in Greece 2015

The fateful day in Athens

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Once Greece entered the Eurozone, they added Greek letters to the paper money. Euros of any denomination are hard to find in bulk today, even in the Frankfurt airport.

Ευρώπη (ev-ROH-pee) – n.: Europe

FRANKFURT – The irony is thick around me in the airport.

1. I’m landing in Greece on the most momentous day, since the junta fell in 1974.

2. I flew from the United States on Independence Day; I’m flying into Greece on what very well could be called its New Dependence Day.

3. I’m flying into Greece on a German airline. (When I return, I”ll be spending a week in Germany as well.)

4. I’ve had three golden opportunities to acquire Euros and have blown them all. I could’ve bought in Bloomington. I could’ve bought at a currency exchange when I landed two hours ago, but I figured there’d be another one in the next terminal where my connecting flight is. But I had to get my passport stamped in between. In the other terminal, counter people inform me that there are no Euros to be had anywhere in this terminal, not today.

I just tried to buy lunch with my credit card. It’s even got the chip in it. Yet the lunch counter near the gate couldn’t process the transaction. The young woman asked if I could pay in cash.

So…it looks like I’m going to Greece with dollars, not euros.

The polls open in Greece as of 7am (midnight EDT – right now). They close at 7pm (noon). This is going to be a hell of a day.