Burgundy and beyond

23/9/09 – 2/10/09

Burgundy, Lyon and Paris
Got on the plane at Athens and the lady sitting next to me was called out of the seat and taken away somewhere (presumably for a quickie) as there was an issue with her passport or something. When she came back I joked with her saying if they fixed it all/her up ok. She laughed and said something and with her accent it was clear she wasn’t Greek. When we landed in Paris we were both commenting on how long it was taking to get out of the bloody plane. Once out she was walking next to me and we had a little chat as we were going, ended up she was from Bulgaria hence the passport issue. At the baggage carousel we split up and once I got my bag I hear her saying let’s go. Where the fuck she came from beats me but as I was planning on leaving the airport I walked off with her. I was going to go on the train and she says (in Greek) “oh come with me for a smoke re gamoto (I supposed you could translate that as fkn hell in the context of the sentence)” Since she swore at me I thought I better go, and then she found the dude that was picking her up. He was wondering who I was and I was wondering what the fuck I was doing there lol. He was from there and directed me to the train with them. I was wondering if they were planning to kidnap me and let me wake up in an ice bath with both kidneys missing so instead of catching the direct train to the city with them I stayed on the train I was on and they left lol. Found my train to Dijon and once I got there I went straight to the hotel. Relaxed a little and planned the night ahead. I went out for dinner and everybody was looking at me funny because I was by myself haha wankers. Meal was ok but not to the quality I expected for the region and the look of the restaurant. Next day I did a mini walking tour of the city, it was exactly how you would imagine a French town. It even had the organ thing with wooden people playing music (see video). Later on I caught the train to Beaune which is the unofficial wine capital of Burgundy. I didn’t know how far the place I was staying was from the city but the cab driver jumped with French glee when I told him where we were going. After a 20min journey we pulled into the chateau and it was stunning! Unfortunately because it was so far out and the only shop in the village (if you could call it that) sold wine so I was forced to borrow a bike from the family that own the chateau and ride to Meaursault about 4kms away up and down hills. Since I haven’t ridden a bike in a year it killed! It took about 25mins to get there and the only thing open was a mini market so I bought some bread, cheese, ham and sausage. The ride back was dreadful because the majority was uphill but all in all it was a good experience.

Next day (Friday 25/9) the owner (Helene) took me into the town and I hired a car (Peugeot 107) and went on a 4 hour cruise around the entire region. I followed the Route Grand Crus passing some of the best vineyards in Burgundy. The best part of the drive was that the whole way around I was pumping Greek music (even some golden oldies) hahaha. I stopped at a Patisserie and bought some pastries and when I found a nice grass spot next to a vineyard I stopped, ate like a pig and admired the scenery. I must say I possibly got more enjoyment just driving around lol up until that point the longest I had driven was the week before for 15mins or so around the village and highway – that was the first drive after 6 ½ months. Because I’ve been in Continental Europe for 4 months or so I’ve gotten used to driving on the right hand side of the road and the scary thing is now it feels normal to drive on the right with the steering wheel on the left and changing gears with my right hand!!! Will be interesting when I get back lol. That night I had a wine tasting session in the Chateau’s wine cellar conducted by the owner (Arnaud) who is also a vigneron, they own a large number of vineyards (about 8). Afterwards I took a glass of wine, sat on the grass next to the lake on the estate and finished reading “The Wines of Burgundy” which is an introduction to understanding the wines from Burgundy. The depth of perfection the French have to creating great wines is mind boggling! The notion of “terroir” (the patch of soil the vines are on) and how greatly terroir can change the quality of the wine is amazing. A patch of soil can produce wines that will for example be worth €100 per bottle and 5 meters away another patch will produce wines worth €5 per bottle (just an extreme example). The depth of knowledge of the soils goes as far as studying the soil from the Jurassic age! It doesn’t stop there either because raising the vines and grapes is literally an art form in itself. I won’t go into it here but it would make a very interesting dinner conversation lol. Alsoooooo, the wines are only from Pinot Noir grapes for red wine (Rouge) or Chardonnay grapes for white (Blanc) in the Cote d’Or. Also the strict laws for wine in the region state that they are not to be blended with other wines. The wine is purely from one vineyard, which really goes to show the art form of perfection they have which starts from the soil; how, where and which direction the vines face; how they are pruned; how the soil is looked after over the course of the growing period; the skill of the grower to minimise adverse weather conditions; the skill of bottling and ageing the wine; and probably many other things. Tasting the wine makes you really appreciate the perfected skills of the vignerons to produce wine.

