It's All Greek To Me
I made that particular joke within about 10 minutes of landing in Athens in reference to the metro timetable. Someone had to. And I don't mind telling you I laughed long and hard about it.
Greece was great. The conference was ok. The organisation was pretty bad but not awful. My presentation went well, in spite of a fairly intimidating set of circumstances including speaking in this HUGE theatre...
AND being introduced as 'Professor' despite barely being able to see over the lectern. Once that nastiness was out of the way I could enjoy the rest of the lectures. Most of them were boring as hell. A few were REALLY interesting and if you're VERY lucky I'll do a post about them. It may not sound that exciting but one of them discussed how other women's breasts might be able to enhance the female libido. Not exactly what I was expecting I'll be honest.
Also had a bit of free time to eat, drink coffee, eat, drink, eat ice-cream, drink and, of course, check out the Acropolis and other ancient things.
The vet 'kissing the guns' at the Acropolis...
Unobstructed view of the Acropolis...
More ruins...
Goddess of sports apparel - Nike...
Look at the sky! It was SO blue and SOOO hot out there! Bristol is soaking wet, dark and foggy.
The flight both ways was really pretty good actually (dogga - it was a 767). On the way out me and the vet bagged exit seats with all the leg-room in the world. We had some perfectly acceptable pasta and a tiny bottle of red wine. As a slightly mental claustrophobic I actual found the whole thing not too bad at all. I don't mind flying. In fact I love flying, I just can't stand planes - being all crammed in with loads of other people. I know it's crazy but I just absolutely hate it and I wouldn't feel any different if it never left the ground. Loony. Mad as a bag of spiders.
Speaking of being mad...there was a small incident at passport control involving a group of Ukrainians with documentation issues. They basically tried to queue jump which pissed off a lot of people. So the Greek passport man divided the queue into Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians. Which was fine. But then after checking just two passports he stopped our queue to deal with them even though a Greek passport girl was already dealing with them. So a couple ran forward from the back to shout. My Argentinean boss shouted and I shouted a bit too. So then the Greek passport guy gave in but started by serving the couple that had RUN FORWARD FROM BEHIND US. The crowd went wild. We'd been stood there for nearly half an hour not moving while they faffed about and now they were serving them first!!! I yelled something about not being Ukrainian and my Argentinean boss, not holding back, called them 'f**king assholes'. The guy just shrugged so again he yelled 'get back get back f**king assholes, f**king assholes, you are a f**king asshole'. It was great. Didn't help though. They still got served first.
Greece was great. The conference was ok. The organisation was pretty bad but not awful. My presentation went well, in spite of a fairly intimidating set of circumstances including speaking in this HUGE theatre...
AND being introduced as 'Professor' despite barely being able to see over the lectern. Once that nastiness was out of the way I could enjoy the rest of the lectures. Most of them were boring as hell. A few were REALLY interesting and if you're VERY lucky I'll do a post about them. It may not sound that exciting but one of them discussed how other women's breasts might be able to enhance the female libido. Not exactly what I was expecting I'll be honest.
Also had a bit of free time to eat, drink coffee, eat, drink, eat ice-cream, drink and, of course, check out the Acropolis and other ancient things.
The vet 'kissing the guns' at the Acropolis...
Unobstructed view of the Acropolis...
More ruins...
Goddess of sports apparel - Nike...
Look at the sky! It was SO blue and SOOO hot out there! Bristol is soaking wet, dark and foggy.
The flight both ways was really pretty good actually (dogga - it was a 767). On the way out me and the vet bagged exit seats with all the leg-room in the world. We had some perfectly acceptable pasta and a tiny bottle of red wine. As a slightly mental claustrophobic I actual found the whole thing not too bad at all. I don't mind flying. In fact I love flying, I just can't stand planes - being all crammed in with loads of other people. I know it's crazy but I just absolutely hate it and I wouldn't feel any different if it never left the ground. Loony. Mad as a bag of spiders.
Speaking of being mad...there was a small incident at passport control involving a group of Ukrainians with documentation issues. They basically tried to queue jump which pissed off a lot of people. So the Greek passport man divided the queue into Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians. Which was fine. But then after checking just two passports he stopped our queue to deal with them even though a Greek passport girl was already dealing with them. So a couple ran forward from the back to shout. My Argentinean boss shouted and I shouted a bit too. So then the Greek passport guy gave in but started by serving the couple that had RUN FORWARD FROM BEHIND US. The crowd went wild. We'd been stood there for nearly half an hour not moving while they faffed about and now they were serving them first!!! I yelled something about not being Ukrainian and my Argentinean boss, not holding back, called them 'f**king assholes'. The guy just shrugged so again he yelled 'get back get back f**king assholes, f**king assholes, you are a f**king asshole'. It was great. Didn't help though. They still got served first.
posted by karen at 11:00 PM
7 Comments:
Your post made me laugh, so good to have ya back!
Love the pictures, and yes, please post about your lectures. I love being able to geek out on knowledge.
Does going through customs/airport every go smoothly? People butting in line, or problems with paperwork, never fails. Last time I flew home, it was from Vancouver to Detroit, and then I was driving across the boarder. Well, the US customs people didn't understand why, and I was held back while they questioned me, and almost missed the plane, argh. I probabaly would have yelled too :)
It is so good to have you back again. Do you know how much we missed you?
I would have been horrified if I had to give a presentation at such a huge hall, magnificent though it may be. Great photos btw!
And your new template is very nice - much better than the pink.
Yes I like the template too.
What was the vibe like to stand next to such history?
Customs sounds like a terrible place then again it sounds like any burocratic red tape Govt place...'cept here they don't swear as much. Waiting for my drivers license eye test the other day. Two hour wait minimum. Over 120 people waiting at a time and only 20 chairs. Take a number please, we will start the music and when the music stops grab a chair...
Whoa, that conference looks scary! I would have pooped myself getting up there professor :]
The pics are great! I was in Corfu ealier this year, as you know, but there were no ancient sites like that!
Ah, a Boeing 767! Cheers Kees - That's what I went to Greece and back on.
Check out Corfu's runway though!
http://www.hcaa-eleng.gr/kerk.htm
I would have hit the roof if someone had queue jumped near me. Sounds like some just abuse was shouted anyhow! :[]
Congrats to you for getting up there in front of all those people. I'm so impressed!
Those pictures were absolutely amazing! If I had been there, I would've simply stood back and cried! My God.
Your customs/passport story was hilarious :) So glad you are back Kees!
Well, hello there professor. That's a nice introduction. Lovely pictures ... makes me wish I was traveling.
Geek post coming soon Allison, special for you.
Missed you kids too Barb! Hahaha! I liked the pink but then I know your feelings on pink :)
Yeah Athens was amazing, all very spooky being near such ancient stuff. Very cool.
WOW! Corfu runway is a bit 'special' isn't it Dogga! I bet that's exciting to land on.
Glad to be back too Mel :)
Yeah I like travelling Will, whenever I go I wonder why I don't do it more (then I get to passport contorol and remember)
Yep indeed Ben, you can get pretty close, apparetnly they tarted it up a substantial amount for the olympics.
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