Today, our last day in Athens, did not start until nearly noon. I agreed with my roommate to show him around Plaka, since Jack and I had such a great handle on that part of town. We bought some more olive oil, ate some gyros, and after getting souvenirs with him, took off back for the ship. Jack and I got some internet time in, so I was able to post pictures to my MobileMe and my Facebook. For the photos, head to:
gallery.me.com/jamest4
It was a nice afternoon, but the on ship time required by our program was 6pm, so we were back early. It has been a quiet night. My general reflections from Greece are that:
The people here are nice, and they like Americans. They more like the people that the United States government, but luckily I dont represent the US government. They know how to eat, and I can appreciate that. Just about everyone here had an opinion about the economic situation they are in, but funny enough, I ran into the most people on the clock but not working very hard at all. Two of the stores I wanted to go to were closed weekends, which is when the streets were the busiest. I think the European Union is kicking themselves for letting Greece in. These people do not like to work. The poverty here has been not as prevalent as it was in other ports. My best guess is because of the unemployment benefits and the way that the Greek government takes care of its people, even if cannot afford it. No riots while we were here, and from my American values, I do not understand why they are rioting so much. I could never live and work here, but it has been one of my favorite ports to visit. Italy I enjoyed too, and I would say that I could live there. Croatia is nice to visit, but the post communist economy still concerns me in regards to every wanting to set up a residence. Every port has had its plusses and minuses. Greece plus was its friendly people and good food, the minuses consisted of the hot weather (which is not Greeces fault) and its self inflicted economic woes (and lazy capitalistic system, where business that I wanted to give my money to decided to be closed and not want to take it, not very American, but very Greek.)
