Walk to Alexandros

I wake up at 08:00 to wish Jeremiah goodnight on his side of the world, and then roll back over and sleep for another two and a half hours. I get ready for the day, grab my camera, and leave the apartment.

I start walking down toward Alexandros when that man stops me again to say hello. I figure if I'm going to be staying in Peraia, I might as well just figure out what the heck he wants. He asks me to please try his coffee and I tell him that I will, but not today. He lets me pass.

I sit down at Alexandros with a slice of apple pie and a hot double cappuccino with a little sugar and a little chocolate. I sit there for a long while playing Pokémon Go, enjoying my coffee and pie. I am sitting on a covered patio area of the café, and unfortunately, a man decides I'm the ideal potential customer for something. I place my wallet and camera in my lap under the tablecloth as I watch him approach. I really don't trust strangers. He walks over, speaking Greek, with an IKEA bag. He opens the bag, against my wishes, to show me perfumes. I repeatedly decline his offer of a sale, but it isn't until an employee of Alexandros comes and stands nearby that the man leaves. Ugh.

The Garden's Balcony

I, for whatever reason, decide that I will try the assertive man's coffee today instead of another day. I walk back down to The Garden's Balcony (Το Μπαλκόνι του Μπαξέ). I pay for my pie and coffee and walk down to the restaurant. I tell the maître d'hôtel that I would like to try the coffee. He smiles, claps his hands together, gives me thanks. He tells me to sit wherever I would like. It's pretty open, I might be his only customer.

A lot of the restaurants in Peraia on the short have the kitchen on one side of the boardwalk or street. There is indoor seating, but hardly anyone ever uses it. Across the boardwalk or street, depending on where you are, is the beach, but these restaurants set up patios with tables and chairs over the sand, and most of the time they have some kind of structure covering the area that they claim on the beach. I walk on the beach down to a table that is still under the structure but very close to the water.

The maître d' asked if he could order for me as he wants me to try a specific coffee, and I oblige. A waiter takes over from there, bringing me a freddo (cold) cappuccino with chocolate and a bottle of water. I sit there for over an hour, sipping on the coffee, enjoying the weather. There's a little boy playing in the sand and water whilst his parents drink wine at a table nearby. The child's name is Stefán, which I learn after his parents repeatedly call for him each time he approaches the water.

A calico cat approaches me while I sip on my coffee. I decide to call her Reia. I also see three dogs laying on the sand a little ways off in the distance. One stands up, favoring a leg, and lays back down. My waiter, sees me notice and sees the frown on my face.

"Do not worry! The dog had something stuck in its, ah, foot, and we removed it. She will feel better soon!" he assures me.

"Whom does she belong to?" I ask him, and he looks puzzled for a moment.

"She, and her friends, they belong to no one, yet they belong to all of us."

How beautiful is that?

I finish my coffee and tell the waiter and the maître d' that it is lovely and aromatic, and that yes, I will bring my husband for coffee soon. I settle the check, and leave.

The Walk Back

Images of Stefán enter my mind of his joy with the sand and the sea, and I decide to snag some of that joy for myself. I walk along the shoreline, stopping to take photographs of the dogs and some other things. I find a few seashells, and make my way back up to the boardwalk when I near the VRBO. I don't go to the apartment, however. I keep walking, taking photographs until I come upon the window I was seeking. I saw this particular window on a previous walk and its image haunted my mind so I knew I had to capture it in a photograph.

I turn inland and decide to walk back towards the VRBO a block in from the boardwalk. I happen upon a few fruit grocers and make a note to myself to bring Jeremiah here when he arrives, as he enjoys fruit. I, unfortunately, do not.

I get back to the apartment and play Tears of the Kingdom until it's time to work. I call my husband when it is time for him to be awake over in the states, and am ever thankful for his support while I give myself the Gonal-f injection and the blood thinner injection. My thigh now is bruised from the blood thinners. My tummy hasn't bruised at all, but the Gonal-f is a very small needle.

I go to bed, calling it a night directly after hanging up with Jeremiah. I am exhausted.