I'm in Crete. Crete is to Athens what Seaside is to Portland. It's about the same distance to Crete from Athens by plane as it is to get to Seaside from Portland. Like Seaside, not much about the place really makes any sense logistically. Back alleys meld into main streets with no single thoroughfare, there is a lot of really cool things to waste your day at the beach doing but no real "wow" factor like the "big city". Of course, Crete is a lot bigger than Seaside (by quite a bit), but still retains its coastal city feel: fishermen untangling line after a day out on the water, cool cafes and shops and markets to be found, the smell of fish and salt water everywhere.
The sun here is stranger than anywhere I've been so far and that's the truth. There is a thick fog that spans the horizon in every direction and blankets the city at all times yet the sun, hidden behind the haze, beats down on the city in an unrelenting way. It's hot here in a way that Athens was not. It's just as windy, but the coastal wind carries none of the cool sea air on its back towards land. Honestly, we gave up roaming around our hotel for the blessed sanctuary of air conditioning inside our tiny room.
Yes, our room here at the Lato Boutique Hotel is tiny. The shower is a stall no wider than my elbows extended from my sides (if that). The toilet sits right next to it and right next to the sink. The patio is a ledge where two seats and a table sit, unusable because they take up the entire surface area. It is a room with a bed in it and a nook with the outcropping of a desk as the headboard. But, as Lupe and I have both agreed, it is a bed far more superior than that of the last hotel we stayed. It is a soft, comforting luxury that has swept us into unconscious bliss numerous times since we have arrived. It is awesome and I want to take it home with me. I am probably going to go and lay on it the moment I retire from this missive.
Today, we wandered around and I took some photos of the main square. I stumbled, quite by accident, a comic book/internet/gaming store called Papercut where the co-owner and I had a laugh at new inexperienced gamers who wrap themselves deeply into the fantasy world where they play and try to encapsulate their characters fully vs. the old grizzled die hards who use role-playing as a means to play out their silly subconscious desires to raze villages and bang bar wenches. Nothing decent as far as comics go, so I got some presents instead and we walked home to watch TV and order room service.
This is my vacation from Athens. While there, we saw every sight we could see. We ran around ragged trying to get it all in. And, we tried to get some real life shit taken care of to no avail. I've commented that this may be my "Brisbane": the place we stay where I take a break from seeing things and just catch my breath. We're headed to Knossos tomorrow to see what that's all about then fly back to Athens on our way to Venice via a stopover in Rome. We'll eventually backtrack to Rome so I can get back into the habit of geeking out at every column, stoa, and rectangular rock that juts out of the ground. For now, however, I am content to examine Aaron Sorkin's new prime time word drama about the making of a late night comedy sketch show and it's fast-talking cast members, producers, and musical guests. Like Sport's Night, (Sorkin's other wittily dialogued yet short lived show), Studio 60 seems to be a mixture of "greatness" and "doomed for failure". It's as if 30 Rock and Sport's Night had a baby that grew up knowing everything about funny people but was not, in any way, funny. Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, and a slew of others star and it was really good which, in network terms means "canceled in half a season."
Then again, it's not on ABC so there's hope after all.
...
I'm talking about TV on a world trip.
See? I need a break.
Time to rest.
-d@n
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