Olympic complex - it's very pretty

Walkway this way
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Mornin'

As promised, here's a pic of one of the amazing architectural treats at the main Olympic complex - this being a lengthy walk way of arches. There's also a massive moving wall that they project films onto. Really is an amazing place - particularly at night.

We're off the beach volley in a minute. Don't forget today is your last chance to enter my guess-the-price-of-Olympic-grub comeptition. How much in Euros for 2 x beer, 2 x water, 2 x hot dogs and 2 x that French sweet treat creme caramel. Winner will be announced tonight.

My mum's written in to point out that Google.com has a different ancient Greek Olympic front page every day at the moment. Check it out - it's a football goalie at the moment.

Mark from Wales has asked if US spectators are really staying away from the Games as predicted (because of security concerns). I've not been to an Olympics before, but certainly the Chile contingent far outweighed the US contingent in the men's tennis semi-final which they were both in yesterday. There are still plenty of folks from the US about, but a lot of them do seem to have stayed at home (where they're reading this blog in increasing numbers!).

Mark also asks it all medals are all the same, or whether they have the event they were won for engraved on them. Anyone out there know? Anyone out there won one?!

Finally, Todd from Flagstaff has written to say that Svetlana K keeps getting trashed by US commentators. Um, sorry Todd, but who is Svetlana K? All i care about this morning is the rowing - in which GB has just won a gold, a silver and a bronze (Matthew Pinsent won his fourth straight gold and promptly burst into tears!). Hooray for rowing! Hurrah for Matthew Pinsent!

There's gold in them there eyes

There's gold in them there eyes
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

We bumped into these three in the Olympic superstore this afternoon. They're all talented young athletes who are here with the British team, not to compete, but to get a taste of what it's like to be at the Games - hopefully to prepare them for the next one (good idea hey?).

They are (from l-r) Liz Barnes (100m hurdles), James Walker (basketball) and Ashley Popham (gymnast), they were all very nice folks and we'll be rooting for them in Beijing in 2008!

Tennis report: Justine wins thriller! Plus feedback...

Here comes the Belgian
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Just back from the tennis. It's funny with tennis and football at the Games, because they're two of the only sports involved where winning the Olympic gold medal isn't the pinnacle of that sport (instead, that would be Grand Slam tournaments and the World Cup/Champions League respectively) - so they do sort of feel slightly less exciting than the other events.

That said, we ended up seeing a cracking semi-final between Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne and Anastasia Myskina (the Russian who beat the Greek the other day). Henin-Hardenne won the first set 7-5, only for the Russian to do the same in the second set. In the final set the temperamental Russian (or the 'snotty Russian' as the cheery Belgium-based Brits sitting next to us called her) went 5-1 up and looked to be heading for the final. But Henin-Hardenne, who'd looked beaten, made an amazing recovery to win the 3 hour game 7-5, 5-7, 8-6. She might have preferred to win Wimbledon or the US Open, but her celebration at the end showed how much this victory meant to her. We left before the other women's semi, as it was already past 10pm and we'd been sitting on the hard seats for more than five hours without a break.

I've got back to a barrage of emails from you lot! Bob from Calgary has entered the comp with a guess of 17.5 Euros, while Noelle has gone for 27.5 and asked if cameras are allowed in the venues - yes, no problem at all, zoom lens and even video cameras seem to be fine. Just no flash at some events. Meanwhile Cathy in New Jersey has gone for 28.75 Euros and says that MSN.com is yet another place that seems intent on negative reporting about the Olympics. Bill Gates never did look the sporty type...

Mark from Wales says he's disappointed Robin hasn't been on TV yet - problem is he's only a little fella and he usually has his back to the action for me to take photos of him! But we'll do our best at the rest.

Meanwhile, my dad's written in (hello dad! hello Helen!) with this gem of a comment from the BBC Heptathlon commentator today. "She has a good chance of closing the gap on the athlete that she's 2nd equal with". Genius.

Somebody from Japan wrote in, but their email must've been in Japanese script and my email couldn't read it. But thanks for the thought.

And last but not least there was the email from John. 'I'm curious about your mascot Robin,' he writes. 'What is she?' HE John, is a robin! The clue's in the name, the beak and the red breast! 'Perhaps a mishapen gingerbread wo(man), or maybe an alien (looks a bit like ET)?' guesses John. No, a robin. As in the bird. As in Robin the robin!

