Acropoli!

We headed into Athens bright and early this morning. Caught the 9AM hotel shuttle into Syntagma square. That sure was easy, and not to mention free. No tickets or maps or routes to calculate. I was sort of let down, because I had my heart set on figuring out the local bus route #114 by myself, and then posting the directions on Tripadvisor.com- Alas, my competitiveness will have to wait for another opportune moment.



We met a lovely Indian Family from Dubai who had spent some time in states and had very American and excellent English. They were also headed for the Catholic Cathedral downtown as we were. So the father and I headed to the front of the little group and compared our maps and the routes we had carved out with each other like two fellow sailors navigating our way through troubled waters and comparing the routes the other had calculated. We found each other up to par, as we continued to sail side by side each clutching their own map like some ancient family jewel.

Alas, land ho! We found our Cathedral! All aboard! Mass was just lovely, and although half finished, we simply stayed on for the next viewing and stayed for the first half. The choir was heavenly, it was equivalent to a chorale performance. For some reason I was unusually tickeled that the Kyrie Eleison, which I have sung all of my life, was actually Greek and the Greeks were singing it.

We were experts on the Athens metro now, and Mom was in charge of Metro operations, since she was so good at getting the tickets for us and hopping on the Acropolis route.

Tickets in hand, we started up the rock. Rain started drizzling a bit and we were sure it would downpour on us at any moment, so we scurried on up to make sure we could get in a dry view.

Sigh. I really don^t have words for making to the top of the rock and seeing the parthenon for the first time, knowing that this building is 2,500 years old. It is just draw droppingly beautiful. And as you get higher and higher up the rock you can see all of the city of Athens all around you, and strangely, though this is a large tourist area, it is very peaceful. Almost everyone has somewhat of a reverent nature up here. You almost can^t help it. The rock transports you up so that you feel as if you are being picked up into Athena^s hand and then this monumentally large and ancient building peers at you. Not far off to the left is the Temple of Athena, Nike, which i never knew nike meant victory. Celebrating vicotorious Athena. it struck me as joyful, with the corner cutout for 6 or so busts of Athena just on the corner looking triumphant. Truly amazing, considering we have no building in the us that is older than 200 years old. essentially.

We meandered down and poked around the Temple of Zeuss, but since its only from 142AD we weren^t really that impressed with it. plus its roman. hee hee.

We came back to our hotel and partook in a sandwhich and a beer in front of our gorgeous Sardonic Gulf view. i checked out the spa downstairs and momma took a siesta and now we are just kicking it in the 5 star, since the winds have kicked up to a frenzy and we are not that hungry from our large snack. We have CNN in ten languges in our hotel room, and we watched a little Al - Jazeera just because we are cosmopolitan now that we are in Europe. We`re checking out the weather in all of the EU. It started snowing in Moscow, and The World Rugy Semifinals are on at 1900 GMT between Argentina and South Africa´. hee hee.

We feel very awed by this day and full in our souls. We keep pinching ourselves, we can^t beleive we^re in Greece. We can^t beleive we^ve seen so much of Western culture in a week!