Sunday
June 1, 2003 -- The DHI Plastic Surgery Clinic in Athens
I
woke up this morning in
Athens at the DHI facility after getting some well needed
rest. I
had taken a sleeping pill and had slept for 16 hours straight.
Man,
was I tired. It had taken me 16
hours of flying, 5 hours of layovers, and a crazy one hour
cab
ride to finally get to DHI the night before.
Fortunately,
I was greeted by a very helpful Russian surgical assistant
who took me right to my room.
I started
my day off by exploring the DHI facility and met some of
the staff. I took
some photos from my room and the front door. The staff
was quite helpful and allowed me to use their computer
to upload some photos. Unfortunately Greece has no DSL.
ISDN is as good as it gets, but it was good enough.
The
Taverna
They
then put me in a cab and off we went to the Taverna. When
we arrived at the Taverna it was empty. I walked into the
building and advised the cook I was looking for John Cole
or Mr. Giotis. He understood enough to motion or me to
go across the street. I carted my heavy luggage into the
outside tavern where I was met by two DHI employees. They
told me I'd have to leave my luggage on the street. Unbeknownst
to me someone was going to watch my luggage but he was
on break. It appeared to me that they wanted me to leave
my luggage unguarded on an open street. In a place like
New York it would be stolen in 5 minutes. It was later
explained to me that Athens is a relatively safe place
to stay compared to other large cities. The ladies again
insisted I leave my luggage and I again refused. They spoke
in Greek for a few minutes trying to figure out how to
communicate with this crazy American named Peter. They
finally convinced me my luggage would be safe on the street.
I agreed to leave my luggage, but refused to leave my camera
equipment. I figured it would easier to replace my T-Shirts
than my video equipment. |
After
an enjoyable dinner we boarded a bus and had a quick visit
to the Acropolis. It was late at night and we couldn't
go in, but it was still a beautiful sight. Next, it was
off to the cruise ship. We were short of a cabin on the
boat so I was assigned to share one with Alex Minonie,
one of Dr. Cole's surgical assistants. 
