athens

I don't know why I didn't blog from Athens. It would be tempting to say I was too busy, but that would be a flagrant lie.

The trip was basically a junket, since I had nothing to present. That said, I enjoyed the discussions, pressed the flesh, almost (I think) got sounded out about a job, and generally had a pretty good week. There was a little time for tourism on a couple of afternoons, and plenty of evenings spent in restaurants eating the usual dishes: greek salads, dolmades, tzatziki, taramasalata, moussaka, etc, all accompanied by adequate quantities of beer, greek wine, and even an ouzo on one occasion.

The trips to and from were pretty forgettable. The plane in both directions was old and full of greek high-schoolers too excited for their own good. (Incidentally, the mullet haircut is alive and well and living in Greece). My train on the way there was cancelled and I had to schlepp through Paris and dodge RER maintenance. On the way back, I discovered that watching DVDs is a good way to cut down boredom on long hauls, but that I probably need a second battery for my iBook if I want to do it properly.