I must also make mention of the Chateau (Chateau de Melin) I was staying at. When I walked into the dining room I was the only one who hadn’t had breakfast yet (there were 6 other guests) so I had the table all to myself. It was a presidential breakfast at its best! See photos below. The room I was staying in had 2 levels and a big bathroom. Not bad for €80 a night :-).

When I dropped off the car on Sunday I had to get a taxi to the train station so a taxi was called to pick me up. When he opened the door I heard Greek music playing haha. Afterwards I said “musique le Greque good!” haha with thumbs up. He loved it. I managed to understand that his family were from Crete but he spoke no Greek or English. When I got out I said Geiasou/yiasou to him and he got all excited and said geiasou in his French accent – it was quite funny!

When I got to the hotel in Lyon I jumped straight onto the net to organise where I was going to eat and found Nicolas Le Bec. He owned 3 restaurants and has been awarded 2 Michelin stars. The restaurant with the stars only had a tasting menu at €95 or the other at €148. Now considering Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant The Fat Duck has 3 Michelin stars (the highest amount of Michelin stars you can be awarded) and has been awarded the best restaurant in the world has a tasting menu for £125 which would also be a shit load better (for one of the seafood dishes they give you an ipod to listen to waves crashing which makes the food taste better – don’t laugh because it’s all about stimulating all the senses to enhance the flavours), I wasn’t going to go to that one. I chose his brand new restaurant and got to sit in front of the kitchen with the chefs working 2 meters away from me. I started with mussels in a crème and wine sauce and for main course I had a very traditional French meal, Tartare le Beouf (Steak Tartare) which simply translated is raw mince mixed with flavourings. They get the mince, mix it with Dijon mustard, chopped onions and capers and seasonings. To finish they crack a raw egg in and mix it all up, voile you have Tartare le Beouf! The mustard was a bit overpowering however I still enjoyed it immensely. A couple of the chefs had big smiles on their faces because I had ordered it and said bon appetite. They looked impressed I had ordered it, maybe not many foreigners try it – most probably the case. I wanted to send it back and say it wasn’t raw enough but the joke would’ve been lost because I was on my own lol.

Next day (Monday 28/9) I had another large breakfast and went for a walk about. Thanks to my Lonely Planet guide I found a traditional French cafe/restaurant (Bouchon) with the red and white chequered table cloth. Unfortunately the food didn’t live up to its reputation but was still an experience in itself. I had 5 courses and was extremely full! In the afternoon I got the train back to Paris and eagerly awaiting the arrival of my sis and bro.

That’s the short food and wine critique for you lol.

At the time of writing this I can’t be fucked with detail, but we’ll see what happens. That Monday night around 11.30 Georgina and Brad finally arrived, albeit an hour late. It was an emotional hello in the hotel foyer with all 3 of us shedding a tear :-). We had a big chat catching up and got to bed at about 2:30. Of course the next morning I was fkd because I had to get up at 7 to get ready for my cooking course!

The cooking course was a one day full on learning experience which started at the markets purchasing all the ingredients for the day of cooking. After the markets we got back to the cook’s house and started cooking in her kitchen (well she did a lot of it while we watched and I got involved as much as I could lol). I was joined on the tour by 4 yanks, they were all pretty nice but one of them was a replica of Rudy from the original/first Survivor series years ago. A hard ass war veteran (most probably lol) who didn’t really want to be there but he was accompanying his wife. It was actually quite funny – the cook (Samira) gave him shit about not wanting to really be there. I don’t think he was too impressed with my comment at the markets when I suggested some bloke was Little Richard’s brother (the guy was a splitting image of Richard!). Anyway the menu consisted of:

1. Smoked Salmon mouse with a leek sauce
2. Fried scallops with a Dijon mustard and Tarragon sauce
3. Salad with a Raspberry vinaigrette
4. Pork Medallions with a 5 pepper sauce accompanied with special roast potatoes
5. Cheese platter with 2 cheese each from Cows’, Goats’ and Sheep’s milk
6. Fig tart
7. Moelleux au Chocolat

The day was very enjoyable and I learnt a few recipes which I’ll definitely use to impress (even more than I already do hahaha). I didn’t learn too many French cooking techniques which was disappointing but shit happens. Georgina and Brad went for a cruise, dinner in Eifel Tower (no he didn’t propose lol) and Moulin Rouge – I missed them before they left so I found a pub and watched the Football (Arsenal vs Olympicos).

