Arrival in Mediterraneao!
Day 3
Wandering along the sea – sun reflecting off the waves up and down amid the Greeks. Mediterranean toughs! Like Tel Aviv just ancient, same brown skin, same tough warmness, same shoe stores and little dresses. OH MY GOD is the food amazing. Found an authentic spot, recommended by the pharmacist who sold me the Greek almond skin crème for a sampler of grilled sardines, fresh green thistle, fava paste, baked feta, dolma in olive oil. White table clothes, terrace, white wine, pigeons...! They put the plate together for me, then free desserts of strawberries, crème, and sweet honey and ginger cakes. I was babbling to myself the entire meal, saying “oh my god, oh my god this food is so amazing” then passed out at 9pm to the sound of vespas tooting. Its grey this a.m., Isaac comes in minutes!!!!
Day 2
Vienna Airport is a fucking dump. My buns are freezing on a bright yellow metal row of chairs, I’m in an encased glass pen waiting for my plane. The bathrooms suck with those weird toilets that have the shelves in them, the halls are crowded, it’s a mini Berlin-Tiegl, an equally yellow and ugly experience.
Austrian Airlines, however, a positively groovy experience. Festive green and red color scheme, delicious jams and warm rolls. Gorgeous stewardesses but sadly they are forced to wear red skirts, red tights AND red shoes. But they are so nice and accommodating, I had to work overtime to ease the rudeness of my savage Israeli fellow travelers. Saying extra pleases, thank yous and excuse mes. The sabras don’t mean nothing, they just have terrible manners and are terribly rude. I think that just as the Chinese prepare for Beijing Olympics 2008 and are being taught not to spit on the sidewalk because its “its not done in the West” Israelis desperately need to be trained to be polite so the whole world doesn’t hate them. They do learn. The large, camel-like man sitting next to me (really, he looked like a beautiful camel with a curved face and dark curved lashes) said “excuse me” the tenth time he reached over me, so I rewarded him with a smile.
I am starting to get the whole travel groove going. Is it worth it to fly Alitalia, a glorified Italian Greyhound in order to hit Milan on a layover for gelato and sunglasses? Or fly in comfort – Lufthansa or Austrian Air then suffer in smoke filled weinershnitzel cafes being ogled by ogres? Not like I have money to spend, but its no fun browsing Mozart marzipan. Much more fun to try on 300 pairs of sunglasses and look at hot Italian guys.
Greece – the next leg of the journey. I really need a pedicure and to find some skin lotion. I’d like to walk so much today my legs get tired. Isaac comes tomorrow, so they’ve given the artists’ girlfriend the single room to herself tonight (with breakfast) and then I will be moved to the double room. This means I’m flying solo in the port city of Salonika… to spend an evening with myself sipping ouzo and puzzling through a menu or whatever else I may be able to read. I’ve torn through my two books, “Fortress of Solitude” (amazing left it for Enia, Etai should read it too) and almost done “Petropolis” which I’m LOVING. A pretty hilarious and sad chubby Siberian Jewess experiences escaping her village as a mail order bride and looking for her father in Amerikia. Will I find English books in Greece? The only Greek book I’ve read is “Middlesex,” does Eugenides make the Greeks proud, or ashamed?
I took a taxi this morning at 4am, Enia and Milo her green-eyed mutt joined me on the sidewalk to wait for the shuttle. There was a young couple sitting behind me that I only really noticed until the girl got up so we could pull over so she could puke her brains out. I offered her mints and then we realized we knew each other – of course, Jerusalem is so small.
I worked with her at the Cinematheque in Jerusalem… it is like clockwork. Every time I get to Israel, within 24 hours something or someone reminds me.
Boarding for Greece!! Still don’t know if its officially “Thessaloniki” or “Salonika”
We’ll see when I arrive! Oohh! New country!!!
Wandering along the sea – sun reflecting off the waves up and down amid the Greeks. Mediterranean toughs! Like Tel Aviv just ancient, same brown skin, same tough warmness, same shoe stores and little dresses. OH MY GOD is the food amazing. Found an authentic spot, recommended by the pharmacist who sold me the Greek almond skin crème for a sampler of grilled sardines, fresh green thistle, fava paste, baked feta, dolma in olive oil. White table clothes, terrace, white wine, pigeons...! They put the plate together for me, then free desserts of strawberries, crème, and sweet honey and ginger cakes. I was babbling to myself the entire meal, saying “oh my god, oh my god this food is so amazing” then passed out at 9pm to the sound of vespas tooting. Its grey this a.m., Isaac comes in minutes!!!!
Day 2
Vienna Airport is a fucking dump. My buns are freezing on a bright yellow metal row of chairs, I’m in an encased glass pen waiting for my plane. The bathrooms suck with those weird toilets that have the shelves in them, the halls are crowded, it’s a mini Berlin-Tiegl, an equally yellow and ugly experience.
Austrian Airlines, however, a positively groovy experience. Festive green and red color scheme, delicious jams and warm rolls. Gorgeous stewardesses but sadly they are forced to wear red skirts, red tights AND red shoes. But they are so nice and accommodating, I had to work overtime to ease the rudeness of my savage Israeli fellow travelers. Saying extra pleases, thank yous and excuse mes. The sabras don’t mean nothing, they just have terrible manners and are terribly rude. I think that just as the Chinese prepare for Beijing Olympics 2008 and are being taught not to spit on the sidewalk because its “its not done in the West” Israelis desperately need to be trained to be polite so the whole world doesn’t hate them. They do learn. The large, camel-like man sitting next to me (really, he looked like a beautiful camel with a curved face and dark curved lashes) said “excuse me” the tenth time he reached over me, so I rewarded him with a smile.
I am starting to get the whole travel groove going. Is it worth it to fly Alitalia, a glorified Italian Greyhound in order to hit Milan on a layover for gelato and sunglasses? Or fly in comfort – Lufthansa or Austrian Air then suffer in smoke filled weinershnitzel cafes being ogled by ogres? Not like I have money to spend, but its no fun browsing Mozart marzipan. Much more fun to try on 300 pairs of sunglasses and look at hot Italian guys.
Greece – the next leg of the journey. I really need a pedicure and to find some skin lotion. I’d like to walk so much today my legs get tired. Isaac comes tomorrow, so they’ve given the artists’ girlfriend the single room to herself tonight (with breakfast) and then I will be moved to the double room. This means I’m flying solo in the port city of Salonika… to spend an evening with myself sipping ouzo and puzzling through a menu or whatever else I may be able to read. I’ve torn through my two books, “Fortress of Solitude” (amazing left it for Enia, Etai should read it too) and almost done “Petropolis” which I’m LOVING. A pretty hilarious and sad chubby Siberian Jewess experiences escaping her village as a mail order bride and looking for her father in Amerikia. Will I find English books in Greece? The only Greek book I’ve read is “Middlesex,” does Eugenides make the Greeks proud, or ashamed?
I took a taxi this morning at 4am, Enia and Milo her green-eyed mutt joined me on the sidewalk to wait for the shuttle. There was a young couple sitting behind me that I only really noticed until the girl got up so we could pull over so she could puke her brains out. I offered her mints and then we realized we knew each other – of course, Jerusalem is so small.
I worked with her at the Cinematheque in Jerusalem… it is like clockwork. Every time I get to Israel, within 24 hours something or someone reminds me.
Boarding for Greece!! Still don’t know if its officially “Thessaloniki” or “Salonika”
We’ll see when I arrive! Oohh! New country!!!
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