By the way. Robin does have a sister. She's called Robyn and lives with my mum. They were both rescued from a shop called Habitat in London on Xmas Eve 2002 where they'd been reduced to 50p (about a dollar) each. I gave them a home for Christmas. Who knew Olympic stardom awaited?

John also asks about this thing about not being allowed into venues with t-shirts showing brands other than the official sportswear sponsor (Adidas). Turns out that was media spin too - the actual rule was that big groups wouldn't be allowed in together obviously trying to promote a brand. They always said one person would be fine (and so it's proved - I wore a T-shirt with a big Fred Perry logo just today).

Right. Bedtime. Beach volley again tomorrow. Which means all you folks who asked for a pic of the half-time dancers might finally get your wish...

Olympic characters #3

Robin and the Roos
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

The enormously friendly Andy (l) and Matt (r) are from Australia, but live in Islington in north London (most Australians seem to live in London at one time or another).

They're having a tremendous time at the Games, so much so that they haven't even bothered to keep up with their country's growing tally of golds (that'd be 8 chaps). Seems they've been too busy applying sunscreen to their inflatable toys...

Robin has the morning off! Blog gets more press!

Robin catches some rays
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, after our super-hectic schedule over the last few days, Robin enjoyed a morning off this morning, catching some rays on the balcony of the flat we're staying in in Athens.

In a minute we're off to the tennis to see a men's semi, and both women's semis. The women's semi between Justine Henin-Hardenne vs Anastasia Myskina (1st and 3rd seed) looks like the pick of them.

athens2004blog got some amazing press yesterday in a piece by the Associated Press's internet writer Anick Jesdanun, which seems to have been published by around 60 newspapers and sites in the US! Thanks Anick! You can read it here at The Seattle Post Olympic websites report. Big welcome to anyone who's come to the site through the piece (which already included Ginger from Tennessee and Rachel from California). (Oh, by the way you can just type www.athens2004blog.com to get here - you don't need the blogspot bit.)

Some more competition entries too. Eleni from Athens has gone for 16.5 Euros. Mark from Wales has pointed out that he said 29 not 19 (and he's changed it to 29.6 after my clue). And Michelle Ossiander has plumped for 22. Keep the entries coming (details below).

Meanwhile the AC/DC debate rumbles on. Eddie has written to point out that Angus and Malcolm Young were born in Scotland, so it was neither an appropriate song NOR an appropriate country to play during an Australian water polo match,

Right, gotta dash, tennis starts soon...

Brits miss out on Badminton gold. But only just.

Robin. True Brit.
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, we're just back from seeing Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms narrowly missing out on the mixed doubles Badminton gold. We saw the women's final first, which was won by a Chinese woman after she lost the first set to a Dutch woman - big and very vocal supports for both. Then the men's doubles semi-final, Danes won the first set, but then lost the next two to the South Koreans who went through.

And then to the match we'd gone for. There was a big British following and we were just behind the very loud Chinese bunch. Flags aplenty and muchos shouting. The Brits lost the first game 15-1, but rallied superbly to win the second set. The decider was really close, but Gail seemed nervous and her unforced errors (which, apparently, she hadn't been making in earlier rounds) eventually caught up with the pair and the Chinese pipped them to the gold. Still, amazing performance to get silver and they looked rightly pleased and proud as they received their medals (though that may have been because they received them in the presence of Robin).

It was funny seeing so many British flags about - we Brits are far more used to cheering for our individual countries of England. Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales. In fact, I think this is the first time I've seen Britain (as opposed to England) play at anything. You could tell everyone else wasn't used to it either. When people were trying to start chants they weren't sure whether to say 'GB', 'UK', 'Britain' or 'Great Britain'.

But even though our pair lost, I really enjoyed seeing badminton played at such a high level - it was quick, graceful and tactical. Think I picked up a few tips. The folks from work that I play at the Central YMCA in London had better watch out..!

Robin meets an Olympic medalist!

Robin meets a medalist
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Yes, at the badminton today Robin met a medalist! Do you see the medal at the bottom of the picture? It's a bronze coloured one and the woman wearing it is Chinese athlete Mi Zhou, who came third in the women's badminton. (Incidentally, all these pictures of people are taken by my fiance, the only one of us with the bottle to speak to/take pictures of strangers. Thanks dear!)

Comments n comp...

