So all the worrying about the Lufthansa strike was pretty much for nothing. The planes left pretty close to their scheduled departure times. The trip from Frankfurt to Athens was a little tense for a bit. The time to embark passed and there was no plane on the tarmac. Eventually they bused us around the airport, past the cargo planes onto the runway at the back and we boarded from there. The one good thing is that it was close to the runway so no taxiing to get going! Once in the air all was normal (except for the really, really big woman sitting next to me).
I met up with Carla in the airport in Athens. What a relief to finally be here! We hopped into a taxi and blabbled non-stop all the way to the hotel. She did very well at Rescue 2008. She won 2 golds, 3 silvers & 1 bronze medal. Way to go Carla!
We quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed to the pool area. We grabbed our 1st vacation drink – Mai Tai and celebrated. The pool water was warm. The air temperature just perfect. The pool area is done in tile and marble. It is all so beautiful.
Tonight we are heading out for a dinner tour of Athens. That should be amazing.
So far it’s been easy enough. Most people here speak English. Certainly at both airports there are English signs and all the personnel speak English. Everyone has been very friendly. I asked the bartender at the pool today if it is customary to tip in Greece. He said it was. I asked how much – 10%-15% and he replied 8%-10%. Nice of him to be honest about what they expect.
I’m still happy that I did carry-on only. I’ll probably check the luggage in on the way home but at least I had no worries about the ground crew getting behind.
I haven’t slept since I left. I’ve lost track of Ottawa time already (helps that I didn’t bring any timepieces with me). I’m hungry for dinner and it’s dinner time here so I think the jet lag missed me. I’m sure it will find me on the way home.
My flight to Greece leaves in a few hours. The strike seems to not have impacted the actual flights.
The catering staff is on strike so I may not get any food on the flight. I’ll bring a little something just in case. The first part of the trip is Air Canada/Lufthansa so I’m hoping that means it will be fine.
I fly into Frankfurt, Germany and take a connection to Athens, Greece. The connecting flight is Lufthansa. I’m concerned about my luggage since it’s the ground crew that is on strike. I have had my luggage late or lost and that’s at the best of times. Hoping it makes it on 2 flights is a little stressful.
I’ve decided to pack everything for the 11 days into 1 small pack sack and a carry on so I don’t have to worry about a checked bag. It’s hot in Greece so everything is light and short. I’m wearing my only cool weather clothes on the plane – long pants, shirt, light fleece. I’ll just have to shop if I am missing something.
Carla is already in Germany. She is worried about the strike as well. So far all the flights seem to be going. Here’s hoping by the time I land in Germany tomorrow that my connecting flight is still OK.
I just want to be there already!
With all that’s been going on in the kitchen I haven’t written yet about our new solar heating for the pool.
We now have panels on our house roof that connect to our pool pump. An automatic sensor opens & closes the valves to control the water temperature. As soon as the water on the roof is hot enough it pumps it to the pool. It then shuts down automatically if the roof water is cooler than needed or the pool reaches the desired temperature.
We don’t have the electric hookup yet but we are able to run it by using an extension cord. Dave plugged it in when the sun came out. Within minutes the water coming out was hot. The pool was at 79F and the water from the heater was 110F. Within a few hours the pool heated up to 83F!
I love the fact that we don’t pay to heat the water. The system itself was expensive but it will pay for itself in no time.
Now if we can just have some decent summer weather. I hope to test it out when I get back from Greece.
I’m flying to Greece on Monday. The carrier is Lufthansa. I fly into Frankfurt, Germany and take a connecting flight to Athens, Greece.
I’m reading in the paper today that Lufthansa pilots are going on strike on Monday. I don’t know if my flights will be affected yet or not.
Nothing seems to be easy these days. I was looking forward to the trip to de-stress. Maybe once I’m there?
We planned a dinner party with Peter & Terri, David & Debbie months ago. Back then we said “The kitchen will have been finished by late June early July at the latest.”
Well the cabinets are installed and look great (although we are missing 3 doors still). The granite has been measured. We can now move in and use the kitchen.
Dave spent last evening installing the dishwasher and stressed me out completely when he said it didn’t fit and we need to redo the island. In the end it did fit and I survived. Heck there’s always stress to come, right?
Today he was installing the sink. He did. It leaked. Our friends arrived and we decided to just stop and enjoy the company.
So I made a few trips to the bathroom to wash vegetables. Not exactly a nice way to have friends over but since they are good friends they just laughed along with us.
We sat outside for a while and then came back in to eat dinner. We managed without it all being in place.
Next time I’ll have my act together and I’ll make sure to prepare something extra special.
I had lunch today with Paul. He is my cousin Liane’s husband. We lost Liane almost 2 years ago.
Tuesday the 29th would have been her 52nd birthday. We had lunch and got caught up. We talked about Liane. The loss is still great.
The granite guy came and measured the counter tops. That means we should have granite installed in 2 weeks. Maybe by the time I get back from Greece they will be done?
The granite we picked is called Bianco Antico. Here’s a picture of it. I think it is lighter than it looks in the picture. It should go well with our dark cabinets. All the design people think it’s a perfect match. We’ll see.
It’s my brother Peter’s birthday today. Happy 49th birthday!
Next year is the big 50!
Joe is back. He has the cut down cabinets, the glass door and the crown moulding. He gets to work installing everything.
He gets the base cabinets installed. He gets the kick plate on the island finished. It looks perfect. He gets a bit of the crown moulding done.
There is so much to do though. He won’t finish today.
Twice in one week? Sometimes that happens.
Peter & Kathy missed last week’s family get together so we did it again. We had hoped that the kitchen would be operational by now but it wasn’t. We had no time to prepare so we opted for pizza this time.
It is Peter’s birthday on Tuesday. We celebrated with a cake.
Here’s a shot of the gang.
More pictures here: http://briangarson.com/contacts/grenons
