Athens!

You have to find pleasure in the journey, no matter how cramped, demanding, and unspectacular it seems. Otherwise, you'll have handed over a day at each end to tedium. Or worse.

(delightful dinner in Detroit)

(journaling on flight to Paris)

(the final stretch to Athens)

And a few minutes later, we are in Athens.

Okay, it took more than a few minutes. But still, it was a a trip without major snafus and that, of course, is splendid. Paris may be in chaos right now, but our French flight from there to Athens was on time and we landed in the early afternoon to beautiful sunshine in Greece. Tired, yes, of course, but deeply grateful that the very long trip is behind us.

Now let's get a ride into the city and to our hotel.

I should note that choosing a hotel in Athens for Snowdrop and me was hard! In my mind, the ideal place would be right smack in the center of things: close to Syntagma Square, close to the Plaka neighborhood, close to the Acropolis. It would have a view! And people would not write nasty comments concerning its maintenance, noise, or datedness. 

There was a time where I cared only about "clean." Everything else was manageable. But the older I get, the harder I work at finding places that will make me happy. Snowdrop wont care, but I will. So -- clean, well positioned, relatively quiet. And, well, pleasant to return to at the end of a long day.

And affordable.

Only one place checked nearly all the boxes for me -- the Electra Metropolis. (It has a rooftop pool which would have made it an astonishingly good choice, had it been open.)  Let's start with the view. If you're coming to Athens for the Acropolis then you may as well have your fill of the Acropolis. (Though I'm putting off an official visit up that hill until Monday.)

True, someone would be happy just to crash now with a screen running one show after the next, but hey, we did not travel this far for that! (Nonetheless, a brief rest is certainly in order.)

But pretty soon I get us freshened up and I push us out the door. (Our balcony view toward the city...)

In truth, there isn't a lot that you can do on the day of arrival. It's late in the afternoon for us and we are tired. When you dont sleep well on a plane (and who does!), your head has a bit of a buzz, your eyes are glazed, your pace drags. 

As luck would have it though, we have the city's best gelato shop just across the street. A perfect place to revive a little.

(the gelato ladies...)

Snowdrop always orders chocolate. The richer and darker the better. I settle for Sicilian pistachio. Hey, it's an island in the Mediterranean so it's fitting, no? 

Somewhat fortified, I spin us around toward Plaka, the neighborhood with the largest concentration of older homes, tavernas, shops. This place:

I pick up one gift for one child back home and honestly, this is all we're good for. 

Another quick rest and it's supper time. (Greece is typically 8 hours ahead of Wisconsin, but they're just doing the European Spring Forward tonight so at the moment they're 7 hours ahead, and tomorrow they'll add an hour, though by the end of the week we'll be in Western Europe so we'll again subtract an hour. Are you confused yet??

I booked a dinner at Ovio, which possibly is too big of a pander to my traveling companion's palate (it's a pizza and past place), but hey, she's been through a lot and she is such a good sport about it all (shed a tear only once, when the Security people took away her toothpaste at CDG airport; I thought it might pass unnoticed and it did in Madison, but in Pairs they ditched it. I told her they gave it to those in need which only slightly cheered her up) that I haven't the heart to push a new cuisine on her the first night. Besides, Ovio is just two minutes from our hotel. 

The sweet girl must have been starving: she asked for both pizza and pasta and she ate them up with gusto.

At the hotel, it is sooooo past everyone's bedtime. Well, depending on what clock you follow. I read her a book on Greek history (a younger person's version of it) and she is, of course, chatting and throwing in her observations and correcting my pronunciation, while my heavy eye lids threaten to slam down into a permanent shut position.

And now comes the moment when you hope so much that you and your sleeping companion will rest well. It's not a given the first night. Jet lag can kick in at 3 and keep you up for hours. But we can try! With the twinkle of lights shining onto the Acropolis to make it that much more beautiful for her, for me.

With love...