Heading West

Unfortunately I can't post any pictures right now (I know those are like the best part of the blog), but I thought I'd let you know what I've been up to.
       Although I was hoping to leave Athens on Tuesday morning, I ended up staying one more night. This gave me a chance to have one more fairly laid back day in Athens to see and do a few extra things. The first thing I did was hike up Mount Lycabettus. It was a nice hike up to the top where there's a flat area to take in the amazing 360 degree view of Athens. I walked back down and just wandered carelessly through some neighborhoods that I hadn't been in yet. I went inside a few churches and lit a candle in one. Then I stumbled upon the real Athens market place. This was not the cobble stone streets where tourists visit shops to buy souvenirs and post cards. I doubt that many tourists ever venture to this part of Athens. The sights, sounds, and smells were overwhelming. I went down one block where there were skinned sheep hanging everywhere along with all different types of organs and other meats which I could not identify. The next block was filled all different types of fish and other sea creatures. There were many carts holding a plethora of nuts and dried fruit. It was very interesting to be in this environment with everyone shouting and trying to sell what they had. Not much happened after that. I spent a bit more time wandering around the crowded streets before I headed back to the hostel. There I met up with a group of British students who had just arrived and I spent some time with them. I spent much of the evening walking around Athens with the first native Greek I had ever spent any time with.
       The next day I caught a bus to Nafplio. Nafplio is such a beautiful town and is over shadowed by two huge fortresses. There is also another fortress out in the harbor, completely surrounded by water. Yesterday I climbed the 900-and-something steps up to the Palamidi fortress. The Palamidi fortress is the coolest thing I've seen so far. It was like something out of a movie. I was so exhausted from walking up all those steep steps, but it was definitely worth it to ascend into such an awesome piece of history.
       Today I caught a bus to the ancient ruins of Mikines. They weren't the most impressive ruins I've seen, but they were still interesting to visit. I really enjoyed the landscape around them with its steep and rocky hills, deep valleys, and snow clad mountains in the distance. When I got back to Nafplio I got lunch and then walked up the the other fortress called Akronafplio. This fortress is supposed to be the oldest of the three and some of the town is basically built into it. Its less up kept, but still makes for a nice place to take a walk. In contrast to the stairs of the Palamidi fortress, the Akronafplio fortress is accessed by a gradual incline on a cobblestone road that winds through the fortress itself. There are some really nice views from the top. After that I walked down to a small beach made up of mostly white and pink pebbles. The water was calm, clear, and lightly blue-green in color. I sat there on the beach for a awhile and listened to the birds and the gentle sound of the waves of the Mediterranean Sea.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to write again...

Getting Lost

Me infront of the Parthenon:      

Me in front of the Temple of Zeus:

 Greek beers:

Aegina:

Mykonos:

    
        Mykonos is a very interesting town. Just like on all the other islands, the locals are setting everything up for high season. The whole town smells of fresh paint because everyone is painting their houses and businesses with a fresh coat of white paint. The main town that I stayed in is fairly small, but its easy to get lost in. The streets, which are basically narrow footpaths (although many small motor bikes and four wheelers drive through them), are hard to navigate. The whole city is like a maze. I got lost several times, which was alright since I really had no schedule last night. I walked around and took in all there was to see. Around every corner there is a small church and one of the famous sights on Mykonos are its windmills. I really just walked around for a few hours before I went in to a local market to buy some apples and stuff to make sandwiches for the next day. I got some souvlaki in a pita for dinner and headed back to the motel. I was so exhausted last night and it was really nice to have my own room so that I could get everything in my bag in order without bothering anybody. The cleaning lady there was nice enough to wash and dry my laundry for me, which is something I haven't had a chance to do myself since I left Canada. I got up today, had the free breakfast of toast with butter and honey, coffee and orange juice at the motel, and headed back out into the town. I went and bought a ticket for the Seabus to Delos and a ticket for the ferry back to Piraeus this afternoon. Then I went searching for a bakery to buy some bread for my sandwiches. I got lost again, which is fine when you have nothing to do, but I still needed to get back to the motel, pack my stuff, make my sandwiches, and get to the Seabus within a half an hour. I finally found the motel and made it to the Seabus just in time.

