In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy is the daughter of Zeus and Leda and married to the King of Sparta. I met a lady at the grocery store in Athens, who invited me to coffee the next morning. Her name was Helen. I called her Helen of Troy, but really, she is Helen of Athens.
Molly and I let her cut in line at the grocery, since she only had one item. She could tell we were from the States (I don't know how everyone can tell?) and so she started talking about her time living in New York and how she loved Americans. Would we have coffee with her? I agreed to meet her in the morning.
We did meet for a cappicino and we talked for an hour until I needed to leave. She was a little hard for me to understand, her greek accent stronger than her english words. I leaned in really close to listen and focused really hard to understand and pay 110% attention to what she was saying. She talked all about her family, her education, the war, greek history,the color of her hair dye and the water in her ears. We exchanged addresses, I had the waitress take a picture, and I promised her I would write her a postcard and send the picture when I returned home. She was a sweet lady and I was honored to spend a little time with her.
I hurried back for my next meeting, a date with the Acropolis. Molly, Liz, Wim and Chau and I all went. Brilliant sunshine, climbed to the top of the hill in the middle of Athens where the Acropolis was built by Athenians in about 400 BC. Temples, temples, temples, ruins, ruins, ruins. The Parthenon is the temple to Athena and I wondered what went on their......many of the remaining ruins are all under renovation and apparantly have been for 25 years and probably will be forever. It was hard to get a picture without scaffolding. Must have been quite the effort getting all that marble to the top of the hill.
We made poses like greek gods and shadow pictures and enjoyed the hot day (unlike a typical November day in Athens). We climbed to the top of a rock hill below the Acropolis for an upward view of the ruins and downward view of the city. Chaum, Wim and I went on to the Monastiraki area for gyros and then I wandered the market area, went to the new Acropolis museum and then took a nap.
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