The end of the road - Part 1 (Athens)

The hi-lite of the entire trip was of course Melinda and Glen achieving their objectives for their races. For us it was a special thrill to be able to get out at various spots along the course to greet her waving the flag and encouraging her (and several other Canadians) on. In spite of her injured foot, we knew that Glen's joining her at Km 34 meant that there was no way that she would be denied.

And here she was crossing the finishing line ...

... and then doing her best Rafael Nadal impersonation.

The following is some random memories  and thoughts of our 2 weeks in Greece.

- I was upset when I picked up my checked bag only to find that in order to cut off my lock, someone cut thru the zipper's loops meaning I'll never be able to lock it again. Pauline's lock was cut off as well. Air France's website states that it's ok to lock your bag. My complaint to AF has fallen on deaf ears - security can do what they want if your bag is suspicious to them.

- we found Greeks to be very friendly. Not necessarily in terms of initiating contact themselves but in being very receptive and patient when asked for help, even when English was not easy for them. 

- we appreciated restaurant touts inviting us to look at their menus and then not badgering us afterwards. Similarly in stores, no pressure to buy and while ready to help, no hovering suspecting that you were going to steal something. As a general rule there seemed to be no tendency for shopowners to bargain

- prior to the race, we must have entered several dozen stores looking for a Grecian urn with runners as the prime motif which I thought would make the perfect memento for our runners. I was just about to give up and settle for warriors, gods or something similar when one merchant  advised me not to give up ... he assured me I'd find one somewhere in Athens. He was right.

- we never tired of the popular gyros in Athens as well as the souvlaki and delicious moussaka. One particularly memorable new culinary dish was 'bekri meze' (pork in a spicy tomato-ey saucy). The only disappointment regarding food (very common throughout Europe in our experience) was the serving of French fries as an accompaniment to most dishes.

- we are so lucky that so much of Europe understands English, Greece included. The Greek language is not easy.

- free public wi-fi in Athens' Syntagma Square is a wonderful initiative

- while being shortchanged and overcharged was a common occurance and a constant concern in another Mediterranean major tourist destination, it never happened to us here