"Neither rain nor snow" did not come from the Greek

[bktheirregular]

Here's how it is.

My apartment is in Kolonaki, a rather nice neighborhood on the south slope of Mount Likavitos, about twenty minutes' walk northeast of Plateia Syntagma, which for argument's sake, we'll call the center of Athens.

There's a post office about five minutes' walk away from my apartment, or at least there was, last time I checked. However, a few weeks back, one of my summer-weight blazers turned up in my family's closets back in New York. The simple solution was to send it via air mail, which basically went off without a hitch.

The notice I got to pick it up didn't direct me to the post office in Kolonaki; instead, it gave an address on the far side of Plateia Omonia, which is something like half an hour's walk to the northwest of Kolonaki, and is only open until two PM, Monday through Friday, to boot, so going there after work is a non-starter.

Last week, I finally managed to get around to picking up the jacket; it meant taking an extra-long lunch hour to do so.

The next day, I got another notice of a package from the USA waiting for me at the same station. I thought, hm, maybe something else was sent that I wasn't aware of.

Today, I was smart; I took the metro to Omonia from Panepistimiou, a little northwest of my office. Then I pounded through a neighborhood that family members have described as pre-Disneyfication Times Square, and got to the post office.

Only to find out that the pickup notice was a second notice for the jacket I'd picked up last week.

Comments

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love Kolonaki! I haven't been there for years...

[bktheirregular]

Sounds like you know more about the city than I do, actually. Though there's little things to discover all over the place - including a lot more outdoor cinemas than I would have guessed. (I should have worn my fedora to see Indiana Jones last night...)

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

I ended up in Athens on a sunday when the museum guards were striking-- wandering around the city was about the only thing possible. ;) Have you hit the sunday flea market in Monastiraki yet? And there are frequent music festivals around the solstice-- it's the Greek version of the French national music day. I caught one in 2004, when Omonia Square became a huge stage for a fusion of Greek folk and reggae, which actually sounded amazing.