Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Olympic Village

It was a thrill visiting the birthplace of the Olympic games this morning. The first games took place in 776 BC, in honor of Zeus. The track for the chariot races held around 45,000 spectators on the grass. We saw the ruins of the Temple of Zeus, which held the gold and ivory statue of Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (statue no longer there). We saw the Temple of Hera, wife of Zeus, which lies next to the site where the Olympic flame is lit every four years to begin its journey to the site of the Olympic Games. This was especially meaningful to me, since I had the honor of being a torch bearer back in ‘96 prior to the Atlanta games. The statue of Nike could be viewed at the museum, but we didn’t have time to tour the museum. Fires did a lot of damage here three weeks ago, all the way up to the museum. Chain saws were busy making firewood of some of the damaged trees.
The chilled apricot and peach soup at lunch was outstanding, Miss Bee. You would have loved it. Our dinner celebration for the Priven’s anniversary was held at the Japanese Steakhouse, party of 10. Happy #37 to Mike and Jennie! Food was good; chef’s performance was excellent! We are now all packed; bags are out in the hallway. Heading to a hotel in Athens tomorrow (Tuesday). Stay tuned.

4 comments:

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

ahhh finally a good chilled soup! i was getting worried about y'all griswalds's trip ya' know! ha ha ha

smiles, bee

ps: 20 days until it's my turn! stay tuned!

Haley D. said...

Hope you got a picture of you at the official torch site! Glad you're adding pictures now. Sounds like it's a great trip. Wish M&J a happy anniversary from us.

Love, Haley

Brian said...

Pics loaded, compliemnts of moi! But I leave tomorrow, so sorry to say, mom will have to figure it out! Pic of the torch is below mom's post.

Traveling Bells said...

Actually, a pic with MOI in it will have to be posted later...dad walked on ahead, so Loyal got one of me:-)...outta here...getting off ship in an hour!