How to arrive in Venice



Venice, Italy

Written on 17th of May, 2015

The man I love takes me to Venezia - Venice, the city I have never visited for longer than 4 days, but I know much better than the city I was born in. I have been in Venice many times: in summers, in winters, with my brothers and alone, and lately with my husband. This is a third time we are going there as a couple…because my husband fell in love with this place. Venice is a city of Casanova, a famous lover, a man who knew everything about women, a city where the Carnival gets a completely different dimension.

If you plan a visit, come to Venice by train, in the evening, as the sun is setting over the water, you will not regret it. Like in a slow-motion movie you will change into an islander, and you will like it. As a matter of fact, you will stop being a person of the mainland, and get a pleasure of using gondolas and vaporettos as the main transport medium.

Venice is a city where a romance is in the air, but you have to be very careful with love. You can lose in Venice not only a lover but entire love you have for another person. This is, this water thing, a fluid, ambiguous environment everybody loves and nobody is sure of...  That is why you have to chase your love in Venice, repossess it, reinvented it, and live it again. The man I love is so sure of our love that he is not afraid to romance me in Venice. He says, he is up to this challenge.

Most visitors amazed by the beauty of Venice don’t even realize that it is a very Greek place. The story and glory of the Venetian Republic started at Bosphorus when a small city on lagoons helped to fight Normans - Vikings who wanted to take Constantinople….
This is how the Venetian Republic established the monopoly to the most profitable sea route in the Mediterranean …the route to Levante - to the East. The trade with East had made Venice extremely wealthy and the Republic started to have colonies on the shores of Adriatic and Aegean seas. They owned a big chunk of Greek Peloponnese, Crete, Zakynthos Cephalonia, and Corfu. The naval and the commercial bases of Venice were very well known throughout the Mediterranean.
Venice - a city-state, became a thalassocracy, a Repubblica Marinara, a maritime superpower. And like Romans before, Venice put big taxes in the Greek colonies, and like Romans before, Venice was taking by force a youth from Laconia, it made up the Republic’s light cavalry – the best soldiers in the Venetian army.

When you finally reach a train station in Venice, descend the stairs to the Grand Canal. Instead of trying the shortest way to the hotel, take the vaporetto the long way around, by way of Giudecca and Dorsoduro, you will see the Venetians coming back home, you will smell the air and hear the water, and then disembark at San Zaccaria, on the Riva degli Schiavoni….You will have to find your way to the hotel….

For a skilled Greek eye, the signs of the Greek presence in the city are obvious. The most prominent are the horses of Saint Mark, which were at first placed on the façade of Saint Mark’s Basilica…Well… they were not Saint Mark’s originally, but belonged to the Hippodrome of Constantinople...and, and during one of the crusades were looted from Constantinople and brought to Venice by Venetian soldiers…Those soldiers were most probably Greeks…

In XV century a miracle had happened in the world… in Venice…. It was called
Le Renascimento - the Reborn. Most of us know the French name of it - Le Renaissance.  It was one of the most amazing and beautiful cultural and social movements of humankind, and it started with the biggest disaster of the Christian world, a disaster of biblical proportions…
The Constantinople was taken by Turks – the barbarians. After the imperial demise of Byzantium, many Greeks rich and poor had found a refuge in Venice.
Those who did not have skills joined the Venetian army and formed a famous five thousand stratioti (from Greek – the soldiers - οι στρατιώτες), the most courageous fighters Venice ever had...

But there were a few people Venice will never forget. First - Anna Notara (Ἄννα Νοταρᾶ) a Byzantine aristocrat, a daughter of Lukas Notaras (Λουκᾶς Νοταρᾶς), the last Megas Doux (Lord High Admiral) of Byzantium. The roots of the family were in Greek Laconia, in Monemvasia  ( H Μονεμβασία). At that time there were fairy tales how rich Notaras family was…. But Lukas Notaras was not only extremely rich, he was also extremely bright. He invested all family wealth in Europe, mainly in Venice. Anna Notara had moved to Venice with her two nieces, 10 years before the fall of Constantinople and avoided the massacre of her family.
She became a center of Greek immigration, a great inspiration, and financial support to Greek artists, writers, and scholars. With a help of a new invention - a Greek press, Greek books were printed in big quantities and the Greek language and learning were transmitted to West. This is how a humanist movement started in Italy. Not only Dante Alighieri and Petrarca knew Greek, but even Bocaccio could converse in our language. He was the one who wrote very naughty stories for adults >Decameron< – which means in  Greek - Ten Days.  A second well known Greek in Venice was Basilios Bessarion ( Βασίλειος Βησσαρίων ) a Greek Orthodox monk, who had tried to negotiate between East and West, between Catholic an Orthodox Christians. He ended up as a Catholic Cardinal and was regarded as an ideological traitor…. Bessarion donated to the Senate of the Venetian Republic 500 Greek manuscripts. Because of him, the biggest Greek Library in the West was created, and it was also the beginning of the first public library, a famous Libreria Marciana.

