Dancing With The Stars, Here We Come!!

So, we went to this dinner theatre-type restaurant in Athens with several friends from the Bible College on Wednesday evening, and oh! the fun we had!  It was a delectable feast of traditional Greek food, and 8 traditional dances were performed as the entertainment, with the dancers in the traditional costume for each particular dance.

The funny thing about these previous two pictures is that this dancer was standing on OUR table to do this--right in front of me--OH MY!!  

Well, the advantage of being at a table right next to the stage was that we had a great view of all the dances...the DISADVANTAGE was that when they choose people to come up on stage, folks from those close tables were chosen...So, here is yours truly trying some sort of Greek move with traditional Greek music...you see Brad up there too...oh yes, FOUR of us from our table were sacrificed to the stage...

Brad was a natural, even adding twists and turns...I was proud of my man!!

Next up were Myrto, who not only danced, but sang with the gentleman in white, and Viorica...

...who very wisely opted to cheer on Myrto, thereby not having to sing with the Greek crooner..

Brad's rave of the evening...this gentleman was a master on his instrument 

Caleb and Viorica enjoying the show...

Our friends Robert and Myrto...

On our way home we stopped by the Olympic stadium there in Athens where the 2004 Olympic games were held.  This stadium was built over the earliest Greek stadium where the games were originally held.  Still today the corridors underneath thru which the runners run to enter the field are THE SAME ONES used by the ancient Greeks at the first games...impressive...

Scenic Sounio and the Temple of Poseidon

(Special note from Dianne:  My family is giving me great grief that the title of today's post sounds like the next edition in the Harry Potter series...)

Tuesday's highlight involved a family trip by car to the nearby coastal village of Sounio.  Oh, what an adventure!!  We passed SEVERAL Greek towns along the way...in fact, many that most folks NEVER see on THEIR way to Sounio.  We just considered them added bonuses to our trek. :)  The thing the boys will always remember about our trip down was this make-shift road block we came upon, managed by men in masks and camo suits, who were allowing some cars to pass thru and guiding others (like ours) into another roadblocked section of the highway.  After making sure all doors were locked and windows up, Brad quickly got us out of there.  We never knew for sure exactly what was going on, but the boys found it all very exhilarating!!

Thanks to Brad's adept navigational skills and in spite of countless uncharted roads, we did, in fact finally make it to Sounio, and it was well worth it...from every direction we saw scenes such as this...we were, to use the phrase of a dear friend, completely "gob-smacked" by the beauty around us. 

It's no wonder the ancient Greeks chose this site to build the temple of Poseidon.  Literally all around are sheer cliffs tumbling into the Aegean Sea, so this was an ideal site for worship of the powerful god of the sea.  We, on the other hand, found it an ideal site for worship of the God who created the sea.

We took the scenic route home, along a highway right along the coast, and with the sun setting, it was breathtaking...we stopped at a grill near the beach on our way home and had none other than gyros pita and souvlakis.  Don't think we've missed a day yet without eating these two favored Greek staples...And, as for the rest of our trip home, suffice it to say that many new trails were blazed, some more than once (grinning), and a good time was had by all...

Ancient Athens

 Our first Sunday in Greece we went to the First Greek Evangelical Church in Athens.  It was really something...as the service was entirely in Greek, we were given headsets with simultaneous English translation.  We felt like we were at the United Nations.  

As we exited the church, this was one of the first sights we saw, in a nearby park.  It is the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which is the largest in Greece (even larger than the Parthenon).  It took 650 years to complete, and the roman Emperor Hadrian dedicated it during the Panhellenic festival of AD 132.

It was surreal to have a picnic lunch here...

...between the temple and Hadrian's Arch, which marks the boundary between the ancient city and the new Athens of Hadrian.  (The kids were enjoying feeding --and scaring--the pigeons.)

We then decided to head to the Acropolis...on the way up, cut into the southern cliff face of the Acropolis, we spied the Theatre of Dionysos, which is the birthplace of Greek tragedy, and was the first theatre built of stone.  Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes all had their plays performed here.  The Romans enlarged this theatre to seat 17,000, and used it as a gladiatorial arena.  Victoria is sitting on the theatre's throne...the actual seat where Roman Emperor Nero sat for the gladiatorial contests...

This is another view of Dionysos' Theatre with the same three great kiddos and the Acropolis above...

Located just next to the Theatre of Dionysos, was the Sanctuary of Asklepios, founded in 420 B.C. and dedicated to the god of healing.  In every direction we looked were ruins of something historically significant and culturally relevant...

