It's a bunch of Crete

First the Palace of Knossos. This ancient site is hotly debated due to the work of Arthur Evans who "restored" the site in a manner that he thought represented archaeological evidence. Some call the restoration work a Disney-ification of the site.

It really shows in the coloration of the columns and some of the frescoes. There's been debate whether or not to undo the restoration but somehow this has become some of the allure of Knossos. In any case, it still is quite an impressive site and unlike Delos you can actually see what this could have looked like in its full grandeur. 

It is an oddly disjointed site in terms of restoration. There's completely restored areas like the room you see above and the one below and then there's just stretches of foundation rock. 

Looking back at these pictures I'm realizing how much I dislike the restoration. It just cheapens everything and yes, it allows you to see what it could have looked like you are viewing this through an interpretation of an "archaeologist". 

This abomination stands in the middle of the site. The Minoans were big on bulls. Those bulls look like they're wresting. 

That's a guy on the left. I know we're in Europe and all but come on. No man should ever ever wear shorts that are the same length as their girlfriend. 

I've just realized that I'm writing about stuff from about 4 months ago. I need to get this blog updated to more current times. We're time warping to now for the next blog post. This baby is gonna hit 88 mph. 

A trip to the Classics

Besides being a party town, Mykonos is a gateway to one of the more impressive Greek ruins, Delos. The mythical birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, Delos, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a 30 minute ferry ride from Mykonos. 

I hate to comment on something so obvious but ruins are very ruinous. In essence, Delos is a bunch of rocks that were formerly an amazing cultural and religious site. It's still very hard to imagine what it used to look like but you still see the vestiges of its former glory. 

Our lack of understanding as to what anything represented was due to our cheapness and want of free reign of the place. Guides were posted at the entrance of Delos for us to utilize but we decided to just wing it and try to figure things out with the help of our trusty guidebook. The lack of commentary you will receive throughout this blog post shows you how much information we gathered on this trip. 

What was amazing was the size of Delos. It's approximately 10 square miles and almost the entire island is at your disposal. 

The city was planned out in a very grid-like pattern with commerce and residential areas segregated in a very Simcity like way. 

Remnants of the arts could be found everywhere. It's amazing that the Greeks and the Romans were such voracious traders and travelers. 2500 years ago they were travelling to the far reaches of Asia and Africa. I can barely make it to Brooklyn without having issues. 

I won't give you the close-up shots of these statutes. They are exactly what you think they are. Shafty. 

I wish I could've gotten a better pic of the mosaic tile. I bet even back then some wife was telling her husband how she quite doesn't like the color of the tile. 

For most of the day we were under some cloud cover. Man when that sun came out was it beautiful and hot. Greek hot is really hot. 

Stop trying to rub your laptop screen. That thing on the top is a bird. I'm hoping you read this portion first before spending two minutes thinking your laptop screen was defective or dirty. Stupid bird. 

This was part of the gymnasium. Probably the changing room. I can imagine the Greek men talking about how bad their sports team, the Delos Dogs was doing and how they weren't going to make the playoffs. Ralpholo over in the corner complaining about his diety taxes. 

Amphitheater. Now playing Cat on the Hot Tin Corinthian Roof.

And we're drifting. We're now onto Heraklion. Our time in Mykonos ended with a day at the beach and I'm pretty sure you don't want to see my pasty body so we've moved onto Heraklion, Crete where I guess drifting is popular enough to merit this ad. Our trip to Crete was to broken up into two parts. The first was a day in Heraklion where we would visit the Palace of Knossos and then a road trip to Chania, the old Venetian port. Crete is a big ass island. It's the biggest island of the Greece so I felt the time we had was too short given the amount of land we could've covered. And this blog post is too short to cover what I wanted to say. Stay tuned. 

Personal contribution to the Greek economy

I'm only about 3 months late but better late than never. One of the many benefits of attending an international B-school is the wide geographical network of friends. When such friends get married, well the inevitable conclusion is a trip abroad to join in their wedding celebration in Santorini, Greece.

We decided to combine the wedding weekend with our own vacation and embarked on our Greek adventure. Mama Mia Mama Mia! 

Arriving in Santorini on Friday around noon we had plenty of time to get ourselves settled in and enjoy the amazing caldera views from our hotel. Based on recommendations from the bride and numerous good reviews on TripAdvisor we stayed at the Dana Villas in Fira Stephani. Superlatives like amazingly beautiful or ridiculously gorgeous really don't do justice here. Spectacuamazeballshyperpretty gets you to maybe 70% of an accurate description. Maybe 80% if you throw in a f***. 

Hotels in Santorini are all constructed to face the ocean and thus are erected in a terrace style fashion to accommodate the fact that you're on a freaking cliff. The beauty can assuage the fact that you're about 50 feet from tumbling down to the craggy volcanic rock below. 

The rooms were sparsely decorated but very nice. I found it pleasant and clean. 

They gave us a welcome basket of fruit and wine. It's an easy way into my heart. Booze. 

Getting my gangsta lean on while watching the sunset. 

The first night we didn't venture far and had dinner at a spot right next to our hotel. Well, I wish you had seen the amount of wine they gave us when we got 1 glass each. They essentially filled it to the brim and said, enjoy vacationers. Enjoy, I did. I was liking the Greek hospitality. Food portions were ample. Vacation spot restaurants know what's up. I am not there to eat healthy or portion control. I'm on vacation dammit. Feed me!!!

