The Odyssey begins

So after an arduous four-day work week following the Tuscany/Piemonte Grand Tour with "Laura," I needed a break, so I'm back on leave. Several of us are renting a sailboat starting tomorrow and cruising around the Greek isles (specifically the Cyclades) for a week or so. We flew from Rome to Athens to Mykonos yesterday and stayed in Mykonos overnight. Apparently that particular island is one of the party capitals of Europe, and even though it's past the end of tourist season, it was still a pretty lively evening downtown. Pricey, drink-wise, but lively. We stayed in a lovely little one-star hotel (closer to a B&B, really), the Hotel Nazos. The owner (Mr. Nazos) picked us up at the airport and also brought us down to the ferry landing today. Very friendly family, very clean rooms, and most importantly, a very affordable price.

This afternoon, we took the ferry from Mykonos to Syros, where we're staying in a hotel tonight. Tomorrow we'll pick up the boat, the Conchita, around 1 p.m. or so. The pier is right up the street from the hotel, so we walked over and checked out our home for the next week. It's a lovely 49-foot vessel and looks quite suitable for our little band of pirates.

Cast of characters for our little trip (names changed to protect the innocent):
-"Nave": our skipper; he happens to be one of our good friends here, as well as a very experienced sailor and Commodore of the New York Yacht Club.
-"Nark": really wants to be a pirate because it allows him to grow facial hair and to say "Yarrrgh" a lot. Who can fault that logic?
-"Nurt": has the best party hair of anyone in the office, and was the one who remembered to actually order food for this trip
-"Nulie": "Nurt"'s wife, the only wench--um, I mean woman--on the trip. Brave soul.
-"Me": looks like Brad Pitt, dances like Patrick Swayze, fights like Chuck Norris, puts his pants on one leg at a time just like you, but after he puts on those pants, he makes gold records.