Museum Thursday

The week Rob accompanied me on Museum Thursday to the Athens War Museum which explores the history of warfare in Greece. We had not visited this museum when we lived here in 2009-2010 so we were eager to see what the museum held. All sorts of weapons are featured, from prehistory times until today. This photo shows a German Sub machine gun with gold plated parts and a Saudi Arabian coat of arms that was once owned by Andreas Papandreau. Papandreau was the Prime Minister of Greece from 1993-1996 and is the father of the current Prime Minister George Papandreau.Overall, I enjoyed the museum for its fine collection of maps and prints, but we both felt that the ideas shared were a bit one-sided (the museum was built during the Junta after all).

Modern Architecture

Athens today is a hodgepodge of different architectural styles. In many cases you can find styles ranging from modern to Greco-Roman to neoclassical all in the same neighborhood. In the 1950's and 60's, Athens experienced a huge expansion as Greece transitioned from an agricultural to an industrial nation. Because so many people were moving to the city, many neoclassical buildings were torn down at the time to make way for the new concrete apartment buildings. These new buildings would be able to house many families in the same space that one family use to occupy. Because of this, Athens doesn't really look "beautiful" like other major European cities. Don't get me wrong, I love Athens, but instead of having one large beautiful city we now have pockets of beauty such as the Plaka. In today's photo, you can see how Athenians move in to their 1950's style apartments. The elevators are incredibly small in most buildings, so a truck with a lift will carry everything up onto the balcony. I wish we had these handy trucks in America.   

 

 

Santorini?

Yesterday I mentioned that the shopping in Kolonaki is for the well-to-do. Even so, I enjoy window shopping and watching other women window shop. I often wonder who is actually buying their clothes, etc from these stores. Many of the dresses in store fronts range from 90 Euro to 300 Euro and leather boots often exceed 300 Euro. Crazy! The store in this photo found a fun and unique way to display their ties and scarves. The created a Greek island, maybe Santorini, using carefully cut and colored Styrofoam. Looks good to me! Oh, and the ties are going for 40 Euro while the scarves are selling quickly at 60 Euro. 

Kolonaki

The neighborhood that we call home in Athens is named Kolonaki. You may remember from one of my first posts that it is located on the southwestern slopes of Lycabettus, which challenges the Acropolis for command of the skyline. Kolonaki literally means "little column" and this photo taken in the main square shows the little lone column that our neighborhood was named after. In the old days this neighborhood was once the stomping grounds for high society big wigs who wanted to live near the Royal Place (now the Parliament), but today it's an upscale diplomatic quarter. It is a wealthy community with many high-end boutiques, embassies, and museums.

Race for the Cure

"Together we are running for Life." On Sunday, Rob and I participated in Greece's 3rd annual Race for the Cure. We had a fantastic time running in support of friends and family who are fighting breast cancer. The Greek celebration was not unlike the events I have participated in the past in America. We arrived early and were able to grab some Greek yogurt and water from the race sponsors while the main stage was alive with dancers and music. I would guess that the crowd had totaled around 9000 enthusiastic supporters/survivors.

Cycladic Musicians

In an attempt to educate ourselves for our upcoming Cycladic island adventure, Rob and I made a trip to the National Archeological Museum and browsed the Cycladic section. These two figurines are from the Early Cycladic II period (2800-2300 BC) and are made of Parian marble (from the Cycladic island of Paros). Although the figure on the left is a flute player, in Cycladic society it is believed that musicians were mostly harpists and rarely played wind instruments. The musicians were also exclusively males and were represented as such in sculpture. These two figurines were thought to come from the same grave on the now uninhabited island of Keros.

Green Oranges

If you have ever seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding you probably already know the Greek word for orange because it is the last name of the main character, Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos (πορτοκάλι in Greek). There are portokali growing in trees all over the streets of Athens so I thought it would be fun to give you periodic updates on their growth. They are still very green at the moment and about the size of a mandarin orange.