Yesterday, Tuesday, was a great way to end the honeymoon.
We took a walk to Green Park (I think that's what it's called) and got to pray there.
We then went down to the theater district to get tickets for Les Mis. I was really psyched when we found this store with half price theater tickets. Look at us, all savvy, tracking down this little secret spot with good deals. Then I looked around and realized there's stores like this literally every 50 yards or so.
Les Mis was sold out so we got some good seats for the Pajama Game, which someone at the airport had recommended.
We had lunch at a place that did 'traditional' pub food, sausages and mashed potatoes. Decent. We also walked around the shopping district (Regent St?). All these very upscale clothes stores. We went through the M&M store, which somehow manages to have 3 floors worth of M&M merchandise. I did wind up buying some M&Ms (go figure).
At night we did another Indian place, also very good, then we went to our show. It was alright, in my opinion. Good singing and dancing and all but the story was meh and none of the actors really stood out. The leading lady looked like an Eastern European gymnast, like super muscular, which was kind of odd.
Overall just a really nice day. Good time with each other, London was sunny and beautiful, we got to see some really London-y feeling streets and stores.
I will need to be fitted with a hearing aid, pretty soon. We seem to be having a lot of conversations where I miss some key element, hilarity and/or anger ensues.
E.g.
Michelle: Can I have a chip?
Doug: No.
Michelle: ???
Doug: Oh, I thought you asked if I wanted a chip.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Worst Airport Ever
Yesterday was our last day in Santorini. Pretty sad, the place is so beautiful.
We got a shuttle to the Thira airport. This airport was the worst.
To even get in the building there's a crowd spilling out the front door. It's not clear whether there's lines, which line to get in, etc. You just get in the crowd and slowly work your way in, then jostle & shove to get into the right line. Inside is packed, like if I put my hands out and spun around I'd smack several people. And it is HOT. Hot outside, inside even hotter because of all the people. Deodorant, perfume, whatever just quickly lost the battle, I was gross.
Oh also the counter for our airline wasn't even open so there's a long wait before the line even starts to move.
Once we get our bags checked we go to this waiting area. Also super crowded. We manage to get seats but there's just people all over, still crazy hot.
After more waiting they open up this holding pen for our flight: you go through passport control and then wait in this little space.
The passport line is crazy slow, just glacial. Extra salt in the wound: right next to us is the separate line for European passports, which is moving super fast.
We finally get into the little space and then it just gets really bad. Now we're even more crowded. There's nowhere to sit. It's even hotter. Our flight is delayed so we're just chillin for a long time. And since we've already been through passport control we aren't allowed to go back out. Chillin is the wrong word of course. It was hot. Did I mention that?
We finally get loaded onto a little bus to shuttle us out to the plane. That's even hotter and more crowded, and the bus doesn't go right away. Lucky for us we were like the last people to get on the bus, some people had to hang in there for like five minutes.
The real kicker in all this is Michelle was not feeling well at all. Terrible stomach pains, dizzy, nauseated. I tried to get her some medicine. Nothing was for sale but some salesclerk just gave me their personal stash. We're not sure what it was b/c it didn't do anything for the pain and just made her feel high.
When we finally got onto the plane she threw up in the bathroom. The airplane staff was really nice, took good care of us. On the plane ride she started to feel better but it was really really bad for a while.
On the plus side, this is the first time I was in seat 1A and 1B in a plane. We were first on and first off.
We got to our hotel in London, no problem. We'd gotten a recommendation for an Indian place, we went there. Very, very happy to not be eating Greek food. The place is called Dishoom. They had a line out the door, 30 min wait for us. It was kind of like an Indian version of Beppo's. Good Indian food but kind of 'fake' somehow. Snarky menu, non-Indian staff, etc. Good food though.
Back to the hotel, watched a stupid movie on pay per view, bedtime.
We got a shuttle to the Thira airport. This airport was the worst.
To even get in the building there's a crowd spilling out the front door. It's not clear whether there's lines, which line to get in, etc. You just get in the crowd and slowly work your way in, then jostle & shove to get into the right line. Inside is packed, like if I put my hands out and spun around I'd smack several people. And it is HOT. Hot outside, inside even hotter because of all the people. Deodorant, perfume, whatever just quickly lost the battle, I was gross.
