Acropolis Now

The post title is in honor of Marc, who loves Apocalypse Now and who kept saying this all day long. This morning, after a little neighborhood walk to get some coffee, we headed up to the Acropolis, which overlooks everything it seems. The little window at the end of our hallway? Yep, there it is. A quick glance between buildings? O there it is, the Acropolis. The Parthenon. The other temples and sites on that great hill.

yup -- a random glance. There it is!

a beautiful walk up to the top -- this gently rising pedestrian street never felt like a climb

And then all at once there we were. On the Acropolis, among the ancient buildings that I studied in my art history classes in college.

the old girl is always undergoing renovation, I guess. The palace of Athena -- the Parthenon

Here is one side view; there is some marble sheathing on some of the columns

the back side, just so magnificent

the other long side

some column details. Yeah, I was crying. Hard not to. I've dreamed of this place for decades.

the photo spot -- we were all taking pictures for each other.

such beautiful work

I forget which forum this was -- for Dionysus, maybe? With Athens spreading out below.

I look at the incredible precision of that carving and think about the
anonymous man who carved it so many centuries ago. That's his work.

column segments

out of my mind with happiness. Me. Athens. The Parthenon.

We just kept saying what a perfect day it was to see this place. It was cool, and not too terribly crowded. The skies were overcast, and in fact it drizzled a tiny bit here and there. I'm sure it would look very different in a blue-skied day with bright sunshine. I'm glad we saw it the way we did, no overcrowding, no overheating, no brutal sun beating down. We saw a few other things along the way:

That's Athens below, and that's a huge swath of some kind of evergreen trees.
Really such a beautiful city.

Along the climb up/down the hill there were random ruins scattered here and there.
A cave for Pan. A hidden spring-turned-fountain. This former home with the remnants
of a tile mosaic floor. I love to imagine living here then.

We stayed a few hours, which was enough for us. I have notes and can name the various sites we saw, and can probably deep dive into my memory for the architectural details of the sites, but it doesn't matter. I got to see these places. I remember reading about them in the World Book encyclopedia when I was a very little girl, and reading the stories of the gods and goddesses, the cult of Athena, the greatness of the civilization. But then, when I was reading those stories, it wasn't even a crazy wild dream that I might see the place one day. I didn't know how to dream that dream. And today I got to stand on the site, amid those magnificent ruins, with Marc, and realize another of my dreams.

After a wee nap, we went out again to wander around; we toured the Plaka, visited some little shops, sat in this square and that, found the Metro station for our trip to the airport tomorrow, and then went out for dinner at this fantastic little restaurant in our neighborhood. Lithos is just a beautiful little place, run by (I think) two brothers who are very Greek, in different ways. And so funny; the customer sitting behind me asked how big a dish was and he quickly said, "It's big enough!" When he brought their wine, he said not to worry if they didn't like it, he'd take it inside and drink it himself -- really, don't worry. Always with a smile. We had a beautiful meal:

Oof, delicious crusty bread with AMAZING olive tapenade. We ended up
just eating it with a fork it was so wonderful.

our appetizers: saganaki, really wonderful, and zucchini croquettes with
a tangy dilled yogurt sauce. YUM.

I ordered mussels in a white wine sauce but they came in this
egg cream sauce -- still delicious, just not what I thought.

Marc ordered lamb joint. When he asked about it, the waiter stepped aside
and pointed to his knee and his upper thigh, and said, "It's this part."
It just fell off the bone, so delicious. And BOY do the Greeks
know how to roast a potato.

then, surprise! On the house -- coconut cake with coconut ice cream.
A very generous serving, two slices of moist cake and a gigantic scoop.

I wanted to take a picture of the restaurant; Marc didn't know I was including
him so he's just about to say something to me. I love that.

Athens is a very interesting city. I was expecting it to just be the background while we zipped in and saw the Acropolis, but it wasn't like that at all. It's a vibrant place, covered in graffiti, with beautiful crumbling buildings (and not just the old ones, either) alongside beautiful newer buildings. The people are funny and wry and friendly, for the most part. I don't imagine we'll ever take the chance to see Athens again, so I'm glad we stopped here so I can know Athens in my heart.

Paris, Day 2 (to Athens)

Before I get to day two in Paris, I have to write about our dinner the first night. We'd found this charming little neighborhood brasserie called Le Bouledogue. It is just across from the Pompidou Centre, which was just down the street from our little hotel. We got a table right at the boundary between the restaurant and the sidewalk -- the best of both worlds. Marc ordered duck breast (Magret de canard, sauce au poivre, frites au couteau, and salade verte....duck in gravy, handcut fries, and green salad). I got salmon tartar with the same fries and green salad. Let me tell you this: the handcut fries were amazing, and that word almost kind of begins to describe them. They were perfect -- crisp on the outside a bit, fluffy inside, lovely salt and lots of thyme, maybe a bit of rosemary. The salad was dressed in a mustard vinaigrette and my salmon was so fresh and delicious. Marc enjoyed the duck breast but thought the sauce was so ordinary it could've come from a can. It was definitely made in the restaurant, but it just tasted so ordinary. It was the only bum note.

beautiful food, beautiful service, beautiful setting

After dinner we stopped at a little boulangerie/patisserie down the street and bought a gigantic meringue ribboned with nice dark chocolate, then we walked back to our little hotel and crashed. Crashed hard.

