Greece: Saturday & Sunday, January 16th & 17th

Not such a nice day today. I guess we had been very lucky the whole time we've been here, only having rain once so far. But today is cold, windy and rainy. I know I shouldn't be complaining since it's over 50 degrees, but hey, we're a little spoiled over here. But since it is so gross outside, and because I've only been to one museum so far, I decided it was time to get some culture. I have 3 museums on my list and hopefully I'll be able to make it to most if not all of them. I want to make it to the National Archeological Museum, the National Historical Museum, and finally the War Museum. In Athens all of the museums close around 3 or earlier so I got up very early in order to get a good tour of some of the museums. Since I can't do all of the museums in one day I started with the king of all the museums in Athens: the National Archeological Museum. The museum is bit far away and you can either take the 15-20 minute walk or take a quick metro ride for 1 euro up to the Victoria Metro Station and walk the 2 minutes to the museum.
When I finally got to the museum it was empty, there were only a handful of tourists who dared to venture out into the rain. The museum has one of the most complete collections of Greek statues, artifacts and archaeological findings in the world. I spent a good amount of time there and took some great pictures, especially of the bronze statue of Poseidon (or Zeus, they still can't agree who it is) and the young jockey on the horse that was found in the sea. One of the strangest things that's happened so far, happened while I was in the museum. A kid stopped me because I was wearing my CCA soccer jacket and asked if I had played on the team. I said yes and he proceeded to tell me that he plays on the Colby team with one of my teammates from CCA, Dan Sidman. It certainly is a small world. But there were museums to see and people to watch so I finished at the museum and walked to my next stop: The National Historical Museum.
The National Historical Museum is one of those stuffy, musty old museums where you're afraid to touch anything in fear of it disintegrating. Once you get over the unique aroma, the paintings on the walls and the beautiful displays of swords and guns is what truly steals the show. It's fascinating to see the gold plated guns and the elegant curved swords that the military leaders and soldiers used in the Greek War of Independence. It's a small museum though and you can tour it in about an hour.
I'm going to include Sunday in this post too because it is basically a continuation of Saturday.
The forecast had been saying rain all day Sunday so when I woke up I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun shining on the Acropolis. My alarm clock roommate woke me with some rumbling snoring that shakes the room, so I rolled out of bed and grabbed some breakfast at the hotel. I had read that the War Museum was supposed to be an interesting place to stop and so I made my way over as soon as breakfast was done. When you arrive, you are greeted by some undeniably impressive airplanes and enormous guns that make you stop and wonder how people could ever want to use these killing machines on their fellow human beings. But war is a huge part of our culture as humans, no matter where you live or what government you live under. Whether it is for self-defense or to take over another country every country has war in their history. It is important to understand how people fought in the past in order to see the mistakes we have made, and then hopefully create a world where we can live together. Ok, enough about that. On to the neat weapons! Even if you are against war, one can appreciate the intricate designs of the swords as well as the complex carvings on the gold plated guns. However the museum is very poorly designed and the lighting is atrocious. For a fairly new museum a lot of the lights were out and it was hard to see a lot of the details. But the guard dressed in his blue and black fatigues was a nice fellow with very good English, (not sure what he's going to be hiding in wearing blue and black fatigues, but who ever knows what the military is up to) and he gave me a good tour of the museum. Alright, enough guns for me, time for a cappuccino fredo!
I'll post pictures when I get back to the room. One week until we come home! Antio!

Greece January 16th & 17th Slideshow