Oh also the counter for our airline wasn't even open so there's a long wait before the line even starts to move.
Once we get our bags checked we go to this waiting area. Also super crowded. We manage to get seats but there's just people all over, still crazy hot.
After more waiting they open up this holding pen for our flight: you go through passport control and then wait in this little space.
The passport line is crazy slow, just glacial. Extra salt in the wound: right next to us is the separate line for European passports, which is moving super fast.
We finally get into the little space and then it just gets really bad. Now we're even more crowded. There's nowhere to sit. It's even hotter. Our flight is delayed so we're just chillin for a long time. And since we've already been through passport control we aren't allowed to go back out. Chillin is the wrong word of course. It was hot. Did I mention that?
We finally get loaded onto a little bus to shuttle us out to the plane. That's even hotter and more crowded, and the bus doesn't go right away. Lucky for us we were like the last people to get on the bus, some people had to hang in there for like five minutes.
The real kicker in all this is Michelle was not feeling well at all. Terrible stomach pains, dizzy, nauseated. I tried to get her some medicine. Nothing was for sale but some salesclerk just gave me their personal stash. We're not sure what it was b/c it didn't do anything for the pain and just made her feel high.
When we finally got onto the plane she threw up in the bathroom. The airplane staff was really nice, took good care of us. On the plane ride she started to feel better but it was really really bad for a while.
On the plus side, this is the first time I was in seat 1A and 1B in a plane. We were first on and first off.
We got to our hotel in London, no problem. We'd gotten a recommendation for an Indian place, we went there. Very, very happy to not be eating Greek food. The place is called Dishoom. They had a line out the door, 30 min wait for us. It was kind of like an Indian version of Beppo's. Good Indian food but kind of 'fake' somehow. Snarky menu, non-Indian staff, etc. Good food though.
Back to the hotel, watched a stupid movie on pay per view, bedtime.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Food
Sunday we had breakfast on our little terrace patio thing, overlooking the ocean & other islands, from like 100 feet above the water level.
We took a cab to a 'black beach' (sand, not people). It wasn't that black, I seen blacker. Nice enough beach. The water got deep really fast, big contrast to the beach in Crete.
We rented an umbrella and chair for ten Euros, but they never collected. Just 'it costs 10', here's your chair, bye bye.
For lunch we went to some beach front place where Michelle got a piece of a shrimp tail in her food. She's really allergic so this was pretty scary. Some throat swelling & itching, but ultimately OK. Could have been much worse.
We decided to eat dessert first for dinner (shameful...) so we went to this nice cafe with really good desserts, shoveled that in. Baklava and Orange Pie (kind of sponge cake in sugary syrup). Then we went for real dinner to a restaurant called '1800'. We were told when we got the reservation the day before that we could be seated on the rooftop garden where there are nice views of the suset at some tables, but we wouldn't be getting one of those tables. Fine, we can stand up & take pictures.
Turns out we're at a table right on the edge of the rooftop garden, best possible place to see the sunset. So good times.
The food was kind of snooty. Everything has a long description, like onion soup with a chili oil reduction with sauteed shallots and a creme fraiche bon bon. As a free 'gift' from the chef they brought out pureed watermelon topped with feta mousse, served in a shot glass with a straw. Yuk. I got chicken (good) with onions (good) and some barley/pistachio nut/orange zest side (what were they thinking).
We took a cab to a 'black beach' (sand, not people). It wasn't that black, I seen blacker. Nice enough beach. The water got deep really fast, big contrast to the beach in Crete.
We rented an umbrella and chair for ten Euros, but they never collected. Just 'it costs 10', here's your chair, bye bye.
For lunch we went to some beach front place where Michelle got a piece of a shrimp tail in her food. She's really allergic so this was pretty scary. Some throat swelling & itching, but ultimately OK. Could have been much worse.
We decided to eat dessert first for dinner (shameful...) so we went to this nice cafe with really good desserts, shoveled that in. Baklava and Orange Pie (kind of sponge cake in sugary syrup). Then we went for real dinner to a restaurant called '1800'. We were told when we got the reservation the day before that we could be seated on the rooftop garden where there are nice views of the suset at some tables, but we wouldn't be getting one of those tables. Fine, we can stand up & take pictures.
