Ταξί! (Taxi!)

After a day in Delphi which included what can only be referred to as a hike up a mountain to see the stadium at the top and a long bus ride to Athens, My Owner, her daughter, and friend located their room and settled in. It took a moment for them to realize that there was no energy in the room unless someone's key was in the slot by the door. A smart conservation trick, that. MO felt a little chilly and kind of tired but it had been a long few days.

No time to waste they plopped their luggage down, and were off to the lobby to meet their group and head to dinner. The tour guide handed out subway tickets. They marched en masse out into the streets of Athens. As they walked along MO chatted with an art professor and a few blocks from the hotel they were both momentarily distracted by a man pushing a stack of the biggest tins of olive oil you've ever seen. They looked up and were at a corner. They looked around. Their group was gone. Disappeared completely in the 5 seconds they were ogling olive oil. They backtracked. The stairs to the subway descended at the exact spot they hadn't been paying attention. The entire group had vanished underground. They rushed to catch up and did, just in time to jam themselves into an already filled to capacity car.

They exited the metro and headed to the restaurant. They sat and chatted until a lovely Greek salad arrived. MO looked at it. She felt odd. She ate a few bites and put her fork down. The main course arrived which resembled a cube of meat. MO and her daughter exchanged glances. Someone asked what it was and the consensus was that it was veal. A dagger in the heart of MO's offspring. There is nothing appetizing to her about baby cow. MO felt sick and headed to the bathroom followed closely by her daughter.

I'm omitting details here for your own good except to say that for the next few minutes a good many women in that establishment got the privilege of using the men's room. The tour guide came to see if they wanted him to get them a taxi. He walked them to the corner and hailed one. He gave the driver the address of the hotel and though MO doesn't understand Greek she could tell that he was giving the driver stern instructions to take them STRAIGHT to the hotel. 

The driver was a jovial fellow with his cab covered with pictures of all the things to see and do in Athens. As they drove along he pointed out places of interest along the way. Suddenly he pointed to a building and said "That's the Ministry of Banking! They are a bunch of F*%@#&! A*%&!#@s" Then he burst into a hearty laugh. MO and her daughter looked at each other and cracked up. (Which took MO's mind off of trying not to make a mess in this nice man's cab) Next up the President's house, and other official buildings, always with the same reaction.

"All these F#@$*&% bankers and politicians they are screwing all the people all the time! Is it the same in America?"

MO and her daughter looked at each other and nodded.

"My friend, it's the same all over the world."

They arrived at the hotel, they had given him 10 euro, for a ride costing a little over 5, he went inside to get change. They followed him and realized it was the wrong hotel. He collected the change, got the name of the hotel right and back into the cab they went. A block or two later they arrived at their hotel and MO was wondering about that change. As he parked the car he handed it to her and when she tried to tip him he refused it, instead writing his name and number on a slip of paper in case they should need a cab again during their stay.

This made them smile. MO was flagging and knew the driver would never know how much his kindness and humor  were appreciated during those few moments in his cab.