Random Thoughts from Athens

1) Having a taxi driver who, on the way from the airport to my hotel, swerved from lane to lane on the freeway, raced down narrow alleys, and honked at people upwards of a dozen times was strangely reassuring. I guess he fit the stereotype I expected. (He had plenty of arm hair, too. And he was very friendly.)

2) If you're ever at the Marriott in Athens and have about 2.5 hours before you have to speak at a conference at the hotel, you've got plenty of time to walk up to the Acropolis and look around for a while. If you walk fast.

3) If you're going to be climbing marble steps, it's a good idea to wear shoes with at least a little bit of traction.

4) A lot of people seem more interested in taking pictures of themselves contributing to the slow erosion of monuments than they do in preserving monuments. (It was amazing to me how many people ignored the multi-lingual signs and repeated warnings of archaeological staff to stay off various parts of the Acropolis.) I guess their thinking is that at least when the monuments are gone, humankind will be able to remember them thanks to the roughly zillion digital pictures of people standing/sitting/spitting/whatevering on those monuments while flashing grins/grimaces/victory signs to emphasize their triumphant being-in-the-same-placeness with those monuments. (Ok, I take pictures of myself or other people with cool things, too, but I usually try my best not to contribute to the destruction of those things.)

5) Athens is a mess in many ways. Bad streets. Worse sidewalks. Crazy drivers. Architecturally and culturally more chaotic than London. But there is far less litter in Athens. Almost none. Which makes a big difference. (Maybe it's just the neighborhood I'm in.)