can clearly recognize the secret service guards. We follow and get up in the marble bleachers. They have a presentation to 3 woman with medals around their necks but no laurel wreaths on their heads. Then the first men winners come in. A Kenyan, another Kenyan and an Ethiopian. I take some pictures. We watch their presentation and then some other guys come in and then the women. I don't take pics of the women because I am not understanding the awards or winners. The women were Asian from ?, another black woman and an Ethiopian woman. They crown these 3 men and these 3 women with the laurel wreath plus medals whereas the other groups of men and women only got the medals. We leave and head back to the studio. It's a bit warmer today, full sunshine, but still pretty cold. I buy a bottle of wine. Robert and Lyn are back at the studio and we plan to go to dinner. End up at the old man's Lonely Planet recommendation even thought Cafe Vitro has offered free wine. I vote for Cafe Vitro, Janeen votes for the old man, Robert doesn't choose and Lyn flips the coin. I lose, we go to Janeen's choice. I have lamb and a Greek salad which is very good. I go next door to buy the wine and tell the owner about my curiosity in regard to the Absinthe. He has us sit in a booth and gives us a taste of it. It's very strong, 70% alcohol and a bright turquoise blue color. Back to the hostel and to bed. Up and watching CNN on the election predictions. Pack up and leave stuff for Rodney to store. The kids have left to go to Corinth for the day. We go to check on a train or ferry out of Athens. Get info on the ferry to Italy. Walk to the tourist office and she sends us to the train ticket office. I had been before to buy the Istanbul tickets. We find out about Dubrovnik and it's a 3-day train ride, cold there and lots of changes of trains in probably not English speaking help and very expensive too. Decide to go to Italy and go back to the travel gal and buy our ferry ticket, this time with a state room to sleep in for the night. We can't make it today so we'll stay another night in Athens and go tomorrow at 5 p.m. We're starving now. Get some lunch, a gyros pork not as good as the ones at home, good fries, lousing catsup and an Amstel. Back to the hostel and Internet with no charge. Discover Mike is moving out 11/19 and thinks the lease ends 12/1, my tenant at the FL house. DAMN, I sure hope it's 1/1/07. Emailed him with payment info, Anna with association stuff, Amy about the lease and we go to bed early, 8 or so. We're in an 8-bed women's dorm now at the main Athens Backpacker with 6 occupied beds. There is a balcony and the bathroom is pretty good. We're up early. I shower and pack, everything is now in 2 packs and my pillow is strapped on the outside. Have breakfast, bring my packs to storage and walk over to the travel office. She cannot do plane tickets. The man does that and he's not in. We go back and get our packs and take the metro to the train station. Buy our train ticket. Go to platform 2 and wait for the next train. Get on and an English-speaking Greek man helps us. Says it's this train and we change in Corinth. The train goes towards the airport for 2 stops and then reverses direction toward Corinth. Thank God for the Greek man's direction. We change in Corinth to Patras. He lives in London and hates it. His mother lives in Patras and does not know he's coming. He has surprised his cousins in Athens also. We get to Patras about 3:40p.m. Walk to the ship and it is the first one. Get on and get checked in our room. It's small but nice. We get off the ship and buy wine, cheese, fruit, crackers and Kalamata olives at a shop across from the ship. Janeen and I split the feta and the olives. Walk around the port here at Patras and back on the ship. Out on the decks while the ship pulls out of port having a glass of wine and taking pictures of the view. The largest suspension bridge in Europe is here connecting the Peloponnese with the mainland of Greece and I take a great picture of it. We are on the Anek Lines heading for Ancona, Italy. Unfortunately it is getting dark quick and we cannot see the beauty of all the islands we are moving thru heading north and west to Ancona across the Adriatic Sea. Back at the cabin Janeen is staying and I am going to dinner of Greek salad and lamb. Left overs to the room and to sleep, up several times to pee, hot and close in this cabin. Up at 6:45 a.m. to watch the sunrise. Not very good. Talk to a Swiss guy who has been on the Peloponnese for 5 days. He says the sunset going towards Patras with the islands is magnificent. I go back down to the cabin, crawl back in bed and up about 8:30 a.m. to shower and then go for coffee. Sit in the Ocean View Lounge and catch up on the journal. We get into Ancona and it's a hassle getting off the ship. We wait and now the escalators are not on. It's 1 p.m. when we get in. Janeen gets off before me as she stays on the elevator. I go to all car floors confused, finally understand the exit is on 4 and get off. I'm very frustrated. Sit in the waiting area where there are many people waiting which proves to be a tour group as 2 tour buses arrive and they board. Janeen comes over and stays with the bags and I go check the info area which is empty and apparently closed for the season. Back to the sitting area and I leave again to find a water closet and information. The train is leaving in a few minutes and will stop at the main station in 2 minutes but there isn't time to go back and get Janeen and the bags. But I do get information of what direction to walk. Go back and get Janeen and walk towards the centro............Ancona, Italy next.........
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