I discovered that Athens is not really a great vacation destination. Greece may be, but not because of Athens. In fact, besides a lot of shopping, the main thing to do in Athens is check out the Acropolis. If you plan to visit Greece plan a day at most in Athens and then get to one of the islands or any of the coasts.
I toured the Acropolis and was a bit disappointed since the place looked like a construction site. On the north side they have a huge shop that is being used to cut stones for renovations that have been going on for a couple of years, apparently to fix the mistakes made by other renovation attempts made in the 1920's and 30's. I find it amazing that the Greeks of 2300 years ago were able to construct something that lasted this long, and yet the technology and knowledge available in the 1930's was not good enough for something to last longer than 70 years without needing to be fixed again. Progress?
Because of the renovations almost all of the Parthenon is surrounded by scaffolding, which you can imagine makes for a great photo op. I actually had my camera with me but discovered that I didn't have a memory card in it... no matter, a post card or pictures from 10 years ago would do the site much more justice since it isn't littered with cranes, scaffolding, workshops, etc. So, basically the one thing to do in Athens is almost not worth doing right now. It does provide a nice view of the city, but you can get just as good of a view and an even better view of the Parthenon (since it's from a distance) from the nearby observatory. I actually had a great view from the roof top restaurant of the hotel I was staying at. The lights surrounding the Acropolis are pretty impressive.
Random facts about the Acropolis - basically some tidbits I got from Wikipedia to fill in some of the holes in information given at the Acropolis.
1. There are a couple of buildings on the Acropolis. One is the temple of Athena Nike. Nike means Victory and was a small, but apparently important, Greek goddess that was very fast and could fly. Phil Knight, the founder of Nike Corp. got the name from the first man he hired who had a dream about the Greek goddess Nike. I'm not sure what that guy had for dinner, but it worked.
2. The main structure is the Parthenon. Back in 1687 it was used as an ammunitions magazine by the Turks and a cannonball from the attacking Venitians caused a huge explosion. Until that point the Parthenon had been extremely well preserved.
3. There is a stone wall all the way around the Acropolis, which made me wonder if the mountain was actually built up and wasn't as high as it is now. Apparently it was built up by landfill over many years which is why the top is relatively flat. If you want to know more about the Mycean age and the history of the Acropolis check it out at Wikipidea which is a great source of info for those who haven't discovered it yet.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Vive le Prefecture
Two weeks ago I started a week long process of waiting in line at the Prefecture of Police in order to submit my papers for my 1 year carte du sejour and receive the temporary "recepice" that will allow me to travel in and out of France until I receive the permanent "carte du sejour". I had an appointment set for Monday morning, the day I returned from my good friend's Rajko and Colleen's wedding in Boston, and I expected to walk right, hand over the papers, sign my name and head back to the office..... wow was I wrong!
I arrived and saw a line that was about 2 hours long stringing outside the door. I had heard that I should expect to spend a good part of my day at the Prefecture, but this was ridiculous. I had an appointment, and as far as I could see they had greatly overbooked this appointment time. It was after about 45 minutes that I got far enough forward to start seeing separate doors with no lines and numbers above. I checked my papers and sure enough I wasn't supposed to be in line. Much to my relief I walked passed everyone, knocked on the door, and was ushered in to an office with no one else waiting in line. I started talking with the man behind the desk and providing the information that he needed. Then we got to the confirmation of living address and things fell apart real fast.. Apparently the prefecture I was at was only for the area that I used to live in. Because I had moved to Paris I had to go to the Paris prefecture, which didn't sound so bad. But then I was told that they don't take appointments. That became the start of a long couple of days.
I showed up several days in a row to find huge lines. The first day I figured I would just come back when the line was shorter. The second day I arrived at 9:30, half an hour after they opened, only to find the same line. I waited about 2 hours at the back of the line and noticed that it only moved forward because people were squeezing tighter together, and not because anyone was entering the building. Then I started asking around and found out that folks start lining up the night before and that the lines were so long because of some new law that will change who is eligible for citizenship in France sometime in September. Because of this there were a lot of very motivated people waiting for days on end. I left, set on getting an early star the next day.
I arrived at 7 am and found that the line was about half of what it had been the day before. Still, there were roughly 300 people in front of me based on numbers that some guy was handing out. I had a good book and some work with me and figured I'd be out by lunch. From about 9 am to 11:30 we seemed to be moving forward steadily and the police were passing out water. At this point I was about half way to the entrance from where I started. Suddenly, there was a surge of people in front and the people behind me and we all squeezed together like an accordion. I was tired of being pushed forward, so I just stopped, got in a low stance and just held the group of people behind me from moving forward. The guy right behind me complained that I was squeezing him and people behind him were saying the same. The problem was that if I moved forward at all, everyone was going to just crush each other, including me. It was hot, people had been waiting for 5 or 6 hours in line and people started getting frustrated, including the Police. That's when the shit hit the fan.
