I'm in Greece for work, half(ish)way through a 10-day jaunt. And before you go all "ooh... that's awesome", lemme just tell you that Athens isn't exactly my favorite place in the world. Maybe I've ust been seeing the crappy side of it, but sheesh, folks - why is there graffiti and garbage everywhere?
Funny first impression - on the way to the hotel from the airport, taking the bus and trying to figure out which stop to get off at, all the signs in Greek, let's just say I missed the stop. So I got off and had a ways to walk. As I'm moseying along, I figure I'll ask if I've passed it up or not, so assuming that the local constabulary probably speaks English, I ask the Greek cop with the automatic rifle in his hands standing outside some building. He gives me pointers, and as I walk away reflect on the nature of heavily armed cops, and look at the gate he was in front of, and think "goddamn, that's a big fucking fence, and that sure is an ugly building - what's with all the weaponry?" 50 meters later, it becomes clear: U.S. Embassy. That's just like us, isn't it? Big gate, big gun. Ah well. I plan to stop in to say Hi as some point since I've never been inside a U.S. Embassy, and I might as well... you know, touch some remote sovereign U.S. dirt.
The jetlag didn't hit much, but planes are clearly getting smaller, with more sardines per can (Now! With More Tasty Morsels!), especially with international flights. As a boy such as myself in the 95th percentile of leg length, I get soooo fucked for legroom on 12 hours of flights.
Events-wise, I didn't really do anything other than ride the Metro and do some work stuff. The Metro, by the way? Faaaahbulous. It is clearly my favorite part of everyday Athens. Train comes every 5 minutes, fast, cheap (10 euro unlimited one-week pass, that also transfers onto you on all forms of public transport), and clean and sparkly new. Buses... suck. The Tram (street-level local rail) is a combination of a train and a bus, and the worst part of both. But the Metro? That's some good stuff right there...
I took the advice of colleagues and went on a one-day cruise to some Greek islands today - Hydra, Pouros, and Aegima. It was pretty sweet seeing the bluer-than-blue water, and the little touches of architecture and landscape that remind me of oh-so-many James Bond movies. I'm just wondering where they keep the underwater jet-skis that they use to out-run the sharks while fighting Dr. No's evil henchmen trying to steal the nuclear bombs.
Hydra was pretty cool - once you get away from the port. Desert-y in the middle of a sea. On a walk up the coast I spied this little building, which turned out to be an old slaughterhouse from back in the day, but which was now housing an installation of sculpture themed on the slaughterhouse history of it.
That's a bronze you can see down low by the water - a casting of a cat. And the bronze casting of the sluiceway that used to carry the blood and guts down to the sea in the 1800's. In all fairness to the slaughterers of the time, it's not like there's any other food to be had on the rock - it's a barren hot rock, and nothing grows there except for scrub. Of course the principle foodstuff was animalstuff.
Pouros and Aegima were less interesting - just a bunch of shops in port, and not very much time to explore. I went for a swim on a beach that seemed to be representative of all the other beaches I've seen in Greece so far: tiny, and dirty. Seriously folks - do they not have any garbage cans around here? There's trash all over the place. For a country whose economy is significantly influenced by tourism, you'd think they might work a little harder at making it... less dumpy. Nice to cruise on a boat for a while, but only at the ed of it did I realize that all the people weraing name tags were in fact Jehovah's Witnesses taking extra holiday after their annual worldwide convention in Frankfurt. Half of the people on the boats were Witnesses. 
I'm just glad I didn't learn it until the end (as it would have negatively affected my mood), and that they were in non-preaching mode while in a restricted space.
On Saturday, I did the Acropolis thing (say "A-crrrop-oh-lee" if you're Greek). And since Dimitris Ypsilanti was Hellenic, I figured a big ole Parthenon shout-out to my Bike Ypsi peeps. I know, I know... it's the Black T-shirt Of Controversy, but just allow me this indulgence. The much-vaunted Acropolis Museum? You know, the one where they're getting more than bitchy with the Brits about the stolen Elgin Marbles (er... Acropolis Marbles)? Well, the museum is pretty, but I've really just had my fill of old broken rocks and pottery. It's great if you're into it, but I'm just glad it only cost 1 Euro to get in. And who the hell designed the glass floors? 
I don't wear a kilt in the regimental style, but even I was wondering if people on the floor below me were getting a glimpse of my nether regions. Certainly, women in skirts had to be thinking twice, at least for a moment or two.
So what else of note?
In Europe, this 6ft+ boy feels pretty huge compared to the locals. Not that they're shrimpy, just that I take up more space in an elevator, or in line at the kabob shop, than everyone else.
The Greeks sure seem to like Obama - I've gotten more than a few questions in conversation about "what do you think of Obama? We are really glad he's your President (instead of that other guy)" And I think they're kind of talking for most Europeans when they say that.
Athens cops? Well, I ever thought a beret would look bad-ass, but when you've got your hand on the grip of an automatic rifle - well, it's definitely a "Yes, I'm wearing a beret, motherfucker. And I can kick your ass while wearing it, too. Just try me" kind of look.
So how about that non-motorized transportation? Well, I've seen about 10,000 cars so far, and only 4 bikes. If I were feeling brave, I'd ride a bike here, but with a certain amount of trepidation. People drive a million mile an hour, on tight little streets, and while the local peds seem to have eyes in the back of their heads, I haven't developed the habit yet. The non-motorized goal would not be to get more bikes on the streets, but just as a start... to get the cars off the sidewalks. To make the comparison of San Francisco-is-to-bikes as Athens-is-to-pedestrians, it's an issue of: while it seems fast, furious, and chaotic, the relevant parties in transportation are actually pretty aware of each other - it just all happens pretty fast.
Anyhoo... that's about it for now. More to come, stay tuned.
Well, in the Grand Ginger Beer Quest, there's progress, courtesy of the Ypsi Food Coop and whoever introduced me to it by bringing it to Burn's Night. It's got the smack-a-dack to the tongue that I've been looking for all this time. Not the Gigantor version that I still seek... that Jamaican stuff that I bought that fateful lunch break while working at the bike shop in high school. You know, that Ginger Beer of Legend (GBoL) that was too boo-coo (beaucoup, whatever... think Full Metal Jacket - or was it Platoon?) and took 20 minutes to sip through - it being that powerful in The Ginger. Anyway, I'm a little worried that I might never get back to the GBoL, but I'm willing to continue the quest.
It had to be the ginger beer I have long sought - a ginger beer to smack the smirk off my taste buds, to force me to sip it like a peaty scotch, to go slow and appreciate it for who it was.
This is where the mixed emotions get me all choked up. So heartening that bike people will come together like this to give moral support to the family of one of us. Might not know him, but they care about what happened. Made a point to show up, on a weekday at rush hour, to be there and do this.
And at the same time, it's crushingly sad. It wasn't drunk driving, or bad weather, or erratic behavior. It was during the day, Tim riding on the paved shoulder, and some young guy distracted by changing the radio station (or something like that) drifts out of his lane and runs him over. Killed right then and there. Fucking pointless. No good reason. 