Next day we went to the Louvre (so I’ve now seen the slut twice – Moaning Lisa) and we had a picnic in the gardens next to the Louvre. On Thursday we went to Paris Disneyland because we couldn’t be fkd looking at more historical shit (it was either Disneyland or the magnificent and monstrous castle thing at Versailles). Disneyland won the day so we spent the day looking for Mickey but we didn’t find him – I think he was destroying Minnie and Goofy the dumbshit at the same time :-0. It doesn’t compare to the Disneyland in LA but it was still something different and a bit of fun.
A food highlight in Paris was eating the stereotypical Parisian delicacies which to my shock leaving me immensely impressed was that Georgina mentioned we must try them – of course being snails and frogs’ legs. It was quite ironic that the Swarovski crystal I bought her was a baby frog and I gave it to her in Paris lol. The snails were in a butter and garlic sauce topped with Parsley which was lovely. The frogs’ legs didn’t actually have much taste – the closest thing to them is the standard “it tastes a bit like chicken.”

Got to London on Friday (2/10) and after checking in, we went straight to the shops. London was spent mostly shopping, I spent around £400 or ~ $800 – had to make the most of my fashion stylist!!! Sunday was jammed packed, London eye in the morning, Football in the afternoon (watching Arsenal fkn thrash Blackburn – as I predicted), pub and I bid farewell to Georgina and Brad :-(. Thankfully I wasn’t alone for too long because the next day I went to the Netherlands.

France photos




My dad’s dad has a second cousin (Thio Yioti) that lives there whom we met a few years back. Distant relo I know but we still have the same last name. They live in a village just outside of Utrecht. Highlights include making a wrong turn in the outskirts of Amsterdam and ending up at the Ajax Amsterdam training ground lol. To my luck the actual first team were training so we watched that for a little while. I even heard the fat pig manager Martin Jol screaming at them – a former scum Tottenham manager. Afterwards we went to the Van Gogh Museum which to my surprise was a bit of a disappointment. I’m no art expert by far don’t get me wrong but just didn’t give me the same feeling as when many years ago I saw a Picasso exhibition. This was made up two fold by visiting the Heineken Museum. It was awesome. I also did a bit of shopping for the bar that I will hopefully have in my future house lol. Thio Yioti and his wife Nan took me around all over the place. I saw quite a bit and had a great time with them.





On the Saturday (10/10) I made my way to Milan edging ever closer to the Ferrari factory. What should’ve taken an hour and a half to get to Alana and Angelica’s house (friends from Contiki trip) took about 4 and a half hours. By now my regular readers would probably be able to guess what happened to people who pissed me off hahaha. I’ll give you one example: I bought my bus ticket for the city but there were two buses at the stop. I was walking to the one which I was supposed to go (it had the name on the ticket) but the driver from the other bus called me over as if I was supposed to go to his bus. He checks my ticket and says something in Italian pointing to the other bus and shooed me away. I grabbed my ticket and politely said “yeah no shit you fkn dickhead.” Hahaha I’m one crazy mofo!

