(no subject)

[mythicalgirl]

First let me apologize for the delay in getting these out.  I've been busy! :-)

Friday - Travel FailWe started out well, the flight was on time the last time we checked, our driver picked us up on time, we got the the airport on time - and found out our flight was delayed from 5:30 to 8:00!  Which meant we would miss our connection in Madrid.  After some work with a ticketing agent we basically had to stick with our delayed flight and take a later flight out of Madrid.  The flight out of Dallas ended up leaving about 9 pm.  Six hour layover in Madrid - thankfully it is a nice airport with lots of shops to wander around in.  The flight to Athens was on time (thank goodness) and they fed us...some sort of pressed mystery meat that Dad and I decided was Spanish Spam.  Arrived in Athens at 11 pm where a driver picked us up and took us to the hotel.  Checked in at 5 till midnight so technically we still made it to Athens on Saturday. 
Except the hotel didn't have the packet for us from our tour group so we didn't know what time to meet them to go to the Acropolis in the mornng!

Saturday - Acropolis and the New Acropolis Museum

Since we had no idea what we were doing, when we were doing it, or where we were supposed to meet Dad and I got up early.  Ouch.  We finally connected with the right people and got our itinerary.  At 9 we met with our group and our tour guide, Athanasia.  I expected to cry when we got up on the Acropolis and I was face to face with the Parthenon for the first time.  I didn't, probably because there were so many people!  I did have a stupid goofy grin on my face the entire time.  The Parthenon is huge!  I mean I knew how big it was from school but knowing the number of columns on each side and the dimensions in meters is nothing to standing next to it.  The whole site on top of the Acropolis is just really amazing.  I'd love to spend more time there.  And the view of Athens from the top is breathtaking.  Athens from the ground is gray and dirty and full of traffic.  Athens from the top of the Acropolis is a completely different city. 

There were dogs all over the Acropolis and the surrounding area.  Athanasia told us they are strays that the city catches, spays or neuters, immunizes, tags, and then sets back loose.  One of the people in our group asked who fed them and she said "everybody".  None of them were thin or starving and they were all as friendly as can be.  After that I noticed lots of stray dogs everywhere we went in the city. 

Next up was the New Acropolis Museum and I have to come back to Greece if only to spend more time in this museum.  They found a Byzantine age village while building the museum so the bottom floor is all glass letting you see into the ongoing excavations, which have now reached an even older level as they continue to dig.  The selection of pottery, my specialty, is a bit weak but the statuary from the votive offerings left on the Acropolis is stunning.  I could spend a day in that room alone.  The piece de resistance is the top floor where the pieces from the Parthenon are.  The remaining pieces of the frieze, metopes and pediments are there, the marble aged and yellowing.  Pieces that are in the Greek collection but aren't in a good enough condition to be displayed are represented by reconstructions in the same kind of marble as the originals, the marble a whiter color as it hasn't aged.  The rest of the pieces are missing and are represented by blank spaces.  If the piece was destroyed in the explosion in the 1800s then the space may have a description and a line drawing.  if the pieces was taken to London by Lord Elgen and is in the British Museum then the space is empty - just empty - no description, no nothing.  the Greeks want their treasures back and they aren't subtle about it. 

The room for the Parthenon marbles is the exact same dimensions as the Parthenon itself and is flooded with light.  If the British Museum's excuse for not returning the marbles is that Greece has no decent museum in which to house them then that excuse no longer floats. 

After we left the museum several people went to the Plaka but Dad and I were feeling our travel fail day so we headed back to the hotel for lunch and a rest.  I ended up taking a long nap instead of just "resting".  So no Plaka for us.  Next time. 

The food in Greece was wonderful.  We had a pizza for lunch one day with artichoke, mushroom and kalamata olives that was to die for.  The tzatzki, spanikopita and the lamb were all the best I've ever had.  We only had one meal that was only so-so and that was on Sunday when we went to Delphi. That will be in the next post, along with Egypt, which I'll write up soon!