It doesn’t matter where you go to eat in a city that’s hosting the Olympics, you can consider it international dining.

Just listen in to the conversations at the tables around you and you’ll hear any number of languages being spoken. And if you can decipher what they’re saying, there are any number of stories being told.

Since the games got under way, most of my meals have come with golden arches attached because McDonald’s is the only thing fast and easy at the Main Press Center. But when we can escape the MPC, our refuge of choice is a place called Vageli’s, a souvlaki stand down in the Plaka section of Athens near the Acropolis.

We discovered it by accident early on in our five-week long (and counting) stay here.

Owner Vageli Constantine is a Greek, raised in Australia. My co-worker, Anthony “Adonis” Stavrinos is also Aussie-Greek. And when they struck up a conversation, it turns out Anthony’s mom and Vageli grew up together.

What are the odds?

From then on, Vageli’s has become our version of “Cheers.”
Just don’t call me “Norma.”

The food is good and cheap and the world stops by while you eat.

On any given day, it can be filled with locals or resemble a United Nations conference with the diversity of people there.

The entire shop is smaller than my kitchen back home. The tables and chairs actually take up parking spaces on the street, which is a perfectly acceptable thing to do in Greece, apparently.

As Vageli’s Olympic crowds have grown, so has his space on the street.

Vageli’s champion gyro maker Yanni is a master to watch. You could almost set his technique to music as he quickly assembles it all on a pita and then gives the paper wrap a final twist to hold it all together.

A lot of other Aussie-Greeks have adopted the place, including a couple of the dancers who took part in opening ceremonies and will be a part of closing, as well.

Maria Karabelas is from Melbourne and is quite proud of both her motherlands. Prior to the ceremony, she had been coy about her role, but she was not the least bit shy about telling us what happened after.

Maria and her friend Efy were part of a group of performers dressed as marble statues.

It seems that Maria’s exit from the field took her right through the VIP section of the stadium and as she was walking along in decked out in full statue regalia, she spied former President George H.W. Bush.

Still riding high on her excitement from the ceremony and being the friendly, enthusiastic person she is, she bolted right for him, with her hand extended and shouted, “Hi! I’m Australian!”

Of course, the Secret Service agents watching it didn’t see the international relations value in this behavior. I’m also sure it would have been tough to explain to the 43rd president of the US that his father, the 41st president, was attacked at the Olympics by a crazed statue.

They unceremoniously grabbed Maria, who in turn shrugged them off.

Acting every bit the offended lady she was, she looked at the chagrined agents and declared, “Leave me alone, I’m Australian.”

Well, this seemed good enough for the former Prez. He told the rather surprised bodyguards, “Leave her alone, she's Australian.” He then proceeded to invite Maria to join him to watch the rest of the show.

And there she sat for the remainder of the evening.

Her audience at Vageli’s suggested that perhaps it was Maria’s outfit more than her nationality that won her the prized viewing spot next to Mr. Bush, but either way it worked.

We were all disappointed we don’t have a picture of the two of them in the stands, but think that’s probably the one thing the Secret Service guys were able to control.
That is, of course, unless there had been a photographer around who was Australian.