It’s All Greek to Me!

Athens bathed in the morning sun

Guard in front of the Parliament Building

Attack of the birds!

3.

The main shopping street in downtown Athens

I loved the colors of this little home!

The Acropolis

Day 74: Monday, October 12, 2009

Whatever you do, do NOT call me Ishmael. Instead, call me Stupid! Today we arrived in Athens, and Dan had scheduled a private tour of the Acropolis and Agora. We took a taxi into the center of the city and watched the changing of the guard in from of the Parliament building. The soldiers were fascinating to watch, and I boldly approached one on guard to have my picture taken next to him. I was a little afraid, but fortunately, I wasn’t shot! In front of the building is a little plaza which a billion pigeons call home. A man was selling birdseed, so we bought some to feed the pigeons. THEN… he made me put the food on me, and several pigeons crawled all over me, practically pecking me to death! I was having flashbacks of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, as my arms were covered with light scratches from their wickedly sharp toes! Ouch! Painful, but great for pictures!

We started walking toward the Acropolis where we were supposed to meet our guide, and here is where the Stupid part of my story occurs. Of course, as usual, I was looking around instead of paying attention to what was directly in front of me. Just as we were about to cross a one-way street, I hit a marble stone squarely with shin! I cannot tell you how painful that was. Naturally, the stone tripped me, and I fell into the street – right in front of an oncoming taxi! Fortunately, he was paying attention and slammed on his brakes just in the nick of time! I cannot tell you how close I was to getting run over! As I lay in the street, he waved me on, but I could barely move, the pain was so great. I crawled across the street and forced myself not to cry. After that, walking was incredibly painful. My leg was throbbing for the remainder of the day.

We met up with our guide, Vicky, who was absolutely fabulous! We toured the temples and galleries on the hill and were treated to the most amazing birds’ eye views of the sprawling metropolis. Unfortunately, after a couple of hours, I couldn’t tolerate the standing or walking because of my leg, so I went down the mountain to wait for the family. A brief tour of the Agora finished off the tour, and we headed back for the ship – with Greek gyros in hand! Delicious!

Of course, I was anxious to hit the casino again. I put in my initial $100.00, but luck was not on my side at first. I decided to make a bold move, and bluff my way through the next hand, with nothing but a pair of sevens! The table fell for it, and thanks to that one hand, I left the table for a break $45.00 ahead! Out on the deck, I talked to several people from all over the world and decided to give the tables another go. I put in the $100.00, and things went down hill quickly. I decided to make another bold gamble, and it worked again – this time with a lousy pair of threes! That put me $35.00 ahead for this second round. All in all, I walked away with $80.00 more than with what I had started! So… over the course of two nights of poker, I am ahead $128.00, more than doubling my initial wager! Not too shabby! There’s nothing like winning a little money to sooth the pain of losing a little dignity by injuring oneself simply crossing a street!