       The boat ride to Delos is very short so we were there in about 20 minutes. I had been told that no one lives on Delos, and that no one can stay over night, but there are a few houses there. Perhaps they are for the people who upkeep the area. Delos is just one big archaeological site. Even the boat ride up to the port is (for lack of a better term) super rad. It reminded me of something out of Homer's Odyssey with choppy seas and a narrow straight with jagged rocks on both sides. The ruins of Delos are pretty scattered and spread out, but they are still cool. My favorite parts were the statues of the lions and, of course, the leftover bases of fallaces, of which the tips have been lost. I ended up getting a little lost in the massive ancient town and ended up walking through some rubble and brambles until I ended up in an area that it looked like they were renovating and I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be. I finally made it back to the boat and ate one of my sandwiches and a whole red bell pepper (I think I need the vitamin C) and talked to a few exchange student who are studying in London, but are originally from Las Vegas, and a man from Corfu. When we got back to Mykonos, I made my way to the ferry and got there about 45 minutes early. I spent that time talking to couple girl who have been studying in Barcelona and are from Texas and Ohio. After a 6 hour ferry ride I made it to the hostel in Athens. I want to get out of Athens tomorrow, but I have no plans yet.

Don't expect to hear from me for at least a day. But maybe I'll surprise you.

Athens and the Islands

       It's been a few days since I posted anything. I haven't really been anywhere that I could and I haven't had much down time in the last few days. I left you on the evening of the day that I arrived in Athens. That night not much happened. The hostel was nice other than the two girls who spent about an hour late at night and then early in the morning rustling through there things and being seemingly purposefully as loud as possible. There was a positive side to them waking me up before sunrise, however. It gave me a chance to hear all the new bird sounds early in the morning. I was feeling lonely and nervous about the city so I decided to take the free Athens walking tour that the hostel offers everyday to meet people and to get a better bearing on my surroundings. When I got to the meeting spot there were only 2 other people there and so it was easy to quickly get to know each other. One was a 25 year old girl, originally from Chicago, who works as teacher for young children in Prague. The other was a 27 year old guy, originally from Austin, who works a teacher in Madrid. It turned out that the tour guide was very sick, so there wasn't a tour after all. The 3 of us decided to explore Athens a bit together. We walked up to the Acropolis, went to the temple of Zeus, the stadium of the first modern Olympic games, and the National Garden of Athens. The National Garden was a huge disappointment. Everything seemed dead and unkempt. Maybe its just the wrong time of year to visit. After that we just walked around a bit more before deciding to get food. After talking to them, I decided to cancel my reservation at the hostel for the next night so that I could explore a couple islands with them. The next morning we headed to to Piraeus to catch a ferry to Aegina. It was a quick trip lasting only about 45 minutes. Our first goal when we got there was to find a beach and go swimming. We walked quite a ways in the hot sun without finding an actual beach, so we settled on a rocky area with shallow water and lots of sea urchins. The water was a bit colder than we had expected so we didn't swim that long. We spent the next couple hours just lounging in the sun. Our plan was to catch a ferry from Aegina to Hydra where we would find a place to stay for the night. Unfortunately we didn't take the time to look up ferries from Aegina and it turns out that you cant go anywhere from Aegina besides Piraeus. We decided to stay on Aegina for the night and caught a cab to what was supposed to be a very popular beach town destination. On the ride there we were able to see a lot of beautiful scenery. Apparently Aegina grows a lot of pistatios, so pistatio trees, along with old growth olives, are everywhere. We arrived at the town we were going to stay at and it looked like a ghost town. There were only a hand full of shops open and no one on the streets. It seemed like about half of the building were abandoned. We checked into a cheap hotel and the owner told us that the reason the town was so dead was that the hight season doesn't start for another 2 weeks. We headed down to the beach and in the distance up a hill there was what looked a huge partially built hotel made entirely of concrete. We found out later from a local that that is exactly what it is. Apparently in the 80s the Greek military had forced the builders to stop building. I'm not entirely sure why. We walked up to it and climbed all over. It was really big and really creepy. There were dark halls and rooms with rubble all over. There was an empty pool and a huge parking garage. From there we walked up the hill a ways and took in the view of the bay, sail boats, and other islands in the distance. After that, we headed back into town and got some dinner in an almost empty restaurant. We ended up spending the evening in a bar with the locals doing karaoke.
       The next day, the owner of the hotel was nice enough to give us a free ride up to the ruins of a temple on the hill. We spent some time there and then walked back down to the town. We spent some time walking around the town. Like in Athens, there were many stray dogs and cats. They were all so sad and wanting human attention. At 2:30, we caught the bus back to the port, bought tickets for a ferry to Piraeus, and headed back to Athens. The Texan and I had to find a new place to stay since the hostel we were staying at before was full. Almost everywhere in Athens was full. We ended up staying at a pretty crappy hostel in a bad part of town. The two of us spent the rest of the evening hanging out with a very drunk Irish man. We met him in a sports bar, and the Texan and I would have been content to just stay there and get to bed at a reasonable hour, but the Irish man was adamant about going to a club to try and pick up girls. We ended up following him to an area of Athens that is full of dance clubs. To the Irish man's dismay, hardly any of them would let us in, and when they did, they would refuse to serve us. It was a bit irritating because they kept asking if we had money, or who we were. In any case, I was glad not to go into any clubs and we ended up heading back to the hostel soon after. Today I got up early and headed back to Piraeus to catch the 7:30 ferry to Mykonos. I thought that I would be able to sleep a bit on the ferry since it was supposed to be a six hour ride, but it turns out that economy class on the larger ferries in Greece is just a cafeteria. I tried to sleep a bit with my head on the table, but I didn't sleep much. When I arrived in Mykonos it was very quiet. I walked up the road a ways and talked to some people who gave me a ride to a room to stay in. The room is right downtown. There are almost exclusively locals here and they are having some kind of pre-easter dance celebration on the beach. I'm not sure how long I will stay here. Perhaps a couple nights. I'm considering more and more calling it quits on the islands after I leave Mykonos and just heading back to the mainland. I wish I didn't have to go back through Athens, but it looks like that's my only choice. I'll try to book a room ahead of time this time.
       I would love to put up some pictures, but I'm writing this on my phone and don't have access to a computer and have no way to upload photos from my camera.

