Greek Mythology Comes To Life

In October we went to Greece for a week.  I love Greek mythology so mom knew I would love to go to Greece and see all the temples and the Parthenon.  We flew out of a different airport in the south part of Brussels and they had a piano.  I spotted it right away and sat down to play.  I love that they have all these pianos all over Europe and they all say Play Me on them, they're in train stations and airports and everywhere you find them you're allowed to play them.

When I sat down to play, there wasn't anyone else around really.  Then the next time I looked there were all these people standing there and listening and a lot more who were walking by too.

 When we got to Greece there was a plane from the United States there.  We were wondering if the President maybe was there to meet us?

We decided to spend the first day at the pool since the sun was out and we were all a little tired from getting up so early.  We had our first drinks of the trip and laid by the pool and relaxed.  Even Nan stayed still for at least a little while, that's probably why mom got her the drink.

The next day mom had set up a bicycle tour for us on these bikes that have some electricity if you need it to help you peddle.  The bikes were a little too big for Nan though and she was having some trouble with the electric part and so she decided to go back to the hotel instead.  It was a good thing she didn't try it because there were a lot of dirt parts and also we had to weave in and out of people and cars and she would have been freak'in out.

We had our first chance to see the Acropolis while we were on the bike tour.  Here I was standing in the place they call the birthplace of democracy because this is where the Greeks used to gather and vote on things.

 This is my new favorite thing to do to look like I'm holding things up.  Mom let me do it even though she thought it was silly because I let her take all of these pictures when I think it's silly.  So we're even.

 I like to walk on the edge just to make mom nervous.  If nan had been here she would have had a heart attack.

This is one of the arches that are still standing and this one leads to Zeus's temple, but most of that is not standing.

 This is my electric bike.  I could get used to this!!!

 The next day we met up with my half-brother, Jude.  He's almost 6 years old and this is only the second time that we've been together, but we had a lot of fun.  I like hanging out with Jude and he's one of my favorite brothers.

One thing that is fun about Jude is since he's my younger brother he likes it when I teach him stuff.  I love to help other kids learn about things and to help and having a younger brother is good for that.

We met a puppy and he looked hot so we gave him a bunch of ice and water from our water bottles.  He must have liked that a lot because he gave me a bunch of kisses.  

Jude loves animals like me and his mom, Polly, loves animals too.

Don't tell Baci and Beau because they will get jealous of all the kisses I got from this other dog.

Jude and I both like to climb.  If there are stairs or a rock to climb up, we both take the rocks.

 We learned a lot about cactus this trip.  These red things are the fruit of the cactus and it's supposed to taste really good.  The problem is that they also have the tiniest needles and they stick in your fingers all over the place and are impossible to get out and you have to use tweezers and sometimes even then they don't want to come out.  Mom, Nan and I all had these things stuck in our hands and fingers for days.

 Jude's mom, Polly, grew up in Greece and she knew all the best places to go.  This time we to a funicular up to the top and there was a church up there that Jude was baptised in.  It was so tiny but we went in and we all lit candles for my uncle Mark. I light candles for him in every church that we ever go to.  I must have lit over 100 candles for him in Barcelona, London. Paris, Rome, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Rome and now in Greece.  Pops says he's doing good but we have to keep praying and so I will keep lighting the candles.

Nan's eyes are bothering her so she had to have brown eyes for this trip instead of the blue.

They had a really cool pool in the hotel and I went swimming almost every day inside there.

Mom was looking and said that my head was disconnected from my body???

 When we were on the hop on hop off bus, I saw someone from my school.  And Nan made us pose for a picture because it was really a big coincidence to see them in Greece.

Mom tricked me into a picture so I gave her the sunglass upside down shot for the next one

 We went to see the changing of the guards.

Then Jude and I got to stand next to them.  You aren't allowed to touch them you can only just stand there.

Jude was a little afraid of him and didn't want to stand too close.

