Athens

We're here! This sign greeted us inside the Athens Airport. (We learned later that WIND is a mobile internet provider in Greece.)








In the Arrival Hall we were greeted by Spiros of the Aegean Tour Company. He loaded us into two taxis and took us to our hotel, the Athens Gate.








On the way into the city we managed to snap a picture of this reminder of the 2004 Olympics.








The Roof Garden Restaurant at the hotel has a spectacular view of the Acropolis! Our first meal was Greek Salad Sandwiches with creamy feta cheese, ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, red onions and green peppers on slightly crunchy, toasted buns. (This information is for Clare and Isabelle's mothers who are curious about what we're eating.)

















In the other direction there's a view of the Temple of Zeus.








The girls couldn't wait to visit the Plaka (we thought the word meant "market" in Greek, but we learned it refers to a "flat area" or the old area of Athens.) They jumped right into shopping mode.








Rather than a description of dinner, here's a picture. This Greek Salad tasted as delicious as it looks. We ate in the Plaka on the street under a tree and people-watched. Groups of young people from the Special Olympics - which had concluded the day before - strolled by. Wearing their team t-shirts proudly was Team Singapore.








Wednesday, July 6th - Breakfast at the Roof Garden Restaurant and another look at The Acropolis, this time in morning light. It's hard to resist taking pictures of this legendary site.









This is the third floor of the new Acropolis Museum which opened in 2009. It's spectacular. Designed by a Swiss Architect it incorporates the ancient Athenian village discovered at the site. Glass floors cover the village so you can look down at a place that existed long before the birth of Christ. In two months people will be able to walk through the village itself.




















Entering The Acropolis!









The world's most beautiful building - the Parthenon.








The air was clear enough to let us see Athens and beyond. We didn't miss the smog that smothered Athens during our visit 19 years ago.









The large stone hill is the Areopagus mentioned in Acts 17. It's the site of St. Paul's famous sermon to the Athenians. We read the chapter before dinner and couldn't believe how current it sounded - as if Paul had been here just a few weeks ago.








Isabelle is giving her best impression of St. Paul on the Areopagus.








Clare told us that while she was descending the stairs and trying to keep the wind from blowing her dress up, a man said to her "Don't be afraid of the wind." He stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Dimitri," and then kissed her on the cheek! I was dumbfounded. I was thinking I would like to slap him, but instead asked "How old was he?" "Really old. About forty." (Clare's dad is going to love THIS story.)








Our favorite resting spot after surviving the heat of the Acropolis, the courtyard of the Church of the Apostles. A Danish woman took this photo.








We stopped in an art gallery owned by the artist, Moraitis. HIs assistant brought us downstairs to show us his studio in the center of which is a huge 2,000-year-old jar which stored wheat. When they dug the basement and discovered the pot, they tried to move it to the museum. When it began to break apart, they just left it. Athens is full of such juxtapositions of ancient and new, each living quite comfortably with the other.








We kept passing this poster of our friend George in the Plaka, saying hello each time we did. Finally, we decided to memorialize our time together with this picture.




















Our wonderful day in Athens had a perfect ending. We found the best restaurant, under a tree and near a park. There's that Greek Salad again plus calamari, dolmas, and spanakopita. THEN ------








the day reached absolute perfection when we decided to go to the Roof Top Cinema across from the restaurant and saw a funny, light-hearted movie directed by and starring Tom Hanks called "Larry Crowne." And to our left ---the magnificent Acropolis with a new moon above. Can it get any better than this?