I will try to write another blog tomorrow, but I can't make any promises.

Athens

       I finally made it to Athens! I was supposed to get here yesterday, but my flight from Amsterdam got cancelled due to the weather. The wind there was insane and the turbulence was so intense when we were landing that I didn't know if we were going to make it to the ground in one piece. Apparently the airline found an alternative flight for me that was supposed to take me to Athens via Bucharest. That didn't work out. The plane to Bucharest was so delayed that I would have missed my connection. I probably would have gotten on that plane, however, if it hadn't been for a very assertive old British man and his wife. They were dealing with the same situation as I was and urged me to go with them to airline's customer service representatives to complain and try to figure things out. Because of the British man's relentlessness, the airline ended up putting us up in a hotel for the night and giving us tickets to Athens for first thing in the morning. Because of the weather, many people were stranded in Amsterdam and all the hotels near the airport were full. After what seemed like an endless day of walking from one end of the airport to the other, talking to different people, and being directed all over the place, we finally were lead to a shuttle that took us to a motel around 15 to 20 miles outside of Amsterdam. It was out in the countryside of Holland surrounded by fields of blooming daffodils, and hyacinths and tulips that had yet to bloom.

       I was so jet lagged and lacking in sleep that I really didn't do much. Not that there was much to do where I was. The hotel was huge and seemed very empty. Walking around the empty halls and dining areas reminded me a bit of that movie The Shining. I walked around some trails just outside, ate the free dinner that was provided to me and the other "stranded passengers" (that's what they called us) and went to bed.
       When I got up in the morning and the wind was still howling, I couldn't help but expect the worse. All the way to the airport on the bus I kept thinking that my flight would surely be cancelled and I contemplated what I would do if that were the case. Despite my worries, the flight was on time and got to Athens about 10 minutes earlier than expected.

