Fate meets the Acropolis

When the ship was in Athens, Greece I had several hours to go and explore the city, but no one to go with. After my morning duty of greeting the passengers as they disembarked the ship, I ran to DJ Bob’s room, jumped on his bed and woke him up to go with me. He said that he would go under one condition…that I would go find this girl named Anna Maria…that he met 7 years ago. Not realizing what I was promising, I was like yeah sure…just as long as I get to go to the Acropolis I was happy.

We took the Metro to the Acropolis and walked up the hill to the Parthenon. What a sight to see! The only thing I would’ve changed would be the scaffolding that was surrounding the building. The country has been renovating the Parthenon since 1992 and will continue to renovate for another 10 years...so a lot of things were roped off, but despite that what an incredible adventure. To think that they built this structure on such a hill without our technology these days…I can’t believe it! Of course, we were taking pictures to capture this event in our lives and we started getting creative. Little did we know we weren’t allowed to jump in the air, or stand on top of rocks or broken columns…oops! We got whistled at a total of 6 times…I think. Needless to say, we hurried out of there as soon as possible to avoid getting into trouble.



So we saw the Acropolis…and now it was time for me to fulfill my promise. Bob was determined to find Anna Maria…and that’s all he talked about the entire day. He did an exchange program in school and stayed with Anna Maria’s family for one week. He said that that was the best week of his life and he fell in love with this Greek goddess.

All Bob had to find Anna Maria was an address from seven years ago when he stayed there. He had no idea if they were still living there. While we were on the Metro looking for this area of the city where she lived, Bob decided to tell me that he hasn’t talked to her in years…thanks Bob! After changing a few Metro lines, we made it to the area and walked up to the street. We immediately asked some older ladies about the address and they didn’t speak one word of English…how convenient. We asked a guy at a street kiosk and he pointed out the apartment building on a map of the city.



After two left turns and six city blocks, we were at her street…I had to get back to work so I turned around, headed back to the ship and left Bob on his own adventure. I didn’t hear from Bob until after work that night. He called my cabin and filled me in on the most romantic story…EVER!

He ended up finding the apartment building, going to the door and ringing the doorbell. I was shocked he found the place! He rang the doorbell and no one answered. He rang it again…and was starting to walk away when he heard the buzzer release the door. He walked inside and up the stairs to the family’s apartment and there at the door was Anna Maria’s mother. She had this very puzzled look like she didn’t have the slightest idea of who he was. Bob said…”Remember me? I’m Bob. I know Anna Maria.” She didn’t speak any English, but she opened up the door when she heard Anna Maria’s name. Needless to say, he ended up eating dinner with her parents and getting a homemade bottle of wine to take back to the ship, but he didn’t see Anna Maria.



He found out that Anna Maria was in Switzerland studying. Her mother actually called her up on the phone and Bob got to speak to her for the first time in seven years. He said that during the entire conversation he had butterflies in his stomach. While talking to her over the phone, she asked him to come and visit her when he’s on vacation in Switzerland.

Now, as a hopeless romantic, when Bob was telling me the story of the day’s remaining events, I got goose bumps. I couldn’t believe that he’d actually talked to her, made plans and visited her home that he hadn’t seen in seven years. What a story!