The tour guide showed us the main subway station. Inside these glass boxes on the wall is what they found in that very spot. The subway stations are very cool because it is only 3 euro per person to go anywhere no matter how long it takes. I wanted to take it to the airport but mom said that a taxi would be easier.

Then our tour guide took us to the Acropolis or the Parthenon.

 But on the way there, we went to get a closer look at what's left of Zeus' Temple.  These columns are so unbelievably big.  It took hundreds of years to build this one and it's sad to think that someone then came along and tore it down.  I don't understand why people have to do that just because they believe in other gods.

 That's our tour guide he was really great and explained everything to us and he even juggled with me.

I gave my brother a lollypop from our hotel because I don't really like them that much. He has the huge one in his mouth here.

Next we stopped at this stadium made completely out of marble.  I don't think those seats would be very comfortable.  This is where the olympic marathon ended and it was a Greek who won and it was Greece's only gold medal. This stadium also won a world record for sitting thousands of people for a basket ball game.

Then we started to go on our way to the Acropolis.  We could see it from here but it seemed a long way away.

 You can see all the people standing on that end and we were headed up there too.

Sometime when you have little legs they tired fast and it helps to have a big brother to give you a ride

This is a theatre like place and it's been mostly renovated and is used for some concerts now.

 Sometimes even bigger kids need to sit for a bit.

This is the first temple you pass on your way into the Parthenon it's called The Temple of Nike Athena...Like the shoe because they're meant to bring victory.

We walked a LOT this day but we had to keep going because this is the most exciting thing to see in Greece.  Nanny's little legs made it up there no problem.

 These are the famous ladies, but these are replicas because the real ones are in the Acropolis Museum and one was stolen and taken to London.  The Greek people want them to return all of the artefacts they took.

How AMAZING is this!!!!!!

 And now we could see Zeus' Temple from way up here.

And all of Athens too.  That's why they build up here because it helped then to see when any enemies were coming and it was also nearly impossible to scale the walls to get up there to attack.

There was one guy who kept firing canons at the Parthenon until one day one of them actually hit it and there were bombs and ammunition stored inside and it cause a big explosion that caused a lot of damage.  Nan and I were happy to find a place to sit for a few minutes.

 In the distance there is the mountain that we were on when we were petting the puppy.  Looks like a long way away now.

Mom always says that she would have loved to see these things when they were new.  It must have been unbelievably cool to see.

This is another arena or theatre but this one hasn't been restored very much yet.

There are dogs here that the guards say are Acropolis dogs and they feed them and take care of them and they're allowed in places where nobody else is allowed to walk.

These are the "good seats" because they have backs on the chairs.  I don't think these look very comfortable.

 From here you can see the Acropolis Museum and this is where we headed next.  The museum was built to reflect the same concepts as the Acropolis with the walls that look like columns and the multiple levels.

 And then from the museum you can see the Acropolis.

They say that the sisters look sad because there sixth sister is in the British Museum

 Then we took a ride down the coast of Greece to see Poseidon's Temple.  Here you can see it from pretty far away.

 

Here's what is left of it.

There is a story about this spot and I knew it and was able to tell our tour guide.  The story goes like this...

In an island called Crete, there was a king named Minos. King Minos' wife met Zeus, who was in the form of a bull, and Zeus made her fall in love with him. One day Minos' wife was pregnant. She had a boy that was half bull, half human. King Minos didn't want his son to be with him so he made a labyrinth and put him inside. Every 9 years they would force King Aeolus to send them 7 girls and 7 boys by boat to Crete. The minotaur ate every one until a boy named Theseus went on board to kill the minotaur. His father, King Aeolus, told him to put up a white sail to show that he safely returned. Theseus was able to kill the minotaur minotaur minotaur forgot to put up the whiter sail so his father through himself of a this cliff into the sea.

Before we left, we stopped by Jude's place just to have a few minutes to say good-bye.  He was sick for a few days so we didn't get to see him as much as we thought we would, but at least we did get to see him a lot.