This would be the Parthenon. Er...I mean... actually... it's a replica of the Parthenon. Here in Nashville. Located in Centennial Park Sorry I am no history buff. Anyway we were studying ancient Greece in our history curriculum last week and thought since we have this neato place here just a hop, skip and a jump from our home that we would drop by for a visit.
The boys were excited.
They have not been on a field trip this year. Austin has been a bit bored lately. Normally by this time in his school year he would have already been on at least 429 field thus far. Hence one of the many reasons we are not a part of regular school anymore. Getting out of the house every now and then is good but we do not need to see every historical site from here to the Mississippi for crying out loud. Anyway it was good to get out. Even if it was 29 degrees. We froze.
We played and froliced amongst the massive columns, pretending to be great Athenian warriors who were defeating the Persians. Hey, it helped us keep warm - a little. When the battle ended we picked up our swords, shields and battle weary selfs and headed inside to thaw out our taut grecian hineys. Ok mine is not what you would call "taut" persey but we were pretending r e m e m b e r?
Once inside we viewed historical pics and memoriabilia of how the Nashville Parthenon came to be. And.... Then... Then.... we saw her.
A T H E N A ! (say it with a powerful, whisper-like voice like they say the name "Mufasa" in the lion King.) It sounds more "Greece Goddess-ey" when you say it that way. Really it does.
But I must say, she is quite impressive peeking through the ginormous columns in her luminous flowing gown.
Even the boys were drawn to here. She stands at a massive 41 feet and something inches tall. It took 8 years to build her because they wanted her to get her as close as possible to the original. She stands victorious with her shield at her side protecting the "snake" which symbolizes the second king she just saved from a possibly very violent death by the Persians. And little ol' Goddess Nike sits in her opposite hand. The Goddess of Victory. And yes that is why the athletic brand Nike is named after her, but you probably already knew that.
Someone did an excellent job on her makeup if I do say so myself. She's flawless.
And we are not suppose look at that old Medusa there on her chest. Ddo you know why? Did you see the movie Clash of the Titans? I did. If you did you will know that if you look at Medusa you will turn to stone. yep, sure will. I've watched Clash of the Titans 5349 times. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Told you I was weird. Go figure. My sister and I called it the Clash of the tight panties. I don't know why so please don't ask ok.
Then the tour guide told Morgan to go and try to move the 2 ton door that is the entrance to this delightful place
He was able to do it with great ease. Amazing what engineers can do these days.
All in all it was a great time even if it was cloudy and cold.
Centennial park is very pretty when eveything is not dead. So I believe we will come back another time.
Over and out.
Happy Weekend!
