Month: May 2024

On May 9th, we Ubered to LAX at noon to catch a 2:30 flight. The cats were a little distraught, but we figured they had each other. Unfortunately, they don’t like each other. That’s life. Anyway, we left plenty of time for any stafus of which there were none for once and headed to the VIP lounge. That’s one of the perks of flying Business Class, you get better chairs to nap in and free snacks. I didn’t realize there were so many VIPs. We had a hard time finding someplace to sit. But we managed and were in time to board our plane without a lot of puffing and begging people to excuse us. We each got our own cubicle complete with pillow, blanket, and water bottle. I was a little put off when the remote for the movie screen was attached by a cord (how old is this plane?) but I finally got things working after the flight attendant re-booted the system. I enjoyed my glass of sparkling wine and settled down for the twelve-hour flight to London. I stretched out and slept most of the way. It’s so nice not be exhausted by the flight. We landed at Heathrow and were met by a Viking rep–which is a good thing. Heathrow has got to be one of the screwiest airports in the world. I tried to find arrival/departure signs as we followed the rep but I couldn’t see any. We went up and down, around and through, and finally got on a shuttle to another terminal which was about 20 minutes away. I’d never have found my way to the new terminal on my own. We got on a plane and found ourselves on a Southwest type plane. We’d paid for Business and were flying economy for the three hours to Athens. I wasn’t happy. This was the second time we’d gotten on some screwy flight. But there wasn’t much I could do. At least Gordon and I had the row to ourselves. I slept for the three hours to Athens.

We went through customs and got our luggage at the Athens airport then found the Viking rep. We all had to wait because the airlines had lost the luggage of two Viking passengers. We waited for two hours. Thank God, I’d slept most of the way or I’d have gone ballistic. The couple finally got through the process of reporting their lost luggage and we got in the shuttle for the Marriott hotel. We didn’t get in until 8 in the evening, so we had dinner at the hotel (marginal) and went to bed. I don’t know why I find sitting on my butt so tiring, but I do. I wanted to be rested up for touring the next day.

We had the breakfast buffet at the hotel the next day and caught a shuttle to our tour. We stopped at the stadium built for the 1896 Olympics for pictures then drove to a government building to watch the guards do their little dance. The guide told us the soldiers were all over six feet tall and chosen for their looks. They had to parade for an hour which would have destroyed my quads. Plie, releve, up and down. The poms poms on their shoes bobbed to the choreography.

We were driven past the Hotel Bretagne, considered the nicest hotel in Athens and was commandeered by the Nazis for their headquarters in WWII. We saw the ruins of Hadrian’s’ Temple (or something). We saw lots of statues dedicated to Lord Byron. It’s an interesting city. Then we spent an hour and a half at the Acropolis Museum. We got lots of information about what we’d be seeing later on we climbed the hill. I’m glad we got the lecture. At least I understood what I was looking at when we got to the Acropolis. I thought the climb up the hill would be a lot tougher but the path wound around so it was manageable. We toured the Parthenon and various temples. I joked to the guide that I’d been to the Parthenon in Nashville, and she replied that the real thing was three times the size. I was surprised she knew about the Nashville Parthenon but I’m probably not the first tourist to mention it. The real thing is truly impressive. It’s boggling to think how the builders got all that rock up the hill–and made art from it. It’s awe-inspiring to consider how old the temple is and how well it’s stood up–especially since it was filled with ammo which blew up at some point. Athens, along with some European arts council, is paying to have it rebuilt. Good to know.

We went back to the hotel for a nap then Ubered to Plaka to meet our cruise companions, Billy and Dawn Williams, for dinner. Plaka is Old Town Athens and is picturesque. The William’s hotel was in the middle of everything and had a roof-top deck where we had a glass of wine before dinner. We shopped and had gyros. I’m glad Billy and Dawn stayed in Plaka; I might have missed it otherwise.

Next day we had our buffet breakfast and were shuttled to the ship, called the Jupiter. When we checked in the customer relations person told us we’d been upgraded. I was skeptical. We’d been screwed over on our flights and I’d lost faith in Viking. I told her I’d like to check out the room before I agreed to anything. She looked faintly taken aback but let me inspect the room. Well, I guess they were making up for our screwy flights because they upgraded us to an Explorer Cabin. We had a living room with a fireplace, a dining room. double sinks in the bathroom with a separate shower/tub room that had a TV. It had a walk-in closet with a dressing area. The deck with two lounge chairs was bigger than the cabin we had on our first Viking cruise. This is how rich people cruise. I graciously accepted the upgrade and texted Dawn: “You’re not going to believe this.” It was great. Fritzie, our housekeeper, gave us instructions on how everything worked. We got changed and met our friends at Manfredi’s, the Italian restaurant on board, for our first meal. It was a lovely day.