A Pineapple Mojito or A Little Slice of Heaven?

I have admitted before, I am an extremely lame cook. I don't like making food. I try because my people need to eat, but if everyone could live on coffee, granola, bananas and some seared tuna life would be simple. I did learn something new last night. How to make something. It's not technically a food, and I really can't serve it for dinner, but it's something. A pineapple Mojito. And it's yummy. I never really drank mojitos until Marc and I were in Greece. Drinks are like food to me, once I find something I like I will only order that, it could go on for years. When I was much younger it was the White Russian, or as my friend Jen lovinly refers to it, "the rooskie." Oh, many a night was spent mixing the vodka and the kahula and milk together. Then that ended and I moved to Cosmo's. That little trend has lasted me for years. Recently when we were away Marc ordered a mojito and I loved it. So last night I was with my friends Lisa and Sue at Lisa's club and Sue was drinking them. She was telling the bartender how much she loved them so the bartender did a little demo for us. Like my previous pop-eyed egg recipe I think I will share it here. It's not often I can pass on a recipe so why not?
Get yourself some:
Fresh mint
Limes-cut up
Pineapple cut into small wedges
Put them in the bottom of a tall glass
Toss a dash of Rose's Lime Juice over them. (Apparently this makes it easier to crush)
Get out the mottler tool and smoosh a bit.
Sprinkle some sugar over it-not a ton, just enough
Pour about 6 counts of malibu Rum over it
Top off with a mixture of Sprite and Soda water
Voila, You've got yourself something yummy.
I hope I didn't mess it up at all, Is this right Sue? You're the expert.
And if you have Harry Niilson handy, a little Lime in the Coconut is always fun to listen to, You've got yourself a night.

A Lot of Nothing

So it's been slowly getting back to normal here, for me. The kids popped right in the routine with camp and friends and soccer and gymnastics and parties and oh my God the list goes on and on. I seem to make it to the gym in the morning, use all the energy I have and then come home and wander around. Luckily I have a pool so people like to come hang out. I did, at one point today, just for a split second, long for school to start again. It was a momentary lapse of reason, because with school comes homework and that is more painful than a child looking at me for something to do. And honestly, that's painful too. I mean we have a pool, go swim. Troll the neighborhood for a friend, do something. Yesterday I had to pull out every art supply I could find so Saige and her friend could make jewelry boxes. The really fun part for me was realizing today when no one was here that they left everything out for me to clean up and didn't even bother taking their works of art. Yeah summer. My friend Lisa said, "I just want school with no homework." Yeah, that's called camp and the one they're in ends at noon. We still have the afternoon to fill. I just pick them up, make them some lunch, put on my bathing suit and say, "Okay, come down and hang out with me." Whether they do or not is completely up to them. My overwhelmingly annoying dogs always want to come swim with me. Lucy, my German Shepherd seriously uses the pool more than anyone. Sometimes she just sits on the steps for long periods of time and stares into space. I can feel that. Mickey, the Pomeranian, who we are convinced has some sort or neurological issues likes to be carried around in the pool and when you put him down sometimes he is in such a state that he tips over. It's only a tiny bit funny, really.
So, my point, tonight Marc came home and said, "You haven't been blogging." My only reply was, "I have nothing to say." I'm out. Spent. Tired. It will pass. In a couple days plans start again, things going on, lunches, dinners, parties, concerts, the whole nine yards. But for now I am still trying to catch up on everyone's laundry and update my music library. I have found some killer new music. I was kind of burning out on mine. I have rectified that situation with some serious Itunes work. Make no mistake, this takes time. I am a supplier of music to many. I take it seriously and will listen over and over trying to perfect a list. So Kirsten, if you're reading, I don't know what your music situation is but I've some good new tunes. Come over. I'll share.

