This morning started out slowly. We went to the street market and picked up more produce than our refrigerator can hold. I splurged a bit and got a large jar of honey with the comb inside. I also ordered both bread and cheese using only Greek (and some hand gestures. The point-and-smile is universal).
After getting lunch in the Academic Center, K and I went on an adventure to find a bookstore. We had directions and an address, both of which were correct, and we didn't have any real trouble finding it. We passed a few smaller bookstores that were all closed on the way, but it didn't matter since the two we found were so much bigger. It never occurred to me that Grecian bookstores would sell books in English as well, but they did. I stuck to the Greek texts as much as possible, though, because they were more interesting. I bought a children's book based on the myth of Iphigenia (the girl sacrificed by her dad so the Trojan War could begin) because it looked so ridiculous. I'll try to post an image of the cover later. :P
In the meantime: Pictures from our walk there!
The guards walked around the corner as we were coming up the street. We were near Parliament, so I guess that's where they were heading. I got lucky enough to whip my camera out quickly and catch them.
A few pics of some art (and K!) in the National Gardens.
We're pretty sure this is the city library. It's across the street from the bookstore, and one of the most beautiful buildings I've seen yet.
Details of the lovely statues. I'm going to go back and get one of the frieze later this weekend, since I didn't have time on this trip. :)
On the way out of the bookstore, K remembered that she had seen the name of the street where we were before and realized that the box office for the Hellenic Theater Festival was just a few numbers down. We took a chance on it and were able to snag student-rate tickets to Aristophanes' Acharnians. We went and enjoyed it. The chorus was incredible - Theater people: I have a whole new scope of "energy on stage". Get ready. - and the rest of the cast was undoubtedly funny because the Greeks all around us were laughing. I didn't know the story going in, though, and adding that to not knowing the language well enough to follow jokes, K and I were both pretty lost. The choral interludes and slapstick acting were more than satisfactory for our 10€ tickets, but I feel like I missed something huge in a way I didn't miss as much in Trojan Women just because I went into that with the basic structure of the play already in mind. Still, it was fun and I don't regret it for a second. The theater was on the Acropolis and quite lovely. I'll have to go back in the daylight to get some really good pics, but here are a few starter shots, just to give an idea of the setting and the crowd.
This about 5 minutes before the show started. All those empty seats were filled before curtain. The Greeks seriously love their theater. I'm thinking I'll go see a Greek Dance troupe tomorrow night, and then a Ballet performance involving several European performers and companies is playing in Athens on Monday night, so I think I'll birthday-treat myself to that. Excitement abounds! :-)
Kαληνύχτα!
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