Chasing Ideals

No contact with Polak, soggy tents and selves, hour getting late. We decided that making the inside of the van our bed was our best option. Athens is infamous for some horrendous traffic and so entering the city in daytime seemed less preferable to night entry. We wandered around the city upon arrival in an attempt to locate the vicinity of the Polish contact's neighborhood. This city brought my first experience of having someone offer directions for just a short distance and telling you that at that point to ask again. The person might say for instance go straight on this street and at such and such spot stop again. Seemed strange until one attempted just the short term directions and found oneself in a maze of streets. Makes we wish we had convinced someone to hop in and lead the way. After asking 10 odd people and making the short ventures we were confident of having reached the area. We ended up on a quiet residential street parked in front of a school.

Chaps of my size are definitely not meant for the van sleeps. I was contorted in ways that few men could be without seriously damaging something. I awoke after what seemed a few short hours to the sight of old ladies staring at me in horror as they walked their young ones to the school. Some of their horror subsided when they saw our young ones sleeping peacefully in the back thankfully. I guess the sight of burly lads contorted in God awful ways is not reassuring when the location is the local primary. If it wasn't for our young ones I'm sure the police would have been on us like southerners on a plate of golden fried. Once school began the lot of us emerged from our lair and began preparing our breakfast. The locals were certainly curious of all of these strangeties but we paid no note as we gobbled our muesli and drank our tea. Success was reached after breakfast when we made contact with our Polish friend and organized to meet them later in the day.

After a few hours of wandering Piraeus it was time to find our friends. This gargantuan effort was one I will not forgot. Our contact could only have believed that we had the finest GPS on board for the finding. I think that in 2 hours of searching at least twenty-five people were summoned to help and all of the initials reassured us by saying that the "place is very difficult to find." They weren't blowing smoke from the hind quarters that is for sure. We navigated so many narrow streets and one of them was impassable in our van. Our main point of direction was that the location was behind an area prison. Stripping the britches from the backside of some boy in blue probably would have gotten us there far quicker and if we ever have need to return that may be necessary. Upon arrival we were greeted with warm smiles but I must admit that in moments of indiscretion I was ready to provide the compulsory headbutt to our host as I had been the driver in this effort. Such thoughts quickly vanished however and we were treated to a night of conversation and good food. In the late evening a friend of our hosts from their church arrived and we were told that we could make their church building our home for the evening. She also offered to take care of our laundry that had accumulated since the days of getting soiled. The traveler should never miss opportunities to gain contacts. Camping especially is weary life and to be treated to the home environment for any time at all is a gift. By nights end we were not only set up in the church building which had all the necessaries but were told that it was ours for as long as needed. I should mention that the majority of the night's proceedings conversation wise came to me second hand as almost all was spoken in Polish. I sat with my typical look of confusion that can only be compared to a high school graduate from the U.S. trying to write his/her name.

Today, Thursday, marks four nights and three days spent in this city. The friend of our host showed us around Athens on Tuesday with her grown daughters. Our church building home here turned out to be the perfect local for exploration as city center and historical center are only short jaunts in either direc. Yesterday we spent the afternoon wandering about the hill where the Acropolis stands and the surrounding area. From the pictures that are now up you can get some idea of the scale of these buildings and this place. It would have been a grand experience to waltz up to the top of the hill each morning and be surrounded by the enormous marble structures and the surrounding city. The construction was so well planned that two thousand years later my companions and I can stand beneath them in awe of the craftsmanship. Even the air was much fresher atop the hill in comparison to the smoggy city surrounding it. Makes me sad to realize that such thought went into the building of these temples but that they were built for the worship of gods that simply suited man's passions and desires. Markings of worship to the only one deserving were sorely lacking in this place.

The greatest joy in my experience was having so many to share it with. There is nothing like being able someday to say to someone "remember when" and having that person with their unique perspective relive the time with you. Really things as this must be shared because there are places I have seen that to tell of them all others could only try to imagine what it was like but could not experience it in memory as I might. Oh the joy of relationship that makes the experience of this world so dynamic! Take a look at the new pictures when time allows.