Did some more shopping with the girls (I was Milan, I had no choice!) and went and saw the outside of the San Siro football stadium. Had a lovely pasta meal and a nice restaurant as well. Nowwwwwwwwwww, on Monday I left home very early to catch the red eye train to Bologna for my day tour of petrol head paradise. The first factory and museum was at a Lamborghini. Factory tours were closed because they had cut production for a few weeks but as a favour to the tour guide the head of the museum took us in anyway. There were rows and rows of Gallardos and Murcielagos. That was awesome. Afterwards we went to the Pagani factory where they make the Pagani Zonda. It was a tiny “factory” where each car is literally handmade. They put each part on piece by piece and not one car is exactly the same for obvious reasons. There was a family of New Zealanders there who tried stealing a bunch of posters that Pagani gift visitors on the tour. Then these fuckwits had the nerve to complain that our tour guide was rude to them (which in the context of it wasn’t the case at all). They needed a good smack in the face (preferably for the person who smacks them when their dicks aren’t in a sheep’s...... lol). After that we saw the biggest private Maserati collection. Then, the moment I had been waiting for. We made it to Maranello and as we were driving in we heard an F1 car cruising around the Fiorano testing track (Ferrari’s private testing track). It was Filipe Massa on a special testing session – his first drive after fracturing his skull in a race a few months ago. The tour guide took us to a spot where we could watch him drive around and it was amazing! It was the first time in 14 years that I had seen a live F1 racing (last race was Adelaide 1995). Afterwards we went through the Ferrari museum and had a good look around. Once that finished it was time for what I had been waiting for all day... the Ferrari drive. I hired an F430 Spyder :-). I was very nervous waiting for the guy to come with the keys (also while sitting in the car before take off). Push button start, a little rev and off we went. My eyes grew about 20cm as we drove out of the car park! Out on the freeway we were cruising along and the guy said I was free to go as fast as I want. I was cruising around 80km/h, dropped down a gear with the paddle shift and accelerated (keep in mind not fully). The best way to explain it is that it fkn took off, I didn’t want to take my eyes off the road but I wanted to check the speed – within not even 2 seconds I was up to 140km/h and hastily backed off. At one stage the guy who owned the car (he obviously sits next to you) was basically paying me out because I pulled out to overtake a truck but a car was coming in the distance so I pulled back in. He laughs and said what are you doing? You’ve got so much power you could’ve made it twice – of course after recent events in my life I didn’t plan on driving like a fuckwit. I also cruised past the Ferrari factory and around Maranello which was pretty cool. It was an amazing experience and only fired my ambitions in life further.

After the tour ended I went back to Milan on the train. Alana had cooked a lovely pasta bake and us three sat and ate. The next day it was time to go back to my second home – Greece. The girls came with me to the bus station and we had a nice Italian coffee before I set off. I flew with easyJet who allow you unlimited weight for hand luggage (as long as you can lift it in the overhead luggage without help) but are limited to one piece. I had my laptop backpack and a Heineken shopping bag so some chick stopped me before I went to pass through security and asked me to make it one. It struck me at this moment that this was going to get very interesting. I stood next to some American backpackers who were no shit making sandwiches (Peanut Butter and Jam) on one of the counters before security. Odd, yes. Anyway the contents of my crowded Heineken bag would not fit into my over packed laptop bag so some ingenuity on part had to take place because the bitch refused to let me through. I shoved the bag into the backpack and as I proceeded to walk to security all the shit fell out. I gave her a look but knew that this would be a good story to tell so I worked on my one hand luggage problem. I shoved the shit back into the backpack, took my belt off and tied it around the backpack so nothing would fall out – you see I would’ve had to take my belt off at security so I decided to come prepared! Lol. By this stage the yanks were in hysterics and I had my big smartass grin on as I walked past the astounded yet rather impressed door bitch :-). And before any of you smartasses think why didn’t I just put it in my suitcase – it was already as overweight! Of course after I passed through security I put my belt back on and had 2 pieces of hand luggage – take that easyJet you shit airline!!!!!!!! :-) After landing in Greece I was quite relieved and ready to start my goodbye tour! More of that on the next post darlings – which sadly will be my final Dimitri’s European Adventure blog post :-(

Till then, peace out.



Videos

Dublin to Greece

After the contiki tour I went up to Dublin to meet up with Adam, Rhys and Emma (all from Contiki). After Dublin I went back to the homeland and all the following entailed:

DUBLIN 11/08/09 – 13/08/09

Australia tops

The green and gold t-shirts you see in the photos in Dublin are because we dressed up in the Aussie colours to watch Australia play Ireland in the football. It’s a good thing we beat them 3-0 otherwise we would’ve looked like right dickheads!!! During the day we went and found some cheap tops and a texta. I wrote Aus v Ire and the date on the front of all 4 of them and we each picked our favourite number for the back. We also took the texta with us to the pub we were watching the match at and well the fun we had with it speaks for itself in the photos. My actual skin also ended up getting written on by Rhys who tastefully wrote “Nice Vag” and I have no idea how long it lasted because I left the next day and forgot to check it lol.

Guinness

The first night we were there we went to a pub (an Irish pub in Ireland to be in fact) and I had my first full pint of Guinness. I’ve previously tried a small sample of it in London and I wasn’t too impressed. Now after finishing a full pint of the shit, I have no idea how people who drink it actually eat food. After one pint it felt like I had eaten a slab of cement and I was dreading taking a shit because I could so easily have pushed out enough bricks for a house haha. Now for memory the actual taste of it is quite light, it’s not bitter and it’s almost watery but man it’s thick and heavy. It looks like crude oil in a glass with a bit of froth on top :-). Cheers to that.

