Athens days 3, 4, and 5

I couldn't believe all the donations I received through PayPal. There was nearly $550 in total! It was enough to get Kevin a flight, hotel, and ticket with some money left over to feed him for a couple of nights. I sent Kevin a text straight away. It was 9 A.M in Germany, and his birthday celebration was the night before, so I didn't expect to hear back from him until later in the day. 

We had three days and two nights. That was definitely a novelty!

I hung out at the pool most of the time, nodding off on the sun lounger. Kami had a lie in the first day, and I think it was around 2:00 when she made her way up to the pool--it may have been a bit earlier. I told her about the donations for Kevin, and said I was waiting for him to call.

When he finally called later in the day, he was nearly in tears. He couldn't believe that he could go to the show after he had determined it was impossible. We discussed details such as where the best place to fly from was, where he wanted to fly back to, and when he wanted to fly. I then logged onto Expedia and booked him a flight and hotel package and sent him confirmation. He would fly in tomorrow, stay thee nights, then fly back to Frankfurt.

Pigs over the Acropolis!

    

Day 4

Kevin was due to arrive about 6 P.M. Kami and I hung out by the pool most of the day and arranged to meet with Monika on the hotel roof at 8:30. Phil and Laila spent the day sightseeing on one of the islands, but we arranged to meet them at a restaurant as soon as Kevin arrived. I could have sat on that rooftop all day and night--the view was amazing, and the temperature from 8 P.M. onwards was just right with gentle breezes. Then the sun starts going down, and the lights come up on the Acropolis a half hour later.

      

After Monika and Kevin arrived, we enjoyed a bottle of wine, then headed out to the metro. Three stops later, we got off at Monastiraki Street and met up with Phil and Laila just around 9:45P.M.

Monika, Kevin and Kami           Sunset from the rooftop

     

We picked a bar to sit at for a couple of drinks. Kami, Phil, Laila, and I had such a good meal the night before that we all decided to go back to the same restaurant. It was after 10:30 before we ordered food. Kami and I had the exact same starter and entree from the night before, as did Laila. It was a touch cooler tonight, but sitting out in the relatively warm Athens air was great. I couldn't think of a better place to be and nicer people to spend it with! We finished eating at midnight, just as it turned Kevin's birthday. I took a picture of him at 11:59 and one of him at 00:01 just to see if there were any changes.

Kevin at 59 years old                     Kevin at 60 years old                     Kami gives Kevin a birthday hug

   

We sat outside people watching, then one of the street vendors came up to us with a toy loud haler like Roger's from Waiting for the Worms. We didn't expect it to be a fully working device that not only made your voice louder but also recorded about 5 seconds of sound. Phil started the bargaining from 15 Euros and Laila ended it at 7 Euros after the guy had already said no to 8 Euros! Phil proceeded to perform Roger's part for Waiting for the Worms and recorded it to the unit. He played it back, but pressed a wrong button. It was only then that we found out that it actually some preset recorded sounds included. Imagine our faces when we heard “Ole, Ole, Ole” come shouting out of the front of it! We were in hysterics.

Phil and his new toy.                          Kami and I                                        Kevin, Laila, Phil, Monika and I.

   

Phils loud haler

After we all pretended to be Roger, passing the loud haler around, we made our way back to the hotel. Since we had missed the last metro, we walked the 30 minute trek back. Monika peeled off to her hotel while Phil, Laila, and Kevin went to a bar for a couple of drinks. Kami and I walked back to the hotel to get to bed around 2:30 A.M.

Day 5

I woke about 8 A.M. at first. Kami and I arranged to meet up with Phil and Laila at 9 A.M. for sightseeing, but when I logged online and saw Phil posted a picture to Facebook four hours ago. That meant he was still awake at 4 A.M., so I guessed he wasn't up for sightseeing at 9:00. I fell back to sleep and woke again around 10 A.M.

We were all planning to meet up at the Hard Rock at about 3 P.M., so Kami and I hung out at the pool until we headed into the centre of Athens around 2 P.M. to get some more postcards for Kami before going up to the Hard Rock. Phil and Laila were already there with Monika. Matt from Guildford sent us a message earlier--he flew back to the UK the day after the 2nd show with no intention of coming out for the 3rd show. However, he sorted things out with his boss (whom I'm meant to thank here for letting him come out--I know she reads this blog!) and was flying in for the gig. Kevin messaged earlier to say he was running a bit late. Matt and James arrived, then Analie, who flew in the night before from Portugal to meet up with everyone. James from the USA also flew home after the first show and was due back today (the perks of working for an airline!)

The birthday boy arrived wearing a T-shirt that several of our friends made to give him at his birthday party a couple of nights ago in Germany. It was clever. On the front it said, “I've been mad for F_cking 60 years,” and on the back it looked like a list of tour dates, but it was in fact birthdays, countries, and names of all the people had the shirt made.

The front                                 The back                                Pre show meet up at the Hard Rock                

  

Kami and I gave Kevin a card, James had brought him a bottle of wine, and Phil and Laila gave him a CD. He was so pleased to be in Athens with us. Two days ago it was only a dream, and today that dream had come true.

We had lots of fun playing like little kids with the loud haler in the Hard Rock. Phil wanted to take it into the show to start the "Ole, Ole, Ole" chant after Outside the Wall.

Kami getting into the mood for the show      James and his worms!

 

My friend Nick and his wife Celise were due to arrive between 5:00 and 6:00. However, we left at 5:30, so I messaged them to meet up with us at the venue. Anelie called in at her hotel, saying she'd meet us at the venue later. As we walked to the metro, we saw a few TV vans gathering in the square where the riots had taken place as well as some riot police and shields!

Riot bus                             Riot police                          James excited for the show!  Phil and Kevin in the Metro

We arrived at the venue around 7:00. I waited for Anelie while Kami picked up our tickets. Kevin went with James to help him search for floor tickets. We all met inside the venue in our usual place around half an hour later.
Date of the last show as seen on the Metro train                Bar named Echoes on the way to the Venue