The police started asking people to move back, but people near the police moved back it created space that people from behind me were pushing into. So, of course the people being asked to move back were protesting the fact that they were being asked to move back while others stayed put and essentially cut them in line. So, no one would move, and in fact people were still pushing forward. The asking became yelling and eventually physically moving. One of the policemen jumped into the crowd and just started pushing people back, grabbing those that wouldn't move, or tried to sneak forward and pushing them back. He was just in front of me and I didn't know exactly what he was saying, but when he started to raise his Billy club above his head and yell at people, I understood perfectly well. It was time to move back.
Eventually the tried to make this mass of people into 2 single file lines and succeeded in getting a space between the two lines that was large enough for a 3rd line. Where did the people come from for this third line you ask? Well, unfortunately I was one of the tallest and the police officer looked directly at me, pointing to the space and saying "sil-vous-plait", obviously asking me to please move into that space and move to the back of the third line. By this time I was twice as far from the entrance as i was when I started the day.... I waited around until about 3:30 and then realized there was no way I would get in today despite my optimistic outlook at the beginning of the day.
So, the bad news was that I still didn't have my papers. The good news was that I refused to return to that line and the company lawyer was able to get a "special" appointment with me at the prefecture just 2 blocks from my apartment and all is now taken care of. As I can attest to by the fact that I'm now in Athens and about to head up stairs for dinner at the roof top restaurant with a view of the Akropolis.
I arrived and saw a line that was about 2 hours long stringing outside the door. I had heard that I should expect to spend a good part of my day at the Prefecture, but this was ridiculous. I had an appointment, and as far as I could see they had greatly overbooked this appointment time. It was after about 45 minutes that I got far enough forward to start seeing separate doors with no lines and numbers above. I checked my papers and sure enough I wasn't supposed to be in line. Much to my relief I walked passed everyone, knocked on the door, and was ushered in to an office with no one else waiting in line. I started talking with the man behind the desk and providing the information that he needed. Then we got to the confirmation of living address and things fell apart real fast.. Apparently the prefecture I was at was only for the area that I used to live in. Because I had moved to Paris I had to go to the Paris prefecture, which didn't sound so bad. But then I was told that they don't take appointments. That became the start of a long couple of days.
I showed up several days in a row to find huge lines. The first day I figured I would just come back when the line was shorter. The second day I arrived at 9:30, half an hour after they opened, only to find the same line. I waited about 2 hours at the back of the line and noticed that it only moved forward because people were squeezing tighter together, and not because anyone was entering the building. Then I started asking around and found out that folks start lining up the night before and that the lines were so long because of some new law that will change who is eligible for citizenship in France sometime in September. Because of this there were a lot of very motivated people waiting for days on end. I left, set on getting an early star the next day.
I arrived at 7 am and found that the line was about half of what it had been the day before. Still, there were roughly 300 people in front of me based on numbers that some guy was handing out. I had a good book and some work with me and figured I'd be out by lunch. From about 9 am to 11:30 we seemed to be moving forward steadily and the police were passing out water. At this point I was about half way to the entrance from where I started. Suddenly, there was a surge of people in front and the people behind me and we all squeezed together like an accordion. I was tired of being pushed forward, so I just stopped, got in a low stance and just held the group of people behind me from moving forward. The guy right behind me complained that I was squeezing him and people behind him were saying the same. The problem was that if I moved forward at all, everyone was going to just crush each other, including me. It was hot, people had been waiting for 5 or 6 hours in line and people started getting frustrated, including the Police. That's when the shit hit the fan.
The police started asking people to move back, but people near the police moved back it created space that people from behind me were pushing into. So, of course the people being asked to move back were protesting the fact that they were being asked to move back while others stayed put and essentially cut them in line. So, no one would move, and in fact people were still pushing forward. The asking became yelling and eventually physically moving. One of the policemen jumped into the crowd and just started pushing people back, grabbing those that wouldn't move, or tried to sneak forward and pushing them back. He was just in front of me and I didn't know exactly what he was saying, but when he started to raise his Billy club above his head and yell at people, I understood perfectly well. It was time to move back.
Eventually the tried to make this mass of people into 2 single file lines and succeeded in getting a space between the two lines that was large enough for a 3rd line. Where did the people come from for this third line you ask? Well, unfortunately I was one of the tallest and the police officer looked directly at me, pointing to the space and saying "sil-vous-plait", obviously asking me to please move into that space and move to the back of the third line. By this time I was twice as far from the entrance as i was when I started the day.... I waited around until about 3:30 and then realized there was no way I would get in today despite my optimistic outlook at the beginning of the day.
