10:30 AM- We began the day by walking to the Greek Parliament for the changing of the guards. I had to continuously tell Hailey we had to keep walking to get there on time, but all she wanted to do was take endless pictures of the scenery and people walking. Eventually I had to take her camera away, despite her protests, until we got to our destination. Soon we arrived at Syntagma Square where the Changing of the Guards would take place. We arrived at 10:35 AM.
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| Greek Soldiers |
Changing of the Guard (Culture)
11:00 AM - We watched in anticipation as the new guards came down the pathway towards the tomb of the unknown soldier. The tomb's purpose was to honor of all the unidentified fallen soldiers. Having seen the Changing of the Guard in Washington, I found it weird that nobody introduced the Changing. I also noticed how funny their outfits looked. At Arlington Cemetery, the uniforms were black and very professional with pins and military apparel. The Greek soldiers, however, were dressed with dress-shirts and shoes with pom-poms on the tips. I also noticed that their hats had extremely long tassels that seemed to reach to their hips. Not only were they somewhat oddly dressed, they also walked really funny, kicking their legs high in the air. While the American guards almost seemed to float as they walked, not moving any of their upper body, the Greek soldiers lifted up their legs and pointed them out straight, then stepped. However, both had little things on the side of their heels that they clicked together every once and awhile. Overall, though, it was a very nice and respectful ceremony. Everyone was silent , and the footsteps were visible where the guards had stepped a lot, showing years of the ceremony. We made sure Hailey took lots of pictures with her camera. The ceremony was pretty short, lasting only about 15 minutes, but we decided to stick around and just chat until The Lamb on the Spit party started. We finally started making out way to the National Garden at around 11:45 AM.
11:45 AM - Walking to the National Garden for the party wasn’t very exciting. Most of us were just complaining about being hungry. Once the smell of food hit our noses, we all started walking a bit faster, finally arriving at the party at around 11:55 AM.
Roasting of the Lamb on the Spit (Food)
11:55 AM - I don’t know how the others felt, but in my opinion, the lamb in Greece wasn’t any better than in the US. I strayed from that dish as best I could and instead focused on the other foods. I tried out a new food named Tzatziki, which is a type a yogurt. It was so good! The Greek salad and fried zucchini tasted great as well. Since we had a while until the Red Egg ceremony started, we decided to join in on the dancing. I tried dancing: emphasis on the word "tried." But overall, the eating and dancing was extremely fun, and also relaxing. Not only was it enjoyable to do these things, it was also fantastic just to get to talk to my friends.
Red Egg Ceremony (Culture)
Red Egg Ceremony (Culture)
2:00 PM - Soon the Red Egg ceremony was starting. We had to dye the eggs red ourselves, and Gladdie accidentally dropped hers. Twice. It was a good thing they were already boiled. When I asked one of the locals why they had this ceremony, they replied that it was a symbol of resurrection. The red represents the blood that was shed on the cross by Christ. The hard shell represents the sealed Tomb of Christ, and the cracking is the resurrection. Another "origin of the eggs" story says that Mary brought cooked eggs to share with the other women around the tomb of Jesus. The eggs in her basket turned a brilliant red when she saw the risen Christ. The eggs represent the boulder of the tomb of Jesus. A third theory is that after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and told him “Christ has risen.” The Emperor then pointed to an egg and stated, “Christ has no more risen than that egg is red.” After saying this, egg immediately turned blood red! Getting back to the ceremony, the game involving the eggs was called "tsougrisma." This game consisted of two players and red eggs. Each person holds an egg and lightly taps the opponent's egg, trying to crack the opponent's without cracking his or her own. Once one side is broken, the person tries to crack the other side of the opponent's egg. The person who breaks the enemy's egg first is the winner, and therefore has luck for the rest of the year. I decided to go against Gladdie, and because she was laughing so much the entire time, I ended up winning after she cracked her own egg. Abby and Olivia played against one another, and because I was playing Gladdie, I didn’t get to see the game. However, when I turned around and saw egg all over Abby’s hands, I assumed that Olivia had won. After that, I battled Olivia, who ended up winning. Olivia fought "the boss," Hailey. Hailey ended up winning, but Hailey, Olivia, had I had all been bestowed good luck for winning a game. All of this ceremony and food ties back to Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday is the day that christ rose from the dead, giving all christians faith in him and also repenting all sins of humans. Jesus will take all the bad deeds done from everyone and die on the cross for us. Easter Sunday shows how much God loves us. Next, at around 3:00 PM, we all said our goodbyes and started to head to the temple of Zeus.
3:00 PM - While walking to the Temple of Zeus we all marveled at how beautiful Greece was. I was extremely thrilled that we were able to go to Greece. Especially with all my friends, I knew that it would turn out to be one of the best trips I had ever taken. Before I knew it, we had arrived at the temple.
3:00 PM - While walking to the Temple of Zeus we all marveled at how beautiful Greece was. I was extremely thrilled that we were able to go to Greece. Especially with all my friends, I knew that it would turn out to be one of the best trips I had ever taken. Before I knew it, we had arrived at the temple.