A Comedy of Errors

(insert 1000's of screaming girls) The Jonas Brothers (insert 1000's of screaming girls).
You know that saying, the road to hell is paved with good intentions? That kept going through my head as well rolled in at 3 a.m. last night after taking our kids to see (screaming girls) The Jonas Brothers (screaming girls) at Hershey Park yesterday. It seemed like such a nice idea months ago when Lisa and Christina and I joined the "Fan Club" to score some tickets. Everyone is going in a million different directions this summer, we thought it would be nice to do this with all the kids. Hmmm.... Interesting, the tricks the mind plays on you. No, it was fun. It was just a very very long day. Longer for Christina, when all soaking wet 95 lbs. of her decided that 5 grape vodka and lemonade martinis and staying out until 2 am would be a good idea the night before. She had planned on only two, they were just so good, or so we hear. She had to get up at 7.30 to go to a meeting and after a trip to McDonalds and some serious scolding at herself we all met at Lisa's to go. I drove Christina's car with the girls, Lisa drew the short straw and drove the boys. Get to park, park out in the middle of nowhere take the tram to the park. Things are going pretty well. One little glitch was when Lisa waited with most of the older kids for an hour to ride a roller coaster and her son Ethan couldn't get on because he wasn't tall enough, he made her get off too. She wasn't happy, he wasn't happy, the whole scene was unhappy. Christina had pretty much rallied by now, she had sucked down a gatorade and was feeling better.... until.... for some reason that still goes beyond me decided to take a ride on the tilt a hurl (as she calls it).

Then it was a little touch and go for a while. It's a spectacle over that at Hershey Park, let me tell you. I am the person who waits for everyone to get off the rides so we know where all 11 kids are. That was a lot of people watching time. If this park is any indication of America as a whole. Things could use a little improvement. It was actually scary, not as bad as Sesame Place, but friends we're not in a yoga studio anymore.
Let's move on. We do the park thing, its time for the concert. Lisa and I had given up our tickets out of the goodness of our hearts to her babysitter and her friend. They were dying to go, amongst the screaming fans. We didn't really care about seeing the Jonas Brothers so we handed them over. They all went in. Lisa and I waited for the shuttle to take us to the Hershey Hotel where we were eating dinner. It never came. I decided we could walk, after seeing the park people I thought, a little exercise never hurts. Well, it was far. Too far. We call the hotel and ask them to send a driver. They did. We loved John the driver, he was money (that's for you Lis). We ate a lovely dinner in the beautiful hotel, had some Mediterranean food, and a glass of wine and patted ourselves on the back for our decision making processes. After a couple of hours we decided we should head back. John carted us back and we got to the parking lot, thinking it would be almost over and we heard the chanting of thousands of voices, Jonas, Jonas. Oh my God, they hadn't even gone on yet and John had left. We had some serious time to kill. Lisa's attention was taken from me cause for some reason her husband kept txting her. I was bored. Lisa suggested a tram ride. So that's what we did, got on the tram and just rode it for a while. When we were the only people on it the driver called us tram groupies and we took a couple more trips. When we had enough of that we went back to wait and wait and wait. Clapping, it's over, yeah, no it's not, encore. Finally, at around 11 they all come out. We go to the tram and the watch as adults, women, shove us and our children out of the way to ride the tram first. It was frightening. Lisa said, "Can't we do this in a civilized way?" The woman who had shoved Ethan looked at her and said, "There is no such thing as civilized." Get me out of here. Lisa, Christina and I just looked at each other and shook our heads and waited for the next animal wagon to come pick us up. So we finally get to the car, everyone has to go to the bathroom, they're thirsty, wound up and Lisa's almost on dead empty. We sit for an hour and a half and wait to get out of that parking lot. It was a little bit of hell right here on earth. At 12.50 cars start moving. After the gas station stop we made it home around 3, Christina was totally feeling better by then. All in all, it was.... fun. The girls loved it. The boys hung. All I know is it wasn't Kid Rock, that's coming soon though.

The Trip Home

So, I said it was another story. It's somewhat amusing,now, not then, Then it was like Chinese water torture. As I said previously we had only 3 hours sleep after a really "fun" night.
The morning started rough, really rough. Lisa's credit card went awol. My watch was no where to be found. We were kind of losing it. Lisa was emailing her husband, "cancel it," then two minutes later when it turned up, in her wallet, e mailed him again, "Whoops sorry, my bad." I couldn't find my favorite watch that Marc gave me last year for our anniversary. BA had
me dump out my suitcase as our taxi was beeping outside. Found that too...
Next we get to the airport and guess what? They had no record of Saige and my tickets. There was some sort of server error, I had to get out check in line and go talk to the British Airways specialist. She got on her computer and on the phone and she kept frowning and shaking her head. Meanwhile Lisa was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get us coffee. We spent 35 dollars on four cups of coffee in 15 minutes. They finally straightened out our tickets , Saige was hungry so Lisa gave her some potato chips that were a bargain at 3.50. We think because it was in euros, although we were in Turkey which is not on the euro. Lisa was also buying all the toblerone she could carry.I didn't understand why, since you can get that here. She claims she was just trying to piss away the rest of her Turkish lire.
We all slept our way to London, pretty much. It was a little dicey in that airport. Food was first on the list. Then we had 4.5 hours to kill. LIsa charged her IPod at a stray plug in the Starbucks. Saige played on the moving walkway, I lied on some wooden benches. Listen, if you're at the Heathrow airport, Terminal 4 is stinky. Terminal 5 is the place to be. We rounded
out our stay in London with Lisa and Saige chompin' down the Toblerone. It all started to make sense.
A little over 8 hours, 4 movies for me. 4 movies for Saige. Some wine and a surly seatmate for Lisa and we land in Philadelphia. Upon arrival we got to see ourselves in the mirror. There won't be any photos in this post.

