Church of Lamb...

Tips for travel:

-Don't travel with any other assholes than your own.
-Always bring some cash changed into the currency you will be using.
-Find out who snores, group them with other snorers.
-Speak up. If there's something you want to do, make sure it's clear.
-Understand that you're traveling, expect to pay a little more than usual for everything.
-Pack light. Lugging around huge bags isn't fun.
-Are you on vacation or on tour? Clarify before you leave.
-Take it easy, drink a lot of water, eat veggies.
-Bring a mini alarm clock and use it.
-Log your expenses
-Consult guidebooks by all means, but eat and drink where the locals do.

Getting older has meant, well, embracing age. And embracing my own particular tastes; especially when it comes to travel and personal rules of travel. One of my personal rules of travel is that I don't listen to guidebooks at all for restaurant recommendations. And yet on our first night in Athens, I found myself tripping across Monostiraki (where the Acropolis is) with our group, headed towards a restaurant 'famed' for its lamb chops. To the dismay of our "leader" (and my secret delight) the restaurant was closed. We floundered about for a bit until we found a bar with a group of really amazing locals outside.

One of the most luxurious things about traveling and the thing that we, as Americans, have come to take for granted, is how prevalent English has become world-wide. Cutely, one of the women outside the bar, when she found out we were starving, pointed left, leaned forward and said, "Go that way, about 600 meters, and you'll see a church. There is a restaurant in the courtyard of the church."

Whaaa??

Ok lady. We followed her directions up a suspiciously dark and leafy cobblestoned street, getting more and more wary by the moment, until we came across a well lit and pristine stone church and lo and behold...

Yes, there is a restaurant in the courtyard of the church. Run by an efficient and sort of owlish head waiter. But the air is thick with the smells of meat, clinking silverware and the redolence of the greenery surrounding the diners. Another really cool aspect of Mediterranean countries? How easily they accomodate large parties. When you walk into a restaurant in the Bay Area with more than 4 people, you can get a whole "deer-in-the-headlights" thing going. You walk into a Greek restaurant with 8 people and they go, "Oh, sure" and they're set up in thirty seconds flat.

Here we walked into a quietly lucious taverna filled with families, couples, business groups and locals. And the delicious smell of an open fire grill. Everywhere we looked, the tables were chock full of wonderful looking, simply plated and abundant food. And we couldn't wait to get down to business and order some. Thankfully, the menu - while basic was also translated into one line and in some case one word, English items. This was truly Greece at it's finest.

We managed to order a roughly chopped and well flavored Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and feta (a staple on this trip), an order of sauteed greens (we never quite found out what it was, but it was akin to watercress or spinach), savory and quite...soft sausage - which was a trend here, with fries and then the MAIN EVENT. 2 KILOS of lamb. Yes, that's right. This restaurant served grilled lamb chops and shoulders by the KILO. The boys were quite tickled and took it upon themselves to order 2 kilos of the most delicious, fresh, simply grilled (pepper, salt, a little rosemary) and lemon halves served on the side.
(the picture is from our subsequent last night visit where we, in true American fashion, ordered 3 kilos to stuff ourselves with alongside our bottle of Syrah laced Nemean wine) All of this was served alongside delicious grilled fresh bread.

I'm giving all of you guys an amazing secret of Athens; the Church of Lamb (or Ayios Athanasaious) is a little off the beaten path, but for kilos of grilled lamb at a wonderful price -take this one to heart. What an amazing way to be welcomed to Greece, where during 9 days we also feasted on: grilled fish, octopus, seafood filled pasta, baklava, skewers of chicken and souvlaki (meatballs), delicious fresh yogurt and tons, TONS of gyros. Tomorrow, I'll break down the anatomy of the gyro for you.

Yum. efhairisto.

Yas sas!

From Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door:

Globe-trotting destroys ethnocentricity. It helps you to understand and appreciate different cultures. Regrettably, there are forces in our socity that want you dumbed down for their convenience. Don't let it happen. Thoughtful travel engages you with the world- more important than ever thsese days. Travel chnages people. It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life. Rather than fear the diversity on this planet, travelers celebrate it . Many travelers toss aside their hometown blinders. Their prized souvenirs are the strands of different cultures they decide to knit into their own character. The world is a cultural yarn shop and Back Door Travelers are weaving the ultimate tapestry. Join in!

I'm just back from the Aegean...enjoy this photo, it's good to be back.

*****
From GalaDarling: The Art of Nonconformity and HOW TO BE AWESOME! (cause you know, that should be your goal, like, everyday)

Emo Penny lives!

Today a client actually said to me , "You've made so much work for me to do next week."

Blame is the easiest game to play for some people in the world. It's so easy for them to put responsibility on others instead of themselves. Do I feel mad or upset? Not really, my client is also trying to organize her wedding next week. She's so stressed out, she almost cried. Do I feel guilty? Not at all. This Sunday I leave for my first real vacation in two years. I didn't plan these two events intentionally, it just happened to be when everyone else in my group was going. But the collision has potential to be traumatic.

What I didn't remind my client was that she was the one who wanted a business. She has set up her own business model with little room for flexibility or horizontal mobility. Her worth is determined by how much she micro-manages everyone else. I warned her, nearly two months ago, that I was leaving on vacation; her preparation for this time has been poor. For a minute I thought she actually wanted me to cancel my vacation; but in reality, she wanted someone to lay her stress on. In the past, it would have been easy to bear other's guilt. These days, to take care of the soul, others can just take their own stuff, I don't need it.

It's hard to not let things like this get to you. Mistakes hit me particularly hard; failure means something much deeper than just not achieving a specific goal - they mean that I'm a bad person. My current frustrations come from the fact that my personal expectations for the quality of my work means a lot. Maybe forgiving others also includes forgiving yourself for any sort of shortcomings.

I had dinner recently with my executive producer who told me, "Don't try to think of a specific job that you'd want to do. Think of the things you like to do - what makes you get up in the morning and then go from there."

So what makes you get up in the morning? What motivates you? Moves you? Scares you or defeats you?

Oh..and my computer is broken. Not cool. Instead, I have to think like a 16 year old again...one who is insanely talented maybe, but still a 16 year old. :)