CANADA DAY!

Friday, July 1:

Canadian pride! I wake up and put on a Canadian swimsuit, a CANADA shirt and maple leaf necklace - I am prepared to show my colours.

Our second full day on Santorini was to begin at the restaurant by the beach, called WAVES. We saw that they had crepes and would go well with the maple syrup I brought. Our instinct was correct. The crepes were tasty, and I had fresh orange juice to go with it. I left the remainder of the maple syrup with the owner of the restaurant, and he was pleasantly surprised. Afterward, we found free beach chairs on the black sand beach (free in both senses of the words - that they were empty and also did not cost anything to rent. There were more comfortable chairs nearby and those were also closer to the water that would've cost some euros.) We waded into the cold sea, and worked up the courage to take the dip. I did it first and Ashley took a while longer to immerse herself while I kept goading her. The beach is interesting because the floor isn't sand; it's, I presumed, some kind of solid lava, so it was smooth and sometimes slippery to walk on.

After the dip we rested and read in our beach chairs. It was a nice, relaxing way to spend the morning. At about 2:00 we returned to our hotel room and thought of what to do next. We kept the lazy theme going with a bit of computer usage and card games. Then we decided to go to Fera City and browse there a while. One guy wished me a Happy Canada Day, which was greatly pleasing. After dinner and sunset (marginally nicer than the one in Oia) we returned to Perissa. The Beach Bar advertised karaoke and free shots for Canadians. That turned out to be a free shot with purchase, so I decided to get a beer. I didn't volunteer myself for any singing but Ashley is a lover of karaoke. So she sang, with a group of others, Bohemian Rhapsody, and by herself sang Build Me Up Buttercup. Most of the other singers worked at the bar but there was a couple who would each sing a few songs and they were pretty decent.

Then back to the hotel and bed.


Friday, July 2:

Our boat was scheduled to leave at 11:40am, so taking into account embarkation time, the ride to the port and packing, there wouldn't be much time to do anything worthwhile. So we slept in until 9:30am. Our ride (provided for by one of the hotel owners) was to leave at 10:30 so we packed and waited until then. Once at the port, we had a quick bite to eat and waited for the boat.

It was about a four-hour ride back to Piraeus. We passed the time with cards, napping, and reading. At Piraeus, we returned to our first hotel and picked up our luggage, and from there went to the metro. Ashley got off at a different stop than I, so we said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch while in Greece. I exited at Kato Patissia and walked to Hotel Xenophon. It's a nicer hotel than anything we stayed in during our time, and I bought a temporary Internet card there. I managed a Skype conversation with my father, which was very nice to have. After that I finished reading Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two Birds (bizarre novel but enjoyaqble) and went to bed.


Sunday, July 3:

The next morning I showered, packed and took my luggage down to meet with the rest of the group, who all seem pretty nice so far. A lot of them seem to know each other, but there are a few new ones like myself as well.

At about 2:00 we packed our stuff into a rented bus and were taken to Mycenae. The bus came from a different direction than I had when Ashley and I went last year, but once in town I recognized it. I'll be sharing a hotel room with two girls: Patricia and Amanda (who gets in later today.)

It's 4:15pm now, and I don't know yet what the plan is for the day, so I'm typing up this blog post and I guess I'll wait and see.