Two Cosmos, A Glass of Wine, A Baileys, and a Mojito

I didn't even want to go out. Of course I never mentioned this because it was our last night and Lisa would have killed me. We had a 8.00 flight the next morning and she actually suggested before we ever even left that perhaps we just don't sleep tonight. I ignored that, got dressed up, and we hopped in the taxi. We went to probably the coolest place in the world. Reina. We had gone here two years ago with BA and sat a couple tables away from Heath Ledger. Last week, after they were in Kas buying rugs from BA's friends shop Naomi Watts and Liev Schrieber ate here. So anyway it is a place not to be missed. It sits right on the Bosphorus river underneath the only bridge that connects Europe and Asia. We sat outside underneath the bridge that was all lit up, watching yachts and boats drop people off for dinner. We ate with BA and her friend Jen, Jens boyfriend, Alper and his adorable son.


After a delicious dinner the dancing started again. Of course led by Lisa. We moved over to the bar area.


We ended up having such a good time we didn't roll in until about 2.30 in the morning and had to get up at 5.30 so we could get to the airport and travel for 22 hours, but that's a whole other story.

Dancing Queen

There was a lot of dancing that went on in Turkey. A lot of late late nights and friends and partying. We met some awesome people, and honestly, Saige was the ring leader. There were nights we wanted to go home and got a little tude from Saigy. That girl can hang. She knows how to party, I on't know where she gets that from.
I do have to refer to Lisa as the lord of the dance now. One morning in Kas I came downstairs and she had made coffee and we were sitting there talking and she told me how the night before at about 2:30 in the morning when the rest of us had gone to bed she had worked out some dance moves in front of the mirror in her room. "No, you did not." I said. "Yes I did she said. I was working on the drop back move those dancer girls taught me at the bar mitzvah, you know, when I won the over 18 dance contest." So the drop back became the move of Turkey.

This is Olly, about the cutest little 3 year old ever. His mom and dad Megan and Doug had stayed with in Kas with BA before us. We got to spend one night in Istanbul with them and Olly could totally get his grove on.

Saige and Olly.

Oll could hang too. This was one of normal 11 at night dinners. He and Saige and his mom Meg and BA.

Bye Bye Kas

After a week in virtual paradise it's time to up and leave. Our last night there was spent in town with Saige and her friend Deniz, running around, playing soccer in the streets and eating candy at about 1:30 in the morning. Not a bad life.
Yesterday we went back to Dalamon to get a flight up to Istanbul. The thing we found most interesting was although we went through security check points twice, they let us carry all sorts of liquids (wine, vodka, champagne) on the plane. We had countless carry on bags, not even a dirty look. And my favorite part at the end of the flight the woman didn't come around and yell at us to make our seats straight up. They were so nice. Somehow without those seats in there straight back position and with a couple tray tables down and we were even getting the stuff from overhead while the plane was still taxiing and we made it alive. Amazing, right? Now we will our holiday in Istanbul, shopping and sight seeing.

Gross Negligence

What's the first thing you think of when you see a old rusty wooden board that hangs over a rocky part of the Mediterranean? Me? Backflips. We are happily lying out on the wooden service deck lovin' life and Saige says to me, "Mom, can I go off it?" "Of course, I say yes." Lisa looks at me like I'm crazy. "Do you think that's a good idea?" she asks me. "I think it's a great idea," I say. Such a great one that I need to go first. We both jumped once first, just to test the waters, so to speak. It was fine, so it was trick time. Let me tell you, backflipping from like 25 feet in the air involves almost no skill at all, just flip. Lisa said to me, "You know, it's funny, a lot of times I think things aren't a good idea and then you say you do and I think, fine," So Saige held her hand and she jumped too.

