Return to the North

After a long Friday night of carousing, we got up early-ish on Saturday (May 31) to finish packing, clean the apartment, and pack François’ car. And PACK it we did. There was only barely enough space for one thin-framed person to squeeze into in the back seat. We rotated seats fairly often, but having the shortest legs in the group meant that I volunteered to spend more time in the back seat than François (~6') and Xavier (~7’).
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We drove from Athens to Patra (NW city in the Peloponnese) and then crossed a nifty-looking bridge (called Rio-Antirio) heading northward into the Stereo Ellada region. Our ferry boat departure was from the northwestern port city of Igoumenitsa at 11:45pm. The road journey through Greece took around 8 hours, including breaks.
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Here’s a map of our route through Greece (Athens to Igoumenitsa):
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And here are some photos from the drive:
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Me in the backseat of François’ tightly packed car (photo by X.Gillard)
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The impressive Rio-Antirio bridge near Patra (photo by X.Gillard)
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From within the Rio-Antirio bridge (photo by X.Gillard)
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Athens flatmates, François & Xavier, at the Gulf of Patra
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Small coastal village of Amphilochia - on an inlet to the “Ambracian Gulf”
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"Superfast" ferry arrival at Igoumenitsa (shortly before our 11:45pm departure)
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Snuggling up for the night with hard plastic ferry benches (photo by F.Veynandt)
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Sunrise on the Ionian Sea (~5:45am)
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Arriving at Bari, Italy
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Until this trip, I had never been to Italy. And although we spent around eight hours there, it was eight hours of interstate highway [autobahn] driving. Unfortunately, there was no time for sightseeing, as we were on a very tight time schedule: We needed to be in Kassel, Germany, by 9am on Monday morning, in order to join a two-week university-sponsored renewable energy excursion with our former classmates from Oldenburg Uni (more about this in a future post). Thus, my first visit to Italy was completely uneventful (as if I was never there). We interacted only with highway "travel plaza" / gas station personnel… so of course, I gained no real sense of the country, the food, the people, the landscapes… at all. I’ll definitely have to go back for a “real” visit sometime.
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After our race through Italy, it took two hours to pass through Austria, and then we crossed back into Germany. We debated the virtues of stopping at a cheap hotel a few hours south of Kassel… but in the end, we decided that it would be better to drive late than to have to get up very early in the morning for more driving. So we arrived at the rendezvous location in Kassel, Germany, at around 4am and slept for around three hours before having breakfast and joining the bus tour.
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Here’s the second part of our road trip (from Bari, Italy, to Kassel, Germany):
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Back in Germany again

West Texas Wind

A few days ago, an old Peace Corps buddy named Alex sent me a link to this 6-minute CBS video called "Wind Turbines in Cowboy Country": www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4205615n&channel=/sections/sunday/videoplayer3445.shtml. It's about the booming business of wind energy in western Texas.

Besides the fact that I'm generally interested in "all things wind", I found the piece interesting mainly because of how they covered the story. My personal rationale (as well as that of my master's program) for promoting and working to advance renewable energy is based primarily on environmental and energy concerns:

• lowering carbon dioxide & other greenhouse gases (in order to help Earth "keep cool" and avoid increasingly likely catastrophic damage, such as polar ice meltdowns, dramatically rising sea levels, mass extinction of certain animal & plant species, and generally an unhealthy planet);
• protecting human civilization from the inevitable future scarcity of carbon-based fuels (upon which mankind has primarily relied to supply its ever-increasing energy needs throughout the past 200-300 years); a more specific version of this idea is that of "energy independence" (i.e. generating energy locally, instead of relying on sources provided and controlled by foreign -- and sometime volatile -- entities);
• utilizing free, clean resources that never run out (until our sun burns out, which isn't predicted for the next billion years), in order to accomplish the first two objectives.

So what did I find interesting about the CBS piece on Texan wind energy? They never once mentioned the environment or greenhouse gases... or the need for long-lasting, sustainable energy resources... It's primarily a news article about money: the economic prosperity created by the booming Texan wind industry.

Since I'm not a "money guy" (e.g. my distaste for the single-minded focus on profit-making was mostly why I got out of the electrical "widgits" manufacturing industry), I sometimes forget that money is how -- and why -- things get done in the private sector. And since financial prosperity is generally so important to Americans, I suppose it makes sense to speak to this concern, rather than preaching about environmental advantages.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how the budding "green energy" industry will mesh into America's energy landscape in the coming years and decades... and how average Americans' lives will be affected by it.

OPA!!!

