I know…I’m behind on my posts.

I’m already in Bucharest and I still haven’t given meaningful Athens updates.

First, I’ve got to say that of all the places on our trip, I had the highest expectations for Athens. I’m happy to report…expectations exceeded.   You'll see in my next few posts what I'm talking about.  I'm only going to get one in now though as I've got to get to bed...

Athens never sleeps and neither did I. I had awesome meetings, took tons of photos, and really love the people and culture.

Sitting down to write would have actually taken away from the things to write about. With that kind of dilemma I just decided to go with experiencing as much as possible while there.

Our hostess in Athens was a beautiful lady named Elizabeth Phocas. She was just delightful and did a marvelous job of keeping us on schedule. Despite what we heard about southern Europe being chronically late, my experience is they were quite punctual…perhaps more so than us.

The first night there we had dinner at Giorti Baxevani, home of the number one rated chef in all of Athens for 2006. That set the bar for our entire time in Athens. We toured the wood fired oven kitchen and well as the wine cellar.

I believe Greek food is now my favorite. I just love it. I know I’ve gained weight, but the thing I don’t get is how all of the Greeks are so fit and trim. After four days my pants don’t fit anymore…

After dinner we went to a bazouki bar. I had no idea what a treat I was in for. This was an awesome time built around live music with a long string of different male and female singers.

The tables butt right up to the stage and are loaded with fresh fruit, libations, and plates full of carnations. And they keep it all coming. The singers croon songs of the frustrations of lost loves as the audience throws the flowers or petals towards the singers and each other. I never knew throwing flowers could be such fun.

We were also frequently invited on stage to dance with the singers and as a group. This is but one perfect example of experiencing a new culture and learning by doing. It exemplifies what this trip has been for me.

Here’s the thing. We met for dinner at 8:30. We actually began eating around 9:30. The meal ended around 1am and we went to the bazouki 'hot club'. I won’t say how late or early we stayed out, but I will let you know we were all on time and ready to go at 9am for our foreign policy and development aid briefing.

I had so much fun I’m actually thinking about a bazouki bar in Zebulon. I could call it Zebazouki and we’d mix in a little Hank Jr.