Vance's Athens. adventure 2, sept 26, walking to syntagma square, travel arr, & the museum

From Vance email. adventure 2, sept 26, walking to syntagma square, travel arr, & the museum. 26 September 2014.

i love athens, mild, breezy, amazing cloud formations, streets full of athenians and tourists. the athenians are very friendly, tipping is nothing like the states.

gorgeous day, a bit of rain but a nice lunch and thanks patricia for the recommendation of galaktoBUrico, on the left, fab sandwich and coffee

then to travel agent to arrange island visits. all done then to the museum which i had not seen the last trip. amazing, huge windows open onto the whole city. you can see the acropolis in back of me...yup, thats me, then to the upper floor to walk around the figures they have removed. after 2500 years some are clear, others barely discernible but they have added plaster to complete and give you an idea of the original. of course huge chunks are in london, thanks lord elgin, plz return.

wonderful videos of the reconstruction, ideas of the ancient site on which the museum is built with glass flooring showing the excavation that continues today under the museum.

the third picture is a battle between a centaur and man, the metaphor being civilization and barbarism. these sculptures were first molded in clay then with dots on the clay and corresponding dots on the marble the artist would begin to chip away. much like a pattern with dots which you use chalk to make the outline and the shapes. 

athena, daugher of zeus sprang from his forehead fully formed, goddess of wisdom. her figure was the center of the temple, the parthenon beautifully colored. the whole temple was brightly colored and the figures had bronze spears and horses bridles and trappings in bronze, making them more lifelike. so degas put a real tutu on his ballerina, hmm.

the temple became a church then a mosque and now they are restoring but much of what was on the hill is now in the museum.

adventure to santorini begins tomorrow, long boat trip.

first though to dinner here in athens, then a bit of ouzo on the hotel roof, taxi at 6:20 A.M.!!!

I looked for socrates today, he did not appear but alexander the great or his very closest friend i definately saw at the museum where i was having herbal tea gathered from the hills.

-- vyg