If you’ve ever been to a Greek restaurant in the U.S. (excluding gyro stands), then there’s a good chance that you’ve tried saganaki [fried cheese]. I’ve been a big fan of Greek food ever since I visited Papagus Taverna in Chicago around a decade ago. And since then, I’ve tried Greek cuisine in several other US cities. One universal – even emblematic – experience with (American) Greek restaurants is the festive tradition around saganaki. Here’s how it goes: 2-3 waiters arrive at your table – one holding a frying pan containing a rectangular block of cheese. One pours a high-alcohol-content liquor over the cheese; another lights the cheese on fire; and together they all yell, OPAAAA!!!! It’s fun, festive, and memorable – a crowd favorite – which is, undoubtedly why they do it.
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I’d always assumed – based on this “tradition” – that “opa” was an expression of joy or excitement, along the lines of “hurray!” or “yippee!” But… no. Sadly, I learned from Petros, one of my Greek Oldenburg classmates during my first semester that I was completely on the wrong track with this word’s translation. Firstly, this silly gag with cheese flambé apparently has nothing to do with any Greek traditions. Secondly, opa just means “oops”, as in “Opa, I accidentally stepped on your toe” or “Opa, I did it again” (à la Britney). There’s apparently a wedding tradition featured in “My Big, Fat Greek Wedding" (a movie I haven’t yet seen but would like to), in which glass plates are tossed onto the floor and broken while people shout “Opa!”… but this is, perhaps, done sort of “tongue-in-cheek”: Opa! [Oops, I just broke a plate] Opa! [oops, there goes another one!”] ...And so maybe, just maybe, one could extend this idea to saganaki – opa! [Oops, I’m a pyromaniac and like to set cheese on fire for American customers!] But not so, according to Petros.
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Disappointed as I was by this new knowledge (roughly on par with learning that there’s no tooth fairy), I refused to stop using my favorite foreign exclamation in any and all celebratory situations (especially if Petros, my Greek pal, was within earshot). Eventually, my use of the word opa caught on and began to insidiously brainwash my Greek classmates. Before long they were joining me in shouting opa! with glee at parties and during drinking toasts. Opa had become our ultimate party word in Oldenburg…
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But despite the successful transformation of opa’s meaning, what I really longed for was the chance to give Petros a true Greek-American “saganaki opa!” experience.
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(Okay, so fast-forward back to the present):
On our final evening in Athens (June 16), the entire group of EUREC (RE master’s program) classmates from the “wind energy” and “energy construction in buildings” groups gathered for our last supper at a nice restaurant in the “Plaka” (touristic part of Athens full of restaurants and souvenir shops). We had reserved a nice terrace balcony area with a view of the Acropolis at a restaurant called “H Πάλια Ταβέρνα του Ψάρρα" [I Palia Taverna tou Psarra -- The Old Taverna of the Fisherman]. Petros – in perfect Greek style – was a couple of hours late to our dinner gathering. But since he was one of the last ones to arrive, it meant that everyone was present when he received his surprise gift (that I had arranged earlier in the day with the restaurant management).
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Suddenly, across the balcony off to my right side, a flash of light caught my eye (a skillet being lit on fire)… Then three waiters dashed to the table where Petros sat and, all at once, they exclaimed (as if reciting a line from a familiar but not entirely memorized script): OPAAA! I would describe the look on Petros’ face that followed this mysterious gift as one of bewilderment -- with a hint of annoyance -- as he struggled to make sense of what had just taken place.
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Then… slowly… after a minute or two of reflection, a glimmer of recognition appeared… a smile spread across his face, and he shouted over to me at the adjacent table, “Scott! Did you do this?!” When I nodded, he and the other Greek classmates who’d studied with us in Oldenburg burst into a hardy laugh. It was a moment I’d imagined, waited for, planned, and carefully orchestrated…. And it gave me a real sense of accomplishment -- one of my favorite and most memorable moments in Greece (and not a minute too soon).
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The flaming cheese arrives (photo by C.Wong)

Petros is incredulous, and Giota says "What in the ..."

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Post-cheese laughter (photo by F.Veynandt)
Petros is in the center (green-white plaid shirt). At this point -- a few minutes later -- the waiter has begun giving Petros the play-by-play description of the saganaki shananigans I requested from the wait staff. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to this shin-dig, and I'm still waiting on a few more photos (including one with Petros' look of disbelief) from a several friends. If I get other good shots, I'll post them here later.

Sunset on Filipapou

Filipapou is a hilltop monument to the SW of the Acropolis in downtown Athens. It’s one of the highest places in the downtown, so there’s a nice vantage of the city, the Acropolis, and the sea. Although I’d previously been to Filipapou two or three times, Xavier (one of my flat-mates) hadn’t yet been… so we set out on a Saturday evening (around a month ago) to catch the sunset there. Xavier & I were joined by Laurent and Marion, two of our renewable energy classmates. The sunset was colorful, and I got a few decent photos of Athens under nice lighting.
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Filipapou monument at sunset
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Soirée en Filipapou (L-R: Laurent, Xavier, et Marion)
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Athens facing NE (backed by Mt. Imitos)
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Sunset as spectator sport
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The Aegean Sea to the SW of Athens
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View of the Parthenon (Acropolis), with Mt. Likavitos behind
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Silhouette (photo by Dr. Varga Gábor)
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While I was standing on a concrete pillar (in order to get a clearer view of the Acropolis for the previous photo) a man approached me and said, “Hi. Look…” as he showed me the display screen of his digital camera. He managed to capture my silhouette, the Filipapou monument, and the colored sky, all in one shot. The photographer, named Gábor, is a banknotes (currency printing) professional for the country of Hungary. He happened to be in Athens, at the time, for an international conference on European banknote standards. At my request, he kindly emailed this photo to me.