Athens main attraction, the AcropolisOct 17, 2009
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Grade 6 Social Studies field trip day.
The Parthenon, a temple to Athena, on top of the Acropolis
Very windy at the top of the Acropolis.
So we start out to see the big thing to see in Athens: the Acropolis. The day is a bit cloudy, and getting worse. We hesitate, thinking we can come back another day, but decide it will just add to the atmosphere. And it does. The day beats down on us - rain and sandy wind - which makes it almost impossible to look over the side to enjoy the views. The screams of the wind surround us (produced by the endless structures of scaffolding that surround various buildings.) We enjoy ourselves looking at things we wish we better understood. Then in typical Van Thiel fashion, we ignore the sign pointing the way out because another path turns the opposite way and no one else is taking it. This path circles the whole site below. It highlights a series of cave sanctuaries to various gods. There are paths, and stairs, and signs explaining what is what. And no one else is bothering to see any of this, but us. The view is great, the rain has stopped, and we have lots of choice as far as where to picnic. Just about a perfect day.
We then wander through the Agora (ancient market place) which has pretty much emptied out because of the rain in the morning. Mantra becomes "must look at ancient runes", but we are not getting much out them by the end, so we leave the rest for another day.
It is now several "another days" later, and I don't know if we will get back to any other of the "big" sites, other than stopping to peer in as walk by on our way to other things (Zeus' temple looks real cool when we see it from a distance at night, but it's not especially on our list of things to return to in the days to come.)