Finding your hotel at night, in Venice, can be difficult. The streets have no names the way we get used to… Well… they are not named at all…….
You have to assert your way through the maze of canals, and alleys and it is nearly impossible to find the right way. Then stop and see the shadows of old houses, hear the water. And when you are well and truly lost, just ask, someone will point you to your hotel…..It will turn out to be just around the corner.  Open the window in your room and see the lights on the Canal. Unexpectedly, you will feel very hungry, so have a dinner at the restaurant near your hotel, and when maître will suggest a meal and the wine with it… say: YES, because it will be the best meal and wine you have ever tasted….

There were many Greek families known in Venice: The Samarianis from Zakynthos, The Courcumelis from Crete….and then they were brothers Papadopoulos from Corfu (Kerkyra): Nicolas and Angelo. Papadopoulos is the most common Greek last name…but there was nothing common about brothers Papadopoulos. Before Aristotle Onassis, they were the richest in the world…..so rich that the Venetians used to say that “they owned their own wave in the sea”..
In Venice, they became Papadopoli, got an aristocratic title, converted to Catholicism, and started to intermarry with the best Italian families. One of the most famous was a marriage into the Florentine family of Aldobrandini, a family of Cardinals and Popes. With time the Greek genius and good luck had dispersed in between ordinary, but aristocratic Italian genes. There is nothing left from the old Greek Papadopoulos glory...because a Greek soul needs only one thing to survive ...another Greek soul. The Palazzo Papadopoli at Grand Canal is still the best address in Venice, but it is now a luxury hotel. It has made lately newspapers' headlines because a Hollywood star George Clooney had his wedding party there.

Mornings are my most favorite in Venice. After you make love to the man you love, you can hear the increasing noise on the water, then it will stop….It is exactly like the musical intervals, you will wait for incoming sounds and try to recognize them.
Have a room service ….
And because you are a very serious visitor go through your list of “Must See!”
It can be the longest list ever.
Architecture with Gothic, Byzantine and Moorish influences: Doge’s Palace, Ca’d’Oro, Ca’ Pensaro. Which Palazzo is the most important on your list?

The painting on canvas was invented in Venice...
There is also a long list of the Renaissance painters: Da Messina, Tintoretto, Veronese and Titian….Who's work will you see and where?
Do you plan to see Tiepolo in Palazzo Papadopoli? Or, maybe a Peggy Guggenheim's home which is now a museum of modern art….

If you are an artist painter, you will discover in Venice one phenomenal thing: THE LIGHT
It changes very quickly and does not leave you to contemplate the moment, it is as fluid as water, and like water makes you doubt the shapes and colors…

Call for a water taxi and allow yourself to be taken to the canal known as Rio dei Greci (the river of Greeks), it is in the area called Castello. You will find there a church di San Giorgio dei Greci, Saint George of Greeks - OΆγιος Γεώργιος των Ελλήνων. Like nowhere else, you will feel there the spirits of Greeks who have lived and died in Venice.

Then return to the Piazza di San Marco and try to talk to the pigeons….
Have a small walk around, as you wait for a boat to San Giorgio Maggiore and its monastery.
Because, believe me, you haven’t really lived unless you have heard the monks sing….



How to fall in Love with a Greek Man and marry Him...Hints for Greek Girls

Written on 1st of February, 2015

For us, Greeks, getting married is the most important thing in the world, for Greeks marriage means: adulthood, fulfilment, mental stabilization, great togetherness, and in many ways happiness.... Although we, Greeks, like to be married, the process of finding another Greek for the rest of our life is more complicated then a rocket science.

Being a Greek who looks for a life companion in Greece is easy, you just have to find another Greek. It might take time, but eventually you will find the person you want.
When you are born abroad, it is a completely different story. Even if you like your small, Greek community, you meet on different occasions, it can happen that your heart does not want to go anywhere, and waits for another Greek heart, which can be far, far away...