This morning the plan was to get up a little earlier than we actually did, but we were so tired. We planned to go to the 10am Gregorian mass at Notre Dame, and we rolled out, stopped for a coffee, and then headed over. The mass was very mysterious, on a number of levels: (a) we don't speak Latin, (b) we aren't Catholic, (c) I understand a bit of French and Marc understands none, and then (d) the mystery of the Christian religion. I enjoyed it a lot, and spent a great deal of time looking up at the peaks of the ribbed vaults, imagining the hard lives of the men who laid all the bricks and stones. Hard lives, hard work, but building a cathedral for God and so what must that have been like? I enjoyed it very much, the whole thing. It brought together a lot of streams for me: my lifelong connection to Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris, the year I studied the architecture and symbols of Gothic cathedrals in college, my childhood connection to Christianity, my appreciation for mystery and meaning. Marc was so good to go with me, though it wasn't really his thing so much.

leaving the mass

When I went to Paris in graduate school and went immediately to Notre Dame as soon as I landed, I walked into the cathedral, found a chair, knelt on the stone floor, and cried. I walked around the perimeter grazing my hands on all the columns, the stone walls. All these years I wanted to go back, and I finally got a chance. I told Marc today that that need is satisfied, and if I don't get back I am ok. Partly, I think, because I've spent time in the gorgeous St John the Divine in NY -- when I went to Paris the first time, I'd never been in a Gothic cathedral so it was shocking and overwhelming. It isn't that it's ordinary now, but it is part of my familiar now.

But it is a stunning cathedral, no matter how many times you see it.

approaching from the right bank -- you can see the spire and the towers on the right, in the distance

Magnificent --and those flying buttresses! I wish I could've been at the table when they were first proposed. "OK guys, this structure isn't going to work."  "I know! How about we build things on the outside to hold it up!"

So much to see in the grand facade, like this guy holding his head. In his lands. Literally.

After mass we walked back to our hotel and saw these beautiful buildings along the way:

Quasimodo, my Other for so many years. Can you imagine creating a story and character that lives in a little girl's 9-year-old heart in Texas, hundreds of years after you wrote it? 

I just love the architecture in Paris. You know you are in Paris, for sure.

OH YES, I could live in one of those apartments. The one on the top please.

Or one of those. I'm not particular. 

I just loved that -- on the side of a building.

We stopped for brunch at a little cafe called Les Arts & Metiers. We sat on the sidewalk in the full sun, and it felt so good. We watched Parisians doing their thing, exiting the Metro station, buying groceries, stopping for coffee or a beer in the sun. Really exquisite.

That might've been us sitting there! It isn't, obviously, but it could've been. :)

brunch deluxe: soft scrambled eggs topped with smoked salmon, fresh fruit salad in a mint syrup, cherry tomatoes with pesto, pain perdu, baguettes with French butter and jam, and a really yummy soft dilled cheese. Plus coffee, grapefruit juice, and hot chocolate for Marc. 

We checked out of our room and had time before we left for the airport, so we walked through the Place de la Republique, toward Pere Lachaise, but had to turn back before we got there because it was time to head to the airport.

Our flight to Athens was easy -- Air France is a wonderful airline, beautiful planes, lovely service and halfway decent food. We flew over the Alps and Venice and down the coast of Italy, but only the Alps were visible because there were clouds the rest of the way.

WOW. Nothing else to say but WOW.

So far we just love the Athenians. Our cab driver was very direct and straightforward -- friendly and direct. When we checked into our hotel we both kind of fell for the woman at the desk, who was also direct and friendly and straightforward. "Breakfast is at 7. You'll go, you'll see if you like it, if you do you'll pay." The hotel is in a kind of seedy neighborhood but it's at the foot of the Acropolis, kind of, and we're just here two nights.

Hotel Euripides -- looking off our balcony

lots of empty buildings and EVERYTHING is graffitied.

Tomorrow we'll check out the breakfast and then we're off to the Parthenon, the Acropolis, the Plaka, and everything we can see in one full day. Athens is more beautiful than I was expecting -- more lush trees, beautiful streets, lovely people. I asked the woman behind the desk how to say thank you and she kind of laughed and told me -- and I tried to say it and she laughed again and said "Close enough." I asked if people would know what I meant and she said yes, still laughing.

What a beautiful trip. What a beautiful day. What a wonderful experience, and life. I am so lucky and grateful.