Date: April 21, 2004
City: Athens


We were not the youngest people on the tour this time. There were a dozen students and their professor, an archaeologist, from Elmira College in southern NY. The archaeologist works on Crete each summer with the INSTAP Institute for East Crete.

There were 33 people on the tour including couples from Florida, Oregon, Texas, Arkansas and California, as well as single women from Florida, Illinois and New Mexico.

Greece
2004We hit the Acropolis this morning. The local guide was knowledgeable, but spent too long telling us what was there, to the detriment of having time to see any of it. We both slipped away half an hour before she got done with the lecture.

Greece
2004The entire top of the Acropolis was a restoration work in progress, and had been since 2000. There were large and small cranes, scaffolding, neatly piled pieces of temples, and lots of archaeologists working on the restoration.

The museum on the acropolis is full of interesting sculpture, which is Allan's preferred artistic form. All of the items are displayed so that you can approach them closely and look at their colors and carving detail. There isn't the distance between the viewer and the art which US museums usually impose.

Jane felt hot while she was photographing outside and took off her hat during the tour, which led her to have heat-exhaustion and a headache later. She napped and drank a lot of water to get her body back in sorts. We both carried water everywhere we went and drank frequently to prevent dehydration. Vacationing can be hard work.

cookie by
Allan West and
Jane Dominguez
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