Italy: Day One

A misnomer, perhaps, since today we are in... Athens!

A one-day stopover in Athens. Airport / immigration is nothing. No questions asked, even. Just a stamp and I'm on my way. Metro's closed for renovations, so bussed it downtown. Stopped in at Backpacker's Hostel, an aptly-if-obviously named hostel in the center of the city which is apparently one of the top-ranked hostels in the world.

It certainly lived up to the hype.

The Aussie who was on duty was more than friendly and helpful, and I was soon on my way to see the sights. About a block away (seriously) stood the Acropolis, and I made my way through the ruins. Spent a good half hour just sitting at the theatre of Dionysus, which, for you non-theatre types, is where (roughly) drama as we know it was born. (Of course, the roots of drama go back to the first time one caveman turned to another and told them a story, but let's not split hairs.)

Exploring all the ruins Athens had to offer took... surprisingly less time than I'd imagined. I might've stayed longer if they were accessible -- Here in Israel/Palestine, I've gotten used to ruins just being open for the exploring -- but alas, the Greeks have some sense of preservationism (the horror!), so I was quickly on my way. Had lunch in the medieval part of town, which was so delicious that I've forgotten what it was. I had some sort of Greek beer to go with, which was also forgettable. I really should've been taking notes.

Back at the hostel, my guru told me to grab a bottle or two and head up to Philopapos Hill to watch the sunset. I did, and had a nice short hike through a park to arrive at what's left of the monument there. Had a great view of Athens by night, and the sunset, while hazy, was gorgeous.

Rounded off the night by enjoying a few local Greek microbrews back at the hostel with the random assortment of travelers who were staying there. Myself and a fellow traveler, a Thai-Australian who'd just quit her job and set off to see the world in six months, managed to not get lost in the older part of town when we went to find a decent gyro shop for dinner. Apparently if you order take out, the gyro is about 90% cheaper than dining in. Go figure. Interesting people: the two Australian stewardesses who work for Royal Jordanian, and their tales of life in the air. Amusing people: The three chaps from Iowa, who I'm sure were the life of the party well into the next day. And a girl from New Hampshire, about ten minutes from where my family is based in the state, who left early for a flight to Barcelona.

Decided against going on the pub crawl at 11pm, as my flight to Italy was due out in the morning and I didn't feel like being hung over when I saw Beth. Had a transit scare, as there were strikes looming for the next day, so myself and Mitri, a Greek-Canadian decided we were making a break for the airport around 3am. I caught a bit of a nap, and then we went out and grabbed the bus. Spent some time at the airport trying to keep each other awake before finding a food court, where I treated myself to a delicious dinner/midnight/early breakfast of pizza and Murphy's. In the correct glass. At a self-service food court. Europe is weird.

Mitri and I had to part ways after checking in, as we were in different terminals. I spent the remaining three hours napping in a TV lounge, before boarding an Aegean flight to Milan.

Recap:
SIGHTS: The Acropolis, Parthenon, Theatre of Dionysus (I could've stayed for a day just there), a whole lot of rocks, drunken Iowans (go figure).

FOOD: I forget lunch. Dinner, which was a whole lot cheaper, was amazingly good. I passed on the gyro (shwarma here is the same thing) and went for the non-shaved meat. Delicious.

DRINK: Mythos (standard lager). Alfa, much the same. Zeos, a smaller brewery, with a blue bottle holding a pilsner with little hop bite. And Athenian Brewing's hefeweizen, which was...passable? In all, Greece should probably stick with the Ouzo (from which I refrained entirely).

