My Greek Olympics: Finally, it starts..

Assignments:

I was told I would be at the fire brigade center and was to be available if needed to go to other centers. Since we weren't going to be allowed to do anything, it was a joke to have to deal with SAIC corporate shits. A lot of people came to "view" the system and how it worked, but basically they wanted a vacation in Greece during the games. It didn't affect me and most of the time I wasn't told what was happening. I also never went to the offices in Marousi so I never saw what went on there. It had become a joke, the project was a joke. A huge waste of money, they could have cut it by 75% and still have been fine with security. We did Salt Lake for about ten million, we spent 300 million and had nothing to show for it.

Olympic time:

The Olympic month was a let down, the system wasn't working and the company was being confrontational with the customer still. We were told that we would be allowed in the facilities, but could not do anything unless they asked. Basically nothing was going to be used and we would just sit around all day. I was assigned to the fire brigade and at least I could see Sissy and find out what was happening. Actually I was allowed to go around to different places and talk to people, most others couldn't. I had made friends with most of the people in the command centers so that they knew I was on their side. I could talk to anyone and would be allowed to see what was happening.

Opening Ceremony:

The Opening Ceremony for the Olympics was a big deal as it always is. I was at the FB center during the opening, and even though I was just down the street, I watched it on TV. I could see the fireworks out the window and hear the crowd. I went out to see what was happening and saw the blimps flying and the fireworks smoke. There had been some fires started a few days before from fireworks and there was concern about fires starting during the games.

I called mom and talked for a bit, since there was a 10 hour difference, it was morning back home. I thought the opening was a good show, interesting and historical. The roof of the stadium was important to the show, since cables where strung up to move the objects, without the roof there would be no show. So the effort to build the roof paid off.

All the Greeks in the Fire Brigade were watching the show on the large video wall. I was in the conference room with the other contractors and we were not allowed into the command area. But I was asked to come in a go over a few things. The Greeks seemed to trust me and I was doing all I could to help them.

The ceremony was of course a big deal, the opening is one of the main events. I went out side the back of the Fire Brigade and walked out into the street. Since I was just one kilometer from the stadium, I could hear and see what was happening. Fireworks, the airship, the crowd cheering, I wish I were in there and see the show. I talked to a few people in the stadium and got a feel of what was happening. I went back inside and watched to show, I thought it was very good. The Greeks were very proud of what was going on and the culture on display.

The big concern was fire from the fireworks, there had been several fires caused by fireworks the prior week. It was dry and there was little thought it seemed on safety sometimes. Of course the system was not being used and nothing was going on, the Fire Brigade was still using paper and pencils. After the ceremony ended, all of us left the Fire Center and decided to walk to the Metro. I was with Rick and some of the ETEAM people, the other Greeks had cars to go home in.

There were no taxis and we didn't want to try to go near the stadium, so we walked to the Halandri metro station. It was longer than I thought or I was just tired, but it took a while to get there. The train ride to the center was fast and there weren't that many people on the train, though a few people were heading into town and you could tell they attended the ceremony.

For the next two weeks this was were I was to be, I did make a few trips to the CG and hung out at the usual places after work, but it was a bit different in Athens and the mood had changed. There were large crowds in Plaka and around the Acropolis, but other places there were few people. Tickets to events were easy to get and just about any event was doable. Ticket vendors were in key locations and all you needed to do is look at what was available and buy the ticket.

Tourists in Plaka:

As the Olympics got underway, the tourist started to show up. It wasn't much more than a normal summer crowd and with so many people leaving Athens, it wasn't too crowded at all. In Plaka, the crowds were thick though. All the stores were hawking their stuff and the tourists were all over the place. Since I was a local, I wasn't bothered by the shop keepers, they knew me as someone from the area and I would never buy anything from them anyway. The big traffic problems never appeared and power never failed, there where no riots or anything like that. It was nice and quite.

I would go down to Plaka a few times, but I would go to Mie Tie more. The annex was boring and nothing to do there by myself. I had to go the Halandri everyday and now that the metro ran all the way to the airport, I could take the metro to a certain point and then grab a cab the rest of the way. I saw a lot of people on the Metro heading into or out of town, but not a lot of Greeks. August is typically the month that everyone has a holiday, so Athens was deserted. The tourist did the usual tourist thing and I really tried to stay away from them.

Going to the port was more crowded, since all the ships were there as hotels, but not all the ships came. The demand for space wasn't as great as expected. The one big ship, the Queen Mary II did show up and boy is it big. They parked it at the entrance of the port and it was like a huge wall. It was larger than most buildings in the port area and dwarfed the other ships.

Bike race:

The bike route, on the way to Mie Tie

One event was the street bike race. This was a race on a course through the streets of central Athens. The course started and ended in front of the Parliament, went down Amalias and up past the Acropolis. Then down behind the Agora and onto Athinas Street. Down and around behind Lykabettus and around the North side. They ended up on Academious and then into Kolonaki, past Tops and up Lykabettus again. They came down onto Leof Sophia and back to the Parliament. They passed just half a block from my apartment, the streets had barriers and it was hard to get past them.  I was going to be at the Fire Brigade Center that day so I didn't see the whole race.

