Athens

We spent the morning yesterday (Oct 1) in Athens, doing the obligatory visit to the Acropolis. For this experience we chose to pay for a tour, it just made navigating our way in an up easier. Like at the Vatican, tourists (like us) define the experience almost as much as the site and the historical significance, I'm finding a definitive difference between holidaying and sightseeing. Holidaying is what you do up the Coromandel with a group of friends for a week in summer. Visiting the Parthenon was a necessary experience, but it was definitely not 'holidaying.' 

Though relaxing on the boat is. Four days in we have discovered that a gift card left for us actually entitles us to 15 free drinks a day! This means that margaritas and mojitos are back on the menu... We can also take in espressos now as opposed to the pretty crummy regular coffee, and Ma can order her glass of wine with dinner without paying the earth.

We left Athens yesterday evening cloaked in a magnificent sunset. The city, which feels very tired under its mantle of economic disarray, took on a dreamy hue, and an exiting sailboat provided a perfect subject to set my focus on as I sipped my cocktail and watched the sun disappear.