Every Greek couple has a story. Now days the most romantic love stories are born on the Internet. It is the place where the whole world is open, and you can find any Greek you dream of ...theoretically. My three cousins have found their spouses on the net, but it did not work for me, it only made my life miserable for nearly a year.

My older brother Kosta found his future wife on the parking lot of  Rice University. My sister-in-law used to drive an old car, which very often needed a small "push", and one day, my brother helped her to start that car, heard Theodorakis played on the radio of that car, and fell in love with the girl. When he gave her an engagement ring, he also took her to the car dealer to buy her a new car ....but the story had a strange twist. My sister in law, Agathe, revealed that...she has used her mother's maiden name, not her real name, the reason she had driven a creepy car was one: she wanted to marry a man who would really love her. All that because Agathe comes from a very rich family. My brother Kosta was so in love with her, at that point, that he would not mind her being a Chinese Princess. Nothing scared him, he just wanted his Greek girl. Since she married my brother, Agathe drives Porsche Cayenne, a car which never has any problem.... Agathe and Kosta lived a real Greek-Texan Cinderella story before they got married.

My other brother, Giorgos, found his wife in the closet.... literary. He was in Boston, participating in a Greek gathering when he heard strange noises in the closet, near the room he was sleeping. He opened the door and saw a girl sitting between the brooms and the vacuum-cleaner. He asked her why she was there, she told him she was hiding because the company was boring. He had locked the door and sat with Athena for the rest of the party and.... he had never left her after that party. They got married in Summer 2013.

My love story was the most boring. It was actually a set up, one of those set ups Greeks are famous of.. .My husband has seen me in our family movie, fell in love with me and for over a year was asking my brother to set up a randez-vous. When we finally met, I also fell in love with him...

But nobody has a story like my cousin Kalliope. Nobody can even compare the love story Kalliope has lived just before she got married to George. My cousin Kalliope is a classical pianist, a pretty, delicate brunette with a crazy Anglo-Saxon sense of humor. Although an artist, she is generally very pragmatic in her life and counts on facts....Wherever she is, she never answers her cell phone, but expects that we answer ours, when she calls. After she turned 25, she was sure it was a time to find a Greek husband and start a family....
There was one difficulty though, year after year Kalliope was touring a world giving performances, and rarely stayed in one town for longer then 3 days. The place, where she was always very unhappy was Italy, because she was there alone, and working. In November 2012, in Northern Italy, in Milano she stayed in Principe de Savoia, a stylish hotel built at the beginning of 19th century. One evening, before the concert, in the lobby of that hotel Kalliope met a man of her life, and it happened like that: she felt someone was watching her, turned her head and saw a man standing in the end of the hallway, staring at her. When their eyes met, she was struck by the arrow of Eros, a Greek God of Love. The man did not lose the time, approached Kalliope and introduced himself in English:
"My name is George, what's yours?"
My cousin Kalliope immediately remembered that she had a bit strange name for non Greeks, and told the man she would tell him her name, if he would not make remarks how strange the name was... He didn't, instead, he sat on the chair and covered his face with his hands...because unexpectedly he found, what he was looking for: he found his Greek girl.

Nobody should ignore Eros. He is one of the first Gods who came from Chaos and gave the people  an extraordinary energy called a romantic love, but also a sexual attraction and desire. This God is really a wandering fire, which sometimes takes a shape of a man, who has wings and who is an excellent archer; what he creates is essential for our existence. Romans, famous Greek copycats, trivialized the importance of Eros and created their own God of Love - Cupid, a sleazy, little child with the wings and arrows...

So Eros struck George and Kalliope in Italy, in a sad month of November, and created another eternal Greek love.
Next morning Kalliope sent me a message:
"I met a man, he is Greek, his name is George".
When I called her, she did not answer.

A few days after this message she was performing in Rome, George followed her there, went to every concert of hers. Every morning he was taking her for romantic walks.
From Rome Kalliope sent me a message:
" He speaks beautiful Greek, but he doesn't want to tell me his last name, I think he is in Mafia!"

