Part 7: Culture Shock

The six-hour boat ride from Naxos to Piraias, the main post of Athens, was quite nice; actually, it was preferable to the fast-boat because we had plenty of room to move around and go out onto the deck. People had been telling me for weeks about the incredible color of the water in Greece. It was much more of a blue than anything in the United States, but it was much deeper than the Carribean. Anyway, we were surrounded by it. I got a lot of my book done and caught up on some days of blogging.
Shit hit the fan when we got back into Athens. We had neglected to print the confirmation for our hotel, and we could not remember the address or even the name. Tom thought it was named Miramare, and we spent some time looking for a cab who knew how to get there. Unforunately, the Miramare hotel does not exist in Athens, which we found out after we found an internet café and looked up the reservation. The cab driver took all of four blocks and charged us 15 Euro, to get to the Athena Hotel.
Our hotel was fine, and we decide to proceed directly to the Acropolis, so our driver waits for us. We go do the Acropolis, and many good pictures are taken. We go down and meet our driver again, and he takes us to the Plaka district, for some shopping.
We tell him to meet us an hour later, but we have a good time and we want to stay. We go back to meet him, SPECIFICALLY TO PAY HIM OFF, because, I mean, we could have just screwed him. Tom goves him some cash, and the driver claims he only gave him a ten. Tom is at first distressed because he at first thinks he has misplaced his cash, but it finally dawns on us that the driver palmed Tom's 50 for a ten. I was about to esclalate the situation by simply walking away, but it was requested by other members of the group that I try not to get knifed in a foreign country, so I gave the driver another fifty, and that was that.
Whatever, then we got drunk. I also bought a bunch of gifts at the Plaka, which, by the way, is totally sweet and has cheap food. Our day concluded with shaving Tom's back in our hotel room (copious pictures were taken). Gross!