An interesting day on Mars Hill

I went back up to Mars hill yesterday to just hang out and enjoy the view of Athens and the Acropolis. Mars Hill, which site next to the Acropolis and The Parthenon, is the place that the Apostle Paul converted his first Christians in Athens (I believe the story is in the books of Luke and Acts). Anyway just as I get to the top of the hill an Italian guy comes up to me and introduces hi8mself and asks if I speak English. He then pulls out his map and asks me if I know how to get to the temple of Zeus and what their hours are (in broken English). He then proceeds to strike up a conversation (not the easiest task with me sometimes) and tells me all about himself. He has a sister in Sacramento, he lives in Turin, Italy, and he has two more sisters that live in Milan. He is in Athens for 2 days on business. He then tells me about his girlfriend, his dog and then ask me to guess his age (he is 45--I guess 53). He then pulls out his huge wallet to show me a picture of his girlfriend and his German shepherd. Strangely as he takes out his wallet I notice that he slightly opens it revealing to my embarrassed eyes that he has a lot of money. It doesn't really register at the time but I think about it later. He asks me to take his picture and I do. Then we sit down (he insists and I have 9 hours until my 22.55 train to Sofia) on a couple of rocks and continue talking. Where am I from, how do I like Athens, have I been to Italy??????Then he tells me that the receptionists at his hotel told him about a nice bar in the old part of Athens. It is only a short walk. Let's go get a beer. I tell him no thanks. We talk some more. He says "let’s go get a beer". No thanks. We talk. He says "Lets walk to the bottom of the hill and I will show you where the bar is. I will go have a beer and you join me later: I say no. In fact I need to be going and I really do not want a beer. He insists a little more, gives up the fight and kind of "huffs off" down the hill. I am thinking --wow I hope I did not offend the guy, maybe I should have at least had one beer with him. Oh Well.I walk around the hill for a few minutes and pick up a little rock to give to Mom as a souvenir. After about 5 minutes I pass a young man who says "you know that guy was trying to rip you off. He works this hill and does it often." No I did not know.Anyway this guys name is David P Terry and he is a Ph. D. Candidate at the University of North Carolina in the Department of Communications Studies. I had noticed him earlier talking to several people and I had assumed he was a tour guide. He tells me that the Italian guy talks to people, befriends them, gets them to go to this bar and has a beer. Then this girl comes up and they buy her a drink. Then another girl. The drinking continues and everyone has a good time...on a tab. The all of sudden everyone is gone except the prey (me in this case) and the tab. On guy got hit with a 700 Euro tab (over 1000 dollars).David then tells me that he is doing his doctorate paper on globalization and he comes here every day to informally interview people for his paper. He lived in Greece as a child with his missionary parents and has been back a few times. He is here for 6 months now and spends every day on the hill interviewing people from around the world. He tells me about all the things that happen on the hill, tourists, religious pilgrims, drug deals, scams, etc. Since the view is so good it is a safe place to conduct business.We talk for a couple of hours about the world, the EU, Greece, the states, traveling, globalization, Russia, the cost of living in Greece, the decline of the dollar, and everything in between. What an incredibly interesting and good guy. We wish each other the best and I head down the hill as he strikes up another conversation with.....who knows.What a great afternoon. Meeting people like David Terry is one things that makes this trip so worthwhile