We go hiking....again

Today was the day that we had signed up for a tour of the Acropolis, the Acropolis museum, and a whole bunch of other stuff that we hadn't already done the day before. You may remember that Concetta and I climbed the Acropolis and saw the nearby museum yesterday. Even though we knew we'd be doing it again today, we figured that you can't possible see it all in one day. Plus today we we're going to have a guide who came complete with a sound system for each of us so we could tune into a running narrative on what she was describing. The crowds were bigger today for some reason, but it was worth the second attempt to get our guide's input. These new sound systems they have for tours are really great. You can stand thirty feet away and still hear what the guide is saying. Very cool. In the afternoon the group was treated to a visit to the National Archaeology Museum where we got to see a great many of the artifacts that Heinrich Schliemann looted from Greece and Turkey in the late 1800s. Schliemann was the man who first dug at the site of Troy, which is one of the stops on our upcoming voyage. The boat leaves Pireaus, Greece, tonight between 10:00 p.m. and midnight (I don't plan on being awake to see it happen) and tomorrow we're going to be visiting Mycenae located about 90 kilometers southwest of Athens. In the second millennium BC Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae. I've been trying to add to my Greek vocabulary. Today I learned that katalaveno means "I understand," a handy word sometimes when dealing with non-english speakers. Hopefully you actually DO understand. I also learned how to say excuse me, which is signome with the emphasis on the "no" part. Only problem is most of the crew on the ship are from the Phillipeans and don't speak a word of Greek. So you only get to practice on the shop keepers and restaurant people out in the community. The weirdest thing is the written Greek language. If you want the "p" sound you use a figure that looks like an upside down "U." If you want an "r" sound, you use a p. Upside down "y"s have an "L" sound and an "s" uses a figure that looks like a backward "3." I figure it may take me awhile to get the concept. Concetta and I enjoyed a great dinner on the fantail of the boat tonight, the scene bathed in the glow of the lights of passing ships. I told her that John Riise and I had sat very near that same spot back in 1973 and drank ouzo with a couple of chaps name Amed and Mohammed when we were just youngsters. Seems a world away now, but no less real. The summer breeze on the fantail was intoxicating, just as it was all those years ago. So, for now I wish you 'καλή νύχτα', good night. It's pronounced cahlee-neet-ah.