So, the bad news was that I still didn't have my papers. The good news was that I refused to return to that line and the company lawyer was able to get a "special" appointment with me at the prefecture just 2 blocks from my apartment and all is now taken care of. As I can attest to by the fact that I'm now in Athens and about to head up stairs for dinner at the roof top restaurant with a view of the Akropolis.
Athens Better Business Bureau and Random Thought
Today I was walking around Athens and made it up to the akropolis, which is about a 30 minute walk from my hotel. When I got up there it was packed full of tourists so I decided to take a few remote photos and grab something to drink. As I was waiting in line I noticed that no receipts were being handed out so I reminded myself that I needed to ask for a receipt since I'm here on a work trip. As I give my order and hand over the cash the guy hands me a receipt without my even asking. It struck me as strange and as I turned around to leave I found out why. This grey haired guy in the photo(dressed just like the rest of the tourists) made eye contact with me, said something I didn't understand, and grabbed my shirt while motioning towards the counter. I figured the guy was hoping I could translate for him.....which was pretty unlikely, or maybe he was going to use my drinks as examples of what he wanted to buy since he was pointing at the drinks in my hand. But then I realized he was speaking Greek.
Then he asks me in English if I got a receipt, if he could see it, and then he took my receipt......what is going on?! I was totally confused. Then he asks how much I paid and starts asking the vendors behind the cash machines for the receipts of other purchases. It was then that I put a couple things together.
1. I was told by my taxi driver last night that most business in Greece is conducted in Cash only.
2. My boss gave me a warning to check my receipts from credit card transactions because we had an engineer return with a receipt for a drink that cost something like $1000 Euros.
I'm pretty sure there were tax and general business issues involved in all of this as well, but as the guy took my receipt for 6 Euros hostage I figured I'd take a picture of him. Glad to see that we tourists are being looked after ;)
Random Thought:
Today, as I walked past the street vendors with their faux designer bags and sunglasses, it struck me that these looked like the same exact group of people that I see in Paris and that I've seen in New York. I'm not saying they are the same people, but that they all seem to be of the same heritage which I believe is Africa. Who is behind this world wide organization that supplies all these street vendors? Where are they getting their goods from, how do they distribute it, etc?
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
France Perdu
If you havn't heard yet France lost to Italy in the World Cup final match on Sunday. It was a great futball match from about 20 minutes in until about 5 minutes to go. France scored first just 5-10 minutes into the game on a penalty kick that they got for a phantom foul (which is also know as a dive). They couldn't handle the pressure of having the lead so early though and Italy looked very dominant finally scoring on a header from a corner kick. Then the game settled down a bit.
From my point of view, not at all biased by my current living arrangements (France), I think France outplayed Italy from the end of the first half all the way through to the end of overtime. I will give Italy credit for it's defense, but they did very little in most of the rest of the pitch outside of just a few dangerous posessions (from Frances point of view). France on the other hand seemed to settle in quite well and control the match, stealing the ball from the Italians and forcing the pressure on their defense. They just couldn't get the ball into the back of the net. In the second half of overtime Zinadine Zidane (Zizo) had a golden opportunity off a corner kick cross that was blocked by the Italian keeper, who by the way was one of if not the best keeper in the entire tournament. It was just after this that Zizo snapped.
The most shocking moment of the game came when Zidane headbutted an approaching Italian defender just after the aforementioned shot on goal. No one knows for sure what was said before this, but all agree (event the French), that it was extremely unsportsmanlike and a blatently stupid thing to do. It was and allways be a horrible scar on the reputation of arguably the best French player, and one of the best in the world, over the past 20 years. This game will most likely be his last.
The mood was very somber as I headed home after the game and the crowds of people ready to party were heading home with limping flags in hand and oddly quite. A few stray cheers for France, but mostly just people heading home faced with the reality that tomorrow would be just another day. I think in this case it would have been better to be Germany, who won their 3rd place match on Saturday and at least got to finish the tournament on a positive note.
From my point of view, not at all biased by my current living arrangements (France), I think France outplayed Italy from the end of the first half all the way through to the end of overtime. I will give Italy credit for it's defense, but they did very little in most of the rest of the pitch outside of just a few dangerous posessions (from Frances point of view). France on the other hand seemed to settle in quite well and control the match, stealing the ball from the Italians and forcing the pressure on their defense. They just couldn't get the ball into the back of the net. In the second half of overtime Zinadine Zidane (Zizo) had a golden opportunity off a corner kick cross that was blocked by the Italian keeper, who by the way was one of if not the best keeper in the entire tournament. It was just after this that Zizo snapped.
