Saturday, July 11, 2015

The Parthenon

 
Okay, so Bart comes home early today! What?! Since they are between tanks, he was able to come home and spend some time with me! What an awesome surprise! So, we headed out on an adventure.

 
 For today's adventure, we decided to check this thing out. It is the Parthenon building. It is the only one that has been built as a complete replica as to the one in Greece.

These were the HUGE doors to get inside. Each one of them weighs 7.5 tons, are 6 1/2 feet wide, 24 feet tall, and 1 foot thick! They are the largest matching set of bronze doors in the world!
 
Nice lion....
 
On the 1st floor was a lot of art on the walls, and a few artists were highlighted. We aren't really into art all that much, so we just kind of breezed thru that part. (And you couldn't take pictures).
 
 But on the top floor, there was a HUMUNGOUS statue of Athena (Goddess of War). It was crazy how big it was!
 
She was the only thing that was in the center of the building. 
 
In between some of the pillars were plaques describing the details and things on Athena. Just her shield that she is holding measured 15 feet tall! And....Medusa was on the center of her chest.
 
 I got out my selfie stick (it was charged and everything this time), and took some pictures of us with one of the smaller statues.

There were some really cool collections of all the Greek gods on the outer walls inside of the Parthenon. They looked like they had been carved. They were very detailed. Took me back to when I had to study all these guys when I was in High School at Bishop Gormon.
 
 This is Ilissos - a full scale plaster cast.

 Kekrops & Pandrosos


Athena & a horse

There were a lot of statues, but I only took pictures of a few.

 Athena was completely covered in gold leafing. The gold is 23.75 karat gold and three times thinner than cigarette paper. 

 It really was a sight to see. Very pretty. It was my favorite part. I could do without that huge snake tho.

 Once we got done inside, we took a walk around the outside. Here we are sitting on the steps of the Parthenon.
 
 I look up and see something black on the side of the wall. Come to find out, it is a bat! He was just hangin' out (literally) upside down.

Then, see that lighter color on the wall that Bart is pointing to? That is where there was a major crack in the building. They had ground it out, and replaced it to try to make it stronger. Only HE would find stuff like that. After he pointed it out, we saw all kinds of cracks and flaws, not only on the building but on the foundation as well. I sure don't want to be here when those pillars fall.

 
Centennial Park was right here as well. They do all kinds of "artsy" things here. So we walked around the grounds. It was so nice and peaceful.

Bart 2015

 It was so very hot and humid today, but it sure was fun being together.

Bart tried to get up close to this little guy, but he was too smart for us.
 
At the end of the park was this monument. James Robertson was the founder of Nashville. Good to know!

Now, I'm not gonna lie. This isn't the first time that I have been here. There was a craft show a month or so back, and Sky and I came here for that. I did take a few pictures with her when we were here then. However, we didn't go inside.
 
Sky 2015

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