After 2 nights in Paris we headed into Athens. Christopher really got into the archaeology -- he had just finished Ancient Civ in school and done independent research on Ancient Greece. He asked fantastic questions of our tour guide -- we took a walking tour on our first day in town. She really enjoyed having an informed American child in the midst. He asked very thoughtful and well-informed questions of her. One question he asked was where the actual spot was where Athena and Poseidon had performed their miracles when the Athenians were choosing which god would be the patron of the city. I had been to Athens and the acropolis before but hadn't paid much attention to this myth. But it is actually an important one for ancient Greece. The Erecythion, one of the buildings on the Acropolis (the one with the caryatids) was actually the spot. The tour guide took us on a solo tour to show us the spot where Athena's olive tree grows (her gift to the city) and the spot in the building where they left an opening to mark the spot where Poseidon's trident came down. I have to admit, this was some cool additional history that we never would have gotten to see if Christopher hadn't asked the question. Very cool. The funny photo of Cate above is her standing on an ancient marble pedestal and being a statue.

Our hotel had a rooftop pool with a view of the acropolis. We would head home after a hot day of sightseeing and the kids would swim until sun down, when we'd get to see the parthenon lit up behind us. You could do worse.