The most shocking moment of the game came when Zidane headbutted an approaching Italian defender just after the aforementioned shot on goal. No one knows for sure what was said before this, but all agree (event the French), that it was extremely unsportsmanlike and a blatently stupid thing to do. It was and allways be a horrible scar on the reputation of arguably the best French player, and one of the best in the world, over the past 20 years. This game will most likely be his last.
The mood was very somber as I headed home after the game and the crowds of people ready to party were heading home with limping flags in hand and oddly quite. A few stray cheers for France, but mostly just people heading home faced with the reality that tomorrow would be just another day. I think in this case it would have been better to be Germany, who won their 3rd place match on Saturday and at least got to finish the tournament on a positive note.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Paris - The Melting Pot
I don't currently have reliable wireless internet at my apartment. Which basically means that the low signal from the wireless down the street that I'm borrowing kicks me off from time to time. So, I have a local cafe that I have been using to have a coffee and catch up on e-mails. The problem is that the place is like a sauna! And if the heat wasn't bad enough, the girl sitting next to me smoking her freshly rolled cigarettes is creating a second hand smoke cloud that I'm getting buzzed from.....so, this is what it's like to smoke..
That was the last straw for me, so I used my borrowed week signal to find some other options for local hotspots. And I am now currently sitting in a smoke free, air conditioned, free wireless hot spot..... McDonalds. Yep, that's right. McDonalds has free wireless! Unfortunately they don't have a refill machine, but the soda I bought was much cheeper than the Starbuck's price coffees at the cafe.
I titled this post "Paris - The Melting Pot", but I could probably have titled it "McDonalds - Bringing the World Together". As I've been sitting here I've had a British Family, a student from Mexico, a group of Spanish high schoolers, 2 Sweedish girls, a group of German kids, and of course a few French folks sitting either next to me or just near by. I realy wish I could be Neo and just download all these languages into my brain so I knew what the heck was going on! I'll stick with French IPod downloads for now.
France in the World Cup Finals tomorrow night. Go France!!!
That was the last straw for me, so I used my borrowed week signal to find some other options for local hotspots. And I am now currently sitting in a smoke free, air conditioned, free wireless hot spot..... McDonalds. Yep, that's right. McDonalds has free wireless! Unfortunately they don't have a refill machine, but the soda I bought was much cheeper than the Starbuck's price coffees at the cafe.
I titled this post "Paris - The Melting Pot", but I could probably have titled it "McDonalds - Bringing the World Together". As I've been sitting here I've had a British Family, a student from Mexico, a group of Spanish high schoolers, 2 Sweedish girls, a group of German kids, and of course a few French folks sitting either next to me or just near by. I realy wish I could be Neo and just download all these languages into my brain so I knew what the heck was going on! I'll stick with French IPod downloads for now.
France in the World Cup Finals tomorrow night. Go France!!!
Sunday, July 02, 2006
World Cup Fever! - France in the semi-finals
The atmosphere during the world cup quarterfinals game last night was electric here in Paris, and I would guess all over France. France wasn't given much of a chance in this years world cup after some pretty poor qualifying game performances. Most of my French co-workers thought the team was too old and didn't play well together and after another tied game with Sweden in the first round, this seemed to be confirmed for a lot of the fans. But the confidence is building!
I went down to watch the match at one of the local pubs to find that they were all full and hundreds of people were crowded outside of any and all restaurant/pups/cafes that had the game playing. When the French fans on t.v. were clapping and cheering, the fans on the street would emulate them and start cheering as if they were at the stadium themselves. Place Saint Michel erupted after Frances win over Brazil last night. People were climbing the 35 ft. statue and waving French flags while everyone on the ground were cheering, chanting, singing the national anthem, climbing on busses, and rocking cars. It was awesome!! I didn't see anything get torn down or flipped over, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happens after another win.
I have to believe that after an impressive win against one of the favorites in the tournament, the French fans now believe they have a very good opportunity to win the entire World Cup. I really hope they do, because I'd love to be part of that celebration!
I went down to watch the match at one of the local pubs to find that they were all full and hundreds of people were crowded outside of any and all restaurant/pups/cafes that had the game playing. When the French fans on t.v. were clapping and cheering, the fans on the street would emulate them and start cheering as if they were at the stadium themselves. Place Saint Michel erupted after Frances win over Brazil last night. People were climbing the 35 ft. statue and waving French flags while everyone on the ground were cheering, chanting, singing the national anthem, climbing on busses, and rocking cars. It was awesome!! I didn't see anything get torn down or flipped over, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happens after another win.
I have to believe that after an impressive win against one of the favorites in the tournament, the French fans now believe they have a very good opportunity to win the entire World Cup. I really hope they do, because I'd love to be part of that celebration!
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