“I’m not walking back to the hotel.” “Neither am I. No way.”
Our first afternoon in Istanbul with the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace
behind us, the trio had voted a two-thirds majority for the cessation of all
walking for the day’s remainder. And as
my daughters were quick to point out, there were a few cabs available, right over
there, in front of the Hagia Sophia.
We all hopped into one, that was sitting there, innocently enough. It
was the first cab we’d used since the airport ride in. The guy was pleasant but quickly, routinely, informed me that the German prime minister was in town and so we would have to
take the long way to do what would otherwise be a five-minute ride, and it
would be precisely thirty lira. We got
out.
A few days later we flew into Athens. A friend or two who had traveled there
recently had warned me about cab drivers there in town. I braced myself at the airport cab queue. The
grizzled old gent was pleasant enough with reasonable English. Though as soon as I mentioned the hotel, he
was nervous somehow and non-committal. After
some clarification he confirmed that he knew where we were heading. Then, en route, he began to feign doubt.
After sharing the map and mentioning a few streets he said
he “thought” he knew it where it was.
“OK.” I thought. “I
have a map. I’m sure we’ll figure it
out. The Turkish driver from the
Istanbul airport had used a GPS device.
But whatever.”
I began to enjoy “Ori Mimi Maje N’te” from King Sunny Ade’s
“Gems from the Classic Years 1967 -1974.”
http://www.amazon.com/Gems-From-Classic-Years-1967-1974/dp/B000MEYJ5G/ref=pd_sim_m_2 Pleasant, calming.
I noticed the taxi driver was saying something off to the
left. Pushing back the headset I turned:
“Excuse me?”
“We can not go to your hotel today because there is a visit
from the German mrime minister.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. Big visit
today.”
“Oh.”
It was so absurd that I managed to act surprised instead
of descending into fury. In Beijing, armed with
language and precedent, I would have launched into a lecture about how I was a
guest, he was a host and his “civilizational level” was wanting.
I considered my iPhone.
There must be a Greek god of
mockery. How to invoke thee . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus
“Wow. Angela Merkel. You must be excited.”
“We don’t like her.”
“Sure. I can imagine.
Tough taskmaster. Ahh yes. Here it is, you’re right. Angela Merkel visits Greece. Oh no, but this says she arrives tomorrow. Yes, yes, see here.”
I showed him my phone and he regarded it, for only a second.
“She is over in Albania today. Phew. Today is the 22nd right?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Oh yes, its here’s at the header, today is Tuesday 21st. You can see right here. She arrives
tomorrow. Cool.”
I offered my phone.
The driver didn’t look.
“Glad we solved that.
Hey girls, did you hear that.
Angela Merkel’s coming tomorrow.”
I turned my head and smiled, excessively fatuous. The man smiled, unhappily, in response. We drove for a bit.
Suddenly he interjected:
“You know there is a big union protest downtown today."
“You can’t be serious.”
“Yes, very serious. “
“Are they protesting
the prime minster? That’s tomorrow.”
“No. It’s
different.
“Oh. I’m sure. Which union is it then? Do you know?
“All of them”
“I see. Even the cab
drivers?”
I thought I had him there.
“No. But we
should. This may mean we cannot go to
your hotel.”
Excuses coming on now, 此起彼伏[1]. Instinctively I continued to resist the urge to uncork
my anger. It was all simply too ridiculous to get fumed about. Suppressing images of my daughters, myself
and our luggage on a random Athenian corner arguing with a new cabbie over the
same topic, I took out the iPhone again and resumed my imaginary search.
“Hey, will you look at that.
Great news. Right here. Massive union protest was called off earlier
today.”
“It says that, does it?”
“Yes, right here.”
“You think you can trust that?”
“Just like I trust you.
You’re the driver. I trust you. We are in your hands, my
friend.”
He smiled. I smiled.
“Ahh, you see, there, the road is open. You are in luck my friend. The way to your
hotel is open.
“Is that right?”
“Yes, you are very lucky. “
“No. No. I just have
a good driver.”
And with that the Acropolis came in to view off in the
distance.
“Girls look!”
Perhaps its is the same for every person over the last 2400
years, who sees takes in the majesty of that hill and its constructions, for
the first time. We were all transfixed. And the three of us agreed we’d set out to
climb it straight away, once we got to the hotel and laid down our bags.
[1]cǐqǐbǐfú: up here, down there (idiom); to rise and fall
in succession / no sooner one subsides, the next arises / repeating
continuously / occurring again and again (of applause, fires, waves, protests,
conflicts, uprisings etc)
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