Turns out we're at a table right on the edge of the rooftop garden, best possible place to see the sunset. So good times.
The food was kind of snooty. Everything has a long description, like onion soup with a chili oil reduction with sauteed shallots and a creme fraiche bon bon. As a free 'gift' from the chef they brought out pureed watermelon topped with feta mousse, served in a shot glass with a straw. Yuk. I got chicken (good) with onions (good) and some barley/pistachio nut/orange zest side (what were they thinking).
Sunday, July 27, 2014
We are bad tourists
Yesterday we arranged to be part of a tour group to go see this underground city. I forget the name. Some ancient city, like 4000 years old, got buried in a giant volcanic eruption. They dug it up and put a roof over it to keep the elements out, hence underground. Not as cool as it sounded at first.
This was classic tour group experience. Bossy shouty lady with a sign, canned jokes, bus full of sheep-people following around. I know I generally don't like stuff like that. The information and the sights were interesting but I would have been happy to see it all in about a third of the time. Turns out Michelle even more so: she really did not like the tour group experience, the lectures, being led around.
We bailed on the tour and ended up in this town called Thira, the capital. We had seen signs earlier in Oia for a Chinese place in Thira and we hunted that thing down with a quickness. Amen for Greece and all but I am pretty done with Greek food. It was a nice change.
For dinner we walked down to the end of Oia's main drag to catch the sunset. Oia is kind of known for this, like they are on lists of 'best sunsets in the world'. I heard it was super crowded down there at Sunset (there's one end of town where you have the best view of the sunset over the ocean). So we thought we'd go early, get a table at a restaurant with a good view, and eat super slow.
On the way down I was being super bad, weaving through the crowd, squeezing past people, etc. Michelle came behind (we were holding hands). I was the ice breaker and she'd slip through with me.
We finally came to a place called 'Sunsets' (good sign) right at the edge of town. Up a staircase to the roof garden. Incredible view. The place was empty so I thought "score". We asked for a table, he said there's only one left, everything else reserved. So we take that table. And he wasn't kidding: over the course of the evening we must have seen two dozen people, at least, come up and get turned away because they were out of room. The food was meh but the view was very very nice. And when I peeked over the edge of the restaurant to the streets below I felt really lucky, it was like the fourth of July, people just jammed in there all over the place.
Unfortunately, Michelle's camera died right as the sunset started. So we got reservations at a different sunset-friendly place tonight.
This was classic tour group experience. Bossy shouty lady with a sign, canned jokes, bus full of sheep-people following around. I know I generally don't like stuff like that. The information and the sights were interesting but I would have been happy to see it all in about a third of the time. Turns out Michelle even more so: she really did not like the tour group experience, the lectures, being led around.
We bailed on the tour and ended up in this town called Thira, the capital. We had seen signs earlier in Oia for a Chinese place in Thira and we hunted that thing down with a quickness. Amen for Greece and all but I am pretty done with Greek food. It was a nice change.
For dinner we walked down to the end of Oia's main drag to catch the sunset. Oia is kind of known for this, like they are on lists of 'best sunsets in the world'. I heard it was super crowded down there at Sunset (there's one end of town where you have the best view of the sunset over the ocean). So we thought we'd go early, get a table at a restaurant with a good view, and eat super slow.
On the way down I was being super bad, weaving through the crowd, squeezing past people, etc. Michelle came behind (we were holding hands). I was the ice breaker and she'd slip through with me.
We finally came to a place called 'Sunsets' (good sign) right at the edge of town. Up a staircase to the roof garden. Incredible view. The place was empty so I thought "score". We asked for a table, he said there's only one left, everything else reserved. So we take that table. And he wasn't kidding: over the course of the evening we must have seen two dozen people, at least, come up and get turned away because they were out of room. The food was meh but the view was very very nice. And when I peeked over the edge of the restaurant to the streets below I felt really lucky, it was like the fourth of July, people just jammed in there all over the place.
Unfortunately, Michelle's camera died right as the sunset started. So we got reservations at a different sunset-friendly place tonight.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Santorini
We have been married for one week! CRAZY.
