Donna 's blog about Greece, 2010: 11 March 2010 (Thursday #2)

Where Conrad and Donna venture out of their hotel on the National Strike Day

Yes, I was rather leery about spending the day walking around in the middle of a strike and riot, with people tossing firebombs and packing pistols and whatever else Ronnie and Marilyn said was going to happen today. But, no, I did not intentionally lock myself in the restroom to avoid leaving the hotel.

About the restroom incident . . . As I’ve mentioned, it was mine and Conrad’s habit to start each day in Athens with a gut-busting buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant, followed by a trip to these toilets on the hotel’s main floor:

Each (and every) day I misread the symbols next to the doors of the men’s and women’s restrooms, and proceeded right into the men’s part, from which Conrad would have to retrieve me and point me in the correct direction.

Don’t you think the symbol on the wall to the right could be a woman in pants?

I know this is an international symbol, but somehow it just didn’t look the same as ours in the States (even though it was identical).

So, the one day I go to the correct restroom all by myself, I encountered a new problem—a stall door that would not open. And I was on the inside . . . trying desperately to get out . . . for 20 long minutes.

For the record, in case any of you ladies are going to Athens and will be staying at the Davini or Divani Something hotel, this is the stall you want to avoid:

Oh my goodness! It looks like someone was trapped in there when I took the photo! If I’d been more observant at the time, I could have gotten a screwdriver and pried the door off the hinges to free that poor lady!

Love the clothed Greek statues, like this one outside the restrooms:

At last, with breakfast and the restrooms behind us, Conrad and I ventured out into the city. We saw this right off the bat:

This seems to be the symbol of striking. Usually it’s done with red paint, though. In fact, we later learned that red paint is the weapon of choice of strikers, not the bombs and guns about which we had been warned.

Conrad and I set off for a walk to The Hill of the Muses. He assured me it was far away from the main gathering area of the strikers, and he promised me an ice cream cone if I would go.

Love the crazy Athens parking:

Conrad walking along a crowded street and looking up:

A closer look at a sidewalk in Athens (with Conrad’s toes to the left):

Man, these things were hard to walk on (especially when one is wearing a leg brace). The sidewalks in Athens are a mixture of marble, stone, tile, cement, and any other hard surface they can find to throw in the path of pedestrians. The center (part with long ridges) of this sidewalk was marble. Marble is hard enough to walk on when it's dry, but it's nearly impossible when it's wet because it gets so slippery.

A local dive shop:

Apparently scuba diving is big all over

Greece

Random street scene:

Before crossing a street, Conrad looks both ways (actually about five ways, since at any corner traffic may come from at least that many directions):

Conrad bravely crossing the street:

Crossing a street requires bravery, because sometimes what looks like a parked car is a moving car.

The two photos above were common sights for me (i.e., seeing Conrad far ahead of me). Conrad tended to spot an opening in traffic and jet across the street, leaving me hobbling behind him. That’s okay. At least he always knew where he was going, and we never got lost. And I always caught up with him eventually. And I never got hit by a car.