Pireaus, Greece

Yesterday I got an email from my friend Jennifer, and she told me she was still stuck at the hospital in Athens because she wasn’t stable enough to fly. Because of port traffic, we changed the order of the ports this cruise, so we were scheduled for Athens today instead of later on in the cruise. I took the opportunity to go and see her again, as she said in her email that she was bored out of her mind. It would have been weird to be here and not go see her. Plus there was some mail for her, so I brought it over. I had an interesting time finding a taxi – all the ones in the port were very expensive, and the drivers told me to walk further from the terminal and they would be cheaper. So I did, and I was in the process of flagging one down when another taxi that already had passengers pulled up nearby and rolled down his window and yelled for me to come over. I was confused, but went over, and he said, “You’re going to the hospital, right?” I couldn’t believe it! I guess he must have helped last time we were here, but I don’t remember him….Even if he was the driver last time, what are the odds that he would be driving by at just the right moment? It was a small miracle. So he took me straight there, charged me only half what the others were asking, and dropped me off before he took the other passengers wherever they were going. God was looking out for me!

So I just had a lovely visit with Jen for a few hours, which was fun for me and great for her. And now I’m sitting in line at a Greek Bank waiting for my number to come up so I can exchange money so I can get a taxi back to the port. Otherwise it’s a pretty long walk. Ha ha. Well, my number’s coming up next, so I’ll be right back….

..And I'm back! I made it back alright. Last night something amazing happened at the broadway show! After it was over, the cruise director had all the cast come back on stage supposedly to acknowledge the fact that we finally have a full cast again since Robyn has returned after some surgery. He told the audience that her absence had been particularly hard on the singer Justin, her boyfriend for several years. Then he took something out of his pocket and gave it to Justin, saying, "I think you wanted me to hold this for you during the show." It was a little box...(can you guess what happened??) Justin took Robyn's hand and went down on one knee and asked her to marry him! In front of everyone! She had no idea he was planning anything, and was so surprised (as were we!!). She said yes, of course, and then some of the activity staff shot off some confetti canons. It was awesome!!! I cried a little. :-) So now they are engaged. Wow!!