My place by the sea

So here is a photo tour of my life-for-six-weeks! This is the team, or part of it, seeing Samothrace for the first time. As you can tell, it was pretty windy on the ferry. Left to right you can see; Ryan, a Harvard architecture student; Eliza and Melissa, conservation students at my school; Cindy, my roommate, also an IFA student, and Genevieve looking out towards Samothrace as we approach. Here is the view from my room. Pretty nice! Here’s my hallway. I have to say, late night trips for water are beautiful, with the moon over the ocean and the breezes winding their way through the ‘hall.’ This is where we have ouzo hour – they serve ouzo, beer, and tasty fried Greek snacks every night before dinner. This is the view from the dinner table.

I landed in a pretty fine place, don’t you think?!?

Today, we had a tour of the site. I neglected to bring my camera I’m afraid. It was fascinating to walk through the site with archeologists. It can be so difficult to picture an ancient city or temple area as it would have looked when it was built, but with Professor McCredie and Professor Wescott, it suddenly came alive. I’ll give a description – and some photos! – tomorrow. Off to ouzo hour!

RE-plugged!

Today was our first day of work. We spent most of the day removing dust covers, setting up electricity, printers, scanners and computers, and just settling in. Tomorrow we will get to see the site -- I can't wait!

The most exciting development, however, was the establishment of hi-speed wi-fi. I am now as wired in Greece as I am at home. This expands the possibilities of entertainment significantly (Itunes Movie Night, anyone?) and allows me to keep the blog AND use skype! Yay!!! Oh, and the research possibilities are endless.

I'm headed in to shower before dinner and put the clothes I found in our attic in to be washed. India killed my clothes, and so I'm grabbing leftovers from previous dig teams stretching back into the 1960s. I have a wild dress from a woman who worked here in 1972 -- this will be a VERY fashionable summer. I promise photos.

Stay tuned for an inside glimpse of a tiny island and even smaller social circle!

Semi-Precious

We have arrived! It is so wonderful to be in one place for six weeks. I unpacked the three t-shirts, skirt, shorts and two dresses that I own and 'settled in.' This is an amazing place to be. We took the ferry together as a group from Alexandropolous on Saturday morning. Looking over the rail, the water was a perfect sapphire blue. It was breathtaking, the exact color of the stone. Towards the coast, you could see a line of topaz-colored water fringing the shore. From the ocean, Samothrace looked blue and gray in a hazy mist, but as we drew closer, you could see the green of the pines and the deep browns and grays of the looming mountain at the center of the island. You could also see Sylvester, Professor McCredie's ancient orange Jeep, waiting at the dock. We loaded 9 people and all their luggage into two cars. After my trip to India, that seemed like nothing! After lunch together, we were free to do as we pleased for the rest of the weekend. From the door of the bedroom, you can see the ocean, only about 100 yards away. We eat lunch and dinner on the porch each day, and sunset from the dinner table, looking through the stone porch supports and a lovely bush of pink flowers, is really amazing. I am so blessed to have six weeks here. On the other hand, I think 'semi-precious' may be a good metaphor for the trip. We are so lucky to have someone cook every meal for us -- but it is meat, meat, and more meat. We are also lucky to have someone do our laundry -- but we were told not to have them wash anything we value! We are only 100 yards from the ocean -- but it is a very rocky beach with a strong current. Etc. Personally, I love it. I'll take garnets and opals over quartz any day of the week.

We spent the afternoon swimming, and then I had my first run in six weeks (ouch!). There were lots of goats and a few people to stare at me as I wheezed my way back into shape. Today, I hiked uphill to Chora, a small town with twisting cobbled streets and gracious cafes spilling down the slope. I went to Mass at the Greek Orthodox church. That was really something, I'll write more about it sometime.

Anyway, I'm settled -- and I think we get internet every other day! I'll keep you posted on the sleepy happenings of our little expedition.

Unplugging?

Today we had a quiet morning of packing and museum-going before heading to the airport. It's the beginning of the dig -- we met the other professor and two students at the airport. One other student will join us tomorrow at the ferry and then we're off to Samothrace, a remote island, for six weeks. I'm not sure if I'll love it, or if I'll simply feel like a caged animal. However, similar to my decision to learn to love fish this summer, I have decided that I will love it. I also purchased some pool toys today so that, between writing dissertations and digging up artifacts, a bunch of art history and archeology nerds can blow off steam playing 'chicken' at the beach.

The group seems very fun. We just shared a delicious meal together on the shore. I love the way you order and eat in Greece -- the waiter gives you a vague idea of what's available, you give him a vague idea of your preferences, and over the next two hours delicious little plates of food and bottles of wine arrive. It's great. I'll have to seek this out in New York more often.

It seems, however, that I will only have email access every other day. I know how this will affect your procrastination at work and at home. My apologies. We will apparently have a phone and I will post the number soon.

I am a little nervous about being 'unplugged' in this very plugged in world, but it is probably healthy to step away from the screen. Stay tuned!

