From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the birthplace of democracy in Greece

It was an interesting juxtaposition to go from where communism fell in Berlin, to the birthplace of modern democracy in Greece. Again, I didn't plan it this way, but just a unique way to contrast and compare my travel experience.

Speaking of Germany, I met a group of German tourists at the Acropolis (site of the Parthenon) who approached me and asked me if I could take a picture of them. I asked them if there were "Deutsch" and of course they answered "Ja." When I was about to take their picture, I decided to use what little German I learned during my time there so instead of counting "one, two, three, smile," I said "Zwei gosse bier bitter!" (Two large beers, please!) This elicited a hearty German laugh. They wanted me to take another picture, so this time I said, "Ein, zwei, drei, hakke zein!" (One, two, three, I'm drunk!) Again, a hearty laugh and applause from the group of about 30. Made my day....I wish my friend Mike was with me, his key phrase throughout Oktoberfest was "I'm the mayor of this town!" I recalled something Louise from Denmark told me when she spoke Chinese to us, which is that all you need to know are just a few key phrases in every language to endear yourself exponentially.

On my way back from this German encounter in Athens, I was approached by a Spanish guy-- he asked me, "Hablas espanol?" For a split second, I wondered to myself why in the world would he ask me, an Asian guy in the middle of Greece, out of the crowd of other tourists, if I spoke Spanish? The funny thing is, I replied, "Si!" We proceeded to chat a bit about yadda yadda yadda and when I headed back I thought what an oddly international day it's been... I spoke English, German, Spanish, and of course, a little Greek. Now if I can just find some Chinese tourists....