Day 3: Athens to Chios

9:40 PM, Greek Time
Noise: We got to sleep in somewhat until around 8:30 AM, but the noise from the construction at the next house made sure we were awake. The person next to Uncle Chris and Aunt Voula is adding on two stories to their home because his two children and their families are moving in with him.

Yaya: Josephine’s 94-year-old yaya came over while we were all having our morning coffee. Aunt Voula brought her over. Josephine had not seen her in almost 20 years. What a treat. Yaya does not speak too much English, basically none at all. So the little communication that I had with her was mainly just smiles and nodding my head. Yaya is a spunky old lady. If not for the difficulty in walking, she would be dancing up a storm with me.

Yaya and Josephine

Weak: The U.S. $ is pretty weak here. I changed $300 worth of currency which was only about 250€. So basically the $1000 that I brought with me is only worth about $750.

Chios: Uncle Chris and Aunt Voula are taking us to see the island of Chios where Josephine’s father grew up in the village of Lithi. We had to take a ferry, which was actually more the like the size of a medium-sized cruise ship, an 8-hour ride. I wanted to take some pictures of the ruins of Poseidon that you see a lot in the movies, but I was in the bathroom taking care of business, so I missed it. We “set sail” at 7:00 PM, so we will disembark at 3:00 AM in Chios. So right now as I finish writing this, we are supposed to be taking a cat nap so we are not too exhausted. By the way, the two tickets for the cruise ship cost 150€, which is a little less than $200. It’s pretty expensive considering it’s not a luxury cruise liner like the ones in the USA.

In the Ship’s First Class Lounge

Port City of Piraeus

Disgusting: From what Josephine’s sister told us, I agree that the public bathrooms in Europe are very disgusting. You are not supposed to place toilet paper in the toilet for flushing. Instead the bathrooms have a “special wastebasket” where you place your used TP. The reason, Aunt Voula, says is that the pipes are narrow so if people flush the TP, then there would be sewage blockages. So this is true, even on this ship. I will spare you the pictures of it.

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