I was talking with a local today and they admitted that 30c in April is not normal and that normal should be something like 20-22c, good because I am dying.
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Athens – Day 3 – Mount Lycabettus
Climbed one of the seven hills, sunset view and a beer at the top.
The Parthenon from Lycabettus.
Worth it.
Athens – Day 2 – Walking Around
Just some pics of walking around, I am currently in love with Athens.
Athens – Day 2 – Parthenon and on and on
What can I say? It’s the Parthenon, it’s insanely cool. Today was hot (“zesti” in Greek!), around 30c but a cool breeze made things ok. I ended up spending 2-3 hours at the top, just wandering around and seeing the buildings and the city from different angles. Being in a city dating back 7000 years, being in a building dating back 3000 years…. I’m not nearly good enough with words to type out how I felt, but I felt a lot.
Athens – Day 2 – National Archaeological Museum
Sitting in the shade under palm trees after tackling the museum, Zeus, Augustus, Hadrian, Pan, Eros… 4000 year old swords and gold cups…. the Antikythera machine… all a bit overwhelming
Athens – Day 1
It’s warm, it’s humid, I’m insanely happy, giddy.
My street:
My place is gorgeous (a nice change after the creaky gross Moscow Airbnb) and has a washer/dryer, starting tomorrow no more stink!
I grabbed food and groceries as well as some Euro and am at home currently with a beer and the start of a plan for tomorrow.
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My host is really nice, he made several comments about me as a “young person”, he’s no more than 55-60, I told him I think I am older than you think I am, he said “Oh no, I think you are about the same as my son, 25”, yay, I told him my age and he said “Come stand in the light, let me inspect”.
My place:
St Petersburg Cocktail Tale
I tried four different cocktail bars in Saint Petersburg, all ones that were recommended and supposedly good, three were complete duds, one, Apotheke Bar, was a home run.
I found the front door of the Apotheke Bar after a little searching and found it locked, Google promised me it opened at 8pm so I pondered and pondered and eventually noticed a button, pressed said button and heard a voice in Russian, I apologized for my no Russian and the door buzzed and let me in.
The bar is small and wooden, a horseshoe that holds maybe 12 people. Bar, walls and bar all the same wood.
There was only one other patron when I entered, a guy with an unplaceable accent, I overheard him telling the bartender that he was on the night train to Moscow that night and needed a drink or two to help him sleep. We started talking and playing a fun game of Where Did He Get That Accent, he said he was German but had been around.
Me “You spent a lot of time in America”
Him “Yes, a lot”
Me “And not New York or New Jersey”
Him “Correct”
Me “And not California”
Him “Correct”
Me “Ok, let’s go Philadelphia”
Him “Not bad, Pittsburg”
Turns out he’s German but had spent a lot of time in Pittsburg as a teen and also in Holland and the UK, explains the unique idiolect.
He was travelling alone, a similar route and similar path as me, we chatted a bit between us and the bartender (who told me his name, THREE TIMES, dammit). Eventually two younger Russian ladies came in and the four of us had a great evening trading stories.
I went back the next night and it was just myself and the two bartenders, I still can’t remember the head bartender’s name but he was awesome and sweet and a sort of a Russian Beck. That’s him in the top photo background. He knew what a Casino was too.
The other bartender was a Georgian Jew, Illyc (Alec), as goofy and silly as the head bartender was soft and calm, again a really, really nice evening, Russian lessons, history lessons, cocktail lessons, a great feeling walking to the train to Moscow afterwards.
I’m too tired to go through my full ranking system right now…. so Apotheke gets a… 35, sure.
Get out of Russia!
At the airport now, Russia was awesome but also a but grey and wet and cold. Never been to Greece!
Arrived at Moscow Airport (DMO) at my usual time… really early (had a reason, was hoping to catch up on some missing posts at the airport) only to find that I can’t get into the main airport until I check-in, I can’t check in because Moscow airport does not support any sort of e-tickets, I need to use the automated kiosk to print a boarding pass, I can’t print a boarding pass because literally none of the kiosks fully work, some let me get partway into the process but all error out eventually, I find one that lets me get all the way to the final screen before crashing and I try that one for ten minutes, nope I need to go to the check-in counter for my airline (Aegean), I can’t check in at the counter as Aegean isn’t listed on any of the 142 check-in counters, I need to find customer service, I can’t.
Eventually I just start saying “Aegean?” to random staff, no one speaks much English. Eventually a woman tells me that she thinks Aegean will be using counter 77-79 later, I ask when is later, she says “later than this”.
So now I am having coffee.
I did have a really nice interaction at the coffee stand, another patron accidentally took my coffee when it was ready and ran off, the barista was very apologetic, in Russian only, I told him I didn’t mind and pointed at my watch shaking my head, he smiled and when he brought my coffee there was a muffin there too, yay humans.
Helsinki – Silence Chapel
(yes I know my posts are all out of order, I’ve fallen behind)
In the middle of Helsinki there’s a small chapel, very Nordic, very warm and wooden and above all else very quiet.
The idea is you come in and sit, the room is designed for silence, and try to be as quiet as possible.
When I came in there were three or four other people sitting in silence. I took a seat near the back and tried to focus on my noise.
I stayed longer than I had expected, eventually everyone else in the room were people who had come in after me and it felt like “my” space.
Most people seemed to come in for just a few minutes, perhaps on a break from work. A couple times the room achieved total silence and it felt like I could understand why it was built. It was rare and kind of great to sit in utter silence with strangers.
Moscow – Day 2
I’m thinking my sleep on the train from St Petersburg wasn’t the greatest. I passed out at my Moscow Airbnb (which turned out to be kind of a crappy one, oh well) around 9pm and slept until 4am today. I woke up with a migraine and tossed around in bed until 8. Took my head meds, had shower and went to Mu Mu, a Soviet style cafeteria, for breakfast. Breakfast was wonderful, mostly because of the old Russian ladies at the cafeteria teasing me mercilessly and because I had a great talk with a young guy very excited to be going to Chicago in summer. I felt awesome from that point on and today’s turned out pretty wonderful.
Apricot bliny, rice porridge, black current yogurt.
After breakfast I headed to the Kremlin, first the Armoury Tower to see some of the royal collection. Pictures are not allowed (literally still zero reason for such a rule) so I only managed to sneak a couple.
In line for the armoury tower.
One of the display halls inside.
Gifts to the Tzar from Persia, 15th century, at this point I got caught and scolded for taking pictures.
After the Armoury I walked around inside the Kremlin walls for an hour or so, in and out of buildings and cathedrals.
Both skinny green people AND larger blue people are welcome, to the right.
Then headed to Red Square, went to the first McDonald’s in Russian and mostly just walked around, despite endless forecasts of rain for Moscow and St Petersburg there really hasn’t been any, the weather today is perfect.
I spent some time in GUM (famous department store, like the Harrods of the USSR) found a store with pieces of red amber but all of it was out of my price range.
I have many more picture and things but there isn’t really any wifi in my place and I can’t currently get anything to upload, more later.
A Bit Gone 