ATHENS!

ATHENS!

''Athina, poln t'ouranou, n gns se kamarwnei''
Finally I have some real adventures: wild animals, accidents, heat and messed up plans. But tons of fun, as always.

I arrived in Athens airport around 1am on Thursday night, which means arriving home at 2am, since the new airport is literally in the middle of nowhere. It was such a relief to arrive in Athens, since the temperatures in Göttingen had fallen to winter scale. A few people came to the lab with coats(!) and I couldn't stop sneazing, so the 39C of Athens' heat was a gift.
Semeli forgot the plans for swimming, being a tourist's idol (she went to Koufonisia, then Luxemburg, then Paris, Athens and was leaving for Crete the same night) so I found myself sleeping until lunchtime. When I finally met her, she gave me the next two books of the trilogy 'Akuvernites Politeies' by Tsirkas, so now Maria I can have a complete view. I just started 'Ariagni' and it makes much more sense than the firts chapters of 'Lesxi'. Let's see. Semeli said she never finished them, as they were quite confusing and unexciting.
Saturday's plans were to go to Aegina with Nikolas and Roselita. After a lot of SMSes and my excitement soaring since I haven't been to Aegina for years and I really like that island, I woke up early and prepared, only to find out that we're not going...pfff...Chaotic conversations and some French guys arriving in Athens cancelled our plans and those waiting for us in Aegina...oops...sorry.
So, I crossed Athens, which I haven't done for five years now, I saw the Calatrava design at the Olympic Stadium, which I should have done in 2004, and finally with Nikolas, Roselita and Konstantis we went to Sxoinias for a swim. That was fun!
After my plans of getting the windsurf of some dude that clearly had trouble staying afloat fell flat, calamari, octapus and tzatziki along with a white parrot sitting at the next table made my day. The parrot seemed very carefree, eating a marida for half an hour, and a fried potato for another hour. Very elegant animal. Holding the marida, eating in peace, scaring the the guys selling stuff in the beach and attracting all sights, esp. when the owner tied a napkin around its neck!
Sunday's plans for Aegina were cancelled once more, and trying to avoid the oil spill in Vouliagmeni, we went swimming in Voula. Oo, what a mistake, mama! Around 19.30, as I was swimming quite further in than most people, something (probably a jellyfish) stung me! There were so many people there, how come it came to me? I got stung twice, and I covered the 100 meters in 10 sec to find myself in ridiculous pain in the beach. Water, gel, car, home. Pain. I was cool, complaining about the pain, until I actually saw the bit. It was this huge red line from behind my knee all the way to my butt! And it was big and swollen. I didn't like that at all. A trip to the pharmacy and to the patisserie made me feel much better, although I still couldn't sit, and in the airplane back to Germany at 6am I had to sit on the edge of the seat...what a pain.
Moral of the story: avoid beaches with sand. Rocks, rocks,rocks. After all, that's why I go to Vouliagmeni. I can't believe an oil spill took place there the 3 days of the year that I decide to go swim there and travel from Germany just for that!!

Now I'm back in Göttingen, and it's cold...let's see what I'm going to do this weekend...I'm thinking Munich or Nuremberg...any suggestions? No, I'm not trying to cover the Third Reich Germany, come on!!