Friday morning we got a ferry to Santorini. When we arranged the cab to the ferry on Thursday night the guy was really dramatic, we were cutting it too close, we'd never make it in time. So we went when he suggested we go, and had to wait an hour before even boarding.
I pictured a tiny little ferry boat but this thing was huge, like a cruise ship. We got business class seats, thanks Michelle. We were between a group of Italian teens. Girls on on side, boys on the other. Constant, and I mean constant, talking, flirting, selfies, laughing, trading seats, throwing things back and forth. I finally asked them to shut up, they did. Go old people! I am 'that guy' now.
The port at Santorini is a nuthouse. One ferry after the next dropping gangs of tourists. Buses, tour guides, reserved cars, people trying to sell hotel packages all trying to find their peeps. We couldn't find our guy, he finally showed up in a bit.
Santorini is this giant rock in the ocean. Very, very tall and steep. The drive to our hotel is super scary. I chewed ginger and closed my eyes. Switchbacks, cliffs, blind curves, etc.
We arrive in Oia and are met by this lady who shows us to our suite. It is hard to describe this place, so totally different from anything I've seen. Kind of like a ski slope, there's this narrow ridge on the top. That's where the main drag is, with all the shops and hotels off that. It's not even a road, just a path. The sides are so steep that everything else is below the walkway. Like maybe the very closest shops are street level, but plenty of places are just a doorway, a sign, and steep staircase down.
You look down and it's just a jumble of houses, patios, staircases, walkways, etc., abruptly ending about 100 yards down, and then there's just a cliff, like fall to your death cliff, down to the water. Very steep.
To get to our room we follow the lady through a series of walkways, stairs, twisty paths. At one point after going down a staircase we take a hard left and there's our place, essentially a cave under the staircase. One side is in the hill, all stone. The other has windows that open out to the ocean view, amazing. And it's laid out like this little hidey hole. The couch is built into the stone wall, the rock from the cliff comes through the wall in a few places, the bed is just in a raised nook in the corner, on the floor, with floor-level windows opening out onto the ocean.
Bottom line: good one, Michelle (she found this place).
Some combo of lunch, napping, wandering, dinner. We are still having trouble finding vegetarian options for Michelle. It's been a lot of spinach pies and salad for her.
Michelle discovered, as my room-mates can attest, that I say weird stuff as I am drifting off to sleep. Yesterday we were in the middle of a deep talk while I was falling asleep and evidently right in the middle of a sentence on-topic I said "how do they get an oven into these places? they'd have to carry it by hand" and then pretty much fell asleep. Later she asked me if everything was OK and I said "I really miss Glee".
Friday morning we got a ferry to Santorini. When we arranged the cab to the ferry on Thursday night the guy was really dramatic, we were cutting it too close, we'd never make it in time. So we went when he suggested we go, and had to wait an hour before even boarding.
I pictured a tiny little ferry boat but this thing was huge, like a cruise ship. We got business class seats, thanks Michelle. We were between a group of Italian teens. Girls on on side, boys on the other. Constant, and I mean constant, talking, flirting, selfies, laughing, trading seats, throwing things back and forth. I finally asked them to shut up, they did. Go old people! I am 'that guy' now.
The port at Santorini is a nuthouse. One ferry after the next dropping gangs of tourists. Buses, tour guides, reserved cars, people trying to sell hotel packages all trying to find their peeps. We couldn't find our guy, he finally showed up in a bit.
Santorini is this giant rock in the ocean. Very, very tall and steep. The drive to our hotel is super scary. I chewed ginger and closed my eyes. Switchbacks, cliffs, blind curves, etc.
We arrive in Oia and are met by this lady who shows us to our suite. It is hard to describe this place, so totally different from anything I've seen. Kind of like a ski slope, there's this narrow ridge on the top. That's where the main drag is, with all the shops and hotels off that. It's not even a road, just a path. The sides are so steep that everything else is below the walkway. Like maybe the very closest shops are street level, but plenty of places are just a doorway, a sign, and steep staircase down.
You look down and it's just a jumble of houses, patios, staircases, walkways, etc., abruptly ending about 100 yards down, and then there's just a cliff, like fall to your death cliff, down to the water. Very steep.