Patara and Patience

I posted something yesterday that I tried to change and now it's gone. The internet connection isn't great. Tomorrow we go to Istanbul and I will be able to post pictures, that is really hard here most times. So, today, we actually pulled ourselves away from the comfort of the infinity pool and made a little trip about a half hour from here to a beach called Patara. Philadelphia Inquirer voted it the sexiest beach in the world. I think this is because of where it is. It is in the middle of all these ancient ruins. You look at foggy mountains in the background. There are caretta turtles there. It is a must see. Really, forget the mosques, forget the "important" stuff, give me a killer beach any day of the week. FYI, there is a point when your skin doesn't get any tanner and when at 5 o'clock on day seven in the Mediterranean and you ask your friend for the first time for sunblock, chances are good you might get laughed at.
On the way home we drove down the wrong way on a one way street in a little town called Kalkan. We got lost and meandered our way up to the mountain towns of southern Turkey where the nomads chill. We payed probably about $1000 for gas, in fact, did you all know, that we pay less than any other country for gas? That's the truth and they've been paying it for years. We also came home to the whole town of Kas being out of water. What did we do you ask? We took showers in the pool, looked good anyway and now we are on our way out to dinner. It's going to be an early dinner tonight at about 10. This makes for very late evenings, it's a good thing we can hang.

Do You Know....?

Where Azerbaijan is? Did you even know it was a country. We didn't. Okay, yes, admittedly, we're morons We own that. But still, come on, be honest, did you know about this country? No one's ever mentioned this to us. Until, today. We were innocently drinking our non salted, correct teaspoon filled coffee that Lisa concocted Not the make me puke kind I whipped up yesterday. We were so happy. Sitting there, feeling satisfied, lucky, and jacked up on caffeine. BA comes out, with a pop quiz, disguised as conversation. Unwittingly, we engage. She brings up someone we met in Kas, they are from Azerbaijan. "Where's that?" we ask innocently, thinking it's another coastal town in Turkey. Um. NO. She looks at us with disdain and disgust and says, "This is not a geography lesson;" Seriously, both of us assume, she doesn't know either, because remember, we have only a half a brain between us. "It's a country, you idiots," she says. We look at each confusely, and say, "huh, nope, never heard of that one. Must have been absent on Aberbaijan day." Seriously.Lisa says, "We only made it to Europe in High School and then we graduated." Once again we are idiots. BA is in disbelief. We get a big geography lesson. It's near all those stan countrys. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, (you know the big one, we carpet bomb everyday). So listen, do we really need to see a mosque or some ancient ruins, wouldn't our time be better spent perhaps looking at a map. Knowing something. The truth though, did you know about Azberbaijan? Answer anonymously if you want, we own our stupidity. We need to know. Be honest. Hey, anonymous, meeting the dalai lama today, did you know? Smarty pants? We'll still be your friend.

Ba is the tall smart one.

The Kas Crasher

Has arrived. Btw, Kas is pronounced Kosh. This is what Lisa has deemed herself, which we all find really funny. Lisa has never met my friend BA before. Her whole coming to Turkey adventure was something we cooked up over lunch one day while I was telling her about Turkey and she said, "That sounds awesome." I was like, "It is. You should come." She said, "Do you think your friend would mind?" Me, "No, of course not. Why would she?" I went home e mailed BA, she said sure, whatever. Lisa booked her tickets and the rest is history.
So she took the same trip we did, she arrived in town at 11:00 at night in town. We had just finished dinner at this really cute restaurant that we had eaten at two years ago. Saige had been asking ever since to go back. She remembers everything, this particular restaurant has cats running all around and it has comfy chairs and this pretty lanterns hanging all over. There is a pond in the middle of it with turtles. Saige and Leah got the turtle out and had their picture taken with the turtle and the Turkish woman who owns the restaurant. It was cute.
After that we walked down to meet Lisa. It's through a little town and everyone is outside their shops. A rug dealer started talking to us and Saige and Leah had a little conversation for him in Turkish. I wish I knew more Turkish words because I just ate a huge spoonful of salt in my coffee thinking it was sugar. Note to self, ask Saige to translate more.

Um.... Things Could Be Worse

This is a view from the back deck of the house we are in. It is absolutely gorgeous. All you can see is the Mediterranean.

