Thursday, 13 October

Began the day with another trip to the laundromat. Maybe I’ve mentioned that the only time having no clothes dryer gets to be a MAJOR inconvenience is when you have to catch up on eight day’s worth of laundry (including sheets and towels) in three days. It’s especially problematic when at least one of those days turns out to be cloudy and drizzly. So, I occasionally have to catch up the expensive way. This time, though, I got away with only spending €6. Cool.

So today we’re back on the road again—this time, to Greece. Getting there from Florence involves taking the little bus to the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence, then taking the Eurostar (the fast train) to the central station in Rome, then to a local train to the airport, and then finally, a flight on Aegean Airlines to Athens. We’ve are also headed for Athens, and as it turns out we’re on the same flights and even ended up sitting next to one another on the train. Considering that we booked our trips with different travel agents, that’s just plain weird. Go figure.

But we had fun getting there—Judith and Harry had to talk shop (ha ha), while Amy, Ruth, and I poked fun at them for having to work. We also enjoyed the scenery—this train goes through some really pretty countryside. One thing that struck me as odd, though, is that there is a substantial difference in pressure when the train passes through a tunnel—it’s enough that I have to equalize my ears on the way through. Amy is a scientist and I should have asked her about it, but I forgot to for some reason. I’ll have to remember when we catch up with them again.

After arriving in Athens, we hailed a cab at the airport (it was nearly 11:00 pm, and nobody felt like trying to navigate on our own through the subways). The cabdriver was very friendly, filling us in a little bit about the Greek sentiment toward Americans (generally, they like Americans but aren’t as fond of our current Administration… where have I heard *that* before?) as we went along. We spotted some police in riot gear as we got into the city, and the driver explained that there is a bit of an anarchist movement here in Athens, and they sometimes express their displeasure with the establishment by attacking police stations. Ouch. Glad we’re not staying in one.

Finally, though, we arrived at our hotel and checked in. Another set of twin beds, but this time the room was VERY comfortable, and has an AWESOME bathroom. Marble tile, great shower… it’s nicer than our bathroom at home. I could live in there.

Bed beckons. G’night!

-Leanne