Day in Athens

This morning we left the Artemis at 8am to spend the day in Athens. James (Giacomo) was our guide, along with Tasso, our driver. Being a Saturday the traffic was not as bad as normal. We knew James from our previous days here. It was good to see him again. His father is Greek and his mother, Italian. He married recently, an American woman from Indianapolis, that he met on one of his tours. She is currently in language school three hours a day. We enjoyed sharing memories of the horrors of language school:) Our first stop was at the Olympic Stadium, with the Parthenon high on the hill behind it.I remember standing in the freezing rain as our Jon, and now son-in-law, Tim, ran their first marathons. They ran from the village of Marathon into Athens. An incredible achievement at any age. From the stadium we made our way over to the base of the Parthenon.After a steep climb to the top we were met with the magnificent structure surrounded with scaffolding. Even with the poor economy, the work of restoration continues, as it is three fourths funded through the EU (European Union). From the Parthenon we climbed Mars Hill. This is much safer now after the recent Olympic Games. There are now metal steps and a handrail, which is a great improvement over sliding down the steps on your backside. Terry read to the students from Acts 17 and then we prayed together. It is very moving to look down over this city of almost six million people, and to realize how many have still never heard the gospel. We left Mars Hill and stopped off at the Plaka to purchase a few warm clothing items. It was cold and drizzly. Brrr....We went to lunch at a local tavern, and the students were very willing to try new foods. We started with a light spaghetti with tomatoes and garlic, followed by a Greek salad. The next douse was Greek meatballs and fries, and then ice cream for dessert. Everyone was pretty stuffed by that point. One of the highlights of our day was a lovely party of three elderly folks who made their way over to our table.they had been listening to Terry and James speaking Italian and had been guessing where each was from. They guessed that Terry was a Professor from Tuscany. They sure know their dialects! It turns out that the men are here helping on some Naval engineering work, and are originally from La Spezia - the Cinque Terre area. We enjoyed sharing memories of our times there in Vernazza, Monterosso, etc. It was like discovering old friends. We then walked over to visit the new Acropolis Museum. They have done such a wonderful job on this new facility. It houses the original remnants of the Parthenon. Rather than cover over the excavations several floors below ground, they have built a glass floor that you look down through as you walk. Jordan wasn't so sure about that! One of the main purposes of building this museum is to
remove one of the British excuses as to why they haven 't returned the Elgin Marbles. They claim that there is not a safe place for them, where they could be properly protected. This is now no longer true. It will be interesting to see what happens next. We then returned to the
Artemis around 5pm. This evening the boys are downstairs watching "The Lord of the Rings" with the students. They are enjoying themselves, especially always having someone around to shoot a
basket with, play chess with, etc. Tomorrow we have classes until lunch time, and then we will leave for worship at 4pm. Kalinichte!