More Mykonos

A very windy week in Mykonos staying at the Geranium Town Suites. The highlight of the trip was KiKi's Taverna at Agios Sostis Beach. Delicious salads and freshly grilled Calamari/Shrimp. We ate there 3 times! On our third to last day, i decided to check and see what was going on with our return flight. Lo and behold, our flight was canceled due to the strike! I scrambled to find alternative flights when internet service on the entire island went down due to heavy winds. It was time to pull out old reliable.....the iphone! I have learned that the Greeks will bend over backwards NOT to help you so I had no choice but to call the US reservation desk. Several hundred dollars later, I had us booked on Air New Zealand to LAX via London. Me in Business class and Vince in Coach with no hopes of getting upgraded. Finally on our last day, internet service was back up and I found him a Lufthansa flight via Newark which we later confirmed him on at Athens airport.

We flew back to Athens on Aegean airlines and overnighted at the beautiful Athens Hilton. Our room had an unobstructed view of the Acropolis. We dined at the rooftop restaurant which was lovely and where the food was lackluster at best. Vince and I left Ed in the room at 4 am as we taxied our way back to the Athens airport for our 6 am flight to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt, Vince's upgrade cleared (sigh!) and I proceeded onto my flight to London. Vince spent the night in NYC with his friends and I got to experience Business class on Air New Zealand. What a treat! After experiencing the Star Alliance lounge at Heathrow's terminal 1 , sampling nibbly bits and showering, we boarded the flight to LAX. The seats are angled, so they are truly lie flat seats! I ate everything they put in front of me and sampled several wines from their extensive New Zealand wine list which included more than a dozen wines. I watched "Lars and the Real Girl" and "Caramel" on my very large personal screen and took many cat naps in between. An hour before landing, they served us finger sandwiches and a scone with real clotted cream and jam!

Vince flew back to LA on UA from Newark the next day. I can't wait to experience Air New Zealand again...oh I forgot to mention that I got miles for the Air New Zealand flight even though I used miles!

Trade Winds - The Route to Mykonos

So we took a gamble and booked Mr. M on a $1,700 Lufthansa economy flight from LAX to FRA and then used miles to get to CDG and return from ATH. The plan was to use SWUs to upgrade him to C on the same flights I had confirmed in BZ using his miles :-D. Well, it payed off, sort of. He cleared the flight from LAX to FRA on the same day (sigh of relief) but Lufthansa went on strike the day we arrived in Paris. No time for lounging in FRA due to tight connection.

Checked into the Park Hyatt Vendome (upgraded to superior room with two beds) had to sneak in Ed like a hooker. In the room, waiting for us, were two macaroons, pistachio and strawberry, and a box of chocolates....yum! Room smelled delicious too. Took a shower with "Blaise Mautin" products and hit the street, first to go visit auntie and then to L'entrecote for dinner. At Aunties we noshed on Pierre Herme pastries that my cousin Azar had brought with her. There was NO wait to get into L'entrecote and it was as delicious as ever, though the portions seemed smaller and the meat a bit tougher. 2 bottles of wine and a couple of desserts later the bill arrived.......$65 per person! after that, it was time to run to the Pharmacie Anglaise on the Champs Elysees for Vince to buy his Keracnyl products and the Virgin Megastore for me to buy obscure French musique. I didn't last long as the glamourous bathroom at the Park Hyatt beckoned. That evening was a blur as we drank ourselves into a tizzy and went to my favorite boite, L'insolite...continued to drink and ended up at the Depot, aka the bowels of Paris.

Next day, 2 pm EasyJet flight from Orly to Pisa. EasyJet line was at least 50 people deep! Fortunately Ed had paid for "early boarding" which also qualified him to cut the line....so we tagged along! All went smoothly except for Ed spilling his entire bottle of "Blood Orange Fanta" on my pants. We arrived to Pisa and sent Vince to fetch the car while we waited for the luggage as time was of essence. We only had 3 hours to get to the Prada outlet. 20 minutes later Mr. Milan pulled up in a Fiat hatchback. Off we were to Prada Paradise. After some congestion, we finally reached our destination with 1 hour to shop. I found 2 pair of pants and Vince 2 bathing suits plus a leather bag. Mission accomplished! Now it was time to get some nourishment at the "AutoGrill" as we were starving. By the time we reached the "Autogrill" we were so hungry that we grabbed everything we could get our hands on at the buffet. I had plate with half penne bolognese and half twisty pasta with pesto. Vince got the pasta with pesto and a bowl of salad in which he hid 2 balls of mozzarella that he didn't get charged for. Ed got a seafood risotto, some proscuitto, and something else. We drank a chianti and a lambrusco. Once full, we followed the Autostrada 1 all the way to the Rome Cavalieri Hilton. We reached the hotel at 11 pm. Ed ordered a pizza from room service and we all devoured it!

Next day, Air One flight from Rome to Athens at 10 am. No time to use the lovely pool at the Cavalieri :-(. We returned the rental car at FCO and boarded our flight to Athens. In Athens, we met my brother Amir for lunch at the airport while we waited for our connecting flight to Mykonos on Aegean airlines.