Whoa !

It's been 15 days... and i've forgotten what i've done in this time !

Allow me to recall, and i'll be back soon...

Greece !!

Well well well.... this entry has taken a long time to be posted. I came back from Greece on 6th, and today is the 15th. My apologies. I just haven't been free from work and fun. I ran away out of town again last weekend, much to the astonishment of my dear mother who has been shouting her lungs out that i need to get some rest.

So, Murali and I took a flight from Lyon to Athens, via Milan, on 30th April. The flight from Lyon to Milan was the smallest damn plane i've been in (not that i've been in many). This one was a 2 engine turbo prop, i dunno how it got into the air. The flight lasted only 50 minutes, but it was the best view ever as we flew over the French and Italian Alps, still covered with snow ! At Milan, i had the worst pizza ever possible, in a restaurant worst than a railway canteen in Jhumritalaiya... to top it off, i was expected to eat a crust harder than steel, with a plastic fork and knife !

We landed in Athens that evening, and crashed after a nice Greek meal. Fried Shrimps !

May 1st turned out to be a big holiday in Athens, and Greece is a 'slightly' communist country. We found ourselves in the midst of red-flag marches, disfunctional metro trains and closed museums and monuments. We strolled around Athens on foot, making the most of what we could. We settled in the Plaka for lunch, which included a Greek salad, Moussaka and a filling Baklava... burp !

The highlight of the trip, however, was the next morning, when we took a ferry over the Aegean Sea to Santorini, one of Greece's beautiful islands. This one is a sunken volcano, and is simply breathtaking ! We got there that afternoon, and immediately headed out to a village called Oia, to witness a brilliant sunset...

More Greek food... squid, saganaki cheese !
A word about Saganaki cheese... if you haven't tasted it, do so !!
Your life cannot possibly be complete without it !

Next morning, another trip by boat, this time to the Volcano spewing sulphur fumes, and to the hot springs... nice to take a dip here, except you come out covered in mud laden with sulphur.

We spent another day at Santorini, chilling out, beaches, food and drink...

We got back to Athens quite late on 4th night, and 5th was reserved for visiting Athens. We even went to the 2004 Olympic Games Village. Awesome place !
Got back to Grenoble on 6th evening, tired but happy. Unfortunately, we had to work on 7th :-(

A few notes about Greece.

Food : Wow !
Everything includes olive oil.

Greeks in general : Quite curious to know who you are and where you are from. Most people want to know what you do, and where you are coming from. In 1 week, i think i explained on 10 different occasions that i'm Indian, but live in France ! In some places, people did not expect "brown skin boy" to speak English !!

Greek women : Well well well.... some of them have that divine Aphrodite look... but on a general note : greek women have big noses !

Greek Language : holy crap !
I was under the impression that alpha, beta and theta and gamma and kappa and ohm were all only for physics equations. You go to Greece, you find out thats a real language ! You read any line of Greek, it's the world's biggest physics equation.

Athens : Bangalore !
You go near the port area, its like walking in Majestic. Only difference, the bus ticket counters are replaced by ferry ticket counters.
Greeks (atleast in Athens) drive like Indians. Traffic light... what's that?
I think i'm too used to living in Grenoble now. On my first day in Athens, i almost got run down by a car that wouldn't stop for a pedestrian !

Tourists : Some of them need to shut the hell up ! Why do you feel so obliged to talk all the time?
(some of them = Bush's comrades)

photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/swaroopsrinath/sets/72157600187741149/