Viewing page 6 of 13

00:16:09
00:18:24
00:16:09
Playback Speed: 100%

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Transcription: [00:16:09]
{SPEAKER name="LISA CHICKERING"}
- to an embassy party. And we met all the different ambassadors - the Russian Ambassador, the Japanese Ambassador, and the Yugoslavian Ambassador.

[00:16:17]
So we very enthusiastically told him that we had just been through his country! And he had, we had driven through to Athens. He said, "oh, you couldn't possibly drive through to Athens, we're trying to get money [00:16:29] to pave a road so that someday the tourists can drive through to Greece!" And then he said, we said, "well, we did it!" And he was quite astounded.

[00:16:37]
{SPEAKER name="MARTHA DEANE"}
Well, I suppose he went right back and canceled the order for the road - [[laughter]] - and said if these two kids from Chicago can drive through, why waste money on a paved road!

{SPEAKER name="LISA CHICKERING"}
That's right.

[00:16:46]
{SPEAKER name="MARTHA DEANE"}
And then you were in Athens where you were supposed to, and then you were in Greece and you were supposed to be there.

{SPEAKER name="LISA CHICKERING"}
Yes, that's right.

{SPEAKER name="MARTHA DEANE"}
uh, huh.

[00:16:52]
{SPEAKER name="LISA CHICKERING"}
And we stayed there, which is a magnificent experience, because we had, uh, always when we would enter a country we would arrive with lots of books to read about the country so when we were there -

[00:17:02]
- because you know, ancient history to me used to be, I'm ashamed to say it, but it used to be a bore, but now it has become the most exciting thing, because you can't sit under the Acropolis -

[00:17:11]
- and read about ancient Greece without really feeling it and loving it, which we did.

{SPEAKER name="JEANNE PORTERFIELD"}
I would say Athens was one of my favorite places of all. It's just a beautiful city.

[00:17:21]
{SPEAKER name="MARTHA DEANE"}
Hmmm - Did you meet a lot of people, did you have a chance, a chance to talk to people who lived [00:17:27] there?

{SPEAKER name="LISA CHICKERING"}
Yes, yes we did. We met many, many Greek people that were very lovely and hospitable to us.

[00:17:33] It would be funny - one woman, she was so nice, and she said - it was after church in fact - this woman said, "would you mind just dropping me off at my house?"

[00:17:41] And we said, "why of course not, why get in." And she said, another woman spoke up, "could you take me just by my house?"

[00:17:47] Well their houses turned out to be 50 miles out in the country, could we just drop them off, and we were driving all day long dropping our little friends off, but they were very sweet, -

[00:17:55]
- wonderful people --

{SPEAKER name="JEANNE PORTERFIELD"}
It's a wonderful way to see a country too.

{SPEAKER name="LISA CHICKERING"}
-- but they were thrilled to have somebody with a car that could take them somewhere.

[00:18:01]
{SPEAKER name="MARTHA DEANE"}
'Cause a car is an unusual thing?

[00:18:03]
{SPEAKER name="LISA CHICKERING"}
Well, except for the taxi drivers there, they all have beautiful American cars.

[00:18:07]
{SPEAKER name="JEANNE PORTERFIELD"}
We were so surprised to see these beautiful new cars way off in Athens, Greece. Because they aren't that way in Europe - they had their own cars in Europe - but in Athens they were all these beautiful American cars.

[00:18:19]
{SPEAKER name="MARTHA DEANE"}
Taxis?

{SPEAKER name="JEANNE & LISA"}
Yes, they were all the taxis.

{SPEAKER name="LISA CHICKERING"}
And it was a little strange, because all through Athens we never passed --