a post from Nikki in the Ancient World

the last few days have been quite something...
went to the acropolis yesterday morning to admire the giant marble structures - on high in the white bright light that still gleams from the height of classical civilisation

... then wandered (somewhat overwhelmed and full of kind spirit) into the grimy downtown area of Athens toward the national archeological museum
my companion J then got robbed/pick pocketed (lost her purse and all her cards) on the metro and we ended up in a police station that was indescribably bleak
- dark narrow stairways, locked rooms and we got an up close glimpse through a door into
an interrogation room where about 10 foreign/Gypsy/Indian apparently drugged up guys were variously lying on the floor or edgily pacing the room/ punching the air
 with cops bringing in plastic bags full of 'evidence'.
everyone smoking smoking.
wild!!! i wish i'd filmed it!
it was a glimpse into Hades
needless to say they couldn't help us.
(all sorted now, with some drama)

then later in the evening there we were again back with the gods in the brand new acropolis museum
the acropolis and the new acropolis museum make a compelling double act.
we were in the museum at night and the fragmented marble bodies float in tableau against the glass with the theatrically lit acropolis as a backdrop.
achingly beautiful.
seeing the elegant towering caryatids close up from 360 degrees in the museum a delicious experience... braided hair down their backs

this morning at the Cycladic museum we saw an exhibition of very early figures, pottery and ornament from the Danube region dating back to 5-6,000 BC.
truly breathtaking, sophisticated simplicity. beautiful geometric designs and small animals and models of houses. the care, the detail and their scale does make me gasp and swoon with delight.