I told my husband that Kalliope met in Italy a Mafia man, and he is Greek. My husband thought for a while and said: "Greeks can easily make money without being a part of a crime organization, if he is Greek, he is not in mafia, there is another catch in that story.."
And it was; George was a Greek-American professional with very good incomes, everybody could find him easily on the net. He just wanted Kalliope to love him for what he was as a man, as a person....
Then Kalliope sent another message:
"He is not in mafia, and I love him!"

The Roman days were over and Kalliope went back to Paris, but not alone, George went with her. They were married one month later, in Paris, in St Stephen's Greek Orthodox Church, two days before Christmas. Everything went so fast that only a few people could attend her wedding.

Those were Greek romance stories happened quite recently in my family. Of course there are many other love stories where one part is not Greek, but those are not Greek stories anymore...

The Art of Being Happy

Peleus and Thetis, the parents of Achilles

Written on 20th of November, 2014

The art, in most cases, feeds on unhappiness....artists are so unhappy, that they create the masterpieces which bleed with sublime feelings they experienced.

And here is my dilemma:
I cannot work when I am unhappy. I live my unhappiness, analyze it, feel it, and cannot work, cannot do anything...I am  "la petite bourgeoise" in many ways. In my everyday life everything has to be balanced: my house has to be spotless, otherwise I become very nervous, my children happy and clean, Maria happy, and of course I cannot forget the man I love. He is my only connection with the real world: a messenger of reality, a walking wisdom with great sense of humor and abdominal muscles any Ancient Spartan would be proud of... I love being married to him, taking care of him...spoil him...

This is also very untypical for an artist, because, artists usually grow their EGO to the point that nobody else fits in the space near by ...So artists are usually getting married for a five minutes, and then say to the world that they made mistake...It wasn't the person they were looking for, they were looking for someone who would admire them all the time, and they found a person who dared to be a person...

Artists don't like marriages that much, so in this regard, I am also not typical, I do like being married....It is this Greek thing I have...We, Greeks, we love to immerse ourselves in deep unlimited togetherness, and taste another Greek soul again and again...

But... there were some artist who enjoyed marriage and did not have any problems to create masterpieces. Not all the artists were sick, alone and dying in poverty, like Modigliani. Johann Sebastian Bach was quite happy in his marriage, so was the great poet Pablo Neruda. He had written the most beautiful love sonnets in the end of his life and an inspiration for them was his wife....

So when my home is clean and everybody is content, I can close the doors of my Studio and move to the space nobody visits, the space of my work. Sometimes I even remember the poems of Neruda, a poet who wrote masterpieces when he was happy...



One Day In August ....

Written on 17th of August, 2014
We are having a great time in Anavissos, going for morning swims, only two of us, the man I love and I, watching the shooting stars and making wishes...every night different.....
During the day, our son Oresti has his time to swim; the youngest one, Odyssea is still waiting for his big day in water. My husband will teach him to swim in September.
Mediterranean Sea is everywhere, wherever we turn our heads, and even when we sleep, it comes to our dreams. The citrus - sweet, salty smell of the air here cannot be compare to anything.
If a happiness is defined, it is NOW. Sometimes, I want to go on the street and shout:
-I have two sons and a husband who is the best kisser in the world!!!
But of course, I will not do it...

We have... a new addition to our family - Maria from Mani. She is no nonsense woman who knows a lot about babies and is a great cook, I can learn a lot from. She comes from the same village as my father-in-law, and our families know one another from the beginning of time...
The man I love told me, he was very happy I am a great mom, but he wanted back his wife and his lover and  the artist painter....So Maria Maniatisa is a relief person in the situations, when I go back to my old self...And I did a few times in my Studio here, in Anavissos, with the South-East windows, like I always wanted. I had painted here only two pictures, because I have no time...I am busy, living the moments of my life...

Today, when everybody was napping, I decided to spend some time in my studio, sketching for a big painting, when all over the sudden the door opened, and I saw a little man Oresti, bare feet, only in a diaper and a t-shirt, standing in the door looking for me...
- Uhhh? he asked, which most probably meant: "Can I get in?"
- 'Ελα, μπές μέσα - είπα (Get in - I said).
He wanted to be sure that he can get in and asked again :
- Uhhh?
When I said  - 'Ελα μέσα! (Get in!) - he finally entered the Studio....He just came to get a few kisses and hugs. When we started to make a picture together, Maria came to the studio searching for Oresti. Happy, that he is so desirable, he got on the sofa near by Maria, ready for hugs and kisses again....and then the man I love has walked in with our son Odyssea hanging off his shoulder. He also sat on the sofa.
So I had them all, in my Studio, sitting on the sofa: my husband was talking to Odyssea with love and  tenderness only a Greek man could give to a baby... Maria was kissing Oresti, and talking about great tasting feta cheese, we bought yesterday, and what we could cook using this cheese ....

