It. Is. Hot. As. Balls. Here. I seriously thought I was going to die of heatstroke today. We went to the site of the Delphic Oracle today and let me first explain the city of Delphi and its surroundings. Delphi, as I said yesterday, is situated on the side of a mountain. And I mean literally on the slope of that mountain, meaning there is no walking on level ground. To get from one street to the next is a series of what seems like a million stairs, ramps, or just plain uphill treks. Although I do have to say that coming here was like coming home because Delphi is known for only having two streets (four-way stop at Clever anyone?). Anyway, to get to the Delphic Oracle, we had to first walk up a hill to get to the gate that lets you in. Then, it is a straight up the mountain using stairs, ridiculous curving ramps, and climbing to get from one site to the next on top. For those who don't know, the Delphic Oracle was an elderly woman named Pythia who people from all over Greece came to get advice about their future endeavors. She was said to be in touch with the Gods and could bring answers to people's questions. In reality, what researchers think happened is that she was sitting in front of a large crevice (I hate that word) that was expelling gases from under the Earth's crust (they think the crevice was caused by an earthquake) and that these gases were putting her in a state of ecstasy. So basically, she was high and people were asking her questions about their life and she would mumble some incoherent nonsense and the people would then base their life decisions on her advice. Emperors and high city-state officials even came to her for decisions about war and power. Another theory was that she was drinking water from the ground that contained an anesthesia-like chemical that produced her transient state. Either way, she was high and people thought she could tell their futures. Real smart. We got to see the temple of Apollo and the stadion that was at the very top of the site. The stadion was a place for foot races, but this one is in probably the best condition of any of the ones we have seen so far. Again, it is extremely hot here, we are all running on a general lack of sleep and we were all practically dying on the way up to the stadion. Afterwards we headed to the museum and then lunch. What never ceases to amaze me is how everybody here can automatically guess that we are Americans without hearing us speak a word. Today at the museum I smiled at an older gentleman that worked there, JUST SMILED, and he immediately goes, "American eh?". Holy hell how do they do that? Is it how I dress? How I act? Do I just scream American?! And I really don't know if that is a bad thing or a good thing, but it's crazy nonetheless. Anyway, after lunch we headed to another small museum at the house of a late-Greek poet and his wife who brought theater back to this region back in the 20's and 30's. After that, I went back to the hotel and took the most epic nap of my entire life. I slept from 2:30 to 6 this afternoon. I don't even really know if you can call that a nap, it was more like a a good nights sleep. And the sad thing is I was still tired when I woke up. I will be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow tonight. I am still loving every minute though! The naps are just an added bonus every now and then. After my nap we headed out for dinner, but not before Jackie and Katy broke the hotel first. A few of us were sitting upstairs in the lobby using the internet and all the sudden the fire alarm starts blaring. In the US if this happened everyone would clear out of the hotel and the fire department would basically already be there waiting, we just stayed sat and went about our business. After about 5 minutes of it going off we decided that maybe we should go downstairs and check to see if our rooms were on fire. None of them were obviously, but when we got back up to the lobby the manager was there and was speaking with Irini. Apparently Katy had started the shower and let the hot water run with the door closed to get the wrinkles out of Jackie's dress. The steam set the alarms off! Never a dull moment. At least it wasn't me this time!
We calculated that we only have 6 days left before the island extension starts. That is thoroughly depressing. I am going to bawl when I have to leave Greece on the 26th. I am going to come back home kicking and screaming. I miss my family and friends, but can't you all just move here with me?! I am not ready to go back to the real world yet.
Temple to Apollo
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