What’s that up there?

We had a relatively late start this morning – the children weren’t due out of bed until 7.15am. For the difficulty we had in rousing some of them (Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Suter singing “Morning has broken” would surely usually rouse the dead!) you’d have thought we’d woken them up in the middle of the night again. We had a grand spread for breakfast, with plenty of choice, and then we planned to board the bus and depart by 8.45am. That was, until Aboudi decided it would a good idea to head butt his bedside locker! With a hotline to Nurse Eileen and Mr. Suter’s first aid skills, he was soon put right and thus we set off, slightly later than planned.

So who are the Falcons?

We had a brief tour of central Athens on the bus, and then we stopped at the Panathinaikan Stadium, the site of the first modern Olympics in 1886. We arrived there just as another 10 coaches did – seemingly a cruise ship had arrived in port this morning. We felt very proud in our white tour hats, compared to all those passengers who had a mere sticker with a number on it – very personalised, we don’t think!

On your marks...

From there it was a short stroll to the new Acropolis Museum. As we sauntered along the pedestrianised lane, the Acropolis, in all its glory, appeared on high to our left, seemingly nestled in amongst the clouds. Tamara pointed up. We paused, waiting for the profound expression of amazement that was surely going to spout forth from her. “Mr. Whitaker,” she asked, “what’s that up there?” At this point both Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Suter would like it to be known that Mrs. Williams taught Tamara her Year 5 Ancient Greek history course!

What's that up there?

The museum itself was a stunning collection of frecoes and statues from the Acropolis and Parthenon. Our tour guide, Anna, took us initially to a series of models of the Acropolis to show us its development through the ages. She answered a series of questions, impressed by the thirst for knowledge and indeed the level of erudition the children displayed. That was, until Daniel asked whether the fortified wall added to the base of the site in around 300BC was in fact the Great Wall of China. Despite the fantastic collection of artifacts on show, by far and away the most popular feature were the glass floors throughout the three storeys. As Jacob notes, “…at the museum it was fun and a bit scary because the glass floor was see through and when we were at the top I could see my fate if the glass broke.”

And behind us is an ancient Greek crane...

We had to have an appointment for our tour of the museum, as it does get extremely busy in there. In fact, at times we had to dodge around other groups as we toured around. What we as teachers would like to add here is that in comparison to other groups that were there, particularly children our age, our group was and has been throughout extremely well behaved.

What, no cranes?

Climbing the Acropolis this year was somewhat easier having no one to carry to the top as we had to last year. Perhaps Elizabeth can explain it best: “After visiting the museum we walked up to the top of the Acropolis. The walk there was REALLY tiring! Once we got there it was so good. The views were breathtaking.” It was a little windy at the top so jumpers soon surfaced, but that meant that the clouds covered the distant bay and the children didn’t have to listen to Mr. Suter droning on about the fear of imaging the Persian fleet amassed out in the distanc……………

Foooooooooood...

As you can imagine on a trip like this, photo opportunities are a regular feature: no “Cheese” here, every photo is preceded by a loud cry of “Big red case!” However, after our museum tour and Acropolis visit, the last few photos were greeted with a cry of “Hungry!” Point taken, we descended through the Agora for a souvlaki feast in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the Plaka. Mohammed, when asked for the highlight of the day, said “the food” and the collection of clean plates attested to this. Lojain was slightly perturbed by the pigeon that perched above her head – claims of bird poop on you being lucky would not reassure her to stay in her seat!

After lunch we embarked on a preliminary shopping assault – while shopkeepers were delighted to welcome 30 eager to spend youngsters in their premises, they were slightly wary of their backpacks and the possible damage they could do. Which Salman did his best prove, sending a row of ceramics bouncing – luckily – on the floor! Wallets emptied, we route marched back to the bus, for possibly the highlight of the day for many – an ice cream! (although Simon managed to drop his for a stray dog to eat). A short coach trip home, another three course meal (pasta starter, baked chicken with Greek style potatoes and Greek salad and… ice cream!) and, due to our early start tomorrow for our cruise, an early night for the children with lights out by 9.00pm – an overseas trip record? Tomorrow is our cruise of the Saronic Gulf, visiting the islands of Aegina, Poros and Hydra. Weather forecast is supposedly quite blustery, so it could be an interesting voyage. Watch this space!

Relaxing after a hard day's sightseeing...

One thing that has truly delighted us here is the number of hits our blog has received, and the interaction between children here and back at school, and also parents.  We do have to issue an apology to Ms. Naidoo - apparently her suitcase has been the talk of BISAK over the last couple of days.  We do think that she has been hard done by and that really it wasn't as big as we made out.  Ms. Naidoo - our sincerest apologies.

Little red case

Finally, for all our blog watchers back home, a request.  Can you come up with a caption for Mr. Gikas and Mr. Suter's antics here?  Please let us know by posting a comment at the bottom of the page.

Your caption here