My Greek Olympics: Athens, my new home

The Parliament in Athens

Vic told me that he would do an orientation to Athens for the few new people, mostly Ron and a couple of SAIC staff people. Vic, Jay and David have been in Greece for months already and I was still not as knowledgeable as they were. Vic had an apartment and Jay and David were staying in the hotel, more convent than having a place to deal with. They knew their way around and have made friends with people at different places.

I went down to the annex and met up with the others and then we all walked up to Syntagma Square. the main square in central Athens. We crossed the square and went down into the Metro Station. Vic explained the process of getting a ticket and going through the entrance. This was the largest stations since it connected the Red and Blue lines and it was under the Parliament Building.

We looked at the map and Vic told us where the lines went. Since we were only one stop from the Monastiraki station, it was more for catching the train to Omonia or going east to the Ministry of Defense. Since we were at the hotel still, we could walk to Monastiraki faster than going to Syntagma. The green line would take us to the port or way out East to Marousi or Kifisia. There are three main lines, the Blue, Red and Green. The Green line was the old above ground train and the other two are mostly underground. They all meet in the center of town.

At the station, they had some depictions of what was found under ground when they dug out the station. One wall had a cut-away of the different layers of the city over time, plus some artifacts they found while digging. Most stations had something like that though this was on a larger scale.

We then walked out and around the Parliament area and Vic told us about the changing of the guards and the big show on Sunday mornings. We looked at the guards as they moved about in a much exaggerated manor. They did a changing while we were there so we could understand what the big deal was. Vic pointed out other places around the square and we walked back across to the main area of the square. Vic had an apartment already and he had some things to do back at his place. He lived in the Thisseiou area which is by the Roman Agora.

We walked back to Ermu Street and saw the shops and stores, this was an expensive shopping district and I didn't know of any other places yet to shop. I would need to get a few new items so I was going to do some shopping later so I knew of at least one place to shop.  Later I would find places that were a lot cheaper, but for now that was all I knew. We headed back to the annex and met with the others in our crew, Jay and David were there eating already. Vic left and I stayed to have drinks and relax.

The annex had a breakfast with eggs and ham, plus bread with jam. They didn't have a stove, just an oven so everything was baked. The eggs were baked with the ham and they stuck to the pan, but it was OK. Coffee or Frappe was available and juice or tea. I would get an Espresso or two, maybe a Cappuccino. Ron was always happy it seemed and he never got upset, though he would be very serious sometimes with the customer. Since he was from Utah, he learned how to deal with the Mormons though I don't think he was one or a practicing one.  His wife was and even though she was five thousand miles away, her reach was felt.