MTV

One of the nights we were there we were in a club (the first ones there lol) and were talking about funny covers we could use and I think it was Emma suggested we say we’re from MTV Australia and are in Dublin doing a story/show. Due to our outgoing nature and general lack of care for people’s perceptions Adam and I were the hosts of an Australian MTV show and Emma and Rhys were our producers. On the way home from the club we were talking to a few Irish chicks who actually believed us and we were talking so much bullshit it was ridiculous! They were telling us to do something or come somewhere (can't remember exactly) with them but we said no because we had to shoot a clip early in the morning. Then they were taking photos of and we were telling them not to put them on Facebook because we might get in trouble and our producers will kill us etc. Hahaha morons

Ladiessssss???

At the same club that night an extremely ugly, Asian, man-looking woman was trying to dance with Adam and telling him she would do anything he wanted for him etc hahaha. He wasn’t interested because well, he’s not really into, how can I put this... Chicks with dicks lol :-). My suspicions were confirmed when I saw her dancing with another Thai looking Asian who was pretty much a man with long hair wearing a dress pretending to be a woman. They were also dancing with their pimp. Adam’s “chick” was still trying to get him so he yells out “why don’t you suck my cock and shut up.” I can’t remember what happened next but it got the picture lol. Later on I couldn’t be bothered dancing so I was standing leaning against a bench that surrounds the dance floor and I had a look around and the chicks with dicks were a few meters behind me. The next minute I know somebody is touching my ass and I look around and it was the fkn bloke with the dress on. I turned around and grabbed her balls, look into her eyes and said “That’s a magnificent cock man.” Hahaha fuck that shit for a joke, I ran away to the dance floor as fast as I could with the rest of the crew!!! Thai lady men in Dublin, now that’s something I was definitely not expecting!!!

Flute

We went shopping in a Irish gift store and I found an Irish flute/whistle thing. Obviously it was too good not to take out with us so I tried to find random Irish people to play it for me because we had no idea how to (see video). I also walked down the street and pulled it out randomly and started playing lol.. people were rather confused. For memory I played it while we were checking out from the hostel as well hahaha.

Chicks

When leaving Dublin for Athens I was well, extremely hung over. Three nights of hard, hard Irish style drinking (not long after the 2 ½ weeks of drinking on the Contiki tour) and lack of sleep really caught up to me the morning I was leaving and I wasn’t in the most patient of moods. We all left together for the bus stop (the crew walked me there) and we were walking on the wrong side so I missed the first bus. When I got to the correct stop I was pretty much the first in line but when the bus eventually came it stopped about 10m away from me. Obviously feeling sick, tired and needing to catch a 4 ½ or so flight this was not the best place for the bus to stop. Anyway I walk up to the door and there’s a group of 5 Irish chicks fucking around with back packs right in front of the door. Not the best place to be! I said my goodbyes to Adam, Rhys and Emma hoping the chicks would move in time but nope. Now ladies you should probably skip the next 2 sentences because if you’ve been following my blog you’ll know my no holds barred writing style ;-). They were all talking, really excited about their trip, the places they were going to go blah, blah fucking blah. I look at them all and said “move cunts”. One of them turns around (who was simultaneously struggling with her back pack, most probably filled with objects she will not require like a potato peeler or some Irish shit and I then said to her, do you need a hand with that in a sweet (albeit sarcastic) manner. She smiled and said “top of the morning to ya” (well not really, she said she was ok) and moved a bit. I then barged my way through the morons collecting a backpack with me which dragged behind my suitcase for about 20cm until one of them pulled it out (obviously has no impact on me where the bag ends up so I kept walking hahaha). First lesson for those chicks on travelling, don’t dawdle in front of entrances to transport, especially in front ofme!!

Flute

XORIO (village - my mum's family) 14/8/09 – 18/8/09

(pronounced horio/chorio)

On Friday morning I went to the bus stop (Ktel Kiffisia - big bus depot in Athens) and waited around for my bus for a few hours. I of course got instructed to get the wrong bus (still going to where I need but the long way around) and it took 5½ hours to get there instead of 3½ hours. My mum’s first cousin (Thio Panayioti) and mum’s aunty (Yiayia Costandina) came and picked me up and went back to her house. We had chips and kokkinisto fasolakia (string beans in a red sauce) because I was fasting. Later on we went up into the village where the paneyiri (big celebration for a saint generally held in the middle of the village) and I saw some of mum’s family which I haven’t seen since I was there in ’06. We sat down and chatted away with everyone. Later on the traditional folk music started lead by the clarino (clarinet which is played quite differently to the gay way it is heard in orchestras etc) which got me pumped because I love that music!!! Fuck Yeah!!! :-) lol. Another one of mum’s cousins arrived with his family and had what most people do when this happens, a very pleasant surprise to see me :-). They were told to come down to the village by another family member who

knew I was coming but weren’t told why. Had a good chat with my 2^nd cousins and left for bed.