       When I got to Athens, I got on a bus that was supposed to take me near to my hostel. Unfortunately, I can't read Greek, and there was nothing indicating what the stops were, so this proved to be a stressful experience. I ended up talking to a local who spoke broken English and directed me to the correct stop. I had even more trouble actually fining the hostel when I got off the bus as I wandered through the narrow streets in the heat of the afternoon. Finally I found it and checked in. The street that my hostel is on is lined with fruiting orange trees and the smell of their blossoms fills the air. I had a late lunch at the hostel's bar and received a free shot of ouzo. I spent the rest of the day just walking around and seeing as much as I could. The Acropolis is like the focal point and Athens, and you can see it from almost anywhere, but the whole area around it is like a giant open air museum. I was literally stumbling over new things all day. There are even just old chunks of marble bricks just lying in the grass in some places. I saw so many different things, and I haven't even ventured up to the Acropolis yet, or gone into the museum. I decided to save that for tomorrow morning when its cooler.

       When I got just outside the tourist area, I realized that Athens is a bit sketchy. There is graffiti everywhere, and so many stray cats and dogs digging through garbage and sleeping on the side of the road, looking like they're dead. I also don't think there are any parking rules here or, at least, no one cares. Cars are parked everywhere you can think of and in dangerous ways up on sidewalks and halfway in the street on corners.

       I got a little lost when it started getting dark and some little girl tried to force me to buy roses from her, calling me "George Clooney" and otherwise talking in Greek.

I guess I'll leave it at that tonight since I'm paying by the minute for internet, and the clock is ticking.
I'll probably write more tomorrow.

 

Tired of Vancouver

       There are a lot of people from all over staying at this hostel. Last night, after sitting in the lounge area for a while, I met a German, a French Canadian, an Estonian, and a guy from Japan. The German, French Canadian, and I went and had a couple beers at a nearby bar. Beer is expensive here... When we came back we spent some more time in the lounge talking with 5 other Germans, a Scottish girl, and a guy from the Netherlands.
       I didn't sleep too well last night. The bed was comfortable enough and my earplugs did the trick, drowning out the noise of Saturday night partying outside the window, but I slept lightly all night and was up early. I showered, stuffed myself with the all-you-can-eat continental breakfast, and caught a bus to the University of British Columbia. It was raining quite a bit by the time I got there. It was the worst kind of rain. A never-ending drizzle that soaked everything and weighed down my rain jacket.
       The campus was quiet. I guess that makes sense since its the last day of spring break. The buildings weren't impressive. They were all plain and made of concrete. It helped me to better appreciate the U of O campus.

       My original plan was to visit the Museum of Anthropology and then the Notobe Memorial Garden. I decided not to go into the museum because I could see through the windows that all there was inside were a bunch of totem poles. Totem poles are great to check out, but I wasn't going to pay $16 to go inside when there are plenty of totem poles just outside of the museum. I also decided to skip the garden because of the rain. I ended up just wandering around the museum. I stumbled on some old WWII gun mounts and ammunition stores. That was neat to check out, but there wasn't much to see. After that I found a a long stair case that lead down a steep hill to a "clothing optional" beach. The beach was empty. It wasn't sandy, but full of pebbles of all sizes and colors. I started walking down the beach with no real aim.

       After walking about half a mile I came to another stair case leading back up. I was a bit disoriented for a moment when I got to the top, but I soon found my way back in the direction of the bus stop. After being splashed by a passing car, I was thoroughly soaked.
       I needed to break a 20 to get exact change for the bus ride back to the hostel, so I headed to a fast food restaurant on campus and ordered some poutine. Poutine is supposed to be some kind of definitive Canadian dish. Its french fries with brown gravy and cheese curds on top. Its OK. I spent quite a while just sitting there, hoping the rain would stop. It didn't. I made my way to the bus station and back to the hostel...and here I am.
      
       I'm heading to Greece tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of Vancouver. I'm not fond of this city.

Don't expect to hear anything from me until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Alone.

       I'll start with some pictures that go with my last post, since I was unable to put any up. The first is of Amanda and I having our first beer and meal in Vancouver.

The next is me on the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Amanda is afraid of heights...

