Acropolis/Parthenon

Today we visited the Acropolis and Parthenon. It was amazing. The ruins would have been amazing on their own, but it was made even better by our wonderful guide, John. Brian works with John's brother. John just so happens to work IN the Acropolis (or maybe the Parthenon)!! His job, if I understand it correctly, is to research and restore artifacts that have been found. He has an office inside the ruins. I had no idea there were offices there! I was blown away to see what the buildings looked like thousands of years ago. The tops were painted in vibrant reds and blues. On the walk up to the top we saw Herodes Theater. It is insane to me that a theater build thousands of

years ago is still being used. John actually played there! Apparently in addition to being a restorer of ancient ruins, he's an amazing musician. Sting is playing the Herodes Theater in a few weeks.

One of our favorite myths is the story of how Athena became the patron God of Athens. She and Poseidon showed up at the same time both wanting to be the city's patron. Each God decided to give the city something and let the citizens decide which gift was better and that God would become the city's patron. The story we listen to says Poseidon gave Athens horses but they weren't very useful in the city. Athena gave the city the olive tree. Athena won. Poseidon was so angry he smashed his trident into the ground and cracked a rock, spewing water into the city. The temple still has a hole in the roof to show where the water sprayed up. John said there are also marks from a trident in the ground. The olive tree Athena planted is still standing beside her temple.