Got up early on Saturday morning and went up to church with my mum’s aunty (I think in Aus terms she’s my great aunt but in Greek we call them yiayia, translating to grandma, but for all intensive purposes I will refer to her my great aunt) which sits beside the edge of a mountain and looks over a whole lot of other mountains – breathtaking! Church was on a Saturday morning because it is the Saint Day for Agia Panagia (The Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother), a very significant day in the Greek Orthodox religion. The priest in the church is another one of my mum’s 1^st cousins lol. After church had a Frappe with some more family, lunch, siesta and then back down to my great aunt’s house (she lives next door to her brother and they both live on the bottom of the mountain where the actual village is – closer to their land/micro farm. That evening I went down to the river (5mins away from the house near their micro farms) with Thio Panayioti, another uncle and a 2^nd cousin to do some fishing. Thio Panayioti lay out some nets in strategic places along the river and as we were walking to each spot we started collecting snails. In the end we collected about 1 kilo of wild snails. That night went back to the paneyiri, ate roasted Pork and potatoes (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it every time, the meat in Greece is magnificent, the Pork is second to none and makes the Pork around the world smell like dirty swine).

Sunday Thio Panayioti collected the nets and had caught about 25 fish. We ate them along with kokkinsto vegetables and the fish was excellent. Simply floured and fried in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (obviously from the village and pressed as the first cultivators of Olive Oil, the Ancient Greeks, would which is on a stone mill). Being small river fish they were sweet, moist and full of flavour. The food in the village is so pure because it is all either freshly caught or freshly picked from the garden, all organic. Even the cheese is made from the sheep they have in the back. All this food is washed with either homemade wine (very similar to rose but with much more alcohol) or beer. Again I digress but quality food is important to me, as John and Karl would attest to. I quote one of them while in Mykonos together: “Dimitri would you shut the fuck up about the food and just eat it! We’re sick of you and you’re fucking food!!!” I think they got a little annoyed with my quest for perfect food lol – oh and if there’s a potential wife reading this don’t worry darling, I’m cooking :D haha. Saw more family (there’s heaps of the fuckers around there), ate and drank more and at about 12am Thio Panayioti decides we need to go to the next village over where his brother in law owns the local Kafenio (Traditional coffee house which also serves a shit load of alcohol, food and the ability to gamble against other dickheads in the village) so we can drink more wine and borrow a chainsaw – always a good combination!!! We got there and his bro in law denied owning a chainsaw lol and they were gone for about 45mins in the back, after an argument or two which also involved his sister Dimitra (another of my mum’s 1^st cousins hehe) Thio Panayioti walked out the back with a big fuck off chainsaw! Job done, more wine, more laughs, 100 prayers before we drove off!!! and we were back at 2.00 ready for bed.

Monday is the day I really became a cultured village man! Monday is the day I chopped trees down with a chainsaw :-). We went down an area near the river with Thio Panayioti and my great uncle Pappou Mihali. After finding a massive tree Pappou Mihali cut it down and we proceeded to chop it up. It took about 4 hours in 35 degree heat but we chopped it up and got it ready to load it up in the ute. At about 2 we left for lunch which is where I tried the snails we caught. They were fried up and were delicious! If you haven’t tried them before grow some culinary balls and try them! We had a nap for a few hours (as you do every day in the village) and went back down to cut more trees :-D that’s my new favourite past time now, chainsawing shit (new word as well). We went out for dinner with about 10 of us and had 5 salads, 6 plates of chips, 4 plates of fried zucchini, 8 plates of Feta cheese, 4 loaves of bread and 10 beers all before the main course haha. Mains we had a few kilos of lamb chops, pork and lamb offal. I tried the fried liver and heart, was actually quite nice! Few more beers, salad and bread and we eventually left. Unfortunately the next morning it was time to leave, but only for a week luckily. I grew quite connected to the village, especially as in ’06 I was there with my grandparents and we lived in my grandmother’s childhood home for a week. My grandfather showed me around where he used to play and the mountain they had to run up (while being fired upon mind you) on the two occasions the Nazis invaded and burnt the village down. A very important part of my family history and something that will remain to my soul for as long as I live.