 

Amanda on one of the tree bridges:

 

Amanda on the Cliff Side walk:

More of Amanda on the Cliff Side walk:

The bridge from far away:

Amanda at Yaletown Brewing:

       Yesterday wasn't too eventful. We spent most of the day just walking around the city, checking out shops and such. In the morning, we decided to give China Town another try. It was not a good experience. The China town in Vancouver is very run down and full of unnerving people. It is not at all like any other China town I've been to. We walked a couple blocks in and then got the hell out. I really wanted to check out the Chinese Garden that's supposed to be somewhere in the area, but I wasn't going to brave that neighborhood any longer in order to see it. We ended up spending most of the day at the waterfront, where all the sea planes take off and land, looking at sea birds and people watching. We grabbed a couple beers at the Steamworks brewery before we made the trek back to our hotel. We had a late lunch/early dinner at a ramen place down the street and then spent the rest of the evening watching strange Canadian TV shows and getting everything together for the next day. I didn't sleep too well. The British girls next store were loud and drunk and I was worried about saying goodbye to Amanda.

      
       Today has been...okay. Amanda left this morning. I wont see her in person for 3 months. In fact, I wont see anyone I know for at least 3 months. It was hard saying goodbye. It was hard imagining my self being totally on my own from here on out. I still don't think I've totally come to terms with it. It still seems like a dream that in 2 days I will be boarding a plane, by myself, to Athens, Greece to spend 3 months living out of a backpack in several countries I've never been to. 
       In any case, I watched Amanda get on the bus and I went back inside the train station to sit down and think about things for a few minutes. I ended up with my sights set on the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth park. As it turns out, Vancouver has a really great transit system, so I hopped on a bus heading that way. This backpack I have is so damn heavy. I though 25 pounds wouldn't bother me too much, but I was wrong. I got off the bus a few blocks away from the conservatory and started walking. When I came into the park I arrived at a pond with the most wood ducks (or are were bufflle heads...Amanda would have known) I have ever seen in one place. All I ever see at home are mallards.
       The hill I had to walk up wasn't fun with my heavy backpack, but I made it to the top where the conservatory is.

The view from up there is awesome! You can see most of Vancouver and the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately, the photos I took with my little point-and-shoot camera don't do it justice. The inside of the conservatory is really cool. Its full of tropical plants and birds. I spent around hour just watching and listening to the birds and studying all of the many interesting plants. There were also benches to sit on with gave me time to write a bit in my journal in a nice environment.

       After that, I made my way back to the bus stop to catch a bus to my hostel. On the way I saw a black squirrel. I didn't know they came in that color...

       Anyways, I made it to my hostel, checked in, and ate a couple cheap slices of pizza from a dirty restaurant on the corner. I don't know what I'm going to do with my self for the rest of the evening, or tomorrow for that matter...

I'll post more tomorrow.

Vancouver, BC

        Yesterday was a long day. Amanda and I got on the train at 5:30 am and didn't get to Vancouver until around 5:30 pm. The train and bus ride went fairly smoothly. By the time we got here, we were stressed and lacking in sleep. The bus/train station here in Vancouver is in a pretty sketchy area. We got a bit lost trying to find our hotel in the pouring rain. We ended up heading back to the train station and hailing a cab. When we got to our room we were starving, but couldn't decide on a place to eat. We ended up walking around the block until we settled on a BBQ restaurant and bar just down the street from our hotel. We went to bed a bit early...

       Today was a good day. We got up and took showers in our shared bathroom, before we headed to a coffee shop for breakfast. We caught a free shuttle to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was really cool. It was something like 205 feet above the Capilano river. In the park there were also several bridges set up that were up in the trees. We also did a cliff-side walk on these thin wooden walkways that were bolted to the rock face. We caught the free bus back downtown and then headed back to our hotel. we decided to go get dinner and some beer at a brewery a few blocks away called Yaletown. The food was great and the beer was awesome. They had one of the best IPAs I've had in a while. We wandered around a bit after that and then decided to head to China Town. It was starting to get dark around the time we reached the entrance of Chinatown, and the neighborhood made us nervous, so we headed back to the BBQ bar we had been at the night before to have a couple beers. Tonight there is a hockey game going on at the arena across the street and we watched a bit of it on the TV at the bar. Hockey can be pretty brutal...

       I would really like to add some pictures to this post, but the computer here wont let me... I also apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors, as trhe backspace key on this keyboard is broken and the spell check istn working so well... I'll do my best to fix these issues in the next couple days. hopefully the computer (if they have one) at the next hostel will be better and more user friendly.