Athens

Hey everyone! We recently got back from Athens, Greece, and we are very excited to tell you about our trip! When we got there, we went straight to the Acropolis, a large stone hill which the Parthenon was built on, the famous Greek temple dedicated to Athena. The Parthenon was finished in 438 BC, and it replaced an older temple to Athena, which was destroyed by the Persian Invasion. On the Acropolis we could see great views of Athens, and many old structures. Below, you can see a picture of the Parthenon, which is undergoing major preservation.

Below you can see a picture of the Acropolis, and the Parthenon with the cranes around it. The word "Acropolis" comes from two Greek words:άκρον, which means edge and extremity, and πονις, which means city. The Parthenon and the area around it was extremely damaged during the Morean War, when it was being used for gunpowder storage and a cannonball hit it.

Below is a picture of the Acropolis, built out of Lego! You can see more of the Acropolis in this picture, and the area below it. The Lego model is in the Acropolis Museum, which holds many artifacts from the Acropolis. In the Acropolis Museum, we saw a model of the Caryatids on the Erechtheion, which were six draped female figures used to cover up a 15 ft beam used to support the Southwest corner of the Kekropion.

In Athens, we also took a Segway tour.  A Segway is a two wheeled battery powered vehicle. On the Segway tour, we rode all around Athens, and went the hill where democracy was born. At the first meeting on the hill, many people paid no attention to what was going on, because they were distracted by the beautiful view! Talking about hills, did you know that Athens was built on seven hills, just like Rome? Riding around Athens on the segways was so easy, and so much fun.

Overall, we would say that Athens was EXCELLENT!