Up in Ontario

Athens

As may become the norm, the Duck has a far better update of our travels on the stylish So Misguided blog. Me, I've been updating the world one email at a time and keeping myself in touch with the world.

From Athens, a few thoughts on how the world is small and huge at once:

• the Greeks, judging only from what I've heard in and passing by shops today, have great enthusiam for American-styled hard rock of about 10 years ago. The Cult, Billy Idol, Nirvana have each sounded odd to me already today though they have been the only music I remember hearing.

• To wit: some mediocre but popular rap-metal song came on here in the Internet cafe and the guy at the terminal next to me sings along to the opening words, bobbing his head. He's into it.

• In style, a mulletesque haircut fields a large following over here: the top is shortish, the sides shaved and the back carrying some length, frequently frosted with some blonde highlights (business in the front, party in the back!). An sign of the influence of football and its players, perhaps?

• Most of the men's t-shirts in shop windows are made by a French company (Diesel) and feature the names of American towns, colleges and cultural touchstones. I believe they're actually constructed (sewn, silkscreened, finished) in Turkey.

• Wow, there are men's t-shirts, a particularly American piece of apparel that originated as undershirts and became casual streetwear with Marlon Brando's famous biceps in A Streetcar Named Desire.

• It's over 30 celcius and I may be the only person wearing shorts who is not engaged in exercise - what gives? I love shorts. I'd wear them all the time if I could. Hasn't anyone else figures out that it's cooler to wear shorts than pants?

• Greek women certainly have figured out that wearing less in the heat is, um, advantageous.

• If you're not a smoker and you don't like to smell like the business end of a serious nicotine habit, restaurants and cafes with air conditioning (read: without the windows open wide) suck since smoking has some serious fans here.

On air quality, every night before bed I notice I have a mild sore throat and congestion. I didn't think too much of this the first night in London, or the second, but the third I happened to be reading a little more about the city and came across a warning to bring lozenges with you when you visited to combat the ground-level smog. Last night, our first in Athens, I noticed the same symptoms. Beautiful cities, not so nice to the body.

This afternoon we're off to Athens' National Archaeological Museum to view the local antiquities.

London

Over at So Misguided the Duck has a full rubdown of our adventures in London thus far.

Today we toured as tourists do, on the top of a double-decker bus, tour guide blaring on the microphone, our heads swivelling from side to side as we passed through the narrow streets. The city is like a Disneyworld of monuments, statues and memorials. Everywhere you look something is old and noteworthy. So much in such a small place.

Tomorrow we're off to more museums, perhaps a gallery or two, and more places that places in North America are named after. We're staying at the Victory Services Club, a lovely building in Marble Arch where they used to hang the criminals up until about a hundred years ago. A plaque to the Tyburn Tree sits in the cobbles around the corner from our door. 28 criminals could be hung at one time.

When they hung they didn't die immediately, the rope didn't break their necks, and they could be left gurgling and suffocating for up to an hour before expiring. Family and friends were invited to come to their execution to grab onto them and shorten their misery, hence the phrase, pulling your leg. Somehow the meaning's changed.

If we're lucky there'll be Moore, Roger Moore, later.

Across the Pond

Despite the minimal posting to the Up in Ontario blog these past few weeks, I thought I'd throw one quick update up, saying, uh, that I won't be posting much over the next 5 weeks.

The Duck and I are off to jolly old London for a few days, then on to Athens, the island of Santorini in the Aegean, then a sailing trip with SeaScape Sailing for two weeks, just like these folks who wrote a story about their Greek sailing adventure. We land in Marmaris, Turkey and have a week to travel and see Istanbul before we fly home. We'll be back for Thanksgiving, so anyone out there roasting a turkey, we'll be ready to accept dinner invitations, if you're inviting. We'll bring a bottle of wine, stories and too many photos.