APOLOGIES TO NULLI...
...who entered the competition day's ago, but, um, I didn't notice. Sorry. Very poor. Nulli's guessed at 29.5 Euros and also asks what a boffin is (a boffin is a very clever person indeed) and how the Greek beer is. Mythos rocks. They always want to serve you Amstel or Heineken, but I always insist on the local brew, which is actually very nice (although it was only invented a few years back).

MOBILE PHONES
The people who leave their phones swtiched on in Olympic venue are the ones with the loudest ring tones. Fact.

JEFF. AC/DC. QUESTION.
In response to my point about the oddness of AC/DC getting played during an Australian water polo match, Jeff has asked written to say, 'Aren't AC/DC Australian?'. Yes. The odd bit (to my mind at least) was that Highway To Hell was considered an appropriate tune for an early-morning Olympic match!

SHIRLEY FROM FLORIDA MAKES VERY HIGH GUESS FOR COMPETITION
She thinks 2 hotdogs, 2 beers, 2 waters and 2 creme caramels would cost $61.75. If I ever set up a beer and hot dogs stall it'll be outside Shirley's house.

ATHENS 2004 BLOG HITS 7,500 VISITORS
Was only a couple of days back we were celebrating hitting 5,000. Big thanks to you folks for reading.

KJ CHANGES GUESS
To 24.5 Euros. And she thinks birdseed for Robin would cost 3.5 Euros if they sold it. Actually, they do sell nuts, but they're a bit cheaper (no, not cheep-er) than that and Robin has trouble opening the packets.

TICKET TARGET TOPPED
After Monday, 3,085,936 tickets had been sold. Which means they've exceeded their revenue target of 183 million Euros (and no free tickets have been given out to fill venues). Well done folks.

AND THEY'VE NOW SOLD EVEN MORE
Because we've bought some extras! We're now off to a baseball semi-final (bargain at 20 Euros), a men's water polo game (after enjoying the women's this week), some wrestling (because it'll be nice to see what wrestling's like without the pantomime and predictable winner) and the handball final (because it looks fun and tickets were only 30 Euros). It's incredibly easy to order online and you can pick up your tickets at any ticket office at any venue or dotted around Athens. No booking fee either. So we're up to 15 different sports now!

BUT ORGANISERS CAN'T SPELL
All the printed signs at the pens and cards section of the Olympic superstore say 'stationary' and not 'stationery'. Didn't anyone teach them the easy-to-remember 'e' is for envelope rule when they were little?!

Boffin enters Athens 2004 Blog comp!

And so to the latest competition update. Remember, you're guessing how much it costs at an Olympic venue for 2 x beer, 2 x water, 2 x hot dog and 2 x creme caramel. Mark from Wales, our serial competition enterer, has guessed 19 Euros. Laurel from Tennessee says 28. And then there's the entry from Todd Barnell, Research Specialist at the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals in Arizona (yes, that's Tribal Environmental Professionals!). Todd - a new reader - has some very kind things to say about Athens 2004 Blog (as, incidentally does a very friendly chap called Rowan). And Todd has used his Research Specialist skills to compose an extremely considered and entertaining competition entry. Here are his thoughts in full...

"You always seemed to get ripped off on beer unless you are drinking at your neighborhood pub. You're also talking about less than a pint a piece (if I converted correctly). I'd say these are $5 each. A pint of water each? Let's say $6 for both. Hot dogs. Hmm. If you were buying them at a US baseball stadium you'd need a credit card. I'm assuming the Greeks are not as money-grubbing as US baseball owners so let's say you are dropping $8 for both. The creme caramel is hard. If my partner made it I'd charge someone a mint, but I will guess $4 each. That comes to $32 US, or, 26 Euros. Drats! Someone already guessed that one! Okay, maybe the creme caramel are really, really good. Let's round up to 29 Euros. That is a safe bet."

That almost deserves a prize just for the amount of thought put into it! And so, we have
- Vix 42 Euros (she doesn't want to win though -she won the last one)
- GM 38 Euros.
- KJ 36 Euros.
- Diegem 33 Euros.
- John Abatzoglou 32 Euros.
- Todd the boffin 29 Euros
- Laurel 28.
- Andria 26 Euros.
- Roberto 24 Euros.
- Dennis 20 Euros.
- Mark 19 Euros
- Simon Wonder Wally 14.5 Euros.

(Clue: No one's right yet. And The answer isn't a round Euro)

Competition closes on Saturday morning. At which point the closest wins a tacky Olympic souvenir like the one I bought Vix at the Games superstore yesterday, which will be winging it way to her very soon...

