[Editorial note: It is now Monday morning in Greece - these first posts were written over the weekend but I only now have an Internet connection. Interestingly, Blogger thinks that I'm in Italy and the instructions are in Italian.]
Saturday, June 23, 2007.
I was very glad when my long flight from Atlanta to Athens finally landed: I was quite tired of being in seat 36E. The wait to get through customs and claim my luggage (a garmet bag with clothes) was not long, and when I left the baggage claim area, my colleague Ioannis Minis was there to greet me, which was a pleasant surprise. (It is nice to have a local to meet you - When I went to Europe in graduate school and my cousin Stephen Barthle met me in Frankfurt; when Laury and I went to France in 1996 Jean-Marie Proth met us in Metz.)
It is warmer than average in Athens today and was still hot when I left around 5:00. The city is like LA: a seaside metropolis surrounded by mountains. (And it has the same kind of traffic and smog.)
Ioannis gave me a ride to my hotel, the G.R. Louis on Timleontos Vassou Street, not far from the U.S. Embassy. I got a sandwich and fries at the hotel restaurant and took a nap. Then I headed out to learn the Metro and visit the Ancient Agora. The Metro system is about the same size and complexity as the one in Atlanta. Only three lines. The stations I used were new and clean and easy to use - directions and signs are in English as well as Greek. I found the Agora after some wandering around Monasteraki and headed to the Church of the Holy Apostles, built about 1000 years ago to celebrate St. Peter's preaching to the Athenians in A.D. 51, including the famous Sermon to an Unknown God on nearby Aerophagus Hill. Views of the Acropolis from every square and open area.
On my way back to the Metro I bought a small cup of peach Italian ice cream, which I finished before entering the station. On the walk from the Metro to the hotel I stopped to buy a slice of spanakopita at a fast food place - it was nearly 7:30 PM but it still wasn't dinner - Ioannis is coming around 10:00 to take me to dinner with his family.
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