DAY 62

Sunday 11 September 2011

The 10^th anniversary of 9/11was probably all over the media back home, but on the road not even Charles the news junkie checked in very often. It just didn't seem important to our everyday concerns,which were on a more personal than global level. However we did have the date and the tragedy it marked in our hearts.

Lambda Pi, or 'LP'

We awoke to see Paralio Astros beach/port in the morning light, and though we took a dip in the sea none of us thought we needed to stay, so we headed off to Athens to take care of business: check on our ferry ticket to Ikaria for the next morning, find a big electronics store for needed parts, and if possible take in the National Archeological Museum, one of Charles’ fave world museums.

Keeping cool in the ferry waiting room

But fate intervened. When we stopped for gas we noticed some leakage, and found a hole in a fuel injection pipe. No mechanic at the gas station so we called Sebastian, and he analyzed the situation, down to telling Charles he had a #17 wrench in his hand (correct!). "It's not dangerous" said Sebastian and he offered to send the right parts to our friend's island – what a guy. He’d been pretty amazing the whole time, making the best for us of our bad situation.

So we drove to Piraeus, the port of Athens, and found there was no central building for ferry information, no central anything, we couldn’t even find our ferry company. For such a huge operation, with giant car ferries coming and going from nine piers, you’d think it would be more manageable for the individual. It was very hard to find a web site for each company, and then no departure info or even addresses. When Charles inquired in the port police office, they directed him to a travel agent.

Making a phone call home with the computer on a sidewalk

It was steaming hot. We found an air-conditioned waiting room and camped out there, then Charles went exploring. He eventually found the building that housed our ferry company only to be told the reservation we thought we had was not in the computers. So we made a new reservation, found out which pier and what time. Good thing we didn’t wait till the next morning to try to do all that. We also decided sticking close by was a good idea, so had no electronics and no time to go to the museum, and lots of down time just trying to stay hydrated. Charles brought back sandwiches and frosty drinks, so that helped.

After too many hours we gave ourselves a nice, smallish dinner out, called Dian’s parents through the computer, and retired.