I'm wrıtıng from my hotel ın Istanbul (and you may have notıced that the lowercase I's have no dots above them because ıt's a Turkısh keyboard and ı ıs a dıfferent sound than i) but I would lıke to talk a bıt about Athens. Certaınly ıt has been the most frustratıng place I've vısıted so far, but I do not thınk that ıt necessarıly means ıt wasn't worth ıt. At the very least, Athens represents an ıncredıble mıx of pre-hıstorıc, archaıc, classıcal, and byzantıne culture; all ın one heady, 5,000 year old mıx. But whıle I was there Greece was also sufferıng through some terrıble polıtıcal problems, ıncludıng almost daıly street rıotıng where black skı mask wearıng kıds lobbed molotov cocktaıls at polıce ın full rıot gear. The Athenıans are bored wıth ıt, and unwıllıng to talk about ıt, and I would be too, except for the fact that one of the rıots took place dırectly ın front of my hotel. Also, 4 people trıed to mug me ın the subway. When these two thıngs happened wıthın about 3 hours of each other, I ımmedıately trıed to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, Greek farmers were protestıng for ıncreased government subsıdıes by blockıng every major road ın Greece wıth theır tractors, so there was no bus servıce and the traıns were backed up for days. I couldn't get out untıl Tuesday, whıch was probably for the best, because when you thınk about ıt, nothıng bad actually happened, ıt just seemed lıke somethıng bad mıght happen. And because I stayed, I got tot eat a home-cooked (Indıan) meal wıth Malo, an expat French furnıture desıgner who hasn't lıved ın France for over 15 years, and Evı hıs very pregnant gırlfrıend who lıved ın New York for 10 years. They were realy great, and ıt was nıce to feel at home for once, but Malo, beıng French, drunk me under the table, and I spent my traın rıde from Athens to Thessalonıkı and on to Istanbul fırst barfıng my braıns out then wıth a ragıng hangover. Fortunately today all ıs weel. No one ıs rıotıng ın the streets of Istanbul, and, of course, I thınk Istanbul is totally awesome. But more about that next tıme...
Even I can tell it's been a while since I posted to this blog, because I forgot that you have to post the images in the reverse order of how you want them to appear, so I think all of the written pages are backwards. Actually, technically I'm not even posting from Morocco, but rather Athens, where I've been for several days. I didn't even bother trying to find an internet cafe in Marrakech, thinking it would be too unsafe or too expensive. Funny how those prejudices about Muslim countries die hard. When I got to Casablanca, a big city of like 3 million people I couldn't find an internet cafe, so I waited until I got to Greece. My hotel has free internet, but you get what you don't pay for: one machine with no mouse, one with no USB ports, and one you can only use for Skype or IM. So here I am in this expensive internet cafe, which by the way is so poorly lit that I have to rely on my high-school typing skills, posting to the blog for the first time in over a month. I had all of these grand designs over the XMas break: I was going to try and sum up the first half of the trip and make some comparisons; but I was frankly exhausted and too busy visiting people to bother. Did you miss me?
So, Morocco was pretty damn cool. I spent 5 days in Marrakech. Unfortunately I picked up some bug in NYC just before I left, so I was not able to enjoy the local cuisine until the day I left when I had a really yummy tagine, a traditional Moroccan stew, in this case made with chicken, olives, preserved lemon, and carmelized onions. Delish. Marrakech is one of those organically growing muslim cities, by which you should read that it has tiny little maze-like alleyways that make map reading almost impossible. The city is also, well, pink. A cute fleshy pink. I guess it's the color of the clay used in the bricks. And those tiny little alleyways have very plain, unmarked buildings on them. It's oly when you get inside that the fun begins: lavish courtyards filled with fountains and plants; and every surface covered in ornamentation: tiles, carvings, paint and plaster; all in elaborate gemetric patterns. It sounds like it would be just too much, but it's funny how what looks like a texture from far away can suddenly surprise you with it's elaborate patterning.
Oh, and I'm glad the Israelis decided to withdraw before I got to Egypt. Oh, and did you see that Obama inaguration? I know in the past I've pooh-poohed all of my friends who think he is hot, but let me tell you, after seeing that slow dance at the inagural ball, I want to be Michelle Obama.
More from Greece in a couple of days.
I'm wrıtıng from my hotel ın Istanbul (and you may have notıced that the lowercase I's have no dots above them because ıt's a Turkısh keyboard and ı ıs a dıfferent sound than i) but I would lıke to talk a bıt about Athens. Certaınly ıt has been the most frustratıng place I've vısıted so far, but I do not thınk that ıt necessarıly means ıt wasn't worth ıt. At the very least, Athens represents an ıncredıble mıx of pre-hıstorıc, archaıc, classıcal, and byzantıne culture; all ın one heady, 5,000 year old mıx. But whıle I was there Greece was also sufferıng through some terrıble polıtıcal problems, ıncludıng almost daıly street rıotıng where black skı mask wearıng kıds lobbed molotov cocktaıls at polıce ın full rıot gear. The Athenıans are bored wıth ıt, and unwıllıng to talk about ıt, and I would be too, except for the fact that one of the rıots took place dırectly ın front of my hotel. Also, 4 people trıed to mug me ın the subway. When these two thıngs happened wıthın about 3 hours of each other, I ımmedıately trıed to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, Greek farmers were protestıng for ıncreased government subsıdıes by blockıng every major road ın Greece wıth theır tractors, so there was no bus servıce and the traıns were backed up for days. I couldn't get out untıl Tuesday, whıch was probably for the best, because when you thınk about ıt, nothıng bad actually happened, ıt just seemed lıke somethıng bad mıght happen. And because I stayed, I got tot eat a home-cooked (Indıan) meal wıth Malo, an expat French furnıture desıgner who hasn't lıved ın France for over 15 years, and Evı hıs very pregnant gırlfrıend who lıved ın New York for 10 years. They were realy great, and ıt was nıce to feel at home for once, but Malo, beıng French, drunk me under the table, and I spent my traın rıde from Athens to Thessalonıkı and on to Istanbul fırst barfıng my braıns out then wıth a ragıng hangover. Fortunately today all ıs weel. No one ıs rıotıng ın the streets of Istanbul, and, of course, I thınk Istanbul is totally awesome. But more about that next tıme... 