Also on the way to the peak of the Acropolis is the Porch of the Caryatids, where these statues of women were used in place of columns.  An olive tree (in the left of the photo) now grows where Athena first planted her tree in a competition against Poseidon.  Also in the background one can see part of the city of Athens among the hills...

This is thus far my very favorite picture of the trip...I feel like the caption should say, "Come Study Abroad in Athens" or some such...this is, in fact, the Parthenon...

Talk about the strength of Samson!!  Look what that Daniel Green had hold up!!

This is the Theatre of Herodes Atticus, originally build in AD 161.  It is used today for outdoor concerts...

This is the same theatre from a different angle...note the ancient structure in the left background...glimpses of antiquity everywhere...

See the handsome man looking away on the right with the khakis and navy sweater?  Yes, that would be Bradley about to go thru The Propylaia, the "new" entrance to the Acropolis.  See if you can find Caleb, Daniel, and Victoria in this picure.  (Hint:  Daniel has on an Indiana Jones-type hat.)  Did I mention that this NEW entrance was built in 437 - 432 BC ?!?!?!

One of the highlights of today was going to Mars Hill, known here as the Areopagus, where Paul preached the sermon recorded in Acts 17.  His entire sermon (Acts 17: 22-34) is written here on this bronze plaque, which is on the side of the Areopagus.

We are now on top of the Areopagus.  Acts 17:22 starts out, "So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said..."  WE WERE STANDING IN THE MIDST OF THE AREOPAGUS, WHERE PAUL STOOD!!!  Brad read Paul's sermon from Acts 17 to us overlooking the city of Athens from the "midst of the Areopagus"...INSPIRING...

Our day ended with gelatto...mmmm.....again, note the temple in the background...this one happens to be Hephaisteion, in the Agora, or marketplace, which formed the political heart of ancient Athens from 600 B.C.

Back "home" in Pikermi, we feasted on souvlakis and gyros at a grill just across the street from the Bible College...WHEW!!  WHAT A DAY!!!!

Popular Punting Pleases Passing-thru People

These memories will always bring smiles...

Peter and Ilona Greyling joined us for dinner one night.  They are special friends here who lived in Atlanta 28 years and now live in Cambridge.  They befriended us the first week we were here, when we went on a walking tour of Cambridge which Peter was leading from the Round Church.  They've been loving on us ever since....

Paris, Part Trois

We loved the narrow alleyways of Paris...walked along this one in the Latin Quarter to find lunch, and were successful at the very end...

...where we found a Greek gyro stand...DELICIOUS!!

Note the hanging hunk of meat from which they cut the meat for our gyros...

 

For dessert we had French pancakes (by special request of Tori Vintzel), complete with Nutella (Is there a more perfect food on the planet?) and bananas.  Scrumptious!!

So, these are some of the fountains in the courtyard of the Louvre.  There is a distinction to be made here.  We went TO the Louvre, not IN the Louvre.  Here's the story:  After arriving at 2:20pm (it opened at 2pm), we learned that the four hour (!) line had been cut off at 11am FOR THE ENTIRE DAY.   So, anyone arriving after 11am was not allowed to enter the Louvre that day.  SERIOUSLY?!?!?!  Who knew...  But...

...we still had great fun playing around the courtyards, like when Caleb took his turn to touch the top of the famous glass pyramid, which serves as the main entrance to the museum.  Or when, out of nowhere, a torrential hail storm struck, sending folks scrambling for cover.  It came about so suddenly that it reminded me of one of those cartoons where thousands of people dash for cover in mere seconds.  Hilarious.  THAT (the hailstorm) is my kids favorite memory of Paris. :)

So, we headed to the vast and impressive Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart of Christ) basilica, one of France's most important Roman Catholic Churches.  It is set high on a hill (the kids counted 228 steps up to it), from which one could see the whole of Paris:

It's a very common sight in Paris to see street performers of all varieties.  This guy was truly amazing with a soccer ball.  He was just outside the church on a raised column about four feet by four feet.  The things he could do in such a small space were remarkable...almost mesmerizing...  In fact, this guys won a VERY close second (after the hailstorm) for the kids as favorite thing they saw in Paris! 

WHEW!!  We're in the train station (the boys gave up their seats for adults) tired but happy before catching the Chunnel (Channel tunnel) back to London, to arrive home safely sometime after 1am (!).  What an unforgettable weekend in Paris! :)