June 2006 – My Scattered Thoughts

Paros II

Man, getting corn-on-the-cob from a stand at the beach is the bees-knees. We did that times2.

Power went out all over the island as we strolling through the twisty, turny, cavelike (12c.) streets just as we arrived at the Il Sussuro (?) Garden Restaurant. The old man brought out a lantern for us to read the menu by. It seemed like the thing to do, so we ate dinner there.

I had octopus for the first time. Chewy.

Navigating the superdark streets without light was quite an adventure. The lights didn’t come back on until we got back to the hotel.

Onward to Mykonos!

The island of Paros

{Blearily drinking coffee in a nice little internet cafe…)

We made it to the island of Paros yesterday.

Hung out at the beach all day, on Naxos, the day before that. Nice beach, but the scene was getting a little old, so we packed up and took the 45 minute ferry over to Paros.

Yesterday, got back to my home town mode of transport as we took a bus to the tiny (but unpronounceable) (dirty little) beach community of Noussa–I heard this pronounced at least four different ways.

The unfortunate thing about Paros is that you have to take a bus or a boat to any decent beaches around here. If it’s not too much, we may rent a scooter today.

Tomorrow, I think it’s off to Sifnos (a smaller island) with the hopes of getting out of the tourist trap, somewhat.

Oh yeah, and Sarah had pizza for the first time in five years! (We’ve discovered that she’s not allergic to dairy products made from sheep/goat’s milk!) Feta pizza!

Flickr photos

I’ve uploaded some photos to my flickr account. Check ’em out!

Naxos (sometimes pronounced ‘Nachos’)

Strolled along the beach tonight at sunset. The water’s so very very warm.

Poked around in the Kastro–the castle fortifications at the center of town–and S bought lots of little souvenirs. I bought a tiny metal owl for myself. I’d ruminate on the mythological whatzits of it, but my mind is full of sun.

And sand.

Captain Marcos’ Taverna!

Wow.

We had the best dinner.

After driving forever down a windy dirt-track (and scaring Sarah in the process)–I had spotted a faded, hand-painted sign while driving towards Perissa or the White/Red/Black Beaches that said (in Greek) “Captain Marcos’ Beach”–we arrived at the most beautiful and isolated beach in Santorini. I had my first swim in the Mediterranean. Whee!

After a swim, we headed back to Captain Marcos’ Taverna, where he and his wife spoke “piccolo english” and we spoke “poccolo greek”, but that was enough to get one of the best meals of my life. Some kind of fish that he caught that day, the feta cheese made from their goat eating just outside the window and fresh tomatoes from their garden beneath the window.

Captain Marcos may have scared away the Germans, but we had a wonderful time. Yum yum yum.

(Sarah had ouzo, the lush!, but I didn’t, because I was driving.)

Lots of other stuff–it was our busiest day on the island so far–but am running out of time at the internet cafe.

Tomorrow: off to Naxos! (Though I think we could easily spend a million more days at Captain Marcos’ Taverna, though we’d soon be round as houses….)

Santorini

We’ve been on Santorini for two days now.

Beautiful. Hot. It’s one giant volcano.

We drove around all day on an ATV. Wheee!

Athens at last…

We’re finally in Athens.

The Acropolis (?) is just up the street from our hotel. We just had breakfast.

As William Gibson said, in PATTERN RECOGNITION, jet-lag is like leaving your soul behind, slowly following on a tether. You only feel normal when your soul catches up to you… My soul is probably somewhere over the Mediterranean right now…

Leaving London

Well, after a day of tramping around some of my old haunts, we’re off to Greece in a few hours.

Yesterday, we went to the British Library, the British Museum and Hyde Park (among others). After 12 hours of traipsing about, we were pretty tired.

London…

Well, we made it… hot, sweaty and tired.

But we’re in London.

A new end, an old beginning

Well, what do you know? I’ve gotten myself a little old degree of Library and Information Science (Masters).

It’s hard to believe it’s been two years. And two years of defunct weblogging, too.

What better way, I thought, to start something new than to start a new weblog about it? So here it is.

I’ll be writing things in this space related to library and information related topics as well as whatever else strikes my fancy.

In the meantime, S and I are off to Greece!