September (2019#18)
Oct. 3rd, 2019 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geowenchHoly moly, September was a crazy month. In fact the whole summer was crazy and now we both paying for it with a lingering cold/cough. However, back to the beginning of the month -
We headed to Athen on Sept 1 for 12 days. Eric's big yearly conference was there this year, so of course I tagged along and we spent some extra time as well. We were picked up at the airport by the husband of the organizer, V, and taken to a late dinner with some other conference VIPs. (E was THE VIP at this conference, which was nice, but quite weird also.) Dinner was at a famous sea food restaurant and was, of course, sublime. I'm not a huge seafood fan, but this was amazing. In fact all the food we had in Greece was amazing. We stayed a kind of weird hotel, but at least it was air conditioned, and had a very nice breakfast buffet which we took full advantage of each morning.
Monday was a free day, so we headed out to a Technical museum via taxi. It was quite difficult to find, the taxi driver ended up asking an elderly local man, who pointed up a street that cars can't go and then personally escorting us there after we paid the taxi - only to find it was closed on Mondays. Ah well. We were quite close to the Agora, so spent several hours wandering around the ruins. We had been there on our honeymoon in 2002, but it was lovely to see it again, of course.
The conference started the next day and I spent the day in the hotel room, working. I worked Wed and Thurs also, but managed to get out on Wed briefly to see the Museum of Cycladic Art, which was literally across the street from our hotel. That evening was conference banquet held at the historic Hellenistic Officer's Club. There were local dancers, and everybody got quite silly, as I suppose it the usual at these kinds of deals. On Thursday evening the conference organized a private tour of the Acropolis Museum. This is a new(ish) museum, and quite fabulous. The tour was great, but I didn't get wander and see all that I would have liked, actually.
Friday was full day boat tour of three islands and it was fabulous. I skipped getting off the boat at the second island to save my energy for the third island because I wanted to hike up to the Temple of Apollo on Aegina, which was more than worth it. The boat ride, at sunset, from Aegina back to Pireaus (Athens port) was one of my top life experiences.
Saturday, conference over, was a blessedly free day. We slept in, and then went back to the original museum we had wanted to see, the Museum of Ancient Technology. After that we went to the Herakleidon, another technology museum. We were tired by then, so came back to the hotel for a nap before checking out Aristotle's Lyceum at sunset. I would not recommend seeing this because it was a smallish site, but it was quite close to our hotel, and it was part of a multiple site ticket that we purchased.
The next day we checked out of our hotel and into an AirBnB and then our Greek friends picked up for the day. M is a youngish female physicist who E's PhD advisor has asked to look after. She organized the conference (and did an amazing job) along with her businisman husband V. So V and M took us for a nice long drive along the coast to Cape Sounio to see the Temple of Poseidon. We also stopped somewhere at a lake, but I don't really remember. After that we had an early dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant which was fabulous.
On Monday we finally got ourself to the Acropolis. Even at 9AM on a Monday morning it was crowded beyond belief. Still it was, of course fully worth it. We walked to the Library of Hadrian and the Temple of the Winds. Then we took the tram north to meet V and M again for dinner. Next day was the National Archaeological Museum and we failed to do it justice because by then we were exhausted and over-saturated. However we did see the original Antikythyra Mechanism, which was cool, and the original mask of Agamemnon, among other treasures. Once again we had a ridiculously delicious and over the top dinner with V and M.
Our last day, Wed, we spent again with V and M, but I just sat on a couch with my kindl while E and M talked about a detector system she and V are trying to market, and E had some interviews and stuff. Then we went for a final dinner with them, complete with a nightcap of ouzo. It was back to Prague the next day, which was not without its own adventure - it took over 2 hours for our bags to show up ... the company that does baggage claim, unloaded about a third of the baggage, and we got our first bag, but then they just sort of forgot about the rest of the luggage and left it sitting somewhere - it was very strange and very Czech.
So we had less a week to recover from this wonderful adventure before E's dad showed up with his girlfriend and boy was that a grind. The girlfriend brought three pairs of sandals, and no practical shoes, and so I lent her a pair of sneakers - which she proceeded to wear for three days WITHOUT SOCKS. Needless to say I'm never wearing those again. We did our best to show them a good time, though they seemed to whinge and complain the entire time. I found it all trying, but E found it almost unbearable. They stayed for a week and after they finally left on the 24th, I promptly got quite sick, and then of course so did E. So we have spent the last week being absolute slugs, and may spend the next week doing the same ...
