Ate dinner here at the hotel last night. Great move. Reminiscent of NYC's Four Seasons lobby dining. Full of people. Amazing food. Homemade pumpkin ravioli with chestnut and wild mushroom sauce. Asparagus soup with truffle cream. Caramel ice cream. Pistachio ice cream. Caramel is seen more often than chocolate. Or at least equal. That's a plus.
Took photos of our breakfast buffet.
Mike calls it the 'ideal breakfast' because it's carbohydrate city. Halvahs are something I have never appreciated enough. Sesame (tahini) with sugar, egg white and flavors.
We also have the honey quartet.
Greek yogurts. The European cold cheeses and meats (saw that throughout Italy too.) Fruits, eggs, sausages and bacon, baked beans.
And breads. The koulouri are delicious, like a pretzel but fresh bread each day. Sesame seeds on everything. And creme caramels, rice puddings. No wonder lunch is mid-afternoon.
Immersed ourselves for 2-ish hours in the museum. Just perfect. Tried to follow the rooms in numerical / chronological order, which means you have to switchback and re-direct a few times.
Elegantly crafted gold jewelry.
Octopi are everywhere.
Human nature continues- there were two red striped clay figures, stylized, of females holding infants. These were found in graves of babies. As if they placed these tender figures down in the graves to ensure their babies were taken care of. Can you picture that? We do what we think will work.
Then to 600 BC. Archaic period. Serene. Mysterious smile. Rosebuds. Rosebuds on her tiara, on her dress, in her hand. Serene.
Now to 460 BC, the Greeks are battling the Persians. There are no smiles on the statues' faces. This is the Severe Period. Great name.
This 6'10" bronze is of Zeus or Poseidon, they don't know which. Depends if he is throwing a trident or a lightning bolt, which has disappeared. It is balanced, shows the potential energy of the throw about to happen. It is breath-taking in person. This is about the time the Parthenon was built.
Okay, to the 400 BC's. Some shots of Funeral Steles. One with a dog and a handshake. That's 2500 years ago, and dogs were dear to their owners, and handshake was a sign of a greeting.
Then a stele with a mother morning her baby, being taken from her by an attendant (death.)
And then a man overlooking the sea, who died in a shipwreck (the words said.)
Off funerary art. Onto horse racing. Here's a perfect example of early Hellenistic (think "emotional) art. 150 BC. Horse and jockey. Like Zeus/Poseidon, this one stops you in your meandering and makes you look. It draws you in.. into its moment. Some of these artists were so talented.
Same era, Hellenistic sculptors were story tellers. Here's Aphrodite (goddess of love) about to bop Pan with her sandal. Just look at the three of them (including Eros.)
Turn the page. We had a real treat here. The Antikythera Shipwreck exhibit was open. In about 50 BC a ship carrying about 300 Greek pieces of art to Italy was wrecked in a storm off Antikythera. The art was from 300 BC to 50 BC.
Look at the Bronze Youth. This is 340 BC, the Classical Age of Greek sculpture.
The highlight was the Antikythera Mechanism. What they call the first portable computer. From 50 BC, it's a set of gears hand cranked that lets you calculate the sun, moon, 5 planets, and all the different years and dates on different calendars. At that time there were four calendars people used, I think. And different calendars had to add hours, days, etc to match up with others. It also lets you calculate the dates for the different Pan Hellenic games, such as the Olympic Games (every 4 years.)
It was found in the shipwreck, all corroded. They used MRI technology to see inside the corrosion, to see the series of gears. I have several photos. I thought this was amazing. They said that it took until the 1800's for man to build back up to this level of technology.
A Cynic. Which, in the 240 BC's was a philosopher who was an individual, not idealized. Totally real to his own thoughts. Non-materialistic. Free of all desires of possessions, wealth, power, fame.
Lovely lunch out front the museum. A Greek Salad. No lettuce in sight.
The walk home was along a very busy street, through a more run down neighborhood. The buildings were darkened by Athens famous pollution, and not cleaned as they are in the Acropolis / Syntagma Square area. I have no idea what this was. Many large bedsheets with writing hung on the fence between us and this building, and this huge bronze head on the ground.
Athens University, a few blocks further down. In the style of the Classical Greek architecture.
Back home at the Grande Bretagna. Here's a print in the hallway outside our room. The Acropolis, with very few buildings in Athens. We were told that in the 1850's, only 8,000 people lived in Athens. Now there's 4 million people. Still... greater Orlando is aobut 3 million people. For not many people, Athens has had a huge impact on humanity.
Felt safer staying in for late dinner. We realized we had seen dozens of police out our first night here, walking home from dinner. While they keep you safe, that means there is something to be kept safe from.
Our fellow diners were elegantly dressed. I think we were the only ones not in a blazar, without high heels. We do stand out as Americans. Mike had on his Princeton fleece. So, really, the cost of that is worth far more than even a custom tailored of the finest wool blazar. I did the black top, black pants, enormous silk scarf over the shoulders. We arrived at dinner at 9 PM. Fashionably early here in Athens.