As for me. I'm off to the badminton to, hopefully, see the Brits win their first Gold of the games and their first ever gold at badminton. C'mon the Brits!

Greek tennis fans. They're passionate sorts.

Venus serves up a treat for Robin
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Morning. So last night we went to the tennis at the main Olympic complex, which also houses the aquatic events, the big athletics stadium, the gymnastics and the velodrome. It's also the home of the massive Olympic superstore selling all kinds of Olympic stuff. Tip: If you happen to be in Athens, the girl's T-shirts are way more stylish and imaginative than the women's ones - they're also much cheaper and the sizes are big. An age 12 is easily big enough for my (rather older than that) fiance.

The actual complex is enormously impressive (well, if you ignore the massive McDonalds), full of all kinds of amazing archway walks and fountains and the like. Feels really special being in there - like you're at the centre of the Games. Which, I suppose, you are. I'll take some pictures when we're there next so you know what I'm gushing about!

So, to the tennis. After watching Venus Williams lose to Mary Pierce on Court 1 - that's Venus behind Robin; budding tennis players, note how high she throws the service ball (you can click on the pic to make it bigger) - we headed to the Centre Court where the local Greek hero Danilidou was playing a Russian who (according to the Greek woman sitting next to us) knocked Serena W out of the French Open.

Problem was, only people with centre court tickets (like us) could get into centre court, and every Greek in the tennis complex wanted in. You can get right up to the entrance gates without a ticket - you can actually see the whole court from there - and, once the game started, there were loads of Greeks without centre court tickets loudly demanding to be let in to fill the seats they could see were empty. Such was the shouting match continually going on at the gate just behind us that they had to stop the game a couple of times, because the players couldn't concentrate.

Clearly Greeks aren't as up on the decorum of tennis as we Brits (who are great at the decorum but rubbish at playing the actual sport). As well as many of them sitting chatting on their mobile phones throughout the game, the massive Greek following were starting chants and songs between every point, often forcing the player they were supporting to have to wait for them to finish before she served!

The Russian fared even worse from it. As it became clear she was going to win, (she won 7-5, 6-4 in the end) the Greeks started to whistle her as she threw the ball to serve. Then, every time she put a first serve into the net there was massive cheering like Greece had just scored a winning goal - and you should have heard them whenever she double faulted! Definitely an unusual, though enjoyable, tennis experience.

Olympic characters #2

A Hungarian. Or maybe an Hungarian.
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

We spotted this Hungarian water polo fan at Irini metro station (the one that serves the big Olympic complex). Our Hungarian friend doesn't speak much English. And we don't speak much Hungarian. But is he enjoying the Olympics? 'Yes. Yes, yes, yes!' Good. Good, good, good!

Just back from tennis. Very tired.

Robin. At the stadium.
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hey up

Just got back from the tennis - we ended up skipping the football and staying there to watch the local Greek woman play her match on centre court.

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, but having got up at 7am the last two days for morning events (and, yes mum, not having had sensible early nights) I'm shattered, so I'm off to bed now.

For now, here's a pic of Robin outside the Olympic Stadium, which is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, which is where the tennis is too. As you'll see, the flame is burning bright. I'll tell you all about the complex tomorrow too.

Now to bed. Big day tomorrow - not only have I got lots to tell you about in the morning, but the British mixed doubles badminton duo are playing in the final tomorrow afternoon, and we've got tickets!! Hurrah and hooray and can't wait! No doubt like them, I'll be dreaming of gold tonight...

Water polo: Olympic heroes in dressing gowns!

Robin and the Canadians
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Hello

We're just back from watching the morning session of water polo - and (at the risk of sounding like I'm enjoying everything) it was superb.

The sport is like a cross between football, American football, hockey and basketball played in a pool in four quarters of (I think) seven minutes. There are many fouls and it's easily the most violent team sport I've ever seen!

We saw two women's group games. The first was Australia (gold medalists in Sydney) versus Kazakhstan. It was a bit one-sided, the Ozzies won 9-4 (Kaz wasted too many chances).

And then the main event, the big North American derby between USA and Canada. A lot more fans had arrived by now, with plenty of yanks to support the US and plenty of Canadians and folks from other nationalities to cheer against them (the Greeks particularly like to cheer against the US).

It was an incredibly tight contest, 0-0 almost until half time when the US took the lead (they'd both hit the post plenty of times before that). Canada had lots of chances but just couldn't score them.

