Incredibly enough, even more stuff that I have learned, noticed, forgotten or been told...this time from Athens...following a Roman disaster

• When in Italy, gesturing from waist to knee and informing the local girls that you are "one quarter Italian" produces mixed results...most bad...this line is much better received by American backpackers.
• Spain and Italy are filled with drinking water fountains (as well as the decorative kind)...by usiing one SIGG bottle, one can save money, remain hydrated, and reduce the use of plastic...all of which are good.
• I have yet to visit a country that provides beer fountains...this is bad.
• I have not yet been to Germany...so I still have hope...
• Greece doesn't have a lot of drinking fountains...but it does have a Taverna on every corner...this is good.
• In most European languages the word "no" is pretty self-evident (eg "non", "no", "niet" etc.) In Greek the word for "yes" is "ne"...I may be dimwitted...but I seem to find this surprisingly confusing.
• Ipods are great...but they also isolate people...when in a train carriage, people used to talk to each other...now they are often filled with people listening to sounds from home, rather than interacting with others...this is bad.
• Speakers can be bout inexpensively to suit MP3 players (mine cost $7US in Laos), sharing music brings people together an often results in the "my play list is better than your play list game"...this is good.
• The Germans...always the Germans.
• If you are even in Athen the Apollo Hotel gets the Big D-Man's "two thumbs up"...it's 70 Euros for a double or twin room, but it has a lovely roof top garden/bar thingie with amazing views of the Acropolis (The chick behind the bar also provides a pretty amazing view.)
• When drinking canned beer on a rooftop bar, high winds can render a partially empty can a serious flight risk...this is dangerous.
• Luckily, by ensuring that one's can is never partially empty, one can avoid this flight risk...this is also a little dangerous.
• Rome is really small.
• It is also filled with thousands ofpeople looking at the same tourist map and wondering where the heck they are.
• Tourist maps don't always show North at the top of the page...this is very important to know, if, like me you use a compass.
• The Tour de France, get waaaaay less TV coverage in Spain and Italy then I expected...seeing that both countries produce great riders.
• The Germans...always the Germans.
• SBS has the best Tour de France coverage in the world...except maybe France...(I don't know...I wasn't there.)
• The German language Eurosport channel has pretty good coverage...and they say things like "ein minooten"...which sounds funny.
• Watching German TV often results in being in a bar surrounded by Germans...again with the Germans.
• More on TV...Spain appears to have a channel that shows "The Gilmore Girls" 24/7...the rapid dialogue between mother and daughter sounds funny in Spanish.
• Still more on TV...Italy apears to have a channel that shows "Walker-Texas Ranger 24/7...this may be an insight to the Psyche of Italians.
• I've been in Greece for 3 nights and haven't seen any of their TV yet.
• Chuck Norris rules.
• By sticking folded cardboard into the little key slot thingie that activates the lighting in one's room when leaving, one reatians electricity...this is handy for charging cell phones, ipods, camera batteries etc. It is also good for leaving the A/C running...but only if you will be out of the room for a short time...it is wrong to rape the planet.
• The Trevi fountain is the most beautiful thing in Rome.
• KLF's "The White Room" is the best albulm of all time.
• Spanish girsl get prettier as one goes South.
• Italian girls get prettier as one goes North.
• All girls look prettier after 2 litres of beer.
• By not carrying a daypack/camera bag/bum bag, one can more easily blend in with the locals...this is kinda cool in a low-key way...until a mono-lingual local addresses one excitedly in Basque/Greek/(insert local language here)...then things can become amusing.
• Pamplona is filled with Aussies. (Well...most of Europe is filled with Aussies...but Pamplona more so.)
• The Germans...always the Germans.
• Rome is filled with Americans.
• Older Americans seem to complain a lot (eg: "It's too sunny here." "Why would the Romans build a house here?" etc.)... this is bad.
• Younger Americans continue to impress the heck out of me with their gererally open and worldly views - There I said it!
• Younger, fit Greek guys, like most people, tend to wear a shirt when in the city. Fatter, older Greek guys take their shirts off...or do this wierd thing where they roll up their shirt to expose their gut roll...this is disturbing.
• (I made a similar observation a year or two ago about Germans in Thailand...maybe this is an international trend that I have been slow to pick up on...)
• Greek peopke are friendlier than the Romans...except for the Greek cab drivers...whom all worship the devil.
• This is in direct contrast to the (,amy) Greek cab drivers in Melbourne...whom are all super-friendly.
• This is in direct contrast to the (now many) Somalian cab drivers in Melbourne...whom all worship the devil.
• Melbourne produces the greatest dancers in the world...and they SMILE when they dance.
• The Germans...always the Germans.
• I like to order girly coxktails with swizzle-sticks and little umbrellas, and fruit on the rim of the glass.
• Both the Grreks and the Romans created incredible cultures...excelling in art, science, math, literature, and building. Neither has really recovered from the fall of the Roman Empire...both are still in decline.
• Australia and Asia, with the occassional hiccough are building something that is often better than what they had in the past...maybe that is why I love Australia and Asia so much.
• Avoid the district of Omonia in Athens after midnight...unless you are looking for heroin or a prostitute...I am looking for neither.
• Did I mention the Germans...?

• The Germans, always the Germans.