11 Oct: Athens

The flea market only opens on Sunday and it is very near the Acropolis.

The thing about Greece is that is reeks of history. Ancient history. So much so that whenever the Greeks want to build something and start digging, they find something.

some ruins inside the metro station

Grab a spoon and start digging anywhere. You'll find some ruins/artefacts.

we would later find out how much they like these see through floors

Some arty installation in the said metro station.

they wanted snakes but they were a little hard to maintain

The flea market is packed! There were all sorts of nice stuff everywhere but the prices are quite steep for something that is purely ornamental.

junk

Polaroid cameras. In fact, all polaroid cameras are official obsolete at the moment as the company decided that they are not gonna do the film no more.

The classic fruit machine.

Chesterfield armchair. Gorgeous.

I've always wanted one of these banker lamps after seeing them in movies. So classic.

Sorry but snow white looked like the evil stepmother in this one.

7 dwarfs: em... she look kinda different today?

I spotted this gentleman frozen in this posture, oblivious to the world.

did i leave the gas on?

This SGD 1 note was right smack in the middle of the display. What coincidence.

This is the tour train that starts from the main square. No pavement is too narrow for it.

tourists, graffiti and ancient rocks

At the flea market, we got bought a few old postcards and a poster of a Hitchcock movie: The Birds. I'll hang it near the balcony where the bird cage is.

After we're positive that we're done with junk, we moved on to Ancient Agora which leads to the Acropolis. Ancient Agora is kinda like the Roman Forum.

This is the Temple of Hephaistos. I just learnt that he is the God of technology, metallurgy, craftsmanship etc. Ok. Great.

Here are more picts of the temple.

Sick of it yet? Here is some more.

Shuyi spotted a dog which she claimed is 'so cute' because it got tiger stripes. The dog got a face only a mother could love.

and it ain't amused

This is Emperor Hadrian. After kicking ass around the world with his Roman army, he felt that Italians lack some culture. So he embraced the whole Greek thing. That is why alot of the Greek gods end up having Italian counterparts.

How to:

1. have a nap
2. protect your belongings
3. not get raped


ahh. i feel so secure

Instead of road or path, they call it a way.

this is the way

As shuyi dedicated her life to making me look silly, while i was trying to compose a nice picture, she took a nice picture of my ass as well.

honey? does this make my butt look big?

From afar, we can see the Acropolis. What a magnificent piece of rock!

Shuyi's gangsta pose.

The shields that the Spartan dudes use. Massive. I can understand how the Persians felt back then. Those shields are so huge they can block the sun. They should come with a SPF +55 rating.

Nearing the Acropolis, we came across The Church of The Apostles. Whatever.

It's not what you think. I've been framed. Though the socks looked silly, it was worth it for the comfort. Tourists are permitted to look silly anyway.

It was already late afternoon so we decided to push on ahead to the Acropolis.

At the foot of the Acropolis, there was a booth that says 'Guided Tours'. We met this granny who was speaking to a couple. She is waiting for 3 couples to form a group. We formed a group with this American couple (the girl looked like a plus sized Cecilia Chung. I don't mean fat but her build is huge) and a Taiwanese couple.

See? She have wider shoulders than me.

Here is a zoomed in (cropped) pict of the previous one.

Seems like the Acropolis is forever under restoration. The whole thing is wrapped in scaffolding.

ok maybe not the whole thing

The guide brought us around and told us lots of stuff about the Acropolis.

The way to count the number of columns is: the number of columns on the short side times 2 and then add 1. For example: 5 X 11. Or 7 X 15. Mathematically proven to be aesthetically pleasing. Everything is worked against the golden mean.

After going through all the different stories of the Acropolis in heavy Greek accent, the guide thanked us for the easy money and took off.

The theatre.



Zeus' bowling alley.





Kitten with a bloody nose.

More Parthenon. This is the Temple of Athena. Remember the story about Athena and Poseidon contesting for the city? The bloke who gave the people sea water lost. For a god, Poseidon wasn't so smart. He would have won if he gave sardines or calamari.

The Erechtheum: Porch of the Caryatids. They showed that long before the Indian ladies started carrying stuff on their head, the Greeks done it on a much larger scale.

See the small temple on top? this was supposed to be the Temple of Athena Nike. All I see is scaffolding.

This couple in purple were hilarious. The fat lady was directing her fella to pose for some shots. When the guy showed some sign of boredom, she jokingly hurled all sorts of funny insults at him... from 50 metres away. They were shouting and taunting each other in jest.

are you some kind of super star?

After helping a couple take photos, they offered to help us to take some photos in return.

'let my wife do it. she is the better photographer' claimed the husband.


newsflash: your wife sucked at photography

Take another one!

ok. better.

Surely by know you can see that I really like the 6 ladies huh?

Nearing to 6 (closing time) the staff were out in full force to drive us off the Acropolis. Greeks are very efficient when it comes to times like these.

tsk... tourist...






yummm... tourist.

On the way down, we saw lots of people gathering on a huge rock. The guide mentioned that this used to be a place for people to gather. Amidst the thick accent, I think she said that the poor dude who ran the marathon announced the news of the victory from there as well. The dude died shortly after.

Marble is very slippery indeed.

The setting sun cast a nice golden glow to everything.

The same picture but cropped to let you see the details.

More of shuyi's amazing photo taking poses.

The evening sun makes even the smallest thing look great.

We walked further downhill.

And we met this group of gypsies.

I don't know what on earth this fairy is doing.

practising his night stick disco moves




hippy to the max

Some baby shower, no doubt.

We decided to visit the newly opened Acropolis Museum. When I mention new, I mean June 2009 new. It was built over an excavation site and there was some hoo haa involved as they demolished a neo-classical building and a art deco style building to build the museum. Apparently they have too many of old buildings, they just don't care.

the façade was pretty grand
the ultra modern look stands out like a sore thumb

When they build a museum over an excavation site, they let you know it: you can see the site from the many glass floors all over the museum.

Thats not all. Even from the 2nd and 3rd level, you can look down all the way to B1. For someone who is scared of heights (that's the majority of us), it is kinda scary.

Oh. Because the place is so new and awesome, absolutely no photography is allowed inside. But we're tourist and we just don't care. A few shots never hurt anyone.

When we got driven out of the museum near closing time, we found ourselves disorientated. We asked the tour train girl direction and the conniving bitch told us that the metro is very far away and offered us a discount to choo choo us there. Liar! The metro was like metres away, as we found out later.

We wandered around a bit (looking at souvenirs but not buying. must...get... cheapest...) and had dinner.

Dinner was grilled sardines and calamari. The best Greek "happy meal".

These Pakistani (i think) men were all around town, selling these toys which would flatten when you smash them and slowly revert to it's original form. So these dudes just sit there all there throwing the tomatoes and pigs against a plank of wood.

There would be another syndicate of Negroes selling more creative stuff like umbrellas, shades, fake branded bags etc.