In an Athens minute Riffs on Greece so far....

We could write a book – Athens in 24 hours or less. During that time, we hit nearly all the highlights of ancient Athens, ate well, and got a decent night’s sleep. Iron tourism at its best.

Because we were there in August, there was none of the feel of Rome, where you take your life into your hands crossing any street, because Smart Cars, Vespas, or motorcycles might come out no where and kill. Here, we walked in the street until forced to step aside for the occasional droning scooter or racing taxi. Amateur work – but only because of the time of year.

Virtually eveyone speaks English, and many of the signs are in Greek and English. The bad news is, I only know one language. The good news is, it appears the be language that everyone else knows too. Maybe it’s having three blonde daughters and a blonde wife, but people immediately start speaking English to me. I hope they do the same to the French tourists. That thought makes me happy.

Yesterday, at a place called "Smileys" right next to our hotel, we were getting a drink (and ice cream for the girls) when a leggy, tall model-esque woman came up. The store owner lost interest in talking to us and was very attentive to her (to be fair to him, I might have made the same choice had my wonderful wife and lovely children not been sitting there). After she left, the owner told us she is a famous Greek model who stops by often and lives in the ‘hood. So, that’s the kind of Athenians we were hanging out with. (She thought about approaching me for my phone number, but being happily married, I waved her off.) You know, hanging out with her, if we’d actually talked and all.

Maybe because it is August, but the service everywhere was very attentive. I figured I’d have to reprise my Italian sport of tackling the waiter to place an order, and then pile driving him/her to get the check.

The weather was warm, but never the unbearable cauldron that was predicted. The cumulative impact of our long marches did up in sweat, but it wasn’t an automatic, first step discomfort that we feared. We probably covered six miles in the 24 hour span, and never felt completely ragged with sweat.

Am having significant technical difficulties. Am behind getting several posts uploaded, and plus am having problems downloading photos to the site. Such is the posh, posh traveling life.