Now I am back in Athens relaxing. The heat wave is broken; it didn't get past 95 at all yesterday. Athens is really quite pleasant when the weather is nice. Tomorrow I will go see the National Archaeological museum, and then I fly to Cairo. I have met many interesting people so far ... staying in hostels is a great way to meet people, and that makes up for the fairly primitive level of services (e.g., no seats on toilets, no hot water, and other mainly bathroom-related inconveniences). In the next stage I will test my four years of sales experience against the mightiest adversaries in the world: the salesmen of the Egyptian bazaars. We'll see how I do ....

I hope everyone is well, especially the ones who actually read this far. Take care!