Almost Home

So, apparently Mykonos is the island of Greece most visited by the gay population of Europe. I have to admit that I didn't know this as my gaydar has been severely impaired by our visit to Europe. (I blame this mainly on the widespread tread of capri pants and tight muscle shirts amongst the male population.) Plus, there were so many couples in Europe, sometimes it's hard to tell. Despite some of my friends from high school insisting that Mykonos was the gay island of Greece, it took a cab driver's remark on our way to the Athens airport to really bring it home for me. ( Mykonos, not to gay for you, no? ) No big deal as I was there for the scenery and beach and really couldn't care what everyone else on the island is doing except for one small thing... The stores in Mykonos stay open very late, which can be a problem for someone who likes to have wine with dinner. I often found that, a little tipsy, I would end up buying things I'm sure I could live with out had I been sober when making my purchases. This is how I ended up in coming home from a t-shirt shop with 5, yes 5, new t-shirts at midnight, one of which, in a very bold red color, says Good girls go to heaven, Bad girls go to Greece. I do have to admit that I am slightly concerned that the fact that I own a bad girls shirt that also says Mykonos on it beneath its declaration might make me some point of interest to the lesbian world. Annie has assured me this will not be the case, but I can't help but wonder...(On a side note, today someone asked Annie and I if we were lesbians. Apparently the fact that we are traveling alone is some sort of red flag, or it might be some bizarre opening line. Everyone else has asked us if we were sisters so that they could talk to us. Or if we're Australian. Or if we like beer, or leather, or if we're Greek...The list goes on. Lucky for us that we're well skilled in ignoring people.) In Mykonos, I also learned that you have to watch the ferries. Annie and I were in line for our ferry back to the mainland when a man walked by yelling in Greek, which was of course not at all helpful, but we were also not alarmed until we saw groups of people beginning to throw their belongings over the railing and run towards the boat rather than wait in our very civilized line. It seemed at that moment that the best thing to do was follow the crowd, so we too flung our bags over the railing and began to run. Lucky that we did because apparently the call was for all aboard, and had we waited, as would be my natural inclination as I disdain gross amounts of physical effort, we would have missed the only ferry back for the day. Once on the ferry, Annie and I found a nice little table to sit at and read. As luck would have it, the only couple with a screaming baby decided to take over half of our table. At one point, the mother drew the baby to her chest, and Annie gave me the worst death look ever. It meant, If the trend continues and this woman starts breast-feeding in front of us, I blame you for bringing this horrible luck upon us. Considering that we were not far past the Paris incident when she hit me, I was more than relieved when the woman was just cradling her child and not attempting to give it lunch. On a different note, I have visited 2 Scottish pubs in the last few days. It seems like a fun afternoon activity. The first, in Rome, was somewhat interesting as all the bars on tap were Irish and all the bartenders were Asian. I think their sense of identity and atmosphere was confused to say the least. Today we found a great Scottish pub. I had some Scottish beer and think I have an idea of why they are so hard to find. The super lager and ale are 9% alcohol by volume. If that isn't a gift from the Scots to the world, I don't know what is. This bar also played the entire Justin Timberlake Justified album; it was like a Godsend.