Athens: Day 2
Happy New Years Eve!
Today we breakfasted at our hotel again and then headed straight to The Acropolis Museum.
This place was awesome. It had glass floors so you could see ruins under the building. It was full of fragments of the pediment statues and dedications that used to adorn the temples of the Acropolis.
Maybe we're just rubes, but Ian and I never thought that these statues were ever anything but smooth white marble. We learned today that these carvings and statues were originally vibrantly decorated with colorful pigments. So not only were our brains warping over trying to grasp the sheer age of all these things, now we were baffled as to how incredibly colorful and ornate it would have looked in it's original state. I desperately want to see a recreation of it all somehow.
There was also a big surprise for Simon: an Acropolis built out of Legos! It was incredibly detailed and it blew his tiny mind.
By the way, if anyone is wondering why so many statues of the gods are missing so many limbs and faces and heads so often, the answer lies with something I overheard from a tour guide: the Christians came in and defaced all the gods. I'm not bringing this up to start any debates, it's just what I overheard. I always just assumed that over time and during sieges and wars stuff just wears down and gets destroyed. But, yeah, duh, of course religion had something to do with it.
We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant across the street from the museum. Simon enjoyed more sausage while Ian and I split plates of moussaka, grilled pork, pita and cheese dip. When the kitchen opened the chef came around to each table to assure us that all their food is made fresh every day, never reheated, and never wasted, as whatever is leftover at the end of the day they give away to the homeless. If we revisit one restaurant during this trip that one is probably going to be it. Everything was UH-MAZING.
After lunch we hopped a tour bus to take us to the National Archaeological Museum. Poor Simon fell asleep and was abruptly awakened when we hustled off the bus. He cried for over twenty minutes that he didn't want to go to another museum, then promptly settled down and was very interested once we were in front of all the ancient swords. He was pretty worn out but a very good sport over all.
Once we were done at the museum and back outside, we waited in some drizzle for the tour bus to take us back around the city. While we were waiting Simon noticed a ton of pigeons all sitting around and asked me what they were doing. I told him that it's cold and rainy, so they were all just trying to stay dry under a tree.
But those pigeons made a fool of me. They were actually waiting for this guy:
Dude just had a garbage bag full of food scraps he flung to the birds. It was pretty cute.
Finally the bus arrived and we rode it back to the stop closest to our hotel. Now I'm putting this post together, Simon is going nuts jumping on the bed, and Ian is out hunting for food (He's 20 meters down the block ordering kabobs, just like the men of ancient Greece!)
Tomorrow a lot of places will be closed so I don't know that we'll have many more pictures to share, but that's why I'm saving all the photos I've stolen from Ian for New Year's Day! Until tomorrow! Merry New Year!
Today we breakfasted at our hotel again and then headed straight to The Acropolis Museum.
This place was awesome. It had glass floors so you could see ruins under the building. It was full of fragments of the pediment statues and dedications that used to adorn the temples of the Acropolis.
Maybe we're just rubes, but Ian and I never thought that these statues were ever anything but smooth white marble. We learned today that these carvings and statues were originally vibrantly decorated with colorful pigments. So not only were our brains warping over trying to grasp the sheer age of all these things, now we were baffled as to how incredibly colorful and ornate it would have looked in it's original state. I desperately want to see a recreation of it all somehow.
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| This is just the entrance! |
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| Athena's companion owl |
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| PUT. A. BIRD. ON. IT! |
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| Athena adjusting her sandal |
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| Rusted bronze eyelashes look like tears |
There was also a big surprise for Simon: an Acropolis built out of Legos! It was incredibly detailed and it blew his tiny mind.
 |
| The contest between Athena and Poseidon |
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| Who's performing in there? Is that... is that Elton John? |
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| Yes. It's Elton John. |
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| Watching a short film about how marble is cut and pigments are made |
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| Minerals and their pigments |
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| Recreations of the pediments of the Parthenon |
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| What up, Poseidon! |
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| This would have been atop the Parthenon |
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| Dionysos |
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| Museums are tiring |
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| Torsos of Athena and Poseidon |
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| Demeter and Kore? |
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| An Amazon on horseback |
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| The Pensive Athena |
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| Oh, I say! |
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| The pediment of the Apotheosis of Hercules |
By the way, if anyone is wondering why so many statues of the gods are missing so many limbs and faces and heads so often, the answer lies with something I overheard from a tour guide: the Christians came in and defaced all the gods. I'm not bringing this up to start any debates, it's just what I overheard. I always just assumed that over time and during sieges and wars stuff just wears down and gets destroyed. But, yeah, duh, of course religion had something to do with it.
We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant across the street from the museum. Simon enjoyed more sausage while Ian and I split plates of moussaka, grilled pork, pita and cheese dip. When the kitchen opened the chef came around to each table to assure us that all their food is made fresh every day, never reheated, and never wasted, as whatever is leftover at the end of the day they give away to the homeless. If we revisit one restaurant during this trip that one is probably going to be it. Everything was UH-MAZING.
After lunch we hopped a tour bus to take us to the National Archaeological Museum. Poor Simon fell asleep and was abruptly awakened when we hustled off the bus. He cried for over twenty minutes that he didn't want to go to another museum, then promptly settled down and was very interested once we were in front of all the ancient swords. He was pretty worn out but a very good sport over all.
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| Mycenaean jewelry |
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| Recreation of Bronze Age Clothing |
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| Restored "Boxing Children" fresco |
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| Find the hedgehog! |
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| Bronze statue of a young jockey recovered from a shipwreck |
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| "By the way, which is my best side?" |
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| "I know they're both good." |
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| Minotaur! |
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| Zeus! |
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| Poseidon's got a golden smile, kids. Okay, it's bronze. |
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| The National Archaeological Museum |
But those pigeons made a fool of me. They were actually waiting for this guy:
Dude just had a garbage bag full of food scraps he flung to the birds. It was pretty cute.
Finally the bus arrived and we rode it back to the stop closest to our hotel. Now I'm putting this post together, Simon is going nuts jumping on the bed, and Ian is out hunting for food (He's 20 meters down the block ordering kabobs, just like the men of ancient Greece!)
Tomorrow a lot of places will be closed so I don't know that we'll have many more pictures to share, but that's why I'm saving all the photos I've stolen from Ian for New Year's Day! Until tomorrow! Merry New Year!
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