1975 and 2010

2010 back view of the Parthenon, with random stangers

1975 back view of Parthenon, with me, sitting, in the middle distance

1975 front view of Parthenon, with man

2010 front view of Parthenon, with me and my brother


I hadn't looked at the pictures we'd taken in Greece in 1975 before going on the second trip this summer, but I could remember some of them in my mind's eye and so could my brother John. Above are the two closest matches. A lot of the apparent rubble one can see in the 1975 photos have since been organized into carefully carved parts of columns, buttresses and walls. Categorized, mapped out, ready to be hoisted back onto the Parthenon, and the other temples on the Acropolis, sometime soon...                                  

...as this 2010 photograph illustrates.


It was great to see how much care has been put into the renovations in the past 25 years (a sign we saw said the current renovations began in 1983). Although I did miss being able to get really close to the temples...

as we clearly did in this 1975 photo...

but it wasn't a bad trade off, all in all.

Greece 2010

Photos, from the top:
The Parthenon (second/replacement Temple of Athena), Temple steps in front of Temple of Nike, scaffolding/ongoing restoration project on the Acropolis since 1983, view from villa at Pendamodi, Crete, interior view at Knossos, my sister-in-law Kirsten, nephew Sam and niece Robin at the Acropolis, my brother John at the Old Market/currently a open air museum, in the Agora (down the hill from the Acropolis).

These are highlights from my recent trip to Greece with my brother and his family. My mom passed away about five years ago. For sometime before that she told my brother and I she wanted to do two things: get cremated and have her ashes spread in the Aegean Sea. Life everlasting in that beautiful blue sea. And so we carried out her wishes. More posts on this trip and the trip we took (my Mom, brother and I - see the passport photo below) in 1975.