That is Saige and my friend BA's, thats B then A, not Baaaaa. It is short for Bethanne, her real name Elizaeth Anne, have called her BA forever, anyway, that is BA's niece, who has already been here for a long time but who luckily we get to hang with for a few days. Her name is Leah and Saige has loved having a buddy her own age. Saige also loves BA. I have known her for over 35 years. Her home was my second home as a kid, although I was always getting kicked out because she would get in trouble for one thing or another and a famous line that still has to be repeated over and over again is, "I think it's time for Amy to leave now." Her mom actually said it at BA's wedding to make us all laugh. Saige loves coming to visit here and hearing her tell all the stories from when we were little. Some stories might be better left unsaid but after a long dinner and a few glasses of wine they all come out.
Tonight my friend Lisa is coming to stay for the rest of the time with us. She had to take the same path as us to get here so I am thinking she's flying into Istanbul right now. I told a friend of mine she was coming and she laughed and said, "Oh, you're bringing a wing man?" Uh, yeah, the more the merrier. Although Lisa likes to see sights, these are the sights we will see... the pool and the Med. She does have a few things in Istanbul that she is making me go to. I have agreed to fast tracking by a couple mosques or whatever it is she has in mind as long as she knows we traveled over 30 hours to stare at the ocean and have cocktails for a week. She was down with that.
We are still having a little time change trouble although it doesn't really matter here. We are in no rush to go anywhere or to do anything. BA has a hard and fast rule that only heathens eat before the sun sets and the sun doesn't set here until about 9:30 at night. That can make for a late night. Everyone eats and then there is a little town with tons of restaurants and bars and people and kids and dogs outside, listening, to once again american music, and talking in different languages and smiling and laughing and really there is no where else I can think I would rather be at some moments.

Over the River and Through the Woods

And an overnight flight from Philly to London, a four hour layover spent sleeping on a big comfy couch in Heathrow airport, a 4 hour flight to Istanbul, really out cold, don't remember much of that. Another layover in Istanbul spent getting Visa's, eating a 50 dollar ceaser salad dinner and getting tickets issued for a domestic flight. One bus ride to the plane, an hour and a half plane ride to Dalamon, which is right below Bodrum. Then a two hour drive through mostly nothingness, no street lights, no signs, no nothing with an incredibly nice driver that doesn't speak a word of English. Then at 11 p.m. he stops at a barber shop, where someone is actually getting a hair cut and a new guy jumps in the driver seat, introduces himself as Deniz and off we go again. And he does speak English but can't seem to communicate how much longer it will be, which is all Saige wanted to know. She was a champ though. Never complained once through the whole deal. I will say the ride to Kas is amazing. After you get through a lot of nothingness you just drive along the coast of the Mediterranean which is only lit by the moon. So, if you have 32 hours and the inclination to do all those things you could be here too. It's dark now, cause it's 1:30 in the morning here, but tomorrow I'm going to put up some pictures of where we're staying and it's all good.

36 Hours

Have you ever heard that song by the Beatles, "I'm So Tired?" Well that is all that is playing through my mind, over and over again. I'm not complaining but I've got about 36 hours to wash everyones clothes, food shop for the boys, do about a million errands, try and find a little energy and get back on a plane with my ten year old daughter and fly back across the ocean to Turkey. While exciting and I can't wait because we are going to hang with one of my oldest and best friends that I have known since I was three. I am slightly in denial of what I need to do.
She lives in Istanbul but has a house in Kas which is this gorgeous little beach town on the Mediterranean. It will be lovely, it's just the getting to that point that is kind of freaking me out because I can barely open my eyes. I'm chugging the coffee, I've got the laundry going but instead of trying to multi-task, I've decided to watch the newest episode of Weeds that I missed. I mean, priorities. It's sitting shiva week for them because Nancy pulled the plug/smothered Grandma. I'm sorry but I love this show. I love every character, all their insanity. I can't even pick my favorite, they're all so kooky. Doug is up there though. Times ticking away. I'm watching it go.

10 Things

You might not know about Athens, Greece.....
1. The feta cheese is much better than the feta we get in the states.
2. The cats have really mean eyes, every one I've seen. They make that bad ass cat from Stuart Little look like Puss in Boots. The dogs seem nice enough though.
3. They don't filter their coffee unless you specifically ask. And this sometimes irritates them.
4. It's like Canal St. in NYC here with fake bags, watches and sunglasses, apparently the man hasn't come down on them yet.
5. Cursing and nudity are perfectly acceptable on television, the radio and the beach.
6. Men love to wear cropped pants, apparently this is a European thing. A fashion I hope never becomes popular in the states.
7.Even the Greeks think their language is hard to learn. Apparently there is old school Greek and a relatively new one that they speak. Let me tell you though, for future travelers, they all speak English. But totally try and learn some Greek words, they appreciate it.
8. There's this tram car that you can choose to pay or not that goes up and down the coast. I don't get it.....
9. They can make a mean mojito.
10. Kid Rock videos are all the rage.

