day 8 - protest and animals

I left my apartment Tuesday morning to find the streets quiet and free of traffic. A real pleasure. Typically, Athens is filled w cars and motorbikes; the traffic is bad and parking is a free for all. The engines roar and on narrow streets they echo and are even louder. (Although, from far away, especially from one of Athens many hills, the buzzing sound of motorbikes is kind of pleasant.)
There was a city wide strike that day. I'm not sure much about it, if it was a general strike or not, but there was a sizable demonstration making it's way down the street. I followed it and talked to some students that were planning a peace conference.. then the police showed up in full riot gear. I thought i was smart, i ducked into a courtyard, sat at a cafe and had a "freddo". I watched the rest of the demonstration from the courtyard. Then I watched as people ran from the police who were using pepper spray. A cloud of pepper spray came into the courtyard and I spent the next 15 minutes coughing and tearing. I've been tear gassed before but never pepper sprayed. (I know it was the later because it tasted like pepper!) The effect became mild but lasted all day. The rest of the cafe patrons were annoyed and upset, but somehow not outraged.

Next, I went to the sites. Athens has a lot of stray dogs. They can be seen sleeping in the shadows of all the important monuments. I didn't know that Athens also has stray turtles! The one i found was on the south slope of the acropolis wandering around on the ruins.






Bonus: Did you know that the great masterpieces of neo-classical architecture in Athens were designed by German architects? I find it a little strange that some of the most important commissions of the last century were not given to native architects. And a little ironic that the Germans who got the commissions replicated the classics in the birthplace of classical architecture.