The atmosphere of the Acropolis followed us. You don't shake it off. Physically towering over the city, you see it from the dining room. You remember the wind swept moments gazing up at the Parthenon's majesty from it's base. You were up there in the clouds, with the Greek Gods. Now you are down here, among mortals. How impressive this would have been 2,500 years ago to, well, to anyone.
Wednesday. Up bright and early at 8:30.
Took photos of our breakfast buffet. Mike calls it the 'ideal breakfast' because it's carbohydrate city. Halvahs are something I have never appreciated enough. Sesame (tahini) with sugar, egg white and flavors.
We also have the honey quartet.
Greek yogurts. The European cold cheeses and meats (saw that throughout Italy too.) Fruits, eggs, sausages and bacon, baked beans.
And breads. The koulouri are delicious, like a pretzel but fresh bread each day. Sesame seeds on everything. And creme caramels, rice puddings. No wonder lunch is mid-afternoon. 
Life in this hotel is elegant.
Then you exit onto the streets.
Off to the National Archeological Museum. Covering 5,000 BC to 300 AD. Taxi took us there, it's tricky navigating new streets, it's all in Greek. Greek alphabet too. We look so much like tourists. Don't want to add the holding up a map and pointing to those Fraternity letters to the picture.
Immersed ourselves for 2-ish hours in the museum. Just perfect. Tried to follow the rooms in numerical / chronological order, which means you have to switchback and re-direct a few times.
Started with Heinrich Schliemann's 1876 finds. Mainly gravesites from 1500 BC, Mycenean. Lots of gold. Agememnon. Interesting how they buried such valuable items with their dead. Did they think they would be needing gold necklaces and clay bowls? Did they want to impress somebody in the afterlife? Is it that people with more 'things' are treated better?
Octopi are everywhere.
Human nature continues- there were two red striped clay figures, stylized, of females holding infants. These were found in graves of babies. As if they placed these tender figures down in the graves to ensure their babies were taken care of. Can you picture that? We do what we think will work.
Jump back to 4,000 BC, because Mike and I started in the middle. Very two dimensional marble sculpting.
Love the school kids sitting on the floor. Lots of school kids. Several French groups.
Love the school kids sitting on the floor. Lots of school kids. Several French groups.
Love the fresco, a modern reinactment to show us the bright colors they used. What we see is faded. The sunlight here in Athens is super bright, and it's only April. I can't imagine how bright this would be in July.
What a time in Athens that was. Can you imagine the energy? The expansion of ideas and space and technology and art? Compare to now, when it is all alittle sad.
Talked with a diner next to us yesterday. She is from the suburbs. Says it's sad to be in Athens now. So dimished. No energy. No life. Dirty, run down. No happiness.
Then talked with a taxi driver. So happy to talk with us, trying to improve his English. He is also practicing by talking with a Texan while playing his X-Box.
Then a stele with a mother morning her baby, being taken from her by an attendant (death.)
And then a man overlooking the sea, who died in a shipwreck (the words said.)
Same era, Hellenistic sculptors were story tellers. Here's Aphrodite (goddess of love) about to bop Pan with her sandal. Just look at the three of them (including Eros.)Turn the page. We had a real treat here. The Antikythera Shipwreck exhibit was open. In about 50 BC a ship carrying about 300 Greek pieces of art to Italy was wrecked in a storm off Antikythera. The art was from 300 BC to 50 BC.
Look at the Bronze Youth. This is 340 BC, the Classical Age of Greek sculpture.
You know, I took an entire course on Ancient Greek Art in college, it vaguely comes back to me. It's the labels at this museum that are fabulous. This is a well done museum
Anyway, the Bronze Youth is an excellent example of the balance - one half of him is still and stable. The other half is in motion. What is that hand doing? The split finger fastball? No, probably handing an apple as a prize in a beauty contest.
The highlight was the Antikythera Mechanism. What they call the first portable computer. From 50 BC, it's a set of gears hand cranked that lets you calculate the sun, moon, 5 planets, and all the different years and dates on different calendars. At that time there were four calendars people used, I think. And different calendars had to add hours, days, etc to match up with others. It also lets you calculate the dates for the different Pan Hellenic games, such as the Olympic Games (every 4 years.)
It was found in the shipwreck, all corroded. They used MRI technology to see inside the corrosion, to see the series of gears. I have several photos. I thought this was amazing. They said that it took until the 1800's for man to build back up to this level of technology. 
A Cynic. Which, in the 240 BC's was a philosopher who was an individual, not idealized. Totally real to his own thoughts. Non-materialistic. Free of all desires of possessions, wealth, power, fame.
Lovely lunch out front the museum. A Greek Salad. No lettuce in sight. 
The walk home was along a very busy street, through a more run down neighborhood. The buildings were darkened by Athens famous pollution, and not cleaned as they are in the Acropolis / Syntagma Square area. I have no idea what this was. Many large bedsheets with writing hung on the fence between us and this building, and this huge bronze head on the ground.
Athens University, a few blocks further down. In the style of the Classical Greek architecture.
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