News from the Interzone: My Birthday, February 2001
Well aside from a visit to the museum I was ready enough to move on from Athens, so after two days I was soon weary of the city, and decided to head north into Europe. A good decision as it turned out as by the end of the second day I was at the end of my rope. Fortunately on my last evening, February 13th, I found a friend whom I had met in Istanbul some months previously. She was studying Classics in Athens and working with epigraphy in the Agora, so we went to a lecture at her school concerning fountains and choral spaces at various Asclepia scattered around the eastern Med particularly those of Crete. Afterwards we attended a recital at the a fine concert hall called The Megaron where we heard performances of Brahms, Chopin and Rachmaninov amongst others- very nice.
In the late evening we went to a taverna to usher in my birthday at midnight, which was fine, accompanied by some bazooki music, gyros and retsina. I finally bid adieu to Athens and in the early morning set out for the airport to board my Alitalia flight. I was feeling a little strange traveling on my birthday, and it was very early in the morning, so I was a bit out of sorts when I boarded the plane. I noticed however that one of the flight attendants was staring oddly at me. What a thrill to discover that it was an old friend whom I had met in southern Turkey some years before. She kindly spoke to the cabin director and they bumped me up to First Class, providing me with snacks and drinks. I had a little time to catch up with my friend and in the meantime the flight crew snuck me a bottle of fine champagne (!). I thanked my friend- the serendipity of our reunion was a bit overwhelming- and disembarked in Milan.
Well in Milan they informed us that the Amsterdam airport was closed so a lot of the passengers were freaking out; as for me this was only a minor inconvenience and I happily danced around the terminal listening to African music whilst the others frantically worried over their lost connections, their baggage, et alios. The airline assured us they would fly us to Brussels and then send us by bus to Holland which was fine with me. Finally we boarded and flew to Belgium. Upon arrival they whisked us through customs and baggage claim (major string pulling- not an official in sight- indeed a security risk)- we were put on board a couple of buses. I had met a small group of younger travelers in our group; we were all coming from different places with different destinations- but we kind of bonded and we promptly took over the back of one bus. On the road I broke out the complimentary champagne and we had a little Valentine's Day Party in the back of the bus. This was great fun, and we agreed that in ten year's time whoever had become rich would fund a Valentine's Day Bus Reunion, complete with live music, champagne and fine hors d'oeuvres. All of this was quite exciting and unprecedented for me as I had the experience of celebrating my birthday in four countries.
Anyway a lot of things happened but I think I will split this entry over the next few days. Next, Amsterdam! Stay tuned!
Juyayay!!!!