Athens is a big, spotty city, speckled with ancient ruins and obnoxious street vendors. It's sidewalks are pock marked with bubble gum spots blackened by millions of shoe soles daily, and the stores are white washed with tourist rubble.
The dusty streets have been powdering our sandaled feet as we walk from one very old building to the next. I can understand the appeal of such places with a good amount of context. However, it can be very trying attempting to shuffle our way through halls and passages of bumbling tourists, each one of us clogging its veins like lumps of fat contributing to a very serious heart failure as far as the majesty of the places go. This has been true of all big touristy places we've visited in Europe. The Acropolis , the Glockenspiel, the main fountain in the center of the Piazza Navona, the one that depicts four huge Rivers throughout the world (The Nile, The Danube, The Ganges, Rio Della Plata)was being renovated. It was a bit shitty.
We've been here with Jamie, which has been wonderful. At a bar in Athens the night before last we spent hours dancing, after meeting up with Jamie's friend Robin, who lives in town. What else?
Yesterday we went to Hydra on Tina's birthday (SHE'S 20 YEARS OLD!!!), which was really nice, despite the terrible ferry, that managed to make even those with stomachs of steel feel nauseated. We had drinks at a bar that overlooked the sea, taking in a place that really did look the way you imagine Greece before going to the Urban streets of Athens.
While swimming, we took more underwater pictures, and watched the seaweed sway underneath the water with our goggles. The further out I got, as the deeper water got closer and closer, the more I felt like I was swimming into outer space. It was dark and vast and empty from that fearful view, like a vacuum.
Climbing out of the water I stepped on a sea urchin. It was my own thoughtlessness, but it did evoke to the terrific sensations caused by several fine purple spines plunging into the bottoms of my feet (because it happened one after another, on both feet, as I jerked in pain from the first blunder, I shot my other foot out in shock, and stepped on another one). Jamie was a super hero and got a lot of them out, but unfortunately, there are three that are too deep and are still there. It's not too bad, I just feel like a dope. Jamie, was my hero, Baby. She can take away the paaaain.
Tina's still dizzy, and is resting, but I know she'll help me with the next entry! She's just gotta.
Today is our last day in Athens, tomorrow we leave for London, where we will hopefully see Complete Works of William Shakespeare and eat all you can eat sushi. We will stay up all night, go to the airport, and fly to LAX.
LOVE!
Devra and Jamie filling in for Tina
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