To get to our room we follow the lady through a series of walkways, stairs, twisty paths. At one point after going down a staircase we take a hard left and there's our place, essentially a cave under the staircase. One side is in the hill, all stone. The other has windows that open out to the ocean view, amazing. And it's laid out like this little hidey hole. The couch is built into the stone wall, the rock from the cliff comes through the wall in a few places, the bed is just in a raised nook in the corner, on the floor, with floor-level windows opening out onto the ocean.
Bottom line: good one, Michelle (she found this place).
Some combo of lunch, napping, wandering, dinner. We are still having trouble finding vegetarian options for Michelle. It's been a lot of spinach pies and salad for her.
Michelle discovered, as my room-mates can attest, that I say weird stuff as I am drifting off to sleep. Yesterday we were in the middle of a deep talk while I was falling asleep and evidently right in the middle of a sentence on-topic I said "how do they get an oven into these places? they'd have to carry it by hand" and then pretty much fell asleep. Later she asked me if everything was OK and I said "I really miss Glee".
Friday, July 25, 2014
A good bad day
Thursday we rented a car to go ripping around on our own. We had some maps and vague directions. Turns out the maps don't really have street names, the streets don't really have street signs, and with no cell phone or GPS it's easy to get into a Big Mess.
We got to this one seaside town that was supposed to have nice beaches. Turns out they were not as good as the one at our hotel. We parked on one side of this swank hotel, then tried to cut through to the beach on the other side. Somehow we got spotted (how?) and they escorted us out. Awkward, but they escorted us out the side we wanted to get to, so in your FACE swank hotel.
I got sunburned, which got me tired, headachy, and a little nauseated. We got some food, Michelle's favorite thus far (it has been really hard to find good vegetarian options) and drove back to the hotel for some tasty napping.
Back in the car, we head into Herklion (sp?) to see the ruins of the palace at Knossos. Got in a pretty serious traffic jam on the way there. We went the wrong way off the exit and had to loop around thru some twisty action movie chase scene back alleys to get back on track. We get to the palace, it's meh. Ruins. Got it. This used to be awesome, now it's this pile of rocks.
We had this 'Meet and Eat in Crete" guide and had picked out a restaurant. Here began the Real Trouble. Back from Knossos to Herklion. Ask in cafe, where is this place? It's back past Knossos. Had to turn around thru more back alley twistiness, ths one worse than the first, back to Knossos, keep going. We're getting into the sticks, like just nothing. We stop a few times to ask, no one knows what we're talking about. BACK to Herkilion (Look kids, Big Ben! Parliament!). Stop for directions at a groc store, down to the port area. We drive past a parking area, through super slow traffic to a second parking area. I get the feeling we're in the wrong place, we go back to first parking area. We ask them: we were supposed to be at the second parking area. It was at this point that I had to just pull the car over and try not to cry. I can't deal with the traffic again so we park and walk up. We hunt around and finally find the restaurant, it was like YES!!!
Unfortunately the food wasn't great and the service was actively poor. We had them take an item off the total bill. The best part, for me anyway, was this cute feral cat that would beg at the outdoor tables.
SO, kinda messy day. But the cool part (for me, Doug), was Michelle. For all that I get anxious, crabby, frustrated, etc., she is just calm and encouraging and helps me to chill out. She got the worse end of it at this dinner restaurant, and she didn't let it throw her.
I MARRIED A GREAT WOMAN!
We got to this one seaside town that was supposed to have nice beaches. Turns out they were not as good as the one at our hotel. We parked on one side of this swank hotel, then tried to cut through to the beach on the other side. Somehow we got spotted (how?) and they escorted us out. Awkward, but they escorted us out the side we wanted to get to, so in your FACE swank hotel.
I got sunburned, which got me tired, headachy, and a little nauseated. We got some food, Michelle's favorite thus far (it has been really hard to find good vegetarian options) and drove back to the hotel for some tasty napping.
Back in the car, we head into Herklion (sp?) to see the ruins of the palace at Knossos. Got in a pretty serious traffic jam on the way there. We went the wrong way off the exit and had to loop around thru some twisty action movie chase scene back alleys to get back on track. We get to the palace, it's meh. Ruins. Got it. This used to be awesome, now it's this pile of rocks.