Chainsawing

MYKONOS Mk 2 20/08/09 – 23/08/09

On August 20-23 I returned to Mykonos to join my new friends (Adam and Rhys, Melbourne boys Tony, John and Jason, and last minute inclusion the pocket rocket Fanoula). Many memorable moments but here are a few:

Fat Italian dude wearing his M&M’s top

On the Friday evening we went to Paradise Beach Club and when we got there Adam went up on a stage and was dancing. There was some fat Italian dude dancing who was quite the wanker he looked like. I think he was the long lost brother of the yellow M&M character, quite big (hair in a pony tail) and was wearing an M&Ms t-shirt which he must have assumed looked fashionable. Now seriously why would you wear a t-shirt advertising food? Back to the story, he and his friends were sleazebags (as were 99.7% of the guys from Italy there) and general pieces of shit human beings so Adam started dancing behind him a little sexually to pay him out and the dickhead got pissed off lol. He started saying shit to Adam but Adam just laughed at him. Not long after, him and his little posse of sleazebags left and as they were leaving Adam told me what happened so I started laughing. Now this was no inconspicuous laugh because I was purposely quite loud and staring right at the pig. He kept looking but wasn’t sure if I was laughing at him, so this prompted me to point at him and laugh even louder hahaha. About 3 minutes later they all came back and were standing by the edge of stage and pig pointed at Adam to a few of his sleazebags and they were standing by the stage staring at him. We kept dancing like they were nothing to which they were a little confused and left. We learnt a valuable lesson that day. This is that dickheads around the world are all the same.... just a bunch of dickheads. That’s the pig M&Ms story.

Super Paradise Video

This next story has to be one of my dreams come true. Those of you on Facebook know what I’m talking about – the SUPER PARADIIIIISE video :-). The first time I came to Greece (2004 – and what a fkn vintage year that was for Greece, Euro 2004 winners and the return to the birthplace of the Olympic Games) I loved how the Greeks talked English with their accent. Much different to the accents Greeks in Aus speak. This prompted me to imitate the accent and while holidaying in Mykonos with family I heard somebody say Super Paradise with the awesome accent and the phrase was born. Fast forward 5 years and I returned to Mykonos (for the 4^th time) and I finally made it to Super Paradise beach. From 2004 until mid August I thought Super Paradise beach was predominately for gay guys so I had no particular interest in going there but a cousin of mine in Greece showed me some videos of when he went and I was completely wrong! It was hetrosexual mayhem. The day before we left we all went there to party and the rest is history! I directed Fanoula on how I wanted her to record the video and well, enjoy........

Just one other thing from Mykonos Mk 2, at the beach cabins we were staying at we met some Aussie chicks there and we were all drinking together. I can’t remember who but someone brought up Claon Tzous (I told most of the ppl on the contiki tour the story) and the melb boys brought with them the ingredients for me to make it. Obviously it was a hit because it’s so good but I let my guard down a bit and people now know the recipe (whether they remember it or not is another story). All I have to say is this: If you are ever in a bar somewhere in the world and you drink Claon Tzous remember where it originated, Vrahati, Greece, with Karl, John, Nick and myself. Cheers to that.

Biking

The Melb boys hired quad bikes while they were there and Adam and I borrowed them for a bit to cruise around and do burnouts on the dirt roads around the place. When we returned Tony came with me on the back and I drove up some God forsaken road and got stuck. I lit up the back wheels a bit and then decided to disembark on the wrong side of the fkn bike and well you can see the rest for yourself. Although it looks like nothing, check out the photo of the resulting bruise. I also have little hard lumps in my body where I was struck lol – injuries in Mykonos are fine as long as they are small and don’t involve your sphincter/colon hahahaha. Absolute no offence intended there by the way!!

DJs seen on this trip and the previous Mykonos Trip (from what I can remember):

Erik Morillo

TV Rock

Fedde Le Grand

David Morales

Vandalism

Roger Sanchez

John Course

Mobin Master

And more but I can’t remember who lol!

SUPER PARADIIIIIIIISE

Quadbike shennanigans

Resulting injuries:

From 23/8 onwards.