The US had a burst of goals, and lead 4-0 until the very end of the third quarter when Canada pulled one back. The stats then showed that Canada had had 18 shots and just scored that one.

Then the amazing final quarter. Canada scored early to make it 4-2, but the US soon made it 5-2. At which point Canada staged the most amazing comeback. 5-3 (crowd gets excited), 5-4 (crowd goes wild), 5-5 (crowd goes super-wild) and, finally, 6-5 to Canada (crowd and players pinch themslves to see if they're dreaming). Absolutely amazing finale. After not scoring in their first 17 shots, Canada managed to score 6 in their final 7.

It was hard on the US, but for their sheer determination the Canadians were well worthy of the passionate celebrations that greeted their win.

Bob from Calgary (who came second in our first blog competition), if you're reading, I hope you and your country are celebrating this victory - for that comeback, your women's water polo team deserve some serious plaudits!

News! Competition update!

COMP UPDATE
To the guess-how-much-Olympic-food-costs comp first (see below for entry details). Vix has made a guess of 42, because she won the first competition and doesn't want to win the second one. While Diegem has written to point out he's not a she (sorry) and ask why Robin doesn't get food in our competition. Duh. Because he's a bird. He eats seeds, worms and berries. And they don't sell those at Olympic concessions. Keep the entries coming...

KARLO FROM MEXICO - OUR FIRST MEXICAN READER
Hello and welcome to Karlo who tells us to look out for Mexican runner Ana Guevara. (Think of your own Speedy Gonzalez jokes readers, why should I do all the work?)

CALLS CONTINUE FOR BEACH VOLLEY DANCING BABES PIC
We're off to the beach volley again in a few days. I'll see what I can do. Until then, take cold showers.

DENNIS QUESTIONS BRITS' LOVE OF BASKETBALL
'Hey Kit, what is a self-respecting Brit doing watching basketball?' he asks. Obviously Dennis doesn't know that when basketball was first a demonstration sport at the Olympics in the early 1900s, Britain won the gold. The team was all made up of players from the Central London YMCA gym (of which I am a member!). So our Olympic basketball heritage is very deep Dennis!

MUSIC AT THE VENUES
If you're going to an event, as well as 'We Will Rock You' expect to hear 'Let's Get It Started' by Black Eyed Peas and 'Shake It' the Greek Eurovision entry from this year (no sign of the ace Ukraine song that pipped them to the title though). And they seem to try to play music from the countries involved in whatever you're watching. So 'Ca Plaine Pour Moi' was on during French beach volley and this morning during the Australian water polo match they played Men At Work (twice) and, oddly, 'Highway To Hell' by AC/DC. Sadly, they didn't seem to have any Kazakhstan tunes.

Olympic characters #1 (first in a series)

Robin meets Uncle Sam
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

This is Uncle Sam, who was at the water polo to see Canada v USA. Uncle Sam is from New York. He's having a great time at the Olympics even though he lost his luggage for a few days at the airport in London on the way here.

Football and competition

Robin gets his (free) kicks
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

Right. Quick post cos Greece v USA basketball is on TV and it's 45-44 in the 3rd quarter...

Just got back from the football (or, if you're that way inclined, soccer), Argentina beat Australia 1-0 in a fairly uneventful men's game (with some nice flashes of skill) after Germany had outclassed Mexico in the women's game, winning 2-0.

Nice stadium, 26,400 crowd and a good atmosphere, but there was no half time entertainment (certainly no bikini dancers!) and there were HUGE queues for refreshments (I actually went looking for the missus after 25 minutes, worrying that she'd been abducted or something!). Still, at least we kept up our record of having heard 'We Will Rock You' by Queen at every single Olympic event we've been to so far.

53-44 to the US in the basketball. Wow, in the time it takes to type a paragraph...

So to the latest competition entries:

- Diegem - who says she's quit watching CNN because they're so negative; 33 Euros.
- John Abatzoglou, a Greek in California who's dad is in Athens watching the Games; 32 Euros.
- Simon Wonder Wally from Southport; 14.5 Euros. (He also asks if we'll see any British medals being won - our best hope is the mixed doubles badminton final, I believe the Brits are in the semis...)
- Andria from Texas (who's very kind about this blog); 26 Euros.
- And, having been told what a creme caramel is, KJ has gone for 36 Euros.
Plus, earlier, Dennis - 20 Euros. Roberto - 24 Euros. GM - 38 Euros.

