Metropolitan Thessaloniki

... years ago.<br><br>Thessaloniki extends along the Aegean Sea. We walked up and down the board walk a few times looking out at the barges in the distance and the few small Greek fishing boats nearer the shore. Across from the boardwalk are all the really trendy cafes where only the young, snobby-looking fashionistas hang out with their $7.00 cappuccinos while listening to blaring American pop or Eurotrash techno music.<br><br>A really ...

... br><br>Bin um kurz nach 20:00 gelandet, und um 23:50 dann mit dem Nachtzug weiter nach Sofia. 18,50Euro fuer die Strecke, habe aber noch fuer 10 Euro auf den Schlafwagen upgegraded, da der eine Waggon ziemlich voll war (und ich ausserdem doch recht muede war).<br><br>Gruss<br>Ralf<br>

... galleries. Here we went to an art gallery whos exhibits which ranged from several hundred beer cans arranged in a spiral to a musical video about communism. Top fun!<br><br>We also went in to a photography gallery and a museum of cinema which was quite cool. A pretty awesome 3D film at the end as well!<br><br>This passed most of the time we needed to kill and we filled the rest with wondering the streets looking around.<br>

... t so we got on another train. This time we were told that the train was not going to Athens and then we'd have to get off and get on a different train. &gt;_&lt; Finally we were on the train we needed to be on having again checked if we needed to reserve and the conductor again informed us that we didn't have tickets so would have to get off. He then phoned the station and shouted at somebody in Greek and then everything seemed to be fine. Thus we arrived in Athens...<br>

... except some nerves. It hurts to sit. But, of course, I could not explain this. I sat.<br><br>The man, Mr. Z., was such a people person that on every bus or taxi ride he would engage in a conversation with someone near by. This is most unusual, even in Turkey.<br><br>There was also an unfinished task from the previous summer. I had left town forgetting to close out my natural gas account. I needed to appear at the gas company to formally sign the account closed. Fortunately ...

... I strongly suspected he was waiting for an ideal moment to scream "Whens your'a Dolmio day?" at me. Fortunately he resisted the urge and they swept down the train to irritate a few more Macedonians. Eventually the train got moving again and I set my watch forward an hour. For the first time since Hungary I was back in the European Union- that of course meant higher places. Unfortunate. The landscape of Greek Macedonia was incredibly flat ...

... it tasted much better than it sounds. He prepared sticky rice with bits of egg (like fried rice), sautéed red, orange, and yellow bell pepper, marinated chicken in a sweet and sour sauce and then combined in all in a lettuce wrap. It was absolutely amazing! I made dinner tonight, but mine was spaghetti topped with a mound of cheese and frozen Mediterranean potatoes. We are obviously on different skill levels. We did wrap up tonight's dinner with an adventure in baking ...

... finish the previous day's homework, which took me three hours to get going the night before. When it was my turn to answer one of the questions from the homework assignment, I once again stumbled over every other word and took me 10 minutes to spit out an awkward response. I think the rest of the class just thinks I'm a charity case and you can tell they try to overlook my inabilities. My homework tonight is to respond to one of three questions she wrote ...

... the drive along the coast. We headed to Tripoli to see the temple of Athena; it was something not worth driving to as the ruins were in the middle of a small town and more like a few rocks on the ground. <br><br><br>The new navigator, Curtis, took us on an interesting little road to get to Nauplio. He wasn't about to use the map, haha. Nauplio is a nice coastal city buzzing with tourists heading towards the beach there. Our hotel was shortly down the road in a place called Iria. We ...

... close"). And alas, there were no change offices to be found. I couldn't go to any museums, since I couldn't afford the 1 Euro entrance fees, so I decided to cut my losses and see all the free sights. But, I didn't know where to go. Luckily, I tripped across a tourist office and got a good map. The lady at the counter pointed me the way to Ataturk's house, so I went in search of it. The entrance to Mustapha Kemal Ataturk's house, which is now a museum, is ...