My working session was over....

I told them, I put some restrictions, who can come to the Studio:
If you are taller than 70 cm, you cannot get in, without very special permission.
The man I love looked at me seriously and said :
- "I'll crawl, if I'll need to...."

And then it was a time to prepare a dinner....

The Scent of Acacia

Robinia - pseudoacacia

Written on 4th of July, 2014

Two years ago, when the man I love was looking for the house we can grow our family in, here, in Northern Virginia, he had one thing in mind: he wanted to find a property with a similar atmosphere to that of the old summer home (εξοχικό σπίτι) of my uncle in Anavissos, in Greece.  In that home, I used to spend most of my summers, where I was painting and cooking, from where I was going for long morning swims.… For over five years, I spent there three summer months…. alone, because, my uncle was at that time in London UK, where his only daughter, my cousin Maria, is living. My parents and my brothers were spending their summers not far away, in Glyfada, so an old house in Anavissos was a great place, where I could be alone when I wanted to, and I could go to my parents and had a company if I needed one … I was a house-sitter “en plein air” the only thing is: I never paint outdoors and rely on my memory when painting a nature…

One day in June 2012, in the garden of that house, under the acacia tree, I had a “very important” conversation with the man who became my soul mate and my lover, who gave me a world of passion, simplicity, and purity, I had never experienced before, who has given to me a completely new life. He had never forgotten the scent of acacia of that afternoon. And in July 2012, in Virginia, he has seen the house with acacia tree looking into the windows of the master bedroom. He knew he had found our home. We later called it Villa Agapantus.

Our acacia tree survived a few attempts on its life. My father-in-law is convinced that it is a “messy” tree, produces “sticky things” and its roots system is so elaborate and well developed that no other plant can live in the nearest neighborhood, acacia takes all the nutrients from the ground …takes them all. Every summer my husband has a long discussion with his father about the acacia, advocating for our tree... and always saving it.

“Besides”, my husband said, “it is not even a real acacia”…and this is true. The acacia tree in my uncle’s garden in Greece is a real one, from the family of Mimosas. It has yellow blooms with honey fresh smell of something familiar, delicate, and forgotten. In spite of that special scent the branches of acacia have thorns. In Greek ἀκίς -akis means thorn. The name acacia derives from ἀκακία- akakia – the thorn tree. This name was given to the tree in the Antiquity by Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης – Pedanios Dioscouridis, a Roman Army surgeon, who was….a Greek man.
He was the first one who discovered a special beauty of the acacia tree and its medicinal properties. He was the first who described them. The acacia tree was used to reduce stomach and throat inflammations.  Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης – Pedanios Dioscouridis had written  -Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς-  which was translated into Latin as - De Materia Medica – About the Medical Materials. Dioscouridis was not only a physician and a military man, but a dreamer and a scientist who was searching for medical substances during his long and frequent military postings…His 5-volumes encyclopedia was read as an important source of medical treatments for over 1500 years.

As to our American acacia tree, it is not a real acacia, it is a fake one, my husband frequently tells that to his father. After all, we live in America and fake things are more common here than anywhere else. The tree in front of our bedroom's window is Robinia pseudoacacia, from the family of Peas, and imitates real acacia very well; has intensely fragrant flowers, which are a bit similar to the scent of the orange blossoms, it has also some medicinal properties.

Our “acacia” is well protected by my husband from all sorts of perils. Every morning after his shower he stands by the window, checking out if the tree is there. The acacia is a silent witness of our life.
It always blooms in June; it bloomed before my sons were born, before the birthdays of my husband.
Last night, the man I love was watching the acacia tree before going to sleep.

- Η μυρωδιά των λουλουδιών της ακακίας είναι ένα άρωμα της αγάπης μας, το ξέρεις αυτό;  - Ρώτησε.
-The scent of the acacia blossom it‘s the fragrance of our love.  Do you know that? – He asked.

- Ναι, το ξέρω - Απάντησα.
- Yes, I know that - I answered.









Odysseas

Odysseas (4 days old) is burped by his 

yiayia (grandmother) this very funny way....

