lazy day Athens

Snowdrop slept for twelve hours straight and woke up the better for it. Still, I'm not pushing it today. And though it is a brilliant day with a deep blue sea and a bluejay sky, it is really cold for Greece at the end of March (a high of 57F or 13C, with gusty winds that form white caps on the usually gentle sea bay).

Good morning, blustery Greece!

(we go up for breakfast: waiting for an elevator)

Breakfast? With a pretty view of the waters and, too, of a cat that parades back and forth outside. I note to Snowdrop that if Ed was here, he'd open the door and let the cat in (this is why you cant take the guy anywhere!).

My plan was to take walks here, but Snowdrop needs the rest more than she needs the walks, so we spend a lovely morning in our room reading, hanging out and enjoying the views. I mean, it would be a waste to stay at a beautiful room by the sea and not suck up every minute out of our time here, right? (Too, I need to do more kid laundry: the little wooden tray suspended over the bathtub makes for a perfect drying rack!)

Alright, feeling a tad guilty, I take her for a stroll just to the sea and back.

She tells me she has never seen water this blue!

We look wistfully at the pool. We're wearing jackets. Swimming here is looking to be a very remote possibility.

But! There is an indoor pool and I tell you, never was I more happy to offer her that. True, you could say we did not have to travel to Greece to swim indoors. Wisconsin Dells is a 40 minute drive north of Madison and there you can swim and slide and drink all the chlorinated water you want 365 days a year. But, here we are, on a cold day, a little tired, still a little wistful of all that could be on a warmer day, and so I say let's go and have an indoor swim!

(our biggest walk today: along the corridor leading to the pool!)

She meets another girl there, just a tad older. From Colorado. Here on spring break. They play a little but eventually Snowdrop is by herself in the pool (which at its deepest goes up to her nose, if she stands on tippy toes) and honestly, social as she is, in pools, she likes her own games.

This pool offers some jets and sprays and when I think she's had enough (her lips are starting to quiver -- the water is not that warm), she switches to the big hot pool with even more jets and she occupies herself switching them on and off.

Two hours of water fun! (Followed by a minute in a sauna, just because she had never tried one before this trip, not being herself of a Finnish family.)

Lunch? Again, we stay "on campus." I know, I know. Seize those last hours in Greece! 

We prefer to take things calmly today. Pasta for her, asparagus for me.

In the afternoon, we are, predictably, in our room. It never moved beyond 57F (13C) and the winds continue to whip up the sea waters. Still, Snowdrop hears voices of children outside. Looking out, she notices two kids, actually swimming in the cool-ish pool waters. Well, if they can do it, so can she!

(brave)

(braver)

(braver still)

She doesn't last (and neither do the two others), but she is pleased as anything that at least she gave herself that chance to test the waters. And as long as we are testing waters, I encourage her to dip her toe into the Aegean Sea. We find a shell, we shiver a little, and now it really is time for hot shower (third one today!) to cap our water adventures in Greece.

In the evening, I follow the hotel's suggestion and we cab over (all of five minutes) to Labros Restaurant, just a tad further down the shoreline. It's Greek seafood and there isn't much for her to get excited about, nonetheless, we go there because I feel we have to do something authentically Greek today.

(she is caught up in a new book and I do allow her to read before food is served... I sit back and watch the last rays throw light on her young face..

Yes, I let her order her security dish: pasta. But, she has to try the other stuff too. And she does and I marvel at how much easier it is to get her to go along with this requirement now. Grilled this, fried that. She protests none of it.

As I look out at the hills and mountains beyond the bay, I speculate out loud about how it would be to actually live here, as a Greek, with the sea and land being your daily friend or foe. With history nipping at your everyday. With your dependence on the influx of tourists, always the tourists, who bring with them the good, the bad, the annoying.

I can only hope that we were not among the annoying here, in this beautiful country. 

Tomorrow afternoon, we fly to Paris.

With love...