last week i went to athens, greece for a short vacation. i just woke up on friday and i thought, i need to go, to be somewher else, to clear my head, to see something different, to be alone for sometime.
thus, first thing saturday morning, i got on the first plane to athens and there i was. reality hit me as soon as i arrived there. i was alone in a city, i've never been before. by the way i always thought that greece is a sunny country, warm and summery. i couldn't be more wrong. by afternoon everything was covered with snow, it seemed like Christmas in old holywood films.
i checked in the hotel and i took a walk. people were strolling in the street, as it was summer, laughing and chatting loudly.
i sat in a cafe in syntagma square (central square in athens) and i ordered a beer (they only had amstel and heineken and a greek one i've never heard of). i looked around, everyone was having coffee or hot chocolate, not a drop of alcohol, but still they were loud, and flirty and seemed to have so much fun. they seemed free of worries, carefree...
i have no clue what they were talking about but i have the feeling that the topics would not be much different from the ones in our discussions back home. nevertheless they looked so much happier.
and then i thought, how different people are depending where they are growing up. i mean, these were young people in my age, professionals, middle class (i imagine, based on their shopping bags), single, working long hours, never having enough time to enjoy themselves or spend some quality time with their friends or their significant other, but still at that snowy, freezing cold afternoon, they were talking and laughing and courting, letting things slide without a single worry...it must be the sun!