After Mykonos Mk 2 I went back to the xorio (village – its near Kalavryta) and stayed there for 4 more days, simply because I loved being there. After that I’ve been travelling around Greece and staying with family. Apart from the xorio, I’ve been to Athens, Pagrati (mum’s village and surrounding area), Salamina, Kiato, Corintho, Sparti, Tripoli, Nea Makri (next to Marathon), Krestina and Pyrgo. I’ve been to about 10 different houses in 5 weeks and because I generally don’t stay too long at the one place they take me out for meals, cook massive meals etc to make sure they’ve fed me properly. The problem is I move around so much I’m eating like crazy. Amazingly I haven’t put on that much weight (about 3kgs since I left) but as you’ve seen in photos my gut is growing lol. I measured my waist/gut the other day and it has grown about 15cm!! Mainly bloating from bread, pasta, beer, cakes and eating so much that my stomach can’t handle it so I have to store food in my Oesophagus until my stomach can digest lol.

One highlight worth mentioning is from the 2 days I spent in my dad’s xorio – next to Krestina – last week (I may have found my calling as a weekend village/farm man haha). It was wine making time so I went and helped pick the grapes, load it onto the tractor, unload the tractor, carry the crates to the juicer, wash shit, pump juice from one container to another etc. Did about 15hours of work over the two days. It wasn’t too bad work actually but that’s probably the max I would do without getting paid for it :-). I’d rather drink it or market it, yet better still both lol. I’m now going to start importing wine and Extra Virgin Olive Oil (have I mentioned the first cultivators of Olive Oil were the Ancient Greeks? The Minoans in fact. If not, then learn that shit) from Dad’s cousins. No chemicals in the wine and the olives are from one of the best regions (well the Peloponnese in fact) for oil in Greece, i.e. the world hehe.

Photos with Relos

Taking the grapes back on the tractor with Thio Dimitri

Unpacking the grapes from the trailor

Grape crushing

PLANS.

As I write this (all except the Xorio 14/8/09 – 18/8/09) I’m in transit from Greece to France. The last of this piece has been finished on the train from Paris to Dijon. I got into Paris (23/9/09) at about 1.30pm and caught the train from the airport to the Paddington of Paris (Gare de Lyon) and from there to Dijon. I will be in Dijon 23/9 and leave for Beaune Thursday 24/9. Beaune is the unofficial food and wine capital of Burgundy so I will be travelling the French/Burgundian countryside wine tasting and eating good French food. I will be staying in a 16^th century Chateau (Chateau de Melin to be in fact) which also produces their own wine. Saturday 26^th not sure yet because haven’t found accommodation anywhere, Sunday 27^th will be in Lyon – the food capital of France – and will definitely dine in a 3 star Michelin restaurant :-). Monday head off to Paris to meet up with my gorgeous little sis and her not quite as gorgeous but pretty close, boyfriend lol. Friday 2^nd Oct we train it to London and on Sunday I return to the Emirates stadium to see Arsenal destroy a hapless Blackburn. Georgina and Brad leave Sunday night and I leave for the Netherlands on Monday (5/10) morning. My grandfather has a cousin who we met last year who lives there so will no doubt have a more in depth view of the area. I want to go to the Heineken factory (easily the best beer – however not that shit they brew in Aus, Melb to be exact and pass it off as Heineken – the actual beer brewed in Holland). I’m also going to try and visit the Van Gogh museum because I didn’t have a chance last time. I haven’t booked anything after that but I will definitely be going to Italy for one reason, and one reason only. That is a Ferrari and Lamborghini factory tour. I will also have the chance to hire a Ferrari F430 and drive it around the outskirts of the Ferrari factory (€100/$175 for 20mins lol). I might also go do another cooking course, we’ll see :-). After that either back to Greece or a country close, but where ever I go I will end up in Greece for the last 2 weeks before I head home so I can say goodbye to the relos there. Leave Athens for London 3rd November, London until 5^th so I can send back all my shit that I left there, go to one last Arsenal match (Arsenal v Alkmaar or Standard Liege) and leave for Hong Kong. In HK from 6^th until 8^th, Sydney on the 9^th to visit a few friends from the Contiki tour and then home TUESDAY 10^th NOVEMBER at 7pm.

(P.S. I finished writing this up in France but it's taken 2.5 weeks to get it on the net! See what service I provide for you readers!!! So much work and so little appreciation haha only kidding :p)

Geisou and Au revoir vous traquez lol

With love,

Dimitri

Filakia and baisers xoxox