Ahhhhhhhhhh

Didn't catch the bus...seems I really suck at flagging them down. So no Sounio today :(. I will have to save that for my next trip...I've already established that, as well as going to the islands, my next trip to greece will involve renting a car and driving into the mountains, and along the coast.
On a positive note, I met a girl from Berlin in the sitting room of the hostel. Small world!

Waiting

I made it to Delphi just fine after all. I took a taxi to the bus station, as I am always running a little late and I didn't want to chance missing the bus. The guy at the hostel told me it would cost about six euro, but since Athenian cab drivers are horribly corrupt, it cost nine. The bus ride was exceptionally beautiful. It started off looking just like any highway anywhere in the world, but then we drove into the mountains. I'd really like to rent a car some day and drive through there again. That's the thing about travelling...you always find places you'd like to see again in more detail.
I'm actually glad I went to Delphi alone. I could take my time at the site and experience it in my own way. Sitting by the temple of Apollo was almost a religious experience for me; I had an epiphany that everything is alright in my life. I finished the site and museum just in time for closing, with an hour to spare before taking the bus back to Athens. I spent it in a little cafe with a very friendly owner drinking Greek coffee and checking facebook.
I got back to Athens and took the city bus back with some Dutch girls that are on an exchange here. I didn't know that you couldn't buy a ticket on the bus, so I rode schwartz, as we say in Germany, but luckily they check tickets on buses and trams about as much as in Berlin (almost never.)

Today I checked out the Monastiraki flea market, which was one of the best flea markets I've been to in the world. Even though it's in every guidebook on Athens in the world, i saw surprisingly few tourists and didn't hear any English. I bought a small hand mirror. If I lived in Athens or had any way of transporting things back home, I could have furnished my entire apartment with things I found there. Top things that I longed to bring home with me but couldn't included a BEAUTIFUL carved wood screen, and a side table with inlaid wood. Next I headed to the shop of the "poet sandal maker," which I'd read about. This guy is a famous Greek poet, but he also makes sandals, and has sold sandals to Sophia Loren, Paul McCartney and Jackie O. He's also been written up in pretty much every fashion magazine in the world. I had to have a pair, and at 27 euro the didn't make me broke.
I plan to head over to Sounio this afternoon. I somehow managed to miss my last bus, even though I was there, so I'm waiting to take the next one (the stop is just outside the hostel.). It's only an hour and a half to get there and the last bus is at 6, so I should be ok.

Athens, baby!

I'm in Athens! I've been here a couple of days already and I'm having a blast! The first couple of days were rainy but now it's very sunny, and the air smells like ocean and orange blossoms. My first day I checked into the hostel and wandered around the plaka a bit, then I went back and met the three French girls that were staying in my room. On Wednesday we walked through the acropolis together then spent the rest of the day shopping in tourist-trap plaka, which was awesome because I bought some funky sandals and a Greek peasant blouse. That night we went to a greasy spoon that really reminds me of Dancing Zorbas in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It's run by a family and the woman is a typical Greek mom. It doesn't look like much inside, but they are so friendly and the food is amazing. So far, I've eaten there every night since then.
Yesterday, I was going to go on a tour to nafplio that was organized by the hostel, but it was canceled. There were also transit strikes, so I couldn't get there myself. Instead, I went with the French girls up this hill that has a chapel, and you can see the whole city. I walked down alone because it was so beautiful, and I loved to see the olive trees, aloe plants, sage and Rosemary growing wild. We met up for dinner again and then went for drinks in keramikos, which is super trendy. There was a duo playing covers of Greek pop songs, which was followed by a drag show. Wonderfully bizarre! I swear too, I've learned more French than Greek this trip! I'm motivated to try to totally relearn back in Berlin. It was a new years resolution anyway.
Today, I went to the agora with another French guy. My camera died early on...I think it's broken...but he kindly offered to send me photos. After we walked quite a distance to the archaeological museum, and it was totally worth it. It houses all the artifacts that come from the sites you visit in Athens as well as the rest of Greece..,at least, all the artifacts that weren't plundered over the years.
My tour to Delphi tomorrow has been cancelled, so I'm going to try to go on my own...,wish me luck!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

I'm going to Athens Tomorrow! Can't wait! I'm mostly packed and I got all my other stuff done so I'm pretty much set to go. Now all I have to do is get to sleep (easier said than done.) Luckily, my flight isn't too early tomorrow.

The cucumber and tomato seeds that I planted last week are sprouting already. Hopefully they do ok while I'm gone. At this stage when they're in the greenhouse flats I have they don't need so much water luckily.

Flower Power

Despite being in an exceptionally bad mood today, I've managed to chill out through the power of singing and planting seeds. I did a round of planting mid-February with semi-disappointing results. I think it was slightly too cool and too dark (even inside) for success. Still, I got a few tomato plants, basil plants and bell peppers out of the effort. I think the lettuce was still too dark and cool (and might do better just straight in the ground and not in peat pots), and the cucumbers and parsley were bad seeds (because they failed to grow anything last year either.) I bought new parsley and cucumber seeds and got together all the chili peppers that I'd ordered from the UK and got to work.
I planted:
-new tomatoes (I didn't get as many as I'd hoped so far, and also I don't like the variety I planted before so far. I know they're just seedlings, but they seem kind of wussy, so I bought the same ones I did last year instead.)
-thai dragon peppers
-jalepeno peppers
-scotch bonnet peppers (aka insanity peppers)
-purple tiger peppers (might plant more of these because they're beautiful looking plants as well. I like their leaves a lot)
-parsley
-cucumbers
-strawberries (I failed to water the last ones I'd planted, they didn't grow)
-pansies
-sweet williams
-some flower I planted last year that I really liked. I don't know what it's called in English.

I'll try the lettuce again when it's a bit warmer outside straight in their containers. It seems to come up really quickly anyway. I also want to do sweet peas and I have scarlet runners, but I think those will work better if I just plant them directly where they're supposed to go.