At the moment no one is within 2 Euros of the correct answer...

Busy day tomorrow - water polo, tennis AND football. An Olympic hat-trick!

57-53! Oh it looks like a nailbiter and it's calling my name...
(STOP PRESS: US pipped the plucky Greeks 77-71 in the end. Cracking contest though.)

Life's a beach volley

Robin the beach volley bird
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

We've just got back to our hotel from the morning session of the beach volleyball. The picture is a little misleading in that all of the fans were on the three sides of the stadium that isn't pictured. It wasn't packed by any means but there was a decent-sized crowd (a few thousand). We saw four matches (two men's, two women's) and all the countries - Spain, Switzerland, Czech, Japan, France, Germany, South Africa and Cuba - had vociferous little bunches of fans (particularly the Germans who had some impressive choreography going on.).

I'm quite a fan of beach volley, having seen it played at the highest level in Australia, Greece and, oddly, on a rain-swept seafront in Oslo. And no, it's not just good because it's played by beautiful people in skimpy outfits - it's actually a really fast-moving, exciting sport. No, really.

Unlike tennis, the majority of points are won by the team that doesn't serve - the receiving side often cues it up and smashes it before the serving side gets another touch. The women's game is actually slightly better to watch because they don't smash quite as hard so the rallies go on longer.

Again, the crowd were well looked after, with snippets of party music between every point (isn't that off-putting for the athletes?), dancers during breaks and an MC/commentator constantly getting the crowd going. Plus, as it got hotter, they were spraying the crowd with hoses to cool down and there were massive fans-cum-sprinklers at the back of the stands spreading cool mist (which sounds like the name of an after shave - quick someone, copyright it).

Afterwards, we went over to the nearby Sponsor's Park where Alpha bank had set up a thing where you could try out Olympic sports, with the help of some very patient, friendly coaches. We had a go at archery, shooting, high jump, cycling, weighlifting(!), trampoline and, finally, I took on my fiance at fencing. After she took an early lead, I managed to claw back and win 5-3. Yay! The stalls from the other sponsors weren't anything like as enjoyable, so big up Alpha for making theirs so much fun.

Tonight we're off to see some football - Argentina versus, um, can't remember. Australia maybe? Should be fun...

Competition update! Feedback! News!

COMPETITION UPDATE
So, we've had our first three entries to the guess-how-much-Olympics-snacks-cost competition (see below).
Dennis in the UK has gone for 20 Euros.
Roberto in Manchester has plumped for 24 Euros.
GM in London has said 38 Euros.
Keep those guesses coming. And, for our American visitors, a creme caramel is a French sweet that's basically a sort of set egg custard with a caramel sauce. Mmm, tasty,

FEEDBACK LATEST
Following my entry about a cynical US TV reporter outside the archery, Panos from Greece has said he's found CNN to be very negative (it wasn't them that spoke to me), while Joanne from LA says that USA Today had an editorial yesterday criticising the negative reporting about the Games in the US media. So at least that particular worm seems to be turning.

FAST FOOD IN GREECE IS WAY BETTER THAN ELSEWHERE
Goody's, Pitta Pan and Everest rule. Proof that fast food doesn't have to be unhealthy food - salads and grilled food can be quick too!

TICKET SALES
Apparently at last count sales were at 2.92million and will exceed 3 million very soon. In 1992 Barcelona sold 3.021 million, so Athens looks set to over-take that. From the fact none of the Greek media are saying how many Sydney sold, I'd guess it may have been more.

WHAT WE DID LAST NIGHT
We went to a cinema (that's a movie theater for the US readers) on a roof that overlooks the Acropolis. The film, 'Spartan', was entertaining if hardly life-changing (whole lotta loose ends going on) - but what a place to watch a film. Open-air cinemas are one of THE best things about Greece. You can even drink beer at your seat (and table!).

Here comes the (Olympic) bride...

What every bride wants
Originally uploaded by athens2004blog.

This is the best Olympic merchandise we've spotted so far (in a bridal shop near Platia Amerikis). Who wouldn't want to get married in this fetching Olympic dress?! Quality.

Athens 2004 Blog celebrates 5,000 visitors!

In fact, it's well past 5,100 now. It was only a couple of weeks ago that we were celebrating hitting 1,000. Thanks to all of you that have been looking and coming back again. And cheers for all the compliments about the site that you've been emailing, too. Me, my fiance and Robin are all very chuffed that it's going so well.