everything's ruined

athens, greece.

i consider myself a pretty seasoned traveler. but there is one aspect of how i travel i am slowly trying to change. i want to have the restraint to not go to the "you have to see..." sights if i don't want to.

today i spent the day going through the acropolis, the ancient agora and the temple of zeus. lots of two millenia old marble. at the acropolis, we were herded about like cattle to see three buildings. the agora was a just a field of building parts. and the temple (toppled already for two centuries) we were rushed out of because it closed at five.

time and time again i have gone to ancient ruins to imagine what it would be like in ancient roman times, in incan times, in mayan times, in shang dynasty times, during the dark ages, etc. for the most part, it is a massive heap of stones and the neighboring archaeological museum has much better information. but i just haven't been able to say no.

i have been able to say no to gaudy (and not so gaudy) classic palaces, so there is a start.

back to the subject of historic remains of a once great society off to get a haircut for k-cow's wedding sunday.