I slept in a little on day 11. When I awoke, Nora's parents had left for the airport, pasteries were present on the table, and Casey was feeling worse (just sore throat now). Nora and I took our time getting ready, and we left Casey at home as we took off to start the day's adventures.
Bus Ride
We got on the hop-on hop-off bus to go to the National Archaeological Museum. The bus makes a small loop along the route where stops #6 and #9 are the same stop spaced 12-minutes apart. Since we had already ridden the whole loop on the bus the previous day, we decided to hop off at stop #6 for a few minutes to explore, and then get back onto the same bus. We disembarked at the top of the hour, so we were able to see the changing on the guard in front of the Greek Parliament building. So weird! I have no idea why this exists.
We walked back to the bus stop as a bus was coming around. I was pretty sure it was our same bus, now at stop #9, but I stopped to double check w/ the bus employee who sells tickets at the stop 6/9. He assured me that this bus was stopping for stop #6 and would be making the loop. He told me I could hop on the bus now, or wait 10 minutes for the same bus to arrive at stop #9 before hopping on to get to our stop (stop #11). This seemed odd because the busses cycle every 30 minutes, so the next bus shouldn't arrive for 15-20 more minutes. But he seemed very confident, so Nora and I decided to explore 10 more minutes. There was a garden right there, so why not.
We show up back at the bus stop, wait a few extra minutes, and then hop-on. The guy said that it was now stop #9. Guess what the bus driver does? He turns to make the loop and announces that the next stop is #7. Can you believe it?!? We semi-wasted 25 minutes of our time, plus 5 more to tell you about this travesty of a tragedy! By then, it had started to rain. The 2nd deck fortunately had a tarp-like roof over it so we didn't get wet... well most of us anyways. When the bus approached an intersection and applied the breaks, we heard this kid scream! We looked and saw that all of the water collected on the roof was pouring down on the kid in the front, right corner seat of the bus. Hilarious! He got seriously wet.
Scolding Pots
We arrive at the museum, and I asked if the museum took VISA. Of course not; this is Greece. Ticket lady looked annoyingly at us, but we paid in cash, no problem. We enter the first room of the museum (~10 feet away), and the guard stops us: "No bags". "But there's nothing in it" asserts the Nora. "No bags allowed; You must pay to check it there" (points ~10 feet away opposite the ticket counter). Fine, done. We walk back to the exhibit entrance, and the first thing in the room is this awesome, huge, 4+ foot tall vase. I was above to snap a photo, when I realized the size/scale might not come across well in my shot. So I asked Nora to stand next to it for sizing reference. Right as I am about to take my picture... "STOOOOP". Nora and I look around. There are tons of other guests, but none of whom seem to be doing anything inappropriate... just looking and taking pictures of artifacts. The guard waits a few seconds so it can be more confusing, and then walks back up to us. "DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN". "No photos?" I asked, confused because all the signs just say no flash photography and who uses an iphone flash anyways? "No posing! Delete that photo right now!" I never snapped the picture, so I had to show him my phone that there was no picture of Nora and a vase in there. Then he let us go. All of this from buying tickets to getting my phone searched happened over less than 2 minutes and withing a 20 foot range. I thought we were going to get kicked out in the shortest trip to the museum ever :D I've never heard of not being allowed to stand next to something of which you are taking a picture. Anyone know if this is something unique to museums/Greece/Europe? I'm still not sure why what we did was so offensive to this dude.
4' tall vace (without Nora)
The first section was full of countless statues, dating from ~2000 BC up to ~300 AD.
Looks like it is straight out of Disney's Hercules
Zues/Poseidon
This Bronze piece was recovered from a shipwreck, and it is unknown whether this statue is missing a lightning bolt or a trident. It is an important piece because it captures all of the important elements from early Greek statues. It depicts "objects in motion" and flawless geometrical design. The tip of bath hands and both feet are arranged such that you could make a perfect circle around the statue. Or so the paper next to this piece claims :)
Siren
This one REALLY creeps me out. I'm so glad I got a shot of it. Her disproportionate chicken legs are so weird. I forget what was in her hands, but does it really matter. @#$%
First piece we saw with sharp edges/points in the artistic design
Statue of a pet dog for a burial site
I think I miss Cali
Huzzah!
Whoa Boy!
Our guide book made a horrible joke that this guy was either giving an apple to the winner of a competition, or throwing a split seam fastball. Clearly that is a circle change. Get in the game!
Awesome dude
First statue with non-stone eyes. A composite eye and black glass pupils.
Theater Mask
Heyo! At first I just thought it was a crazy, ugly dude.
Aphrodite, Pan & Eros
Emperor Augustus
Kid Riding Horse
Soccer!
Helmet / Spear head
Helmets / Spear heads
Toys - Humans
Toys - Animals
Decree of Olympic Victor
12th Century Paining
Helmet
Golden Berry Halo
Pot
Pot
Pots
Pot
Pot
Pots
Swastika - Symbol of light
Pots
Newer Pots (now w/ flowers)
Guacamole?
