New Year's Eve Eve:

So I went out with some friends from high school tonight, to a restaurant now managed by another friend of ours. It's always fun to go to these kind of places, half off your bill and free champagne (thanks Spencer). I might be a bit hung over tomorrow morning. But it's great to be the obnoxious table, yelling out bad words about people you went to high school with and telling inside jokes as you all start cracking up with the "drunk girl giggle."

It's funny how these things work-- last year I spent New Year's Eve at home and bored, watching Adult Swim and this year I am currently invited to three places. I'm not sure where I'm going yet, though. Should I watch the peach drop with no drinking and some friends who I like but haven't seen, or go out some of the people I saw tonight, or go out with a bunch of people I don't know very well? Decisions, decisions.

Reverse culture shock:

I didn't really think this would happen since I was only gone for three months. But it did and I imagine it will even more when I get back to Chicago, when I feel like my vacation is finally over.

It's everything from not having taxes included in prices, to having people talk to you in the streets, to hearing an American accent and wanting to start up a conversation on that basis alone (nope, Kathleen, an American accent isn't that unusual in Atlanta). I do miss London. I miss feeling safe when I walk around in the dark, Tesco diet Lemonade, good public transportation, the quiet standoffishness of Londoners and a hundred other mundane and not so mundane things. Everyone here is so loud and complains so much, I just finally learned to eat the European way, I want the bars to close earlier so I can go out earlier...

Realistically, there are things I won't miss about London. The weather, the people who would never say what they meant, the stores closing at 6 o'clock on Sundays. But right now I wish I were back in the flat on Gilbert Street, thinking about a night at Three Tuns or the Marlborough Head, rather than sitting here really excited that my laptop is finally working for two minutes, hoping I get a chance to see N-- before she has to go back to work again.

Day 1 (London --> Athens):

is up at Far From Home. No pictures yet, I've got to wait for Terra to get back from some Georgia town that lacks internet access. So hopefully soon.

One picture:


Me, Cait, Elina, and Jonathan the Marine

OK, a little about my trip:

I think I'm going to type up the two weeks of my trip in a separate blog and link to it here, just to make things a bit easier. Of course the dates will be screwed up, but oh well. Right now, T-- has all of my pictures from the first 4 days or so, so I kind of hate typing that part till she is back in town. Well, we'll see.

I did have a great trip. Budapest, Prague and Vienna are all beautiful, though I think I liked Prague the best. And Christmas markets that serve hot fruit punch made with brandy are a lot of fun!

Home:

So I got home a while ago, but I've been embroiled in disputes with my stupid credit card company and concerns about my health (apparently there is something wrong with the right side of my diaphragm, but neither my mother nor I could figure out what the doctor was saying, except that he wants more tests), so I haven't actually done any blogging. That should change after Christmas (though N-- and T-- should be home, so maybe not).

Anyway, for the (according the US News) 96% of you who celebrate Christmas, happy Christmas! Otherwise, I'm sure you're looking forward to a really boring Thursday. At least Blockbusters/ Hollywood Video are open.

Cleaning up:

Permalinks should work for everything right now. Hopefully I'll be able to fix Sunday's archive when it comes up, but no promises.

In Budapest:

More high speed internet makes Kathleen very happy. In Budapest today, Vienna tomorrow. Budapest is great, wonderful shopping and a beautiful castle district. Here feels much more east than Greece, whatever geography may say.

I'm only here for a day though, then off to Vienna tomorrow morning to meet up with my friends.

In Athens:

So I managed to find the only high speed internet place in Athens, an easy Internet cafe. It's also much cheaper than anywhere else here. Too bad I'm leaving Athens tonight.

Anyway, I still don't have a lot of time, so the quick update on what I'm doing. I got into Athens Sunday morning, and we checked into the worst hostel I've stayed in (no heat, no blankets, no hot water=sucks). We walked around Syntagma and Omonia and went to Piraeus to check out the times for the ships for Hydra.

On Monday morning, we caught the 8am ferry to Hydra. We got in about 11:30 and checked into a perfectly nice B&B about 30m from the port. We ate gyros, climbed around the island (which is very cool, no cars are allowed on the island so donkeys do most of the transporting), ate really good dinner and dessert (I ate a lot in Greece-- the food is so good!), sat in a restaurant until 11 watching a Schwarzennegger movie on TV, went to slepp, got up, ate more, went shopping, got on the ferry and went back to Athens. We got in about 5:30.

Yesterday, we went to the Temple of Poseidon, out on Cape Sounion. There's not much there, but the bus ride out there is very nice. The temple sits on a very small cape, so the ocean really is almost on four sides. There's a cafeteria/restaurant (surprise! more food), a place where you pay, and a bus stop.

Today we are going to the Acropolis and then I fly to Budapest at 4:30 and T-- goes back to London and to the States tomorrow morning. So I'm on my own for a day and a half.

I love everest with the pastry pies with feta cheese and ham, Greek salads that include the best olive oil in the world and a block of feta cheese for 2.50, random not-quite-stray dogs that follow me around because they sense I miss my dog. I don't love Athens' dirty streets, the weather, and people who solicit us for family restaurants really cheap just around the corner.

And now I have to go.

Travelling:

I'm off to Greece tomorrow morning (Athens first, then probably Hydra or Aegina). Thursday, I leave Athens for Budapest. Saturday morning, I will take a train from Budapest for Vienna, where I will be until Tuesday. I'll be in Prague Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday and will fly back to London Thursday morning. I'll be in London 24 hours and then back to Atlanta on Friday.

So not much blogging for the next two weeks. I think I'll have a lot to say when I get back.