And that my friends is my last words from Greece. Like Ryan Seacrest says, "We're out." Did I just quote Ryan Seacrest, my sincerest apologies on that one.

Finding the Positive

So this is what I'm trying to do because guess what? I think I have food poisoning, Either that or the flu and I'm going with food poisoning because that's shorter lived right?
We had the most awesome sushi last night. In this gorgeous Japanese restaurant in a beautiful part of Athens. It was so yummy. I've been thinking of tuna since we got here. Sushi is never far from my mind. I didn't give into it though until I had eaten all the feta and tomato salads (which were delicious) that I could. Only when I felt we had eaten enough Greek food to have a feeling for it did we ask our very favorite guy at the front desk Marios for a good Japanese restaurant recommendation. He of course hooked us up with an awesome one and called us a cab that had an American driver named Jeff. Marc and Jeff hit it off right away, if we had met him before last night I'm sure we would have been hanging with him. Anyway, the food was awesome, restaurant super cool. Today I feel awful. Stomach's a mess, shaky, slight fever, the whole nine yards. The only thing I ate that Marc didn't were these big hunks of tuna, the rarest, almost still swimming tuna. There was enough for both of us but he saw the delight in my eyes and gave me all of it.
So let's get to the positive part. This is our last day here. We had already decided we were totally chillin' on the rooftop today. It's super hot, we've done a lot of stuff and we really just wanted to relax. Also we got the killer spot up here with comfy couches to lie on and it's shady, which I need. It's only two floors from our room. They have gingerale. We both have good books. And had we gone to that restaurant tonight I might have had to travel feeling like this. So all in all, I'm thinking how lucky I am that things played out the way they did.

Mojitos and the Med

I'm sorry Mom but this is what our last two days have consisted of. We put in some sun time. Yesterday we woke up late, we can't seem to get into a schedule, we're not on our time, we're not on their time. I think we're on like Thailands time, but unfortunately, that's not where we are. So we hung out on the rooftop pool for a while yesterday, from which you can clearly see the Acropolis, so I feel that must count for something. While hanging there we met some nice people from Belgium and a girl from Canada, it was an international day. Then last night we went down by the Acropolis to where there's all sorts of restaurants and stuff and had dinner. Dinner is fun because you are constantly getting the seller guys coming over to your table trying to get you to buy bootleg copies of the new Sex and City movie, or roses or sunglasses, watches and a big seller it seems are flashlights. Regular ones and ones you can wear around your head. We've seen quite a few sales go down but we haven't been one yet. There's also a balloon guy and let me tell you, Greek is an extremely hard language but everyone speaks Spongebob.

After dinner we walked around and there was a flea market there. Complete with waffle irons, old shoes, fake purses, it was like being in New Hope. Marc bought himself a Law and Order dvd for one euro. He is getting sick of trying to watch late night greek television, he needs tv to go to sleep and pickin's are slim. So he buys this dvd which turns out to be a Law and Order video game. He was not pleased, he did say if I played with him I could be Lenny. It's to bad he hates video games cause I totally would have.
Today we went up the coast to these little beach towns, We randomly picked one and settled ourselves on some comfy beach chairs with the gorgeous Mediterranean and American music. There's always American music playing, and yesterday a Kid Rock video came on. You can imagine my delight. I thought, this was just mean't to be.

Island and Room Hopping

Today started out very early with Marc going out of the hotel to get this coffee we like. It was apparently a little to early to be roaming the streets of Athens because the night shift hadn't changed over yet. Freaks and hookers and bums oh my. He got back safely and we got on our way.
We went on this big boat with a whole bunch of people to all these three islands.


That was pretty. Then we went to another island.....


They were both pretty, but the third island was the best. It was called Hydra and it was so pretty. Exactly what you think of when you think of Greece (if you've never been here).



We swam there and dove off the cliffs. It was my favorite part of the day.
By the time we were going home we (well I) was a little punch drunk, I couldn't stop laughing about this guy on the boat who fell asleep with a big wine bottle in his hand that Marc had me take a picture of, and the slippers and then our bus driver. He was a piece of work. He wasn't even going all the way to the hotels, he told the tour guide girl that people could walk, then he stopped and made her get out and get him cigarettes. When he dropped us off we had no idea where we were. It was almost 9:00 and we were hungry and tired and it sucked. Marc of course, figured it out and we got back to the hotel. He ordered room service. The guy on the phone was kind of rude and Marc was over it by then. He went down to the front desk, uh oh. To make a long story short, now we have a suite. A nice big huge suite. All good again, except my internet connection isn't that great. It's okay for right now though.

