March 25

Happy March 25th! Today is a national holiday in Greece, celebrating the Greek War of Independence, fought between 1821 and 1827. We celebrated the holiday by driving for hours and hours to Olympia. We did make two interesting stops on the way.
The first stop was a bathroom break at a kapheneion. Traditionally, these are the coffee houses where Greek men socialize over coffee and cards. Women never really go into them. They are not quite as popular as they used to be, but they are still pretty common in the small Greek towns. But, as usual, the girls all had to use the restroom, so Spiros pulled over and indicated that this place was where we should go. We looked in the window and saw that they place was full of men and that they were all staring right back at us. We asked again if this were the place Spiros had in mind. He indicated yes, again. So we all went into the little kapheneion and I ordered a small Greek coffee to go as we stood in line. The place was packed even though it was about 9:45 in the morning. I wonder how long the men stay here, or if they are retired. Not all of them looked older; some were probably around 45. One indication of the lack of gender differences here was that there were no signs on the bathroom doors indicating which one was for females. Both were just blank. There were packs of cards and stacks of chess boards along one of the walls. They continued staring, not gawking, but just a confused kind of look, as we all lined up and then left the building.
After getting back on the bus, we drove to the temple at Bassai, where Trent was to give his presentation. Again the girls had to use the restroom, but the WC was broken. Well, there was no one else visiting the site but us, given that the temperature was freezing cold and the wind was blowing hard, so we all just headed off into the surrounding woods…
The temple is actually covered by a huge tent to protect it from the acid rain, which is a problem in this area. It also blocked out the harsh wind, which made it much easier to pay attention to Trent’s report and to jot down notes. The temple is known for incorporating all three orders – Doric, Ionic, and Corinthians – into the design. As you go further into the temple (well, you can’t physically go further now, because it is roped off to the public), the orders progress as well. Because there is no where near the temple to have lunch, Krentz advised us to pack a lunch and we could eat it at the site. But, seeing as how it was freezing cold and very windy, we all just ran onto the bus to eat. Krentz, never one to pass up an opportunity to see some ancient remains, braved the weather and checked out the rest of the ruins, but we all wanted to get warm. I, personally, wasn’t expecting cold weather, so I just had on a long sleeve t-shirt and my fleece vest. I don’t think anyone else expected cold weather either.
Then we drove to Olympia. I am rooming with Caroline for the next two nights. As soon as we got settled in the room, the weather turned nasty. I looked out our balcony window and saw hail pouring from the sky. Each little ice chunk was a little bit bigger than a be be, but they were pouring hard. I also saw two guys from our group running around in the hail. I guess they were just a little stir-crazy from being on the bus all day. I didn’t get a ton of sleep last night, so after reading a bit of The Aeneid (the next assigned reading), I took a nap.
For dinner, a bunch of us went across the street to a little typical restaurant. The prices in Olympia are pretty high, mainly because it is a town that grew out of the tourist industry. After dinner I went to bed early – The Aeneid just puts me to sleep.