Athens Attacks: Killer Heat Wave Wilts 3 Young Women

Photos: Cindy and Genevieve enjoying an evening cocktail; crazy crowds at the Propylaia; off-center caryatids; the Parthenon; and the Parthenon at night.

We managed to spend three days in Athens during the most unusual heat wave in recent memory. It was 116 the day we arrived, apparently, and temperatures have topped 100 degrees ever since. Leave it to me to find the least comfortable places to visit! Cindy, Genevieve and I are staying in an un-air-conditioned hostel. They have been very good sports about the heat, and I 'borrowed' an extra fan from the common area, so we're surviving. Yesterday we trekked through the National Archeological Museum and the Islamic museum before meeting Eliza, another Samothrace-bound IFA student, and her mother for a delicious dinner. Eliza and Mrs. Lee were our informants about the heat, and I think we were all relieved to know that we weren't wimps -- it really WAS very hot. So hot, actually, that the government closed access to the Parthenon and the Agora!

Today, despite continuing warm weather, we hiked to the top of the hill to inspect the ruins. The route is called the Panathenian way -- a winding path that devotees would follow during the great festivals honoring the goddess Athena. Worshippers would enter through the Propylaia, an impressive entryway that conceals your view of the Parthenon before dramatically exposing it as you pass through the arch. My favorite part of the Parthenon complex, however, is the Erechtheion -- the sacred space where the goddess Athena was actually kept. I love the graceful, solid caryatids (the woman serving as pillars). It was a great morning; completely exhilarating despite the heat, the crowds, and the smog-obscured views of modern Athens. After such incredible heat, we found a rooftop pool and spent the day there before wandering around the monuments at night (bad photo here). For a perfect end to the evening, Cindy and I raced to the Benaki Museum, an extraordinary house museum compiled by a Greek collector. They are open until midnight on Thursdays, and so we had an hour to wander through the collection after dinner. It was no where near enough time -- but it is a real joy to travel with people who think midnight expeditions to museums counts as 'fun.'

So much has changed since my last trip to Athens -- the subway is larger, cleaner and has digital information about the next trains; the drachma has been replaced by the Euro; the streets are cleaner; everything is labeled; simply stated, it is much friendlier to foreign tourists. Cindy imagines that this is the result of the Olympics. Probably true.

Tomorrow, we depart for Alexandropoulos. From there, we will take a ferry to Samothrace on Saturday morning. I'm looking forward to meeting the three non-IFA students and to eventually unpacking all my things! What a relief it will be to stop digging through my bag!

Academics in Athens

The world is very small. This morning, I enjoyed a coffee with Emilia and the bambine at their home in Caserta, and then I had a nice coffee and cornetto a crema with Frederick at the airport. By lunchtime, I met my friend Cindy, a fellow IFA student, in Athens. Air travel is amazing. It's 100 degrees here (wow, flashbacks to India!) but we enjoyed wandering the city and seeing new sights. Few people will ask (or indulge) questions about the style of scrolls on an early Byzantine church, so it's fun to be in the company of other art nerds. Last time I visited Athens, I was busy spending time with an attractive man that I met on the plane -- this time, I only had eyes for the Acropolis. Here is a pretty bad photo of the Temple of Hephaestus. Cindy and I wandered the agora, and then around the bottom of the hill where we found a fun concert. A few young women pinned 'I love life!' stickers on us, but who knows what that was about! After some more wandering, we found a delicious little Greek bistro with super-garlicky tsatziki and delicious stuffed grape leaves. This is a fabulous welcome to my home for two months! I'm settling in to the hotel with another fellow student, Genevieve, and preparing to take on the city tomorrow. yay!

Euro-kids

This is my last day with the three belle bambine. We went to the pool at 9 this morning. It turns out that we 1.) were not supposed to be there until after 11; 2) aren't supposed to eat or drink on the pool deck; 3) should have paid an entry charge and 4) needed to show our IDs to half of the pool so that they would know we weren't terrorists. Basically, on our first trip to the pool, we broke 5 of the 6 published rules. Oh well!

In the afternoon we took a walk, all five of us in nice dresses. As a group, we really turned heads -- sometimes because of how cute the girls are, and sometimes due to the unholy wailing coming from indignant little people in the stroller who preferred to walk. We meant to play in the park after finishing our errands, but the pool made the girls a little tired, so instead we stopped into a cafe. I have never heard three girls under five squeal with such delight 'Cafe!' I think they assume that 'cafe' is a synonym for 'gelato.' This was fine by me -- Emilia and I enjoyed a delicious Sicilian pastry with cream in the center (almost like a cornetto a crema, my favorite breakfast ever) and a cappuccino while the girls stuffed their faces full of mini cakes and strawberry gelato. It was another fun, long day. My hat is off to any and all parents reading this blog -- kids are a blast, but they sure do take a lot of energy! Here are some last photos of the fabulous Woods kids: Olivia and Isabella eating gelato fragola; Emilia and Sophia, like mother, like daughter; Isabella and Sophia playing along a fence.