This is a holiday weekend in Greece

This is a holiday weekend in Greece, right in the middle of the holiday season. Monday is Koimisis tis Theotokou, the Feast of the Dormition (Assumption of the BVM), a very important time in the Orthodox calendar. We're told that it's traditional to return to home villages, so even remote locations are busier than usual as the Greeks of the diaspora (and Athens) return to their homeplaces to connect with family and the church. Athens certainly seems quiet.

We will be at home organizing ourselves. We went to the new place in the early evening today (Friday), and Patrick and Charlotte showed unmistakable signs that they recognize friends as each emerges from its carton.

Alex and I worry a lot about how to make the terrace and balconies safe. We see the devices we need to extend the level of the balustrades, but how do we go about organizing such things?

It is nice to have our household (semi) installed. We feel like we are home. All of us have felt slightly adrift for a while so it is good to be home.

You distant ones may know that this is the view of Athens you usualy see , but if you turn around you see a view more characeristic of the way the city looks.


But there is an old city behind the concrete facade, and there are are old and new nighborhoods in it. And we feel like we have found a nice one