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PARTHENON
	Athens is home to one of the most famous Forgotten Wonders of the World, the Parthenon.  It's currently under renovations to bring it back to its glory.  It's cool to see from close up how the columns do bulge at the bottom, and taper to top.
That's so the columns look straight from far away.  Optical illusion.  The Parthenon is also known as the Temple of Athena, goddess of wisdom. Reliefs and friezes feature battle scenes depicting Athens' victories.

Plaka
Now, I had been to Athens with my brothers 3 years ago, when we made friends with some Plaka shop owners.  So I figured it'd be fun to see if I could find Marilena, from the pottery store, and Stephanos, from the statue shop.   Now finding a particular shop in the Plaka's street maze ain't easy.  I get lost several times, but after about an hour, the steets start to look familiar.  I turn the corner, and recognize Marilena's shop, and luck out.  She's there!

I show her a print out of the web page I made two years ago with her on it.  She and her mom think it's pretty cool.  She tells me tourism's a bit slow now, so it's good I swing by (yeah, I buy 10 pieces - check out the photo of the great stuff).  Her mom went to school for 2 years to paint these museum replicas.  I then walk down the road looking for our other buddy, Stephenos, and find him too:

I show Stephenos the Web print out, and he likes his quote from two years ago.  Since Darren isn't on this trip, I sub for a photo.

Ancient Greeks vs. US.
The Ancient Greeks really had a lot figured out, way ahead of their time.  Makes us look kinda clueless.  Check out this comparison.

	Ancient Greeks	US
Healty Eating	Grilled meats, fresh salads with olive oil and vinegar	Hamburgers, goopey salad dressings with as much fat as hamburger
Popular Art	Perfectly crafted marble, alabaster human statues	Blockbuster weekend movies grossing > $30 m
Nike	Goddess of Victory	Corporate sweatshop
Women in Combat	Athena had a helmet and spear, Artemis had a bow	Many still squeamish about women in direct combat
Public Debate	Philosophical discussions in the forum	Political talk shows nobody watches
Slavery	Law maker Salon outlawed it 600 B.C.	After a war that split the country, abolished in mid-1800s A.D.
Olympics	Physical competition	Advertising competition

Olympics 2004 Prep.  Speaking of the Olympics, the city is getting ready.  There's a new subway line, and work is continuing on the new stadium.  But many feel that two years is not enough time to finish all the other venues and the Olympic village.  There's a local joke that Athens will be ready for the Olympics - in 2005.  Locals hope for a miracle, like a lightning bolt from zeus.  Well, I check out the stadium in town that is finished, the original Athens Olympics stadium.  You can run the track, which would help train for running to the city of Marathon, 26 miles away.  In fact, there's a biannual marathan where they follow Phidippides' exact route from Marathon to Athens which would be fun to do.  Well, without the collapsing part at the end.  I'll be back in 2004 for the Games to checkout the finished new stadium!

FOOD.  Greek food includes the gyros and souvlaki back home.  Add in moussala, like an eggplant lasagna, and more sweet honey-pastry desserts than just baklava.  Greek salads have big chunks of cucumber, tomato, feta cheese and olives and sometimes leaves out the lettuce leaves.   And, I remember not to drink the black stuff at the bottom of the Greek coffee.

Next stop: Greek islands Mykonos and Santorini

I luck out with a great view of the Plaka, but one of the many wandering dog's wild barking wakes me up at 6:30 am.  These wandering dogs are everywhere, even sleeping on busy city sidewalks in the middle of the day, oblivious to the hustle around them.  I want to wake them up but then remember we must've got the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie" from somewhere.  So I let 'em snooze away.

I meet up with Aussie Rendyl, also staying in my hostel.  Rendyl has a good story - he was traveling thru Europe with his x-girlfriend and they had a big fight over those little things.  So now he's traveling separately for a few weeks, and will meet up later.  She had the camera, so I offer up a photo.  Rendyl also tells me a traveler he talked to just got bit by a wandering pack of dogs in Athens- good thing I let that sleeping dog sleep...

Trip from 3 years ago....

Trip from 3 years ago....

Guard watches over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Parliament