Day 76 - Mummy!

Today was a very busy day and I finally got places! And at a reasonable time! Go me!

My first stop was another new metro station and then a bit of a walk around trying to find the National Archaeological Museum. It took a little bit but I got there.
It was awesome! It is huge and seemed to never end. Room after room of antiquities. Life size (or often much larger) statues of marble and bronze, gold jewelry and death masks, weapons and pottery. Everything had so much beautiful detail. From the folds in the gown of a stone goddess to the intricate images on pots, nothing is flat or dull.

My favorite of all that I saw was the Ancient Egypt rooms! I have always had a fascination with Egypt and getting to see real artifacts close enough to touch had me pretty thrilled. Most exciting of all was that there are sarcophagus' and 1 of them still has its mummy inside. How cool is that!?!! I could only see the bottom of the feet because it was still bound and covered but it was amazing anyway. What Egyptian artifacts have that most Greeks don't is color. Beautiful bright colors. On statues, jewelry, sarcophagus', burial boxes, etc..

As well as the permanent exhibits I also got to see the temporary showing. An ancient shipwreck. Plenty has been brought up from the depths even though the ship itself is practically gone. A massive bronze statue was a significant find as well as the "Antikythera mechanism." This mechanism was a series of gears closed in a wooden box attached to dials. Of course it doesn't look like that now, but it has been recreated many times. Someone referred to it as the "first computer". All the connecting gears moved everything in a way that it showed the date, the moon, sun and planets, when and where the next Olympics would be, zodiacs and many other things. Very cool. Look it up.

After 3 hours I finally made it through the whole museum. I got lost several times trying to find my way out but eventually did. From there it was a long walk to Syntagma square and then into the National Gardens. Again, huge and maze like. Inside the garden I found a museum (which was closed), a "zoo", playground, roman ruins, kids library and several fountains. Big place. I'm sure it would be much nicer in the summer though.

More walking, some food and the my long ride back to the house.
Exhausted now and sore feet. See you tomorrow!