Rick Steves says if you can force yourself to stay awake until the normal bedtime of your destination country, you'll go a long way to conquering your jet lag. Well I did everything right and stayed up until Midnight last night, and immediately dropped right off to sleep. And woke up wide awake 3 hours later. So here it is 3:30 am and I'm blogging because I can't sleep. Best laid plans, and all that.
My one checked bag arrived safely after much needless worry (or perhaps thanks to the prayers of my sisters), and I called Tasos immediately after checking in. Everyone over there is looking forward to my visit; I take the bus tomorrow to Chania, which is about a 2 hour trip.
After checking in to the hotel (I'm kind of glad I splurged: the taxi driver knew exactly where it was, and I have internet access) and calling Tasos and family, I showered and changed and went out for a walk. I now know that 27 degrees is quite warm, and was happy to be wearing shorts and a T.
Heraklion is a crazy, crazy place. Everyone is driving like a maniac, with mopeds and scooters weaving in and out of traffic, all while talking on their cell phone or passenger and eating a sandwich. No honking thank goodness. Just very aggressive driving, but no one seems to be very upset. Sometimes if you want to cross the street you have to just step out. No sudden moves; they will see you and avoid you, but it is a bit unsettling. Don't count on that walk signal either: they're usually good about that stuff, but it's more important to make sure they see you. If you've seen the movies on YouTube of people crossing the street in Viet Nam, this is nowhere near as bad. Think Madrid or Rome if you've seen movies set there and you'll get the general idea.
It is also very easy to get lost, even with a map. The streets are a crazy patchwork and usually not marked, and not every street is on the map, but some surprisingly small ones look like major thoroughfares on the map. But I survived, didn't get too lost, and got an awesome pita sandwich for 3 € and ... hey! I think I might have gotten short changed. Maybe should have been 1 € and he gave me 1 € coins instead of 2 € coins hoping I wouldn't notice? On the other hand, that might have been the right price. I need to be more careful.
This is all very surreal for me. I just saw the movie Midnight in Paris (see it if you get a chance: I loved it) ... again ... because it was one of the inflight movies. Last night as I was wandering around Heraklion, I started feeling like I was Woody Allen's -- I mean Owen Wilson's -- character in that film; and when I found myself unexpectedly on a deserted street, I found myself wondering if a car filled with strangers drinking champagne -- I mean ouzo -- was going to pick me up and take me to a party and introduce me to Nikos Kazantzakis.
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