The Wrap Up

  Monday October 3^rd.

  The plantar fasciitis is a lingering reminder of what it is like to walk on cobble stones and uneven rock for close to 3 weeks. The knee pain is a lingering reminder of the spacious seating arrangements provided by Air Transat.

 The trip to Greece had its moments and luckily they did not involve guys with machetes or falls down waterfalls.

  My last trip to Greece was a whirlwind tour by bus and cruise ship (although cruise ship might be a slight overstatement now that we know better!) with little more than 6 hours at each destination. This trip did afford a full 3 days on most of the islands- still not enough to do a thorough exploration-but enough to savour the finer details at leisure.

Yours truly in front of the Parthenon

 Coming from a country where history is measured by a few centuries and where we fight to preserve historic buildings because they are 50 years old, it is hard to wrap ones head around a country where 1500BC is really the Middle Ages. Stomping around a 3000 year old archeological site with 2,000 other tourists really misses the mark, but when you have the opportunity to experience the same sites, almost completely alone, before the mobs arrive, or after they have left, then that is a treat beyond description. Alone, one can imagine the scenes, the sounds, the smells, visualizing the place as it once had been, not a broken ruin, but, instead a vibrant magnificent city, a civilization with a social system equal to or even better than the one we know today.

 Greece today is, by all accounts, a total economic disaster. While the situation is causing turmoil on the financial markets and turning my Freedom 65 into Freedom 85 ( as my mutual funds tank!!) it is a minor blip in the grand scheme of things. This country has survived far worse over the past 5,000 years and I hardly think that the current financial disaster will register at all when historians look back in a thousand years or so.

 The Euro may not be the currency of choice by the time I make my next visit, which, I hope will happen sooner than later.

 Where my next trip will take me will probably be decided by the end of the week, when I get the final results ( success or failure) of my eye treatment. I am looking at a much delayed visit to the Dali Museum in St Petes, Florida and then maybe, just maybe, a couple of months in Portugal in Feb and March 2012. Until something else exciting happens, I guess I am signing out for a while.

  Take Care and take the time to take a trip- even if it is just to a new town nearby that you have never seen before- every great adventure starts with a small idea that blossoms into a dream that eventually becomes a reality.