They don't have guacamole in Greece!
Also, looks like, resembles: ear
Gold cups / pots
Weapony things
Creepy Burial Mask
Bus Ride 2
We arrive at the bus stop waiting for the ride home. It was adjacent a coffee shop with 2 euro pre-made sandwiches. We decide we wanted one since we haven't eaten all day and its a ~1 hr ride home. After we grab a Sprite from the fridge and are trying to get the attention of the shop owner, our bus pulls up... we throw the food back in the fridge and hop on the bus. Looking at the map, it appears if we got off in 2 stops, we could walk 1km and shave off 40 minutes of bus time. Where walking happens, adventures happen.
Live Music
Crazy Hair Drummer
Penis Bottle Opener Anyone?
Nora at some ruins
Sparse Ruins
An arch
Library Ruins
Heart Tiles
Just like the hearts on the newer vases at the museum
Rock Wall
Turtle of Love
Selfie at some other ruins thing w/ Acropolis above
The downside of this 1km adventure is that right after these sites was steep, steep incline, followed by stairs. When you are tired and hungry and thirsty, it is not the most welcomed realization. But the view from the top of the climb was nice!
Another upside - we still beat the bus back by 2 minutes! We met up with Casey at the apartment, re-hydrated, got the shopping list, took the bus out, failed to find every recommended eatery on the list (i.e. found the address and restaurant wasn't there), successfully improvised to acquire our items, and trekked 1.5km back home to eat. 2.30 euro gyros... pretty good.
Sick 2
About an hour or 2 after a dinner of gyros & Greek salad, Nora knocks on the bedroom door to ask if a searing pain the side was one of the troubled Casey's many symptoms (perhaps thinking she got whatever Casey got). Nope. After a bit of diarrhea, vomiting, and excruciating pain in her lower right abdomen, Nora requests a trip to the hospital. Fortunately, our AirBnB hosts had left us a cell phone with 5 euros worth of minutes on the phone, along w/ their number. We call them up, and while they couldn't drive us to the hospital personally (couldn't find baby sitter), they call us a cab who can speak English and prep him with the address of the Hospital. They recommend a particular private hospital for ER visits because the public hospitals often have very long wait times. They also give us a list of all the important things to remember to bring:
* Passport
* Credit Card (you have to swipe this before every procedure!)
* Phone #'s
* etc
Casey did not feel up for an 11pm trip to the ER, but no worries, I got this: knowing things, having lots of detailed information, and not losing things are my specialty! :P After a short 15 minute ride to the hospital, the cabby didn't have change for our 11 euro fare, so he only charged us 10. Cool! ("it's the little things in life", they say). We get to the ER, and it takes about ~30 minutes til we have paid our 60 euro examination fee and are getting questioned by the doctor (they skip the American nurse pre-interview stage). After the usual questions, he schedules an ultrasound and blood work. 40 minutes and 450 euro later, we learn that the ultrasound is clean; no gallstones, etc. Then we waited for quite a while... maybe 1+ hours. A nurse then walks out, attaches an IV to Nora, then walks away, not uttering a word. Nora looks at me with a puzzled face. "What do you think they are putting into me?" "No idea". Now Nora's pain meds start wear off, so she hunts down a nurse (they are not hard to find, but they are very good at ignoring people when possible... probably a required skill to survive the ER). We waited a little while longer for the blood results, and then the doctor came to explain them. No problems with any of her organs was detected, but a very elevated level of something that indicated a gastrointestinal infection (some number was 4x what it should be). He scheduled an xray and told us that since she was not getting better that she would need to stay the night. I went to handle the lodging paperwork and expenses. It was between 200 and 450 euro per night just to sleep in a hospital room (excluding doctor exams) depending on how much privacy you wish to have. I don't think sharing a room with people vomiting, coughing, diarrhea, etc sounded particularly pleasant to Nora, so she went baller style with the single room. 2000 euro deposit required for the overnight stay (I'm guessing so they don't have to swipe your card every time a dr or nurse checks on you). We get set up in her room at 3am (4 hours since we left the apartment to this point). The doctors/nurses come in to re-ask the basic questions and make sure she is ok. The hospital wifi dies about 10 feet away from her bed... DRAT! After she is taken care of, I locate an ATM and get a cab ride back home from a cabby that doesn't speak English, but we figure it out. Acropoli is a great landmark! (we are 1/4 mile from the entrance). I finish working through some of the diarrhea that I got from dinner and head to bed a little past 4am. PHEW!
Nora & the Tubes
Don't forget where we put her!
ER waiting room observations:
One woman with a finger injury
One inconsolable little boy with a hand injury
One young woman who walked in comfortably, looking fine, who was placed into a wheelchair
One elderly woman who was peeing blood
At 2:30AM, a young women suffering from alcohol poisoning who made quite a ruckus and was proud of her evenings accomplishments, to the scorn of the other tired, anxious ER guests
A few others w/o injuries unbeknownst to me.
"Arf!" - Cali
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