unhandledexception.net

Today, Saturday, I decided to relax a little bit at my aunt’s place. This first week I had done a lot and come yesterday, I was really tired. I spent the last three days visiting Athens.

Wednesday, I went with my aunt to the National Gardens (Ethnikous Kipous), situated southeast of the parliament (Vouli). It’s a very serene area in the middle of the city where you will find trees, bennches, a shallow lake with lots of ducks, a small farm with goat, chicken, etc. a cafe, etc. Who said Athens does not have many trees? We then took a walk up to the Athens concert hall (Megaro Mousikis) and went back home by taking the metro and the bus hack to Hellinikon.

Thursday morning, back in Athens, I went to visit the temple of the Olympian Zeus, which a few columns are still standing. Then continued west on Vassilissas Olgas (Queen Olga) Boulevard to see the Kalimarmaro stadium, where the 2004 olympic marathon ended. The blue line, as well as the “Athens 2004″ inscriptions are still visible on the street right in front of the stadium. Then, I went to the Benaki Museum (a must see), passing by Zappion, and cutting through the National Gardens. Admission was free, probably because it was a Thursday, but it’s normally 6 euros. I then stopped by the Parliament, and Syntagma Square, before taking the bus up to Omonia Square and back to Helliniko, because I forgot buses that go outbound stop below Syntagma Square.

Friday morning, I waited a 1/2 hour for a bus that would never come. I asked, and turns out that that bus has a different route on fridays, so I had to walk 1/4 km to the other bus stop. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I arrived in Athens, visited the Cycladic Art Museum, and the National Art Gallery, featuring Lucas Samaras’ art, which is definately worth seeing. After, I walked up to the Byzantine and War museums, but they close at 3 and 2 p.m. respectively, so I have to postpone these to another day. I came home using the Tram, which is heavily criticized in Greece because it’s very slow, along with the PASOK political party for building it. Now, I underestimated the walking distance to my aunt’s place from the tram stop, resulting in a 25 minute walk on a pretty messed up sidewalk on Alimou street.

Tomorrow sunday, I am thinking of going with my aunt to the sea. They find it cold over here, but I do think it’s warm enough for a swim. I guess they don’t know much about canadian winters Monday I might climb up the Acropolis, and Tuesday go out with some great friends I made over here. This leaves me with the rest of the week to complete my museum visit in Athens, though I might go back to Plaka to buy some gifts and souvenirs. I’ll be spending the next weekend at my dad’s village, where my grandparents were burried. The third week I plan on visiting some islands, and the fourth and final week, my aunt is off, so we have a plan to visit northern Greece.

So, today was the day I was waiting for with great anticipation all this time. It’s Christian Orthodox Easter, The First of May, which europeans, and many nations celebrate their Labor Day. But for me, it’s the day I am flying to Greece.

The day starts like a normal spring day in Montreal, that means, chilly and rainy of course. So, I wake up, turn off my laptop, and start hauling the suitcases near the front door, under the watchful, terrified eyes of my dog (he knows what suitcases near the door mean). I spent the morning celebrating Easter with my godfather and my family of course, in Kirkland. It was actually great, it’s only 1/2 hour drive to the airport, but, most importantly, it makes good-bye’s quite a bit more drammatic. So my dad took me to the airport, got a machine to spit out my boarding passes with his Aeroplan card (what magic!), and then I was left to my own devices.
Air Canada, Two Thumbs Up!

Being Canadian, I have heard countless stories about Air Canada, mainly complaints about the food, the service, and the fairness of their Aeroplan rewards program. The airline recently went in and out of bankruptcy protection, and several corporate restructures since 9/11, and it shows. I was very pleased with the service on my flight to Frankfurt.

The plane
The aircraft was an Airbus A330. I was very pleased with the cleanliness of the cabin, the seats were nice and clean, there were no stains on the fluorescent light covers, and the overhead plastics were spotless. Legroom was very sufficient in economy (and I am a big guy).
The food
For dinner, they served us a dish of chicken, mash potatoes and veggies. It was excellent, the chicken tasted great with the sauce they gave us. And I wasn’t THAT hungry, I had downed a Greek Easter feast a couple of hours before.
The service
I really appreciated having a glass of water served every hour. Experts say that it is important to keep hydrated in a plane, because the humidity level is real low, and I am glad to see airline companies care about these things. On the other hand, I had to use the call button once, because someone stole my pillow that had just fallen down. It took awhile beofre someone came, but I got a first class pillow, so I won’t complain too much
Entertainment
Well the entertainment just plain sucked. Well you can’t have it all. The plane had these fold-down LCD screens, which were hard to read from where I was sitting, because they are too far apart. Occasional VHS artefacts haunted the picture once in awhile. The programming also suched. Two comedies, what more do I need to say? (well okay, I am definately biased towards gun movies) And what is up with the censorship? We are all adults here, no? One good thing, I was impressed with their radio, they do have pretty good programming up there. The techno channel, 9, had somre pretty good tunes. But, all this wore off, because the quality wasn’t too great, the music was lacking bass, bigtime. Oh and here’s a tip, bring soundproof headphones, with a plane adapter. They do a good job at filtering cabin noise.

Frankfurt Airport, WTF?

Arriving in Frankfurt, I heard more German that I ever bargained for. Not that I don’t like it, quite the contrary, I think it’s sexy. I mean, who can resist a blonde Gal talking to you in German! I do plan to visit Germany someday, and ride it’s sacred Autobahn at 200 km/h. Anyway, so yeah, this airport is by far the weirdest I have seen so far. So I get off the plane, and zoom, passes a vehicule whisking disabled passengers across the terminal. what does it do when it encounters people? Ding Dong! LOL So anyway, I head to passport control, and then to the gate for my Lufthansa flight to Athens (Athen, in Getman). The airport is very well indicated, and it is was childsplay to find my gate. Getting there was rather amusing, to say the least: Following the signs to the A gates from the B gates passport control, leads to a dead-end with two elevators, and s staircase, I take the stairs, because I am too lazy to wait for the elevator. Then, There’s this really long hallway, with equally long travolators. Now this is by far, the most entertaining corridor I have ever seen! Indirect lighting fades into several different colors, and sounds of nature seem to come out of nowhere. I’d have sworn I was in a star trek movie! This is a MUST SEE.

… interrupted… looks like wer’re now getting ready to land in GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECE!!!
Athens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport

Arriving at the new Athens Airport, I was impressed with everything, and the directions written in Greek (and English of course) made me feel right at home. My check-in baggages were amongst the first to arrive, so I made it out of there pretty quick. I then proceeded to the exit where I was greeted and ushered out of the airport by my aunt.