This was wine bottle guy, he was actually alone. "All I need is this camera and this wine bottle. That's all I need."

Fast Track Touring

So we totally saw stuff today. Important stuff Mom. Really. Here's something......

And something else...

I believe the Parthenon and the Acropolis. Some woman wanted to give us a guided tour but we just wanted to wing it. One fun part was we saw this girl that looked exactly like the Greek version of Rachel, Marc named her Grachel and I asked to take her picture. Here she is....

Is that good? You know there will be no museums. I'm sorry. We have to draw the line somewhere. We also saw some other important things.....but we don't really know what they are. Their old and decrepit though. Just falling apart. There's a ton of construction around here. Nobody working, feels like that summer our pool was built, lots of machines and work stuff and but no people actually doing any work. Just like home.
So to do our tour we took this trolly thing. It promised like six different sights in 40 minutes. Sign us up baby. You could get off and on if you wanted to. We got off at the Acropolis/Parthenon sights and then mistakingly got back on the wrong one from different company. Marc wants his props, he did say,"I think we're on the wrong one." I totally shushed him and thought, 'Don't be stupid.' I said, "No we're not. How many can there be?" It took us to the somewhere in the city and said we had ten minutes there. We power shopped Marc a bathing suit (still no luggage) which turns out is a wee bit tight cause he didn't feel like trying it on. Then we got back to the trolley and then they tell us we are on the wrong one. Whoops. We get off and wander around. We eventually take a cab back to the hotel and the cab driver teaches me three more Greek words. I liked him a lot, his name was Vassili which he said is like Billy in English. I keep using my two Greek words Please and Thank you and I swear they are nice as soon as you make an effort. Now I can say hi, bye and good morning. I'm almost bi-lingual.
There's also a ton of graffiti in Athens.

Came back. Lied by pool. Gonna get showers and go try get Marc some clothes. He got one t shirt today with a word on it that we keep making up what it could mean in Greek. Awful things, things if I wrote my mom wouldn't read anymore. We want to get him a matching hat tonight.
Days over. Marc's luggage came. We had a really yummy dinner. We went back to the same area we have been going to, tons of restuarants, coffee shops (with some seriously strong coffee that got me totally jacked up and laughing this morning), stores, right underneath the Acropolis. On the way home I was totally limping and hobbling along cause my legs still not right so I was looking down just trying to get there, Marc goes, "Don't look now but this guys got on bunny slippers." I look up and this poor guy with the hugest pink bunny slippers is walking towards us. It made me miss Mickey a tiny bit cause he would have made one of them his bitch special friend given half a chance.

John...Real or A Figment of the Imagination?

We get to Frankfurt airport where our next flight was departing from. It was slightly confusing, our crumpled piece of transfer paper said we were flying on Aegean at 9:15 and the ticket counter didn't open until 10:00 to give us boarding passes. After a little confusion, and some strong coffee we figured out it had changed to a Luftansa flight and everything was fine. Easy flight, nothing to write home (or on the blog) about.
So we get to Athens, you know what customs was? A door. That's it. Nothing more than some doors. So we go to get our luggage. Let me tell you Marc had been a little negative about the luggage. He kept saying, "That was a quick change, i don't know if our bags will make it." I kept saying, "Of course they will. Why would you even think that?" Guess who's bag came out like first? Mine. Uh oh, guess whose bag didn't make it out of Philly yet? Um hm, Marc Schramms. He has been wearing some Tommy Bahama shorts and a t-shirt that says South Beach for a looooonnnnng time now......
Then, we go to get our car. This is true (I'm sorry Marc) I say, "Do you think this is a good idea? Maybe we should just take a cab." "No, no, this is all part of what we're doing," says Marc. Now the rental guy didn't even give us good directions as to where to pick up the rental car so I'm feeling a little nervous about finding our hotel in a foreign city that uses a different alphabet than us. One that we are only familiar with from 6 weeks of pledging about 20 years ago. But ok. I'm easy. Go get'm Tiger. Our hotel is out here somewhere....

