Day 5 - King (Don’t know Name) Someone

Seven thirty this morning seemed to be something of a lie in for the children, but it was still difficult getting them out of bed.  The first thing they all do upon waking up, however, is to go downstairs and check out the blog to check for comments from home.  So keep them coming, as they mean a lot to the children.  Our guide Anna met us in the lobby and off we went for our tour of Athens en route to the Acropolis.  Our first port of call was the first Olympic stadium, built in 1896.  Hala asked why, if we weren’t allowed in the stadium, there was a man inside it.  Mr. Suter pointed out that he worked there, to which Hala’s retort was, “But there’s nobody in it, so why does he have to work there?” 

From there, we drove through the city to the car park at the base of the Acropolis, from where we began our ascent.  The weather has been absolutely gorgeous today – the warmest day by far and not a drop of wind at the top.  Our poor children were lugging bags around with them packed with layers to put on at the top!  Ah well, better to be prepared.  Anna stopped us at various points along the ascent, to give us information about what we were seeing, but every stop was longer than planned as our children didn’t stop asking questions.  She has been really impressed with them.  We posed here, there and everywhere and had several hundred photos taken – although surprisingly none by other groups today.

From the top, we descended down through the Agora – we were slightly early for lunch and so had a bonus visit to the agora to visit the temple of Hephaestus.  Whether there was something in the water, but our group had been warned about the slippery floor surfaces.  No sooner had that been done, however, than Haruka slipped down on her backside.  Having just been told not to walk on the walls, Andy fell off the wall he was walking along.  Amin wasn’t doing anything he shouldn’t have been, but he managed the most spectacular fall of the day, face down in the sand.  Rest assured parents, none of them were injured.  What was amazing in the Agora (we should point out here that the Agora was the marketplace of Athens – it was somewhat appropriate that Hala should know that the main activity taking place there was shopping!) was that as we walked along, we were able to pick up pieces of pottery that have lain there for hundreds – if not  thousands  - of years.  The piece Anna picked up was quite clearly still marked with paint from all those years ago.  Following the mantra of “take only photographs, leave only footprints” we did leave all the bits we had picked up back on the ground.

After another four course meal at a little restaurant nestled in the heart of the Plaka (even Mr. Whitaker could only manage two lots of seconds) we walked on to the New Acropolis Museum, where we got to look at scale models of the Acropolis as it developed over the centuries, pots that had been found there, and then up to the top floors of the Acropolis where the remaining frescoes are on display.  The room itself is built the exact same size as the Parthenon itself, and metal columns hold up the remains of the frescoes (or actually mostly replicas of them – those of us who are British are made to feel slightly guilty as of course the majority of them, the Elgin Marbles, are in the British Museum) from the Parthenon.  Tara was particularly impressed by one that described a fight with a panther, but the only panther she knew was the Pink Panther and that left her a little confused.  Mum, you need to get her a copy of the Jungle Book! 

After the museum, what the children had been looking for – shopping!  We delved deep into the Plaka again, exploring the shops there as the children found every opportunity to spend their last money.  On entering one shop to chivvy the children in his group along, Mr. Suter called across to Ms. Naidoo to ask her a question.  “Miss Naidoo?,” asked the shocked shopkeeper.  “You’re a teacher?  I thought you were one of the students!”  As Mr. Suter picked himself up from the floor laughing, the shopkeeper called to him, “Take care of her, you could easily lose her.” 

And so to the hotel, and dinner, and then our final evening activity, a quiz night recalling all the events of the week.  We had some gems of answers to questions:

Q. What edible plants did we see by the side of the road?
A. Candy floss

Q. What did Mr. Whitaker do when he thought he’d lost his hat?
A. Wet his pants.

Q. Who was the king who reigned at Mycenae?
A. King (Don’t know Name) Someone

Q. What was the length of the Corinth canal?
A. 6234 cms

Q. What was the name of the bird associated with the goddess Athena?
A. Pigeon

Q. What type of cheese do you find in a greek salad?
A. The white one
A. Philadelphia

And so to bed, and tomorrow on to the airport and we’ll be bringing them home to you.  We did have a final awards session for the children for things that had happened during the week, or for their behaviour, and suchlike.  Here were those we awarded –

Neatest room – Kareem and Adam
Consideration award – Humza
Asked most questions of the guide  - Andy and Kirsty
Best eater – Fay
Biggest trouble maker – Martina
Gappiest smile – Tara and Rad (both lost teeth)
Biggest shoppers – Cagla and Ahmed K
Most waterworks – Emma and Ipek
Most enjoyable trip – Amin (fell flat on his face in the Agora)
Biggest poser for photos – Arkady
Food adventurer – Ahmed H
Biggest breakage – Vian
Best listeners – Hala and Sumbal
Best swimmer – Tony
Touching most things in museums he shouldn’t have – Andy
Sir Edmund Hillary Award for Perseverance – Effat
Best castle climber – Umnia
Most reliable for the week – Haruka
Athlete of the week – Sina

So there you have it.  We have had an absolutely fabulous week here in Athens but most of all, the children have been an absolute credit to themselves, their school and their parents – you can be very very proud of them.  We’ve the joys of trying to fit all their purchases and dirty clothes into their bags tomorrow, but that’s for another day’s blog.

We thought we'd leave you with Haruka's comment about looking forward to coming home: