Celebrating Greek Style

We were up early to get to the institutes that began bright and early at 8:30 AM. I went to Georgia Heard's class on Enhancing Reading Comprehension Through Poetry - and she is the master. Julie joined me for the afternoon session because it was so good. By 1:00 we were free to roan the city. We joined the Camponeschi's to try to use up the remaining parts of our Acropolis tickets that allowed us to see several other sites. Ancient Agora was closed (again) but we enjoyed trolling the Monastiraki flea market, the original Olympic Stadium and Hadrian's Gate, the National Garden. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to clean up for a good dinner to celebrate Julie's birthday. Before dinner we went to an intimate gathering for a fantastic concert of piano and violin featuring pieces by Fritz Kriesler, Mozart and Prokofiev. The musicians were from Austria and very good. After a culture-starved 6 months in KSA, this was heaven. Drinks before dinner (tsipouro) at Strofi's Taverna, wine with dinner, and drinks after dinner (mastika) - so we rolled on back to our hotel - only after enjoying the night view of the Acropolis from the rooftop restaurant. Magical.

Comments

My COVID journey, finally

11oct22 story of Covid: I flew to Des Moines for a mini-reunion of Thomas cousins; flew back on Monday the 3rd. I did not wear a mask. Evidently I should have worn a mask, as I later came down with Covid. The infection could come from anywhere, typically airborne virus shed by someone in the communicable phase of the disease. Throughout my airport and flight experience was quite calm and uneventful, so my guess is the most likely vector for the virus was the deplaning time – people are really eager to get out, they are talking, pressing close together, straining to grab bags from the overhead compartment and coordinate with their partners, thus breathing heavily. Very few people wore a mask. I do not remember anyone coughing or sniffling or breathing heavily around me, but that deplaning process is always rather hectic. I did not press to go quickly, but I did not want to delay my windowside seatmate, so I joined the crowd. As it was, when I arrived at baggage claim, my suit

Montpellier

[23mar22] Another walking day: to the A rc de Triomphe , passing through quaint quiet attractive old neighborhoods, particularly the P lace de Marché des Fleurs. Arc de Triomphe is spectacular, next to an equally impressive Palais de Justice , and the Promenade de Peyrou that has a great view of the surrounding hills and the aqueduct built by Peyrou to supply the city's fountains. The Jardin des Plantes – oldest botanical garden in Europe – opens at noon, so we walk around to the Cathedral St.Etienne, with its obscure side entrance, but huge interior space, really huge and rather stark, in keeping with its 13 th century origin – though of course several later kings and bishops added chapels, stained-glass, and organ. While there, the organ started up, providing appropriate sonic accompaniment to the surroundings (ref. My video). We return to the garden to await its opening, chatting with some Chicago tourists (go Bears!). The garden is very nice place for sauntering, and

Riding the Bus often

From 201010 Saudi scenes It is ironic that this land of cheap gasoline has so much group transport -- buses. From 201010 Saudi scenes Our housing compound has a Toyota-Coaster bus that takes some to/from school (we usually go earlier and return later, on a similar bus that the school provides). Driver Yahya takes residents on the 90-minute trip down to the Big City shopping every Thursday morning. The above picture shows our group one Thursday, usually going to Ikea or the new Lulu's Hypermarket , or the Dhahran Mall. Coleman rides a different bus every day to and from school -- usually 100 minutes there, 80 minutes back. His bus is evidently an old tourist bus, usually comfortable but a bit dusty. The air-conditioning usually works too well. I've ridden it with him several times, to attend business meetings at the district office. From 201010 Saudi scenes There he is, at 5:45am every morning, at the start of the bus run. Fortunately only about 20 students

Thomas journals

Search This Blog