David had stacked out a table at Tops and spent the day drinking, eating and watching. (David met Athena there and they became kind of friends. I think at first it was more the "I met someone who works on the Olympics and lets see where that goes." David spent time with her after the race and they became friends, when David left, we had a good-bye dinner at Psara and Athena was there.)

I was back just in time to see the end of the race, but there was no one on the street to watch. It seemed strange that the streets were empty except for the police standing around. The police standing around wasn't strange, but there just weren't any people around either. I saw the bikes fly past and that was about it, no cheering or anything. I guess where I was not many people watched.

Car crash:

The afternoon of the bike race and after I left the Fire Brigade and was heading home, I was walking down the Leof Sophia near Kolonaki square, when a car crashed just behind me. A car coming out of the side street didn't stop to let a car pass by. The cars made a nice T-bone crash and it sent glass flying in all directions. I saw that one of the persons in the car was injured so I called the FB emergency number, I couldn't get them to understand that there was a crash. What was funny about it was a bunch of cops were across the street and they wouldn't do anything to help. They just stood there and looked, finally the FB showed up but the police did nothing.

Burgers:

One night I was at a place in Kolonaki having dinner, a burger place that I hadn't been to before but I had seen. I was with David and while we were eating and drinking beer, they had the women's pole-vault finals on. It was a duel between a Russian, a Ukrainian and a Swede. The Swede was knocked out and it was just the Russian and the Ukrainian. The two were good and it was a back and forth competition. As each one made the height, we could hear cheers from all over town, the whole city was following the action and they didn't care who they were.

The TV coverage was really much better than any American Olympics that I saw, they showed everyone, not just the Americans. It really shows how self centered the Americans are in the coverage. I didn't see many American TV crews around, but a few foreign crews were visible. I later heard of all the 'celebrities' who were there, but never saw any of them.

The burger place was just a few blocks for Mie Tie and on the hill going up to Lykabettus. It was small but the food was really good. I should have gone there more, but I didn't eat burgers much. This was a great night and the vault compitition was great. The US TV would never show the event since no American was in it, they only focus on the Americans and if they will win a medal.

Nothing to do:

The Olympics were really boring, I did nothing and no one even cared what I did. I could have just gone to an island and go swimming all day. The government didn't want anything used, so we had nothing to do, just sit there. SAIC had said they would lock the Greeks out of the facilities, but that was stupid. The facilities were in the buildings of the police and fire departments and they could have just removed the doors. I did get to go in the command center and talk to the Greeks, they trusted me and they knew I was there for them. I also went to the MMM and saw Tryphon once in a while, a change of pace and new scenery. I hung out with the ETEAM crowd and with David once in a while. I didn't see Jay much and Vic was off doing other things. But I really never saw anyone form the company during this time. A lot of people were going to events instead of working, nothing bad was happening so everyone went out to play.

One day Vic said he was taking all the ETEAM people to see a baseball game and some other events at the Hellenico complex. I wanted to go but I had to stay at the Fire Brigade and baby sit the shits. Really boring to be there and nothing to do but play on the computer. Dimitris had given me a copy of Call to Action and I played it most of the day, there wasn't much to do and in this case the Greeks closed the blinds so we couldn't even see the TV. Later that night, I saw David and he said they had a good time at the events. That night we had dinner at a burger place up the street from Mia Tie, something different

Cooking again with David:

Vegetables market at the central market

Breakfast at David and Vic's place on the Sunday of the Women's Marathon was going to be a warm up to the afternoon. The race started at about noon and the runners would take about two hours to do the race. Since their place was two blocks from the course, we would all eat and then walk over and see the runners go by. David and I would do a special brunch and we would dazzle everyone with our skills. We went out and did some shopping and found some steaks and other bits. David had a plan to do Benedicts so we shopped for specific things. We had to substitute some ingredients simply because they didn't have them. I went to the central market on Friday and stocked up on stuff, eggs potatoes, bacon, smoked salmon and other stuff.

We would do Steak Benedict and Salmon Benedict with potato pancakes and all the other stuff like bacon and sausage, fruit and drinks were there. It was hard to cook it all on a small stove, but we managed. It came out good, but the timing was off because we had to do one plate at a time. I did the pancakes in one pan while David did the Benedict and Hollandaise sauce; the last burner was boiling water for the poached eggs. It was a real challenge to do everything for the ten people in one shot. Anyway, everyone liked it and we all had plenty to eat and drink.

We heard the race had started and were watching it on TV to see the progress. Once the runners were close, we went out for the viewing of the Marathoner.  We got a spot on the side of the street in the shade and waited. The first runner came with a motorcycle and cameraman on the back and a police escort. Everyone was cheering and waving flags. No one cared really who it was, they just were cheering the leader. Soon others came by, more cheering. It was amazing to see the runners, they were almost at the end and they still were running hard.

All the runners past within a few minutes of each other, the crowd was cheering even the last one the same as the first. We all separated and walked off in groups, I went for drinks and to relax, no work today. The women’s marathon marked the end of the track and field events, there would still be more events but the next week would be the indoor events. They hold the outdoor first in case of weather issues pushing them back.