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| Temple of Zeus |
Temple of Zeus (Historical)
3:15 PM - Not only was this the temple of Zeus, it was also called the Temple of the Olympian. Because of the name, I thought it must be pretty important. Right off the bat, I was flabbergasted by the Temple. While standing there I could just hear the Star Wars soundtrack playing in the back of my mind, making it seem like a movie set. I imagined all of my friends and I holding lightsabers, fighting to keep the Temple safe. I obviously had a purple lightsaber ;). Anyway, I have to admit, it reminded me of the Parthenon with its towering columns and chiseled look. What amazed me most, though, was the fact that most of the temple was gone. While there, I found out that the building had started to be built in 174 BCE and was finished by Roman emperor Hadrian in 131 CE. Antiochos IV Epiphanes, the King of Syria, started the building of the temple. Cossutius had started the work, but after the fall Antiochos, the work stopped. For centuries no one worked on the temple except for Hadrian, who worked on it from 124-125 CE. In fact, Sulla had stolen a few columns of the temple in 86 BCE for re-use in the Roman Temple of Jupiter. Augustus had worked a little on the temple in the early 1st century CE, but overall, Hadrian, the great philhellene, was the one to finally finish one of the biggest ancient temples ever in 131 CE. Over the years the temple experienced many events that resulted in its downfall. For instance, it was re-used for other buildings and "survived" a storm that happened in 1852 CE. Due to these factors, the temple only has 14 of the columns left: 2 in the south-west corner and 12 in the south-east corner. Because of the storm, one of the columns is lying across the site, spread across a perfect line. Gladdie wanted to get onto of the column so badly, but after I gave her the "mom face" (as she calls it), she decided not to. It was a beautiful sight, but I was glad to go at 6:00 PM because of the huge crowd.
3:15 PM - Not only was this the temple of Zeus, it was also called the Temple of the Olympian. Because of the name, I thought it must be pretty important. Right off the bat, I was flabbergasted by the Temple. While standing there I could just hear the Star Wars soundtrack playing in the back of my mind, making it seem like a movie set. I imagined all of my friends and I holding lightsabers, fighting to keep the Temple safe. I obviously had a purple lightsaber ;). Anyway, I have to admit, it reminded me of the Parthenon with its towering columns and chiseled look. What amazed me most, though, was the fact that most of the temple was gone. While there, I found out that the building had started to be built in 174 BCE and was finished by Roman emperor Hadrian in 131 CE. Antiochos IV Epiphanes, the King of Syria, started the building of the temple. Cossutius had started the work, but after the fall Antiochos, the work stopped. For centuries no one worked on the temple except for Hadrian, who worked on it from 124-125 CE. In fact, Sulla had stolen a few columns of the temple in 86 BCE for re-use in the Roman Temple of Jupiter. Augustus had worked a little on the temple in the early 1st century CE, but overall, Hadrian, the great philhellene, was the one to finally finish one of the biggest ancient temples ever in 131 CE. Over the years the temple experienced many events that resulted in its downfall. For instance, it was re-used for other buildings and "survived" a storm that happened in 1852 CE. Due to these factors, the temple only has 14 of the columns left: 2 in the south-west corner and 12 in the south-east corner. Because of the storm, one of the columns is lying across the site, spread across a perfect line. Gladdie wanted to get onto of the column so badly, but after I gave her the "mom face" (as she calls it), she decided not to. It was a beautiful sight, but I was glad to go at 6:00 PM because of the huge crowd.
6:15 PM - The walk to Geros Tou Moria was quick, considering how hungry everyone was!
Geros Tou Moria (Food)
6:20 PM - When we finally arrived at the restaurant, we were glad to be there a little early because the restaurant was already pretty full. Not having much time, we all decided to get a healthy Greek salad, stuffed olive leaves, yogurt, and sprites. Even though it wasn’t the fanciest food it was still pretty tasty. Comparing their stuffed olive leaves to the ones I made in 6th grade, they were extremely good.
Geros Tou Moria (Food)
6:20 PM - When we finally arrived at the restaurant, we were glad to be there a little early because the restaurant was already pretty full. Not having much time, we all decided to get a healthy Greek salad, stuffed olive leaves, yogurt, and sprites. Even though it wasn’t the fanciest food it was still pretty tasty. Comparing their stuffed olive leaves to the ones I made in 6th grade, they were extremely good.
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| Athens Concert Hall |
7:30 PM - When we arrived at the Athens Concert Hall for our play, things had already started to get packed. We rushed over to get our tickets and each paid 12 euros. We then quickly shuffled our way to our seats, which turned out to be pretty good. The play we had watched was called The Murderess. The main character, Frangoyannù, was extremely good at singing and the orchestra was so pretty. Olivia, Abby, Hailey, and I always drummed our feet to the beat of the song. Gladdie kept giving us be quiet looks, but we kept tapping anyway. As it was an Opera, the singing was very loud and long, which was just a little off to me, but still very good. The creator of the play, Giorgos Koumentakis, even came out on stage after the opera was over. It was so cool! I didn’t really understand the play all that well, but it was still fantastic.
10:00 PM - After the play was over, we had trudged our way to the bus stop, tired, but jubilant at how good the show was. I had looked over and saw Olivia already half asleep and chuckled to myself. The bus pulled up to our stop, and we climbed the steps. After finding our seats, I had sat down and thanked god for them. The rest of the ride was peaceful, and as we pulled up to the hotel and got off, everyone was relieved to be back. We arrived at around 11:10 PM.
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