Ruins of Delphi, The Hurt Locker, and Sleepless in Athens

1/21/11

We had to be up early for our ride to Delphi (Del Phee). Breakfast was amazing Why - because I had yogurt and lots of honey. So good! My stomach wasn't very happy with me though. It wasn't ready to handle the large amount I was consuming, not that I was eating THAT much, but it was twice as much as normal. Our bus ride was going to take three hours. Our trip was full of history and other stories about buildings around us as we went through the city of Athens. I heard all about the battle of Marathon, Oedipus Rex, the birth of Artemis and Apollo, and how Athena came to be the god of Athens and not Poseidon. They are all interesting stories if you want to look them up, I do love mythology, but I don’t really want to retell all these stories – especially Oedipus. We stopped at a convenience store (or something to that end) and got some food. I didn't really trust the sandwiches that were in plastic so I instead got a cheese pie, which was nice and warm. It was basically a pasty or croissant crust filled with feta cheese. It was delicious, but the feta kept trying to come out all at once as I would take a bite. The rest of our trip talked about Thebes and the area around Delphi.

We kept climbing higher and higher into the mountains. I learned that Greece was 95% mountainous. (This explains why the game Zeus rarely gave so little flat ground as the missions got harder.) Up top we had stunning views, blocked slightly by mist. Delphi is known for its oracle, which was said to be possessed by Apollo. The temple of Apollo is where this oracle would giver her prophases, interpreted by the priests, every month. Almost everything at the temple to Apollo was in ruins. Greece got the short end of the stick after being a ruling country of the region for centuries. They were invades by group after group after group. This had the slight negative effect of meaning the temple got raided by each group in turn. The Turks actually took most of the statues at the temple to decorate a grand location somewhere. If the ruins weren't impressive, there was the theater, the stadium, and then there was the huge mountain we were on. The rock face was jagged and beautiful with its mix of red and grey stone. There were also the remains of a temple to Athena (I think) as well as the remains of a huge gymnasium.

At the stadium Greg talked about Aristotle. He then mentioned The Hurt Locker. I hate this movie but it has lots of ethical stuff within it. The movie is about a bomb disposal team in Iraq. Their bomb dismantler, who is supposed to take the bombs apart, is killed in the first scene of the movie. He is then replaced with a reckless guy who puts everyone in danger over and over again but effectively dismantles bombs everywhere he goes. He places the mission as his top priority and safety as his last. Not just his safety, but his life and that of his comrades. I hated this movie, partly because I don't like this kind of suspense, and because of how it goes against my ethics - my value of life. I find it ironic that I say this. This guy is risking his life to make sure that innocent people don’t get killed and yet I feel like he is going against my ethics. I guess my objections come from the fact that he is putting more people at risk by his actions than necessary. It doesn’t help that I found this guy to be stupid because of his actions and a jerk. When he finally gets sent home he is shown with his wife and little son. What I find interesting is that he has been gone for so long that he doesn’t seem to know how to act at home. Not only that but he has a drive to get back to the war. I felt like he was an adrenaline junky rather than a man motivated to keep his family safe. He told his wife that the US needs him to get rid of IEDs but I feel like that is just an excuse for him to get his high. He misuses ethics by twisting them to his own purpose instead of a greater good. Our ethics shouldn’t be used as a means to an end but an end in themselves.

After making our way back down we got to see all the artifacts that had either been too big to carry off or had been hidden away and not discovered by the many different conquerors. After the museum we checked out the small structure that used to be the other temple.

On the way back we stopped at the same rest stop. I got a Kinder Bueno Bar. Its kind of like a wafer with four cream blobs covered in chocolate. It tasted great but was even better was what Greg offered me - a bite of an oregano chip, made by Lays. SO good! I immediately went back and bought a bag for myself. I don’t remember the rest of the trip home, mainly because I passed out. After a break in the hotel we gathered for food. Gyros. That’s all we wanted. I ended up getting a pork gyro from Sabbas and a lamb gyro from the second gyro place. It’s pretty neat to be there as these guys just cut the hot meat off the vertical rotating spit of meat. I actually liked Sabbas better. I didn’t like how the second place added fries to the gyro and the bread didn’t seem to be as good. It was also 10 cents cheaper at Sabbas.

We wondered down to the flea market. I was actually sent out of two places because of my gyro – funny, I thought it was a flea market – eventually I just wrapped it up and put it in my pocket so I could go around in places. It was crazy – the extent of the content in each store. Every turn was filled with clothes, shoes, or random items. It was an experience just to go down the street. All the different people, the calls of the merchants trying to sell goods, and the graffiti added to make a captivating environment in itself. I must say that the merchants and servers here can be like jackals. They keep biting at you trying to get you to sit down at their restaurant or they follow you around in the store commenting on everything you touch or see. The servers will offer you a table even if you just walked by and turned them down ten minutes before.

On the way back I got gelato! I got two scoops, one of forest fruits (fruit with coconut) and I also had tangerine. It was delicious but came at the hefty price of 3.50. I am not sure I was completely in love with it, but it was definitely worth the experience in Greece.

I couldn’t sleep. We tried to go to bed around 9:30 but it didn’t work. I would fall into this half awake stage where I knew I wasn’t sleeping. I got up three times during the night. It was only around 10:30 the first time. Not sure about the last two. Both times I went up to the roof in only shorts and my blue pullover fleece. The first time I stayed up there just long enough to freeze. It was raining and everything was slick. The last time I came up I brought the light blanket from the end of the bed with me. People were taking pictures of themselves and the Parthenon.

I went to the backside of the roof, something I hadn’t done and wrapped myself and sat looking at it. The people came around and started pulling the benches up vertically. I knew what was going on, they were trying to get the camera high enough so that it would take a good picture. I offered to take the picture for them. They thanked me and said they had decided not to ask me because I had just wrapped myself in the blanket. They asked if I was cold and I told them not really, which was true. Only my feet were. They asked if I was an American. I told them I was and that I was from Seattle, WA. They kind of said ah, lots of rain there so you must be used to it. I told them I was actually from Montana so I was more used to the snow this time of year. The younger woman confessed she had only seen snow once, as they were from Israel. After another word of thanks they left and I curled up. I don’t know if I fell asleep or if I had just started to doze off or what. All I know is that I definitely started to shiver and was being blasted by rain and heavier winds.

Falling asleep this time was easy.