Greece

[yyaldrin]

have fun!
i think some travel agency went bankrupt, you will have all the swimming pools and hotels to yourself!

 

[Mr. Tea]

You should try and learn a bit of the lingo. Try your hand at Homeric hexameter.

 

[Turns out HMG was right!]

You should try and learn a bit of the lingo. Try your hand at Homeric hexameter.

I really enjoy parsing road signs and menus in tavernas written in Greek.

B = V
P = R
triangle = D (delta)
wobbly X = Ch
pi symbol = P obvs
u with a tail = M

After a couple of days you get used to it.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I really enjoy parsing road signs and menus in tavernas written in Greek.

B = V
P = R
triangle = D (delta)
wobbly X = Ch
pi symbol = P obvs
u with a tail = M

After a couple of days you get used to it.

A physics education means the names of the letters are second nature to me, but the sounds of some of them catch you out if you're not careful. Beta is actually "veta", as you point out. I think 'mp' is used to denote an actual "b" sound. Another is that gamma is really "ghamma" or "yamma", and not the standard hard 'g' in English.

 

[luka]

Athens is very very good. On the very short shortlist of cities im in love with

 

[luka]

They don't care about me. Not impressed by me, not trying to impress me. I barely impinge on their consciousness. They just bring my lager and my free peanuts. Never experienced anything like it.

 

[IdleRich]

B = V
P = R
triangle = D (delta)
wobbly X = Ch
pi symbol = P obvs
u with a tail = M

All except the last also true in Russian. Oh and the delta.
In general B and V tend to be replaceable ie a lot of words in say German or French or English or whatever will turn out to be the same if you swap B for V or vice versa.

 

[IdleRich]

They just bring my lager and my free peanuts. Never experienced anything like it.

If you set your sights low you are gonna be quite easily impresed. And thus happy.

 

[IdleRich]

Seems that some of the stuff I've seen would blow your mind though.

 

[luka]

Strongly disagree wuth that reading rich

 

[luka]

It's extraordinary. Never experienced this before. Plus classical ruins everywhere. And sun.

 

[Mr. Tea]

It's extraordinary. Never experienced this before. Plus classical ruins everywhere. And sun.

Beirut is a bit like this. There's a massive Roman bath complex right in the middle of the city. Here and there you can see modern ruins, too, from the civil war or the Israeli invasion.

Baalbek, to the north, is hands down the most impressive built site I've ever seen. Hard to imagine how imposing it must have been when it was complete.

 

[Corpsey]

If you set your sights low you are gonna be quite easily impresed. And thus happy.

Look, mate, I'm the Grecophobe around here so back the fuck up.

 

[yyaldrin]

ain't it nice though when people make a little chat? it's something i found so pleasant when i visited england, that people actually notice you and engage with you. in berlin, people not only don't care about you, or try to impress you, they will actively make you feel bad for just entering their space or opening up a conversation. walk into a bakery or a restaurant and see the pain and suffering you're causing by having these people get up from their chair and forced to help you. at the same time, i can't really blame them. working service industry is terrible.

 

[IdleRich]

But you can make it better by being friendly I'd think. Although I totally accept that people are all cunts. Got a friend from Switzerland and he said the same when he came to visit us in London, we went to our local shop and he was going "In Switzerland they would never smile at you and just chat like that".

 

[baboon2004]

ain't it nice though when people make a little chat? it's something i found so pleasant when i visited england, that people actually notice you and engage with you.

Are you sure you were in England?

 

[baboon2004]

Other classical / similar ruins and sun hotspots - Palermo (v few tourists), Mexico City

 

[luka]

Are you sure you were in England?

If I hadn't met you, more than once, in England, I'd assume you'd never been. You've got a weird view of it.

 

[luka]

Btw why did no one tell me about the toilet paper issue? Struggling to get my head around it.

 

[luka]

I've left Athens and I'm really regretting it. Horrible little island full of disgusting old people in swimming costumes, Americans everywhere. It's like being trapped on a cruise ship. I hate it. Going to try and get back to Athens asap