Day 3 - "Rain, rain, go away..."

Today was Andrew's birthday, hooray! Though sadly we woke up to the rain pishing down...what a sad sight! We ate a miserable, bedraggled breakfast, and then ran back to the room to open Andrew's bday presents. This brightened up the morning somewhat! Amongst other things, I had organised a massage for Andrew as a birthday treat, so he went off to be pushed and pummelled. While he was there, the rain abated for a bit so I went round the corner to a bar by the beach called Porto Ornos bar, and lifted my spirits with a beer and some tzatziki. The mood was still upbeat despite the gloomy clouds, and the bar was bustly. Andrew joined me there after his massage, and apparently a Greek massage is quite a rough affair...to me it sounded brutal, but he liked it!

Later on we went into Mykonos town again for a wander and then some dinner. The sun was really straining to scorch through the clouds, and very nearly succeeded so I think we should be ok for tomorrow weather-wise. (I've probably just jinxed it though by saying that...I TAKE IT BACK!!). We had a bit of time before dinner, so we tried to find the Rarity Gallery, an art gallery in the centre of town showcasing contemporary artists. Of course, we got lost on the way, but happily stumbled across Lena's House. This is a small one storey building in the middle of the most ridiculous Louis Vuitton-ny area of Mykonos Town that used to belong to Lena's Mykonian family. The family lived there until Lena died in 1968, and in 1970 they donated the house and all the contents to the island to form a sort of shrine to the past, as the layout and articles are all completely unchanged. It was quite a fascinating little find, and the slightly brute but helpful lady on the door was on hand to dish out any info. It's a tiny place, so I won't go on about it any longer, but it was pretty cool and you can get a flavour of it in the pics.

Onwards from there to the Rarity Gallery! After two or three attempts getting lost in the winding streets, we found this sleek, chic gallery. There were some REALLY great pieces here - obvs I have forgotten the names of all the artists, but highlights included some hyper-realistic models of people in various poses (one was so realistic Andrew's doctoring instincts kicked in and he looked for a vein. Which he found!) and some amazing paintings of sweets in wrappers that looked so real I was certain they were photographs. I'm really not describing the pieces well enough - some of them were very special. The gallery assistant we chatted to was extremely knowledgable, and her enthusiasm for the artists' works was palpable and infectious - I'd highly recommend it!

We went from there to a restaurant called Bakalo for dinner. The food was traditional Greek fayre, which was lovely, and the staff were the most welcoming we've had so far. The baklava was delicious too!

Having now been there a couple of times, I'm starting to really dislike Mykonos town. It's a beautiful town and everything, and the streets and buildings are exactly what you imagine when you think of Greece, but...oh the PEOPLE. They are mostly rude and humourless, and whilst beautifully dressed, tanned, plucked and moisturised, the atmosphere in most of the bars is sour. If I've ever smiled at anyone, or speak to another tourist, they recoil like I've just shot their cat. Boring. I'm hoping we'll find a more relaxed hang out somewhere - we'll keep trying! Having said that I do really like the piano bar Montparnasse - we went there again for some drinkies and it was a laid back, fun night. Kathy the songstress was still going strong - a highlight was Killing Me Softly complete with the Fugees "One time...Two time..." We managed to get the last bus back (thrifty Andrew was delighted) and I overheard a girl telling her hugely drunk friend she looked like a Bassett Hound! Which I'm deffo going to steal...

Onwards and upwards - looking forward to some sunbathing tomorrow when the sun reappears! See you then, blog-readers!xx