Grand Canyon in Greece?

Yesterday ended up being quite a day. Since the Delphi tour got cancelled I decided to go to the new Acropolis Museum. So I took the tube downtown (I was actually getting fairly good at working my way around it) and walked the rest of the way to the museum. It was still under construction but they were letting people in for free to see the first floor and what they have done so far (which is quite a lot, it is due to open in November). It is built over the ancient ruins of the city so they have much of the floor made out of glass so you can see the ruins beneith. It is sooo cool!! It has the same look and feel as the new GR Art Museum only much larger. I was done wandering around there and decided to fill up my water jug when I met a guy named George. He's from Jersey...actually he was mayor of one of the cities in Jersey North of Spring Lake where I train with Jack. He and I got to talking and come to find out he is 36 and traveling alone visiting family in Greece. He spoke fluent Greek and we seemed to connect well. Before long we were joking around and it seemed as if we'd been buddies for years, so we ended up spending the rest of the day together wandering around, getting lost, drinking beers, eating, getting lost, going to a couple of mueseums, did I say drinking beers and getting lost (?). George just started mountain biking and he was telling me of his experiences with all of that. I said to George, "is it just me but do all of these young European women always have this bitchy, pouty, look on their face?" They all wear these HUGE sunglasses, super tight shirts that show so much cleavage you would think that you were visiting the Grand Canyon and ALWAYS look disgusted, like they are going to either slap you, spit in your face or fuck you (and I don't mean gently)... maybe all of the above (in that order). That theme was carried out for pretty much the whole day. He might be hooking up a place for me to stay in Crete. We'll see... I can hear it now, "Hey, yea, I'm George and althought I won't be coming out to stay with you in Crete, I just met this cool guy from Michigan and he would love to stay with you for the next few days; eat your food, sleep on your couch...so treat him good, thanks~! :) Yea, right! We'll see. Anyway George and I had a fantastic day just hanging out, making fun of the European pouty princess', eating, having beers and of course getting lost. We ended the night having some traditional Greek apatizers (don't ask me to spell or pronounce it!) a couple of Amstel's in this awesome out door cafe' (aren't they all in greece?!) with an increadable night view of the Acropolis and Heidens Library (which reminds me I still have those Greek CD's that will be a week overdue when I return them), both of which are light up and look absolutely amazing. I was thinking to myself, "I am really here in Greece!" George and I talked about everything. The change in direction of my career, politics, philosophy, family, life, etc. We exchanged contact info and hope to hook up again soon. Maybe one of the times I go out to see Jack. After George and I called it a night I took the tube and then walked the rest of the way to my hostel, it was about 10:30pm. I stopped at the bar to say goodbye to my two favorite bartenders in Athens and ended up staying too late (1:30 am - ish), which made today a bit rough at first. I got up about 6am and scooted to the pier to jump on the ferry bringing me here to Santorini. It was funny I was "THIS" close to missing my ferry I mean really. The boat left at 7:05 am, I was supposed to be there 20 minutes early to board. My train arrived at the station at 7am on the nose. So I literally ran the half mile to the dock, which wasn't easy partly due to my pack and probably more because I was not feeling so well from the night before... So I get to the dock and ask someone in uniform where my boat was (I am speaking perfect greek now...ha ha, NOT). and have to sprint the 50 yards to my boat which has already pulled up the mooring ropes and was literally just starting to pull away from the dock. I was winded, almost ready to puke, and sweating like a hog, but I made it. I was barely able to make it to seat and push back the queasy feeling in my stomach and now my throat, but I managed. Within a couple hours and a nap I was good to go....Sooooooo here I am in beautiful Santorini. The hostel picked me up from the dock which was a huge suprise, I was planning on having to find my own transport. The hostel looks very clean and nice, much nicer than I was expecting. I put my things in a locked locker (YEA) and ran into one of my bunk mates, a young Aussie (go figure) named John. He seems nice enough.

~Craig