Greece day 1 "Crete"

So I'm thinking that this will be a good way to have a sort of diary of this vacation, and who knows, I may just keep it up after we get home.

So David & I left on Oct. 1, 2009 from Peoria airport. Our oldest son, David J. dropped us off, you know your getting old when your kids can drop you at the airport. We were scheduled to fly out at 6:25 am so we got there about 5:20 am. When we went up to the Northwest counter and showed our passports the lady said they showed no ticket numbers in our name. Uh oh. All I had w/me was the schedule they emailed me and there was no confirmation number or ticket numbers on that also. At first I was thinking, not a big deal but the lady got pretty flustered and started saying things like there might not be enough time to get this figured out before your flight leaves. Now I'm not usually a nervous person and not too much gets to me but THAT did! We've been planning this trip for months and I had already paid for all of our lodging, airfare, and ferries. She tried making a phone call to Delta because they were in the process of combining the 2 companies but they couldn't find any numbers either and had put her on hold. I asked if there was anything we could do and she said if I could look up the last email they'd sent that maybe I could find a confirmation number. Thank goodness for laptops. I was able to get online and find the # and she was able to locate the tickets. Nothing like a crisis first thing in the morning to get your heart pumping....some people just have a cup of coffee.
We flew out on time and then made a connection in Detroit, then New York, and then a LOOOOONNNGG flight to Athens, Greece (over 10 hours). We then had to pick up our bags, recheck our bags and get on a smaller plane to Crete. We got to Crete about 1:00 pm their time but our brains thought it was 5:00 am. We took a taxi to Hania where we've rented a studio in the Old Town section. We are staying at Iason Studios owned by a lady named Despina and her family. I'm not sure how old the building is but it's been interesting for David here. First of all there is no American television stations...YES!!! I'm not a fan of tv! Then the AC isn't coming on (which we don't actually need because it's really nice temperature wise, but still he'd like to know that it works....just in case! Now the latest thing is that the we can't get the bathroom light to turn on. It worked when we first got here but when we came back from walking around it wouldn't come on. Oh well, maybe we can get a candle or something....wouldn't that be romantic? Our hostess brought up a plate of some pastries and nuts and some kind of really strong drink. It came w/2 little glasses so I figured it was to drink but it tastes just like amonia smells. I bet you could clean ANYTHING w/this stuff. Its wierd because we have a little balcony and you just leave the doors open here. There are no bugs at all. It's great. It's very "old world" here w/lots of very old buildings and the ruins of the Castle "Firkas" are very close by. We really enjoyed walking around these old walls. I kept thinking, "I wonder if Paul the apostle walked here?". I don't know how old all of it is but it looks really old.
We bought a few groceries at a small local store here and then walked to a tiny coffee shop/cafe and had an early dinner. We decided to get a few things and share them. We got a ham/cheese, tomato, olive oil sandwich, a cheese pie, and a greek salad. They were all really good. David also got his first taste of greek coffee. I thought he probably should have gotten the "filtered version" but he got the real stuff and there was about a 1/2 cup of grit on the bottom of the cup. I don't think he's gonna be a fan of greek coffee:). We walked around the beautiful harbor looking at some of the shops and menus of the cafes here so we know where all we want to go in the next few days. We came home and had hot water for showers but no lights and then crashed at about 8:30 pm. Of course I woke up about 1:00 am and I'm starving and not tired at all. It was supper time at home so I got up, made a sandwich and started this blog. The internet signal is weak but we were able to check our email and it sounds like the kids are planning all kinds of fun w/out us. Tomorrow (I guess later on today) we are thinking we will go to the big market and then maybe snorkeling in the Sea of Crete in the afternoon.