That's All, Folks
Well, this is it, everyone.
Last night I played my last Greek magic tournament. I said bye to everyone, and left my contact information with the store, with the instructions to get in touch any time any of their players are in the US. Christos insisted that my last tournament was on the house, and he signed a Stomping Ground (a good card) for me to take home.
Just now I went down to the Cafeneio for the last time. This one was harder, because I’m not going to be able to stay in touch via email or anything. I told Georgos thanks for everything, and that if I was back in Greece he could bet I’d be back.
It’s also possible that I told him, “The food liked me very much and if I was never drinking in Greece I will be here.” My Greek is pretty good, but not that great.
Almost all of my stuff is packed, aside from what I need to sleep tonight and wear tomorrow.
We walked around today in Plaka, and saw the Acropolis one more time. Tonight we’re all going up to the top of the hill I live on to watch the sun go down. Then, tomorrow morning we’re off to the airport at an ungodly hour.
While I’m saying goodbye-and-thank-yous, I might as well throw one out to you all too. You’ll probably all see me soon, but the blog is over, so goodbye, and thanks for coming along.
Those of you who helped me get here, I hope you have seen an adequate return on your investment. Those of you who care about me, I hope you have been satisfied with everything (and not too worried). Those of you looking for information, an escape, a laugh, a lesson, or something to pass a dull moment, I hope you have found what you were looking for.
I’ve spent some time thinking about this city, and what it is to me. I am more than a tourist, but I am not a Greek; this is not my home, but I am not a guest. I thought maybe I could be a foreigner, but still an Athenian; that perhaps this is my city, if not my country. Then I thought that maybe a city is really defined by the people who live in it, past and present. It makes sense; without people, a city is just buildings. Rather than the city belonging to us, then, we who pass through it belong in part to the city. And so Athens is thousands of years of Minoans, Mycenaeans, Greeks, Macedonians, Romans, Turks, Venetians, Nazis and people from all over the world who have lived or come here, to admire, but also to become. It is Hadrian, Pausanias, Elgin and Byron; it is Peisistratus and Metaxas; it is Alexander and Cylon and Kolokotronis. It’s Georgos, who makes sandwiches at the shop on my street, and the pretty girl who works at Everest, and the cab driver who ripped me off in Plaka. And I guess now it is also a little bit Thomas Henry Buck.
And now this blog is finished; again, thank you all for coming. At the end of the film “American History X”, the main character says that it’s appropriate to end with a quote, when someone has said something before you, and you don’t know how to top it. At the risk of being corny, I figure that’s pretty good reasoning. And so I will leave you with the words of Richard Harris: “Someone left the cake out in the rain/ And I don’t think that I can take it, because it took so long to…”
Sorry. That wasn’t the quote I was looking for.
“Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh, give me back my heart.”
-Byron
Last night I played my last Greek magic tournament. I said bye to everyone, and left my contact information with the store, with the instructions to get in touch any time any of their players are in the US. Christos insisted that my last tournament was on the house, and he signed a Stomping Ground (a good card) for me to take home.
Just now I went down to the Cafeneio for the last time. This one was harder, because I’m not going to be able to stay in touch via email or anything. I told Georgos thanks for everything, and that if I was back in Greece he could bet I’d be back.
It’s also possible that I told him, “The food liked me very much and if I was never drinking in Greece I will be here.” My Greek is pretty good, but not that great.
Almost all of my stuff is packed, aside from what I need to sleep tonight and wear tomorrow.
We walked around today in Plaka, and saw the Acropolis one more time. Tonight we’re all going up to the top of the hill I live on to watch the sun go down. Then, tomorrow morning we’re off to the airport at an ungodly hour.
While I’m saying goodbye-and-thank-yous, I might as well throw one out to you all too. You’ll probably all see me soon, but the blog is over, so goodbye, and thanks for coming along.
Those of you who helped me get here, I hope you have seen an adequate return on your investment. Those of you who care about me, I hope you have been satisfied with everything (and not too worried). Those of you looking for information, an escape, a laugh, a lesson, or something to pass a dull moment, I hope you have found what you were looking for.
I’ve spent some time thinking about this city, and what it is to me. I am more than a tourist, but I am not a Greek; this is not my home, but I am not a guest. I thought maybe I could be a foreigner, but still an Athenian; that perhaps this is my city, if not my country. Then I thought that maybe a city is really defined by the people who live in it, past and present. It makes sense; without people, a city is just buildings. Rather than the city belonging to us, then, we who pass through it belong in part to the city. And so Athens is thousands of years of Minoans, Mycenaeans, Greeks, Macedonians, Romans, Turks, Venetians, Nazis and people from all over the world who have lived or come here, to admire, but also to become. It is Hadrian, Pausanias, Elgin and Byron; it is Peisistratus and Metaxas; it is Alexander and Cylon and Kolokotronis. It’s Georgos, who makes sandwiches at the shop on my street, and the pretty girl who works at Everest, and the cab driver who ripped me off in Plaka. And I guess now it is also a little bit Thomas Henry Buck.
And now this blog is finished; again, thank you all for coming. At the end of the film “American History X”, the main character says that it’s appropriate to end with a quote, when someone has said something before you, and you don’t know how to top it. At the risk of being corny, I figure that’s pretty good reasoning. And so I will leave you with the words of Richard Harris: “Someone left the cake out in the rain/ And I don’t think that I can take it, because it took so long to…”
Sorry. That wasn’t the quote I was looking for.
“Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh, give me back my heart.”
-Byron