We had this 'Meet and Eat in Crete" guide and had picked out a restaurant. Here began the Real Trouble. Back from Knossos to Herklion. Ask in cafe, where is this place? It's back past Knossos. Had to turn around thru more back alley twistiness, ths one worse than the first, back to Knossos, keep going. We're getting into the sticks, like just nothing. We stop a few times to ask, no one knows what we're talking about. BACK to Herkilion (Look kids, Big Ben! Parliament!). Stop for directions at a groc store, down to the port area. We drive past a parking area, through super slow traffic to a second parking area. I get the feeling we're in the wrong place, we go back to first parking area. We ask them: we were supposed to be at the second parking area. It was at this point that I had to just pull the car over and try not to cry. I can't deal with the traffic again so we park and walk up. We hunt around and finally find the restaurant, it was like YES!!!
Unfortunately the food wasn't great and the service was actively poor. We had them take an item off the total bill. The best part, for me anyway, was this cute feral cat that would beg at the outdoor tables.
SO, kinda messy day. But the cool part (for me, Doug), was Michelle. For all that I get anxious, crabby, frustrated, etc., she is just calm and encouraging and helps me to chill out. She got the worse end of it at this dinner restaurant, and she didn't let it throw her.
I MARRIED A GREAT WOMAN!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Naps!
Wednesday we got up early and got to pray on a cabana overlooking the ocean. that was really, really beautiful.
we had our first breakfast here at the buffet. Lots and lots of food. nothing particularly scrumptious but there's just so much of it. i had pudding for breakfast, not sorry.
Epic nap in the morning while Michelle read. also not sorry.
lunch at the buffet. mmmm, buffet-y.
more cabana, more nappnig, some swimming in the ocean. the beach here is pretty nice. not a lot of debris floating around, nice sand, not a lot of rocks, gentle slope. it can be a little cold but not too bad.
People here love their paddleball. like wooden paddles and a big bouncy tennis ball thing. no net or anything. Several groups around us were playing for hours. one had this cute little boy who kept throwing toys at the ball his parents were hitting back and forth (he never got it).
dinner at "swell", an upscale restaurant here at the resort. we had to make a reservation. we said 8 pm, and they said "oh just come any time". ??
the food was good but not particularly vegetarian friendly. nice chocolate souffle for dessert. i felt like we were bad customers though: we didn't order any wine, they brought out a free appetizer neither of us ate (squid with pesto on potato chips). i asked for lamb cooked medium (not cool). michelle asked for the seafood to be removed from her dish. they brought free alcohol after, we turned that away too. we asked if they had any avocado and the guy was like "yes" but he also said something about the ocean and then he ran away. i was nervous what we'd get. i know there's a dish like 'affocado' or something that's espresso over ice cream. But nope we got a for reals avocado.
neither of us could get to sleep. i can't imagine why....
we had our first breakfast here at the buffet. Lots and lots of food. nothing particularly scrumptious but there's just so much of it. i had pudding for breakfast, not sorry.
Epic nap in the morning while Michelle read. also not sorry.
lunch at the buffet. mmmm, buffet-y.
more cabana, more nappnig, some swimming in the ocean. the beach here is pretty nice. not a lot of debris floating around, nice sand, not a lot of rocks, gentle slope. it can be a little cold but not too bad.
People here love their paddleball. like wooden paddles and a big bouncy tennis ball thing. no net or anything. Several groups around us were playing for hours. one had this cute little boy who kept throwing toys at the ball his parents were hitting back and forth (he never got it).
dinner at "swell", an upscale restaurant here at the resort. we had to make a reservation. we said 8 pm, and they said "oh just come any time". ??
the food was good but not particularly vegetarian friendly. nice chocolate souffle for dessert. i felt like we were bad customers though: we didn't order any wine, they brought out a free appetizer neither of us ate (squid with pesto on potato chips). i asked for lamb cooked medium (not cool). michelle asked for the seafood to be removed from her dish. they brought free alcohol after, we turned that away too. we asked if they had any avocado and the guy was like "yes" but he also said something about the ocean and then he ran away. i was nervous what we'd get. i know there's a dish like 'affocado' or something that's espresso over ice cream. But nope we got a for reals avocado.
neither of us could get to sleep. i can't imagine why....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)