Totally lost. Lost. Lost. Lost. Went way to far in the wrong direction. Turned around. Made it into Athens, which by the way is not called Athens here. It's called Athina. We had this map this the most useless waste of a tree ever.The one direction the dumb ass from the rental place had given us was a road name. We drive and drive and Marc somehow, I don't know how, spots the road. It takes us to.....um, I don't know. Part of the city we don't need to go to. No sign of the hotel. No one is really appreciating Marc calling out the window saying, "English?" "Do you speak English?" They're basically just blowing us off. So we're at the point of not saying anything to each other. Sometimes it's just better that way. Marc pulls over. He says, "I'm going to find someone who speaks English." I just stare straight ahead and make no eye contact. I've been here before, I know how to play this game. Then, I swear this is true, he comes to the car with this stranger and says, "He's going to come with us." Huh? "All right." I say. Then I hop in the back seat, I mean, being car jacked and losing all of our worldly possesions or driving through Athina with Marc for the next week looking the hotel? Um, I'll take car jacked for $400 Alec. So the guy gets in, his name is John. John seriously drives with us for like 25 minutes. He's on the phone speaking Greek and the only word I can make out is Americanos. I'm just glad I didn't hear the word stupid in there. Although I only know two greek words and that's not one of them. Let me tell you, John from Cincinatti totally got us to our hotel. Drove all the way with us. Wouldn't take a dime. Just got out when we pulled up front and said, "Enjoy your stay in Athens."
Later as we decompressed by the rooftop pool we wondered, was there really a John?

Flight Out

So this is how it went down. We get to the airport early. Totally and completely unheard of for us. We are those annoying people that if you are traveling with , make you nervous. We will show up to the airport at the last minute and walk onto the plane when they are about to close the doors. Not today, today Marc wanted to get moving. So we were a little early. We had something to eat and a cocktail and hung out. So we get to our gate and we are sitting there and the woman at the desk gives the same old shtick about being overbooked and does anyone want to give up their seat and get free tickets. Now usually I totally ignore this announcement, but this time I am on the phone with Lisa and she says, "Do it. But get upgraded." I say to Marc, "Go tell her we don't care about free tickets we just want to be upgraded and we'll take the other flight." He looks at me and says, "I don't feel like it." Hmmmm..... Well I do. So I go up and tell the lady this. I actually say, "If you can put us first class all the way through we'll take that other flight." She looks at me like I'm crazy and says, "For every flight? I can't do that." I say, "Well, see what you can do." So after a couple minutes they call me back up and tell me they can fly us first class over, we will get in three hours later with a layover and she still has to give us the free tickets. Hmmm. Okay. Works for me. We were getting there to early to check in to our hotel anyway. So now we're sitting pretty with our hot towels and sleeper seats and all the comforts of home, well the comforts plus a helper to do them for you. And to add good to the great our old flight got delayed so it didn't matter anyway.
Then in the seat right next to us in the aisle is this girl with mala beads on, a pierced nose and a tattoo on her back. Of course I want to be her friend. Marc knows this and so in his friendly way says, "So where are you going to?" She smiles and says, "Istanbul." Istanbul. Yeah. "I'm going there next week I say." And we are fast friends. She does yoga she's interesting. It's all good.
It's getting dark. Marc's sleeping. I'm going to watch a movie and go to sleep. We're off to a good start. Stay tuned, things took a slight turn but we're back to good.......

Procrastination

Like everyone there are some things I am extremely good at and some things, not so much. Like for instance, yoga, good at that, and thinking up what to make for dinner night after night, not so good at that. I am okay with my weaknesses, I mean we can't all be Lisa or Kirsten (love you babys, but your making the rest of us look bad) can we? Okay, reel myself back in, where was I? Yes, procrastinating, this is one of my special gifts, I am so good at this, the rest of you should feel inadequate. I leave for the airport in less than twelve hours for basically three weeks and guess what I've packed? Nothing. How many notes have I left for the dog sitter? None. Loads of laundry left to do? About four. What did I do with myself all day, one might wonder, ( I know Marc always does) well, normal day, went to the gym,Target, Post Office, bank, saw Kirstens shamanic healer, had a birthday lunch at Teikoku with Lisa and then had a cocktail with the 70 year old doctor that hangs out at the bar at Lisa's golf club. Just a regular day right? So here that leaves me back at home, ready to pack. But I'm not. Soon, very soon. First I have to get the kids care packages together, make a few calls, return a few e mails, maybe turn on the episode of Weeds I slept through last night, get our stuff together so we can get the hell outta Dodge. I'm not worried though, come 4:00 tomorrow afternoon I will be at the airport packed and ready to go. Just waiting to pull a Rachel and tell the airline attendant to bring me two more drinks and close me out. See you in Athens.