Athens - Day 2

Okay, so it’s somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning. I’m lying in my hotel room bed with a huge hangover – movement is not easy. I’m trying to remember what happened last night but am completely unable to remember anything past going to the new club with Alina. I don’t remember how we got there, but I vaguely remember arriving and taking a seat with Alina next to me. I have no idea how long I was at this place or even how I got back to the hotel. I’m wondering how much money I spent last night but am way too hung over to actually get up and check on things. I decide to try to get some more sleep…

It isn’t until around noon that I finally am able to get my sorry carcass out of bed and start taking inventory. I’m still wearing the shirt from last night and I see that my jeans are wadded up on the floor next to a puddle of liquid (puke, perhaps … but it was clear…). I grab the jeans (which are slightly damp) and check the pockets. Cool, my wallet is there as well as my passport. I open the wallet and discover that everything appears to be in its correct place. All of my credit cards are there. There’s no money in the wallet, but this doesn’t surprise me. I decide that it’s probably a good idea if I get up now and maybe head out for a walk to clear my head a bit. I put on the slightly damp jeans (unfortunately I didn’t bring a change of jeans with me so I was pretty much forced to wear the ones I had), grab my wallet, passport and camera, don my baseball cap and head on out of the hotel.

I go for a walk that basically takes me up this large hill next to the Acropolis and take a few pictures. Walking down this hill I decide to veer off a bit and end up coming out on this street that is right at the bottom of the Acropolis. I head into this small shop and buy a Coke with the little change I was able to find in my hotel room and ask the guy where the nearest ATM is. I’m told that there’s an ATM machine across the street and up the hill towards the Acropolis entrance. This is where I head and, although there are many more people than on the last hill, I am unable to find any ATM. I’m pretty much walking around like a zombie and I finally notice that I wasn’t looking too good. I see this stain on my shirt – nothing disgustingly gross or anything, but there was a stain – and decide that it would be best if I returned to the hotel and took a shower. I then headed back to the hotel…

Now the bathtub in my hotel room was strange. It wasn’t really that large, but it was divided into two halves where the left half was a couple feet above the right half and there was this rather steep slope between the two. The showerhead was one of those that weren’t mounted on the wall in any way and no mount was present to put the showerhead on. Oh well, I was able to manage cleaning myself without killing myself – that sloping bathtub should be outlawed…

I then slipped on a clean shirt, a clean pair of boxers and my jeans (they were pretty dry now and didn’t appear to stink or anything…). It was still pretty early in the afternoon on a Saturday and my flight back to Berlin was scheduled to be leaving at 9:30 pm on Monday. Last night didn’t go well at all, but I still had three days left to kill in Athens. What should I do? Well, if I was going to do anything, I needed to get myself some money. I headed out to the hotel receptionist and inquired with the young lady on where I might be able to find an ATM machine. She tells me that if I leave the hotel, head to the right, climb down the stairs, continue heading down the street at the bottom – something like a block or two – that I should see a bank on the right somewhere. Oh well, I guess I’ll try that… I head out and climb down the stairs to the right.

It’s amazing how every trip I take over here always involves a quest for an ATM machine. The worst part about it is that it’s never easy… I mean the locals live there, so the locations of these machines are already known. They’re just usually not very good at directing outsiders to these locations. I discovered later that there are a lot of ATM machines in Athens – if you just walk down a main street you will inadvertently pass several – but finding my first ATM was a bit difficult and time consuming. I was able to do it, though; and I got myself a couple hundred Euros…

Okay, so I got myself some money. I still had no idea what I wanted to do that day, so I just started walking… I was basically walking along one of the main streets, looking around and taking in the scenery. Apart from the ancient ruins, Athens is just another large city. It’s pretty dirty and there are an awful lot of cars. Too many cars, to be more precise; and the Greeks are insane when it comes to driving. A parking spot in Athens is defined as any open space that your car will fit in. If you’re walking there you also need to stay alert. Not only do you have to dodge the people, you need to keep on the lookout for bikes, motorcycles and even cars. Yeah, the cars are often driving on the sidewalks and pedestrian pathways. It’s a bit nuts…

As I was walking by the Zeus ruins, this older man appeared to be asking me for the time (he was approaching me and pointing at the top of his wrist – the international sign language for ”What time is it?”). Rather than trying to speak to the guy, I decided to just show him my watch and let him read the time for himself. His reaction to this caught me a bit off-guard as he then said, “You speak English.” Not as a question, but more as a statement. My response to this was, “Yeah, I speak English.” Suddenly this guy was my best friend. He grabbed my arm (he was very touchy, feely but maybe this was common in Greece … I didn’t know…) and we walked over and sat down on a park bench.

We were sitting there talking for a bit and he told me that he worked for Exxon over in Saudi Arabia and was on a two week vacation. He was going on about how life just needed to be enjoyed and damn the money and all that. He said his name was George and he seemed like a decent guy to me – a bit nuts, but decent. I hadn’t eaten yet and asked him if he wanted to maybe get some food. He asked me if I wanted some good seafood and I said I really wasn’t in a seafood mood. He then went on this rant about roast lamb. Apparently he knew of a place that had real good lamb. We got up and hailed a taxi. I guess I was gonna get some roast lamb…

The taxi ride ended up being about half an hour. We drove to some subdivision on the outskirts of Athens – closer to the airport, I believe… The ride cost me €10 and George, of course, didn’t offer to pay anything. Oh well, he got me to this place. I was thinking that hanging out with a local could be an interesting thing and €10 was no big deal. We then headed across the street to this restaurant…