Italy: Day Zero

(0) Tel Aviv: Arrived at Ben Gurion at...1am? Something like that. The last train running. Somehow it was easier to train in than take a nesher, given that they won't pick me up on my side of the wall, and it was going to be boring standing outside the Old City all night. Instead, I spent the evening in Jerusalem; had the best sushi I've found (so far) at a place on Feingold, then spent an hour or so at Barood, which is a really cozy wood-warm bar a few doors down. Made my way to the train station, and on to Tel Aviv. I posted up against a wall in the airport, laptop in hand, and wasted a few hours. 4am, and I get in line for security. Now, future Israel travelers: simply knowing your reservation number will not impress security. You must have it printed out. Trust me on this one. Otherwise, you too will end up in a 'special room' with your pants down around your ankles as some random guard runs a metal detector over your all-together. While this is going on, the security folks outside will be taking everything out of your bag and plugging in anything that plugs in to make sure it doesn't explode. They will ask you all sorts of questions...family, friends, the complete history of how you came to acquire the stuffed raccoon with which you travel (I am not kidding about any of this). Once they have figured out that you're not a security risk, there'll be a walk through the rest of security and, if you're lucky, some sort of well-wish or goodbye. (I was not lucky. I mean, "sorry for wasting your time" would've been great, but I've learned not to expect that. Seriously, though, not even a 'good bye' or 'have a good flight'? New Yorkers have nothing on security guards at TLV.) Made my way into the retail zone. Was amused by the two separate McDonalds (one for dairy, one for meat) that were nonetheless attached to each other. (Things like this should be a clue that, perhaps, adherence to/skirting of kosher laws has gone past intent and dived straight into absurdity.) Found a breakfast nook/bar (really), and had a Stella to calm the nerves, which, post-strip search, were a bit raw. When I act/perform on stage, I have the blessing of not having stagefright/nerves beforehand so much as I get them immediately after, when the adrenaline overloads. This was much the same feeling I had post-security. Then again... I guess it was a decent performance. I'd somehow just managed to convince security that I'd spent three months in Israel as a tourist, living off of what I had fit in a backpack.

It sucks when you have to lie about teaching kids to act, just to leave the country.

RECAP:
* SIGHTS: None, although me standing in my party clothes getting scanned must've been amusing to someone.
* FOOD: Sakura- Best sushi in Jerusalem (so far), which still isn't as good as Sushi Jin. I miss you, Sushi Jin :(.
* DRINK: Duvel (bottle) at Barood, first time I found it here. A gift. Stella at the airport. Passable as always, but really, really calming.

For the more visually/audially inclined

I think I just made up "audially".

With Bated Breath.

While you await the thrilling novella that shall be my description of Italy (please note the fast-growing puddle of sarcasm), I figured you might enjoy a sampling of some of the writings and outlooks of people I work with here in the Holy Lands. They tend to be a little more political/topical than I am, and are probably better examples of what this blog should be ;).

Peter is here with the Mennonite Central Committee, working at Sabeel, which is a Liberation Theology center here. He also looks like a red-headed settler, although don't tell him that to his face.

Bethany also works at Sabeel, and arrived here roughly the same time I did. For a little while she was living with nuns.

Faith (aptly named) works for Dar Annadwa here in Bethlehem. She refuses to let anything, including 19th century steep stone stairs taken while on crutches, stop her.

Mike is the intern at Our Redeemer in Jerusalem. We once played flag football against each other. His team won handily.

Brandy and Travis are grads from Luther Seminary who are studying at Tantur, an ecumenical center in Bethlehem. Travis rocks a vest better than anyone I've seen.

David is a person I've never met, who supposedly lives in DC. Go figure.

I'm still not sure I believe this.

Trip reports coming soon... I need to get my tasting notes from Beth first, as a description of a trip to Italy that didn't include a description of the wine would border on the irrelevant.

That, and the next two days are taken up by me celebrating Easter in Jerusalem.

Yeah, I don't believe it, either.

And we're back!

I'll write up a full post about Italy/Greece soon, but suffice to say I'm home, and it was amazing, and I miss Beth already :(.

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Random thought: The Helen Hayes nominees for this year prove, once again, that the only good theatre in DC is done by the top seven or eight professional, equity theatres.

and/or that it's all a load of bull.