This morning, I decided to go for a walk a little later so that I could walk in the area around the Temple of Zeus (picture 1) which opens at 8.00am. It was a lovely sunny day again and I enjoyed wandering among the ruins and then returning to my hotel through Hadrian's Arch (picture 2).
I checked out of the hotel at noon and my taxi arrived a little early (I booked it for 12.30pm), because there was yet another protest in Athens and some of the roads were closed. We arrived at the airport via a roundabout route, but it took no longer and cost no more, so I'm not sure why they insist on ploughing through the centre of Athens usually.
Yesterday, I had gone onto the Internet to check-in online with British Airways and had printed my boarding pass. They do seem to have improved their online booking a bit. I went on at the first time it opened (24 hours before the flight) and was able to get 12F (a window seat over the wing), as opposed to the middle seat in the back row which is what I got travelling to Stockholm last year. I rang British Airways at the time if you remember to complain that it was obvious that they had pre-booked their frequent flyers and the like, and the rest of us were left with the remaining 20 seats.
Well, I was indeed in seat 12F which has much more legroom than the seats further back. When I got on board my seat was occupied by a very attractive little girl of just under two who was declaring in both Greek and English that there were many aeroplanes outside. Her mother had sensibly bought a seat (the middle one) for the little girl (rather than having her on her knee other than for takeoff and landing), but the window was a definite attraction. I became quite attached to Amelia and she to me. She was completely bilingual (what language she had) and immediately worked out that she needed to use English for me. For some of the journey she sat on my knee alternating between looking out of the window and putting the shutter down to a level that only she could see out. Her parents were obviously pretty wealthy - living in St John's Wood, having a nanny and driver etc., but only her mother was with her. Her mother was Greek, married to a British born Greek man, who is in stock-trading of some sort and travels the world a lot. They had all been to visit the grandparents in Greece, although the father had only stayed a few days and had then gone to China and Singapore before returning to the UK while the mother had stayed near Athens with her family. For the last part of the journey, Amelia's mother was desperately trying to get her to sleep, but Amelia was having none of it. In the end, she ended up landing sitting on my knee with the extension seat-belt and I carried her off the plane and into the baggage hall as her mother had much cabin luggage with Amelia's stuff and her own and the buggy was checked through. The upside of all this was that I got transported to the door of my hotel by Mercedes driven by the 'driver', so I didn't have either the expense or the hassle of the Paddington Express. I consider it a very good deal - the mother was immensely grateful to me for helping with a squirming toddler, and, in exchange, I had a luxury ride when it mattered to me.
I should also say that I did indeed split my luggage, but put the packed conference backpack inside the case. I decided that if they complained that the case was over the 23 kilos limit, I would simply remove the backpack and check it through. In the end, they just put a tag onto the case and made no comment at all about the weight!
After I checked into the Corus Hotel, Hyde Park, I needed to get some cash, so I walked up to Oxford Street. I noticed that Selfridges Food Hall was still open (7.00pm) (probably the main shop was as well, I didn't check), and I also noticed some amazing looking cold rare roast beef with yellow fat. I decided to buy some and sat at one of the tables to eat it. They had little packets of salt available which I also used on it. I must take back my comments about English roast beef, although this probably isn't typical I acknowledge - I had forgotten how good good beef tastes. It was delicious!
I also ventured into M & S to buy my staple - humbugs. I hope to have several packets to send or bring home with me. On my way back to the hotel, I walked through Marble Arch to complete the day (having started it with Hadrian's Arch!
As the time in Greece was two hours later than that in London, I was pretty tired by 10.00pm and decided to get an early night. I had also found out though that sunrise was at 4.50am and chose to wear my Emirates eye-shades to help me sleep through.
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