Athens, twelve-thirty, and the hairstyle is not sitting flat. As if Aeolus had opened the sack of unpropitious winds, as the Chancellor’s plane touched down in Athens yesterday a wicked crosswind irked the Chancellor and messed up the photos.

It was a dramatic landing, broadcast live on television, and had echoes of Sadat’s landing in Israel and Nixon’s in China. The drama was a surprise and should not have been necessary.

A shame that this trip comes so late. All the same, the Chancellor was delighted to see a familiar face as she began to shake hands on the runway. The whole cabinet, including the prime minister, had formed up right on the tarmac as a guard of honour.

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From Greece

No surprises, neither good nor bad

“Those who were expecting gifts from the German Chancellor’s visit to Athens would do better to wait until the end of the year. Indeed, they are more likely to get something from Santa Claus than get money from the German parliament in an election year,” writes I Kathimeriniafter Angela Merkel's short visit to Athens.

For the Greek daily, it is a “double message” that the Chancellor addressed to the Greeks during a visit that, on the whole, was judged “positive” —

She said that the Greeks are not alone on the difficult path of restructuring the economy, while stressing that the government should carry on with the structural changes.

For its part, To Vima notes that the protests that marred the visit of the Chancellor —

... were well below expectations and certainly showed a lower turn-out than the others in the past three years. Most people have realised that the country needs to be rebuilt and that there is nothing to expect from a corrupt and debt-ridden State. For the last three years, most homes have been applying their own austerity plan.

For To Ethnos, finally —