We headed to Athen on Sept 1 for 12 days. Eric's big yearly conference was there this year, so of course I tagged along and we spent some extra time as well. We were picked up at the airport by the husband of the organizer, V, and taken to a late dinner with some other conference VIPs. (E was THE VIP at this conference, which was nice, but quite weird also.) Dinner was at a famous sea food restaurant and was, of course, sublime. I'm not a huge seafood fan, but this was amazing. In fact all the food we had in Greece was amazing. We stayed a kind of weird hotel, but at least it was air conditioned, and had a very nice breakfast buffet which we took full advantage of each morning.
Monday was a free day, so we headed out to a Technical museum via taxi. It was quite difficult to find, the taxi driver ended up asking an elderly local man, who pointed up a street that cars can't go and then personally escorting us there after we paid the taxi - only to find it was closed on Mondays. Ah well. We were quite close to the Agora, so spent several hours wandering around the ruins. We had been there on our honeymoon in 2002, but it was lovely to see it again, of course.
The conference started the next day and I spent the day in the hotel room, working. I worked Wed and Thurs also, but managed to get out on Wed briefly to see the Museum of Cycladic Art, which was literally across the street from our hotel. That evening was conference banquet held at the historic Hellenistic Officer's Club. There were local dancers, and everybody got quite silly, as I suppose it the usual at these kinds of deals. On Thursday evening the conference organized a private tour of the Acropolis Museum. This is a new(ish) museum, and quite fabulous. The tour was great, but I didn't get wander and see all that I would have liked, actually.
Friday was full day boat tour of three islands and it was fabulous. I skipped getting off the boat at the second island to save my energy for the third island because I wanted to hike up to the Temple of Apollo on Aegina, which was more than worth it. The boat ride, at sunset, from Aegina back to Pireaus (Athens port) was one of my top life experiences.
Saturday, conference over, was a blessedly free day. We slept in, and then went back to the original museum we had wanted to see, the Museum of Ancient Technology. After that we went to the Herakleidon, another technology museum. We were tired by then, so came back to the hotel for a nap before checking out Aristotle's Lyceum at sunset. I would not recommend seeing this because it was a smallish site, but it was quite close to our hotel, and it was part of a multiple site ticket that we purchased.
The next day we checked out of our hotel and into an AirBnB and then our Greek friends picked up for the day. M is a youngish female physicist who E's PhD advisor has asked to look after. She organized the conference (and did an amazing job) along with her businisman husband V. So V and M took us for a nice long drive along the coast to Cape Sounio to see the Temple of Poseidon. We also stopped somewhere at a lake, but I don't really remember. After that we had an early dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant which was fabulous.
On Monday we finally got ourself to the Acropolis. Even at 9AM on a Monday morning it was crowded beyond belief. Still it was, of course fully worth it. We walked to the Library of Hadrian and the Temple of the Winds. Then we took the tram north to meet V and M again for dinner. Next day was the National Archaeological Museum and we failed to do it justice because by then we were exhausted and over-saturated. However we did see the original Antikythyra Mechanism, which was cool, and the original mask of Agamemnon, among other treasures. Once again we had a ridiculously delicious and over the top dinner with V and M.
Our last day, Wed, we spent again with V and M, but I just sat on a couch with my kindl while E and M talked about a detector system she and V are trying to market, and E had some interviews and stuff. Then we went for a final dinner with them, complete with a nightcap of ouzo. It was back to Prague the next day, which was not without its own adventure - it took over 2 hours for our bags to show up ... the company that does baggage claim, unloaded about a third of the baggage, and we got our first bag, but then they just sort of forgot about the rest of the luggage and left it sitting somewhere - it was very strange and very Czech.
So we had less a week to recover from this wonderful adventure before E's dad showed up with his girlfriend and boy was that a grind. The girlfriend brought three pairs of sandals, and no practical shoes, and so I lent her a pair of sneakers - which she proceeded to wear for three days WITHOUT SOCKS. Needless to say I'm never wearing those again. We did our best to show them a good time, though they seemed to whinge and complain the entire time. I found it all trying, but E found it almost unbearable. They stayed for a week and after they finally left on the 24th, I promptly got quite sick, and then of course so did E. So we have spent the last week being absolute slugs, and may spend the next week doing the same ...
