Perfectly Weird Yesterdays

One year ago today, I landed in Athens. It wasn't a long flight, just a quick 2 or 3 hours from Munich actually, but the anticipation was unbearable. I had spent two weeks exploring Western Europe and now I was soaring to the other half of the continent. I can vividly recall the bus ride from the airport into the center of the city. And to be honest, it wasn't the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. Dilapidated apartment buildings, abandoned cars along the rode, graffiti everywhere. Any expectations or mental portraits of where I'd be living quickly vanished. I had no idea what to think. Every hill we approached, I leaned forward in anticipation, thinking maybe, just maybe, the Acropolis would break the horizon. It didn't happen so smoothly. One turn after another, urban slum would collide with timeless beauty. I think the city as a whole, defines the word ironic. The closer we got, the more I realized how different this place was - than anywhere I'd been, including other parts of Europe.

When I did first see the Acropolis, it was from my doorstep. That was today, 2008.

Athens is weird. In a beautiful, distinctive, and extraordinary kind of way. When it came to culture, it was the richest city I'd ever been to. When it came to history, it was the oldest city I'd ever been to. And when it came to splendor, it was the most unexpected city I'd ever experienced. It was full of more secrets than the average tourist could ever have time to uncover. The roads were quirky, the people impractical, and the infrastructure often incomplete. I loved it.

Tonight, I'm having dinner at a little Greek restaurant in New Paltz with two of my closest friends I left Athens with. We'll try our hardest to replay the past, but that's the most we can do. I don't like to dwell on all that I miss, but today, more than usual, I can let myself feel it.