Breakfast was buffet style with a serving of caldera view. It looks like I'm eating by myself but the SO just hadn't arrived yet from filling her plate up with food. She eats a lot so it takes her more time to gather it all. 

Santorini, well actually, the Greek islands in general are HUUUUUUGE cruise destinations. It makes sense considering it's called the Greek islands. Thus, the ocean is dotted with mega ships waiting to port and drop off the day's worth of tourists. 

Local fruit vendor selling his wares. 1 euro got me like 3 plums. 

Our morning walk to Fira was nice. The cruise passengers don't really start permeating the streets of Fira until noon or so. One thing we noticed was the very large contingency of mainland Chinese tourists. To say, they were interesting to watch is an understatement. I hate to generalize but they really need to learn TPO, as my mom liked to say .Time. Place. Occasion. 5 inch heels on cobble don't work very well and their valiant efforts to try to take glamour shots offered much entertainment.  

Santorini essentially has no natural resource. Even water had to be imported until they built a desalinization plant The landscape albeit beautiful is stark. 

The wedding ceremony took place in Oia. It oozed Greece traditional.  

The inside was quite ornate and ended up being packed with people. Definitely a fire hazard but I was hopeful that we were being watched over. *sarcasm*

I'm totally fuzzy on the order of this. Was it beer, then ceremony and then rice? Or was it ceremony, rice and then beer. Well, whatever. We drank some Yellow Donkey beer. It didn't taste like ass. 

They gave us lavender infused rice to throw at the couple. The wonderful smell must've been nice as they were pelted with 60mph rice. Damn I even made it rhyme. 

The reception was at a hotel, once again cliffside, with a spectacular view of the ocean. Would you like some sunset with your champagne? Why not says I while thanking everyone and everything that allowed me to enjoy something like this in life. I love you all. 

We all had to stop and take photos for Facebook. Remember it's not how interesting your life is, it's how you portray it on Facebook. 

A harp. Only thing that would probably work as musical accompaniment for a scene like this. 

The next day we took a catamaran cruise around the island. T'was a small boat so I was worried I would get sea sick but luckily the winds weren't too strong. 

Our first stop was a natural hot spring. This stop was eventful for the wrong reason. That brown area was where the hot springs were and you had to swim there from the boat. It's surprisingly far. I was swimming out there and there was a dad with this college aged daughters swimming alongside. About 2/3 of the way to the hot spring he started to struggle and really calmly asked us to help him out. Kudos to the guy for not panicking because I don't think I could've kept my calm like that knowing I was on the verge of drowning. In any case the SO, who was closer to the boat, swam back and got him a life jacket  for the swim back. That was the end of his swimming in open water. 

The rest of the trip was spent staring at the beautiful scenery and not drowning. 

After 3 days in Santorini, we arrived in Mykonos Monday afternoon after taking a 3 hour high speed ferry from Santorini. The obligatory sightseeing. Windmills that reminded me of the windmills from Don Quixote. Previously used for grain, now used for cheesy tourist photos. 

Sunset happy hour. 

Dinner on our first night in Mykonos was at Katerina's. Kinda pricey but everything in Mykonos was really expensive in general. Personally, I would've axed Mykonos from our itinerary but lesson learned. 

These look like mussels. 

I can't quite remember what this dish was. Some sort of beef with red wine reduction? It was good though. 

Beef stew? I should really write these things down. Stay tuned for Delos, Crete and Athens. Greek Bailout Part 2. 

It's cold weather season

Winter is upon us here in NYC and with the onset of the cold weather I decided to add another staple of cold weather gear; the tried and true leather boot. 

I've been researching various boots on and off for the past couple of months. Similar to a suburban mom trying to figure out which off-road capable SUV to drive, I reviewed a number of boots that offered unnecessary protection from the elements that I would never encounter in the urban jungle of Manhattan. 

After much searching I decided upon the Wolverine 1000 Mile Boot. Styled after the original 1914 Wolverine boot.

"Recognized for its long-standing dedication to comfort, durability, and style, Wolverine is debuting a one-of-a-kind collection of boots and shoes inspired by its own classic designs.

The cornerstone of the new collection, the 1,000 Mile Boot is crafted with the same attention to detail found in the original 1,000 Mile shoe that was first developed in 1914. Wolverine designers worked meticulously to replicate the original aesthetic of that first boot created so many years ago. Made in America, the boot features soft, supple leathers in weathered tones, a

stacked leather midsole and outsole and classic welt construction."

After 3 days of waiting I got a wonderful package from Nordstrom's.

Such a pretty box. Even the box was crafted in meticulous fashion. 

Gotta keep 'em clean you know what I mean. 

Fresh out of the box. I got rust colored because nothing says manly like rust. Steel. Tough. Made in USA. It's like a Dodge Ram commercial.

Profile shot. The laces kinda remind me of some nice flat udon noodles. Maybe I'm hungry. 

Some may contend that a leather sole is completely counterproductive for an outdoor boot. It's quite slippery in wet conditions and doesn't have great traction. It is. So not all things true to form from 1914 is good. I'm sure Belgium would agree to that assessment as well. 

What it looks like on my feet. The boots are superb. They fit like a glove and look amazing. They are rugged, manly boots perfect for a rugged, manly Japanese man. Maybe it's time to go do some outdoors-y stuff. Nah. I'd rather just look like I do outdoors-y stuff.