Written on June 30th, 2014

Odysseas was a king of Ithaca, an island, people think is mythical, but most of the Greeks know it is not ...

Odysseas is a very important person in Greek and Western history and literature, but also in every Greek individual development. Every Greek knows well how life-wise was Odysseas, how well he had planned his life, and how much he had tried to achieve the goals he had set for himself. He is an ultimate alter ego of every Greek. Odysseas was one of the heroes of the Homer's Iliad, it was him who had an idea to build a wooden horse, which Trojans brought to their city and then.... lost the war. Of course Odysseas is  a hero of the Odyssey, another literary marvel by Homer, a story of a human perseverance in living the life, doing the right things, and preserving the eternal love. Odysseas was the man who had chosen the right woman... Penelope.... she had waited for him for over twenty years, sure that he would be back....and he was back.

When we, Greeks, think about Odysseas, very often we have in mind Ithaca, a small poem written by Konstantinos Kavafys, where he tells that reaching the mythical Ithaca, the synonym of our goals, is not that important, what counts is the journey to Ithaca .....our life itself and our experiences...
From the beginning he says:

"Σα βγεις στον πηγαιμό για την Ιθάκη,
να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος,
γεμάτος περιπέτειες, γεμάτος γνώσεις."

"As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery."

Three weeks ago Odysseas joined our little family. He was born early morning on 8th of June. We were ready to name him Leonidas to celebrate a great Spartan king, but.... after he was born, the man I love looked at me and said " He does not look like Leonidas, he looks like Odysseas"
I stared at my son: he was curious, alert, and a bit surprised...he was Odysseas......

A little Spartan Odysseas was born thin and tall, but very strong; doesn't cry much, eats well, sleeps well, and most probably already plans his life..."a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery".....



The Al Bowlly Story



Al Bowlly







Written on 16th of May, 2014

Today, I have gotten by post a small CD - a 'thank you' present. In February, this year, I have given my cousin a stylish dress, so during an elegant dinner on St- Valentine's Day she could look like a flapper girl. My cousin is a classical pianist and the present she has sent me is musical - the greatest hits of Al Bowlly from my most favorite historical time - the time in between the wars - the 1920s and 1930s. I love everything from that period...art, music, fashion..
I started to listen to the recordings and immediately fell in love with those songs.
While day-dreaming about being a flapper girl who dances to that music I discovered inside the cover of the CD a small note written by hand....

"Find out who was Al Bowlly!"

I looked at the photo of the singer and thought: he was a hunk from the 30s, looking kind of Mediterranean, most probably Irish...Celtic dark look...but not exactly ...

So who was Al Bowlly?
He was the greatest pop singer of 1930s, his career had spread on four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and America, he was a singer who had "a voice out of this world" and who invented crooning, a very special way of singing, which is more a soft, delicate murmuring....
It became a canon of singing in the 1930s. Al Bowlly was also....a Greek man.

His story began on the boat to Australia. Al's father, a Greek from the island of Rhodes, met during his trip to Australia a Greek girl from Lebanon, fell madly in love with her, and the first thing he did after landing in Perth, Australia - he had married the girl. Australia wasn't the land of opportunities for Bowlly's parents, they moved to Africa. Al was born in Mozambique, and brought up in Johannesburg, in South Africa. There, his beautiful voice of extraordinary range and musical talent became well known. He was performing in the luxury hotels in South Africa and India, and soon was invited to London, to record a few songs. England became his new home, and his career was flourishing. He was singing with Ray Noble Orchestra and Lew Stone Band. Very pleasant personality, good looks, and a charisma helped Al to reach huge popularity in England. Ray Noble is often quoted as saying that Al often stepped away from the microphone with tears in his eyes; "never mind him making you cry, he could make himself cry!"

In 1934 Al Bowlly had visited America and sung with Glen Miller Orchestra. Songs: "Blue Moon", "Easy to Love", "I've Got You Under My Skin" made him famous in the United States. He had returned to England just before the war. In 1941 Bowlly was killed by a German parachute mine that detonated outside his apartment. He was only 43 years old.
Al Bowlly loved many girls, but never found his Greek girl to love... and as we know, a Greek soul needs another Greek soul to survive...

One day, in July, I have to dress like a flapper girl and go for a dancing rendez-vous with the man I love. We would pretend strangers who met while dancing....The only thing I have to do is to tell him about this idea....