Author Archives: julietg

Midnight Misadventures

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I like to think of today as an exercise in money management. It’s our fourth day in Athens and, after so many dinners out, we collectively decided something had to give unless we wanted to single-handedly be responsible for reviving the Greek economy.

So for dinner, we all took the metro to Kabob Street (yes, this is a real thing), where we met up with Tim and got kabobs–basically meat in pita with tomatoes–for 2 euros(!!!) Then we all went back to Tim’s place for appetizers before the OPERA (Il Trovatore) which we saw in an ancient and beautiful old theater that looks exactly how you might imagine an outdoor ampitheater from Greece circa many thousands of years ago to look. Complete with ruins on top of the stage. I can’t get my camera to work, and so have no pictures, but I’m sure one will pop up here soon. It’s pretty incredible.

The Opera itself was…at the risk of sounding like a philistine…long. But I think we all took away things from it that we can apply to the plays we’re studying. Also the music was great.

Unfortunately, the ovations were twice as long as the opera. And the thing about Athens is that all the public transportation closes at midnight. Everyone seemed to know this but me and Chris, so they all took off around 11:45. Chris and I a) didn’t quite believe it could be true, and b) didn’t want to be rude and leave while people were still clapping. Consequently, we didn’t get out of there till about 12:15 at which point…you guessed it…all the public transportation was closed. We ran into Brian, who had somehow been separated from everyone else, and the three of us tried to figure out how to get home. I found a map in my purse and the hotel really didn’t look like it was more than about 15 minutes away, so, in the theme of saving euros, I made them walk.  Sorry, guys.

We made it back to the hotel a little after 1 am, after crossing two black cats, three highways, and a couple dubious parks and playgrounds. We all arrived safely and soundly in one piece, but it was definitely quite an adventure.

So the moral of the story is:

-Buy kabobs for 2 euros, not salads for 8

-Believe your friends and don’t trust public transportation

-Athens is as expensive as you make it

-Maps lie

 

Goodnight!