This weekend was a weekend of day trips.  Friday I hopped on a class trip to Epidauros, Saturday I rounded up some friends and bused ourselves up to Delphi, and Sunday I took a leisurely stroll down to the Temple of Zeus in between writing a 5-page paper I had not begun because of all my traveling. Good weekend!

The “Ancient Greek Sanctuaries” class took a day trip to Epidauros, a place with (surprise, surprise!) lots of ancient ruins.  There is an amphitheater at Epidauros, though, which was the main reason for my wanting to go.  Legend has it that the acoustics are so perfect in this theater that no matter where you are sitting in the audience, people talking in the dead center of the stage sound like they’re talking right next to you – no matter where you are!  I was skeptical.  The professor, Jen, asked for six volunteers to read and act out some ancient drama impromptu on the stage to prove the point.  Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity (hey I’ve raced at the Olympic Stadium in Olympia… I should totally act out ancient drama at the theater of Epidauros!), and I have to say, that theater really does have good acoustics.  It was kind of mind-boggling, actually, how perfect everyone sounded even from way up high.

That night, I was lucky enough to play hostess to Lauren and her friend Patricia who were on their way back from the island of Paros, on their way to Milan and eventually back to Sienna.  I got to take them to a Greek taverna and introduce them to a friend or two of mine.  At the end of our meal, we were brought some kind of honey wine (that’s what Lauren and I are drinking in the second picture).  I asked what it was because Jessica and I had had it before and wanted to buy some.  “Moschato,” replied the waiter.  “It’s good, no? You want more?”  “No, no, no!” I replied hastily.  “It’s free!” He replied.  “I bring you more!”  “Yes, please!” shouted Lauren in his wake, and he brought us out another round of the stuff.  Later that evening, Lauren, Patricia and I chatted deep into the night and the next day I had them on a trolley down to Syntagma and the airport at 7:30am.  It was a short-lived visit, but it was certainly better than nothing!

And then came Delphi.  My roommates, Eva and Elissa, and Ryan and I all decided to catch the 10:30 bus up to Delphi.  It took an hour to get to the bus station by public transit and then three hours on the bus, but it was well worth it.  We got off the bus, looked out at the view of the Corinthian canal and nearly died.  Then we promptly went searching for coffee.  “I love traveling with you!” Eva exclaimed when I enthusastically agreed that caffeine was necessary. “If I were with anyone else and suggested coffee, they’d tell me to forget it and suck it up!”  “You’re forgetting who I am!” I told her. “I mean, honestly…’

The archeological site at Delphi was just… unreal.  I mean, I could say amazing or incredible and still be perfectly right about it, but it truly was just unreal.  It seemed almost fake.  It was beautiful, it was impressive.  I felt like it didn’t exist.  Pictures can’t do it justice, really.  I joked with my friends that I was having a spiritual awakening.  Maybe I was.  Who knows.

Below the main archeological site with the Temple of Apollo (that’s what the big columns are) was the Tholos, a circular temple built in honor of Athena.  We visited that, too, along with an ancient gymnasium where athletes would train for the Pythian Games, Olympic-like events held here every four years to celebrate Apollo’s victory over Python.

We contemplated staying a night but returned to Athens on a late bus.  I was happy to be home and have a full Sunday to get work done, but still feeling as if I needed to do something, headed down to the Temple of Zeus down by the National Gardens.  It’s a site that’s so dang close, it’s a miracle I haven’t visited it yet.  It has an interesting story behind it too, one that would take far too many words to type out here, but one that can be read about here!

Also, the Athens Marathon was this Sunday, so I got to see lots of runners coming into the finish line at our local Olympic Stadium (“at our local Olympic Stadium” is a phrase I will never again be able to use once this semester is finished).

My mom is coming in roughly a week and a half.  I booked tickets to Rhodes Monday morning, so that’s for sure happening too!  I’m excited, but I realize that once she leaves, it will be December 1st, leaving me onlyl TWO WEEKS LEFT here.  Where is the time going, huh?  Where is it all going so quickly…?