It was now going on 7:00 pm and the sun was starting to set. Interestingly enough, the restaurant was basically empty. The only people there were the family that owned the place and George apparently knew these people pretty well. They set up a table for us and we had a meal of Greek salad, feta cheese, Saganaki and lamb. Interestingly enough, George didn’t want his picture taken. I now know why, but at the time it just seemed like he was a bit camera shy…

After getting my fill on the meal, I suggested that we should be leaving to get out and paint the town red. George wanted to stay there a bit and talk with the owners and I had nothing better to do so I just sat there absorbing the atmosphere. We were there for probably an hour or two before George and I decided to head out. First, we needed to pay for the meal. I asked George how much I owed and was told, get this, €120! €120 for roast lamb!? And guess how much George was offering to pay – nada! Okay, so that’s his game – he gets himself free meals from unsuspecting tourists. Oh well, screw it, I needed to get back toward Athens. I paid the outrageous bill and we hopped in another taxi heading back toward Athens…

On the ride back I mentioned to George that €120 for some roast lamb is a bit crazy and he went into this spiel on how a decent seafood meal in Switzerland would run you €320 and how you should live your life and not worry about the money and all that crap. I told him that he’s doing a great job of that since he hadn’t laid out one cent for his life this evening. This guy was really beginning to bug me now and I decided then and there that he wasn’t getting anything more from me. I was very aware that hooking up with this guy was a bad move…

The cab dropped us off very near where we had met earlier in the day and I think the cab fare was something like €9.50. Of course George tried to get me to pay for the cab and I told him to pay. I was done. George paid the fare and started saying things like, “Okay, I paid it. Problem solved…” Wow, he paid €9.50. Was he expecting a “thanks” from me? He wasn’t gonna get it…

We then crossed the street and started heading up to this place called Pub Love. I had no clue what this place was, but had mentioned to George that I was interested in meeting some women that night. Maybe this was the place to do that? Interestingly enough, as we were heading up the street, George started holding my hand. Not for long, mind you – I wasn’t having any of that – but he was definitely wanting to hold hands. I don’t know, maybe he was gay… Whatever the case, I wasn’t holding this dude’s hand…

We then entered Pub Love. It was a very small pub – one bar with about five stools in front of it, a few tables off to the side and a couple couches in the back with a table in between them. There were a few very nice looking young ladies sitting at the bar but, other than that, the place was pretty much empty. George and I headed to the back and sat down on the couches. We ordered beers and then were quickly joined by a couple of the ladies that were sitting at the bar…

I don’t know the name of the lady that sat with George, but I was joined by this sweet little 25 year old named Anna. She was cute as a button and very very friendly. It wasn’t long before Anna was asking me to buy her a drink. Okay, so I now understood what this was. I went through this same thing the night before. I told Anna what had happened to me on the previous night and inquired as to how much “drinks” cost here. It was €190 for a bottle of champagne. Oh well, I was getting along great with Anna, so I bought her a bottle of champagne. George wasn’t there long before he just took off without even saying goodbye. That was cool – one less hassle to deal with. It was then just Anna and I sitting there and discussing life…

Perhaps it’s just the “hopeless romantic” in me, but that conversation with Anna was nice. She seemed to be genuinely interested in me and she was a lot of fun to talk with. I asked her when she got off work and was told 3:00 am. We then actually made arrangements for her to come over to the Hotel Austria that night. I spent a couple of hours there talking with Anna and ended up buying her a couple bottles of champagne – interestingly enough, the bill came to €520. Oh well, so I took another walk to an ATM machine with the bartender and paid the bill. It was a bit after midnight when I left the place. I actually gave Anna the spare key that I had to my hotel room (it had the hotel number on it and I told her that I was in room 207) as well as my mobile phone number. She said that she would most definitely be coming by after work and I believed her. I then started walking back to the hotel…

I had exactly €5 in my wallet. Strangely enough, on the walk home I was approached by a cab driver. He was asking me if I wanted to be taken to this strip club. He said that he would take me for €5… I told him that I was heading back to my hotel and that he could drive me there for €5. I then got in this guys cab and he drove me to a strip club. Funny thing is that it was the exact same place I was taken to the night before! I got out of the cab and, interestingly enough, the people there didn’t seem the least bit upset with me. They showed us (the cab driver and myself) to a booth and even gave me a beer on the house. Alina (the girl from the night before) was then sent over to sit with me and I think they were more than prepared to see how much more money they could get from me. I made it very clear that all I had was the €5 in my wallet and that I needed to give that to the cab driver for the ride.

I asked Alina what I had done the night before and she said that I was fine. Other than yelling out “FUCK!” time and time again, I didn’t do anything crazy. She even informed me on how I got home - apparently the manager of the bar drove me back to the hotel. Oh well, that was a crazy night… This night would be different as I only gave the taxi driver the €5 and just stayed there long enough to finish my free beer. Alina didn’t get any “drinks” from me and no more money was spent. After the beer was gone, I headed out and walked back to my hotel…

It was about 1:00 am when I finally arrived back at my hotel. I watched Robocop (in English) on the TV and wasted away the two hours until 3:00. I was then expecting Anna to show up, so I headed out to the hotel lobby and waited…

The front door was locked and the guy working the night shift said he could let me out if I needed to go outside. I told him that I was expecting a visitor and he said that he would let her in. We ended up sitting in the lobby and having some coffee together. We talked about life and how crazy the people in Greece were. I never received any calls on my mobile and nobody called the hotel. At 6:00 I headed back to my room to try to get some sleep…

Anna never came. I was devastated… Unfortunately I had no way of contacting her, so I had no idea what the story was. I had a couple more days left in Athens though – I was going to find out. I think I got an entire 15 minutes of sleep that night. The next day I was most definitely heading back to Pub Love…

To read the rest of this story I’m afraid you will have to check back a bit later. I’ve written all I can for today.

bis später,

Coriolis