neither here nor there: day 8

I'm tired and it's getting late and I'm starting a new job tomorrow. But here are some quickly annotated photos to wrap up the image portion of this blog series (you might remember that the last photo I took was on top of the Acropolis, about midway through day 8 of our trip). I'll add some additional thoughts, digressions, and photos in the coming weeks.

We headed to the Acropolis by way of Hadrian's Arch:



the Temple of Olympia Zeus:



and the Plaka:



With a quick detour to the New Museum at the base of the hill, built specifically to eventually house the Elgin Marbles, still empty and under construction at the moment:





We bought our student-rate tickets:



Showed them off a bit:



And made our way up the hill, stopping first at the Theater of Dionysos:



Where I spotted an orange tabby:



and some late spring flowers:



Next stop on our ascent was the Theater of Herodes Atticus:



Finally, we made it to the top and entered through the Propylaia:



The initial impression of the Parthenon, as you pass through the old gate, still up the hill a bit, is overwhelming.



I'm not sure if there really is some inherent sense of 2500 years of history, or if it was the heat, or the hike, or just the anticipation, or a combination of all four...it was, I think, the definition of awesome.



We walked around the South Frieze, taking pictures of the site and the view. Here's more of a birds-eye view of the New Museum below:



There's also an old museum on top of the acropolis, guarded by this owl statue outside:



The Old Museum houses stuff that was found when the Parthenon was built, stuff that's even older than the existing 2500 year old structure. Also housed in the museum are the original Caryatids of the Erechtheon (the versions "in situ" are replicas):



And that's about it, folks. You can browse all the trip photos blogged about here. Neal took a roll of slides, mostly at the Acropolis, as well as three rolls of film photography throughout the trip, so I'll add to this series when those prints come back. I have a few more thoughts to share, as well, but hopefully these last images will tide you over 'til then.