So, we moved this weekend. We're slowly getting the boxes unpacked, and trying to find places to put things, and to remember where we put the things we unpacked yesterday.


Living out of suitcases can get to be a bit of a bore. But now we have the rest of our clothing and so on. We also have a television, and our building appears to have a good antenna, so we have good reception, and a host of channels we didn't have before.

One of these days we'll get a telephone installed with a fast internet connection at home.


On Sunday evening we went to the Pangrati alsos, a nice park and playground about two blocks away from home. Don't we look relaxed?



Isaac went off to College this weekend. He's in the University Honors Program at George Washington University. I wish I could have been there to help take him to DC.

That monastery next to the American School, the one that gave the property on which the British and American Schools and Gardens now stand? It is called Moni Petraki, is the seat of theSynod of Bishops. It has a 10th century cross-domed church with early 18th c. frescos by Georgios Markos.

For the third time since we arrived here in late June, it rained. Thunder, lightening and a torrential downpour this afternoon - exactly like the other two times. It is refreshing and very pleasant out in the garden, though still pretty warm.

This is a view of the New Wing which seems to tower above the garden.



And these are views of the garden. I'm told this was the olive grove of the monastery just around the corner, expropriated by the Gereek goverment for the American School about 1885. I guess then that these trees are pretty old.




The areal photo below shows the school at the center, sharing a compound with the British School and a tennis court and garden. You can click on the photo for a bigger and more visible image.

Just to the north west of the school is a street diagonal to the grid. This is Xenokratous, where we live this summer at the square at the northeastern teminus of the street.

What Chuck is looking at most of his waking hours.

The Carl W. and Elizabeth P. Blegen Library at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Some of you may be interested in seeing pictures of the Blegen Library, where I am the Head.

The Blegen Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens was founded in 1888 in a single reading room. An initial addition to the library was dedicated in 1915, and, in 1959, a new wing was added, funded by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation. A further extension, partially funded by the United States Agency for International Development, was completed in 1991, effectively doubling the space of the library.

The collection currently has 88,000 volumes including more than 500 periodical titles (current and defunct), forming a major research library on prehistoric and classical archaeology of the Mediterranean region, and classical languages, history, and culture. About 2000 readers of all nationalities use the library anually. The library is non-circulating, and all books must be consulted on the premises.


The main building currently houses the offices, the card catalogues, and the main reference area on the gound floor adjacent to the entrance.



Directly above the entrance and offices is the original Reading Room, which has room for fifty-four readers. This is where Regular Members sit during the academic year. There are also spaces for Associate Members and Visitors.




Above the Reading Room is the Tower (not illustrated), which houses the offices of the Faculty of the Academic Program. Members of the Faculty hold appointments of one or three years.


The first major expansion of the Library was into the Davis Wing, which has two floors of book stacks adjacent to the reading room and is connected vertically by a spiral staircase and an elevator. It also has thirty-three Members' carrels.









The second expansion of the Library was into the New Wing, which has six floors, including twenty-nine additional Members' carrels and twenty seats at visitors' tables.

The New Wing is connected vertically by a staircase and an elevator. It has access to the rest of the library on three levels: On the ground floor - to the offices and entrance; on the first floor - to the Reading Room; and on the top floor - to the tower offices There are toilets on each floor.

The ground floor of the new wing is adjacent to the offices. It has book stacks, reference, new books and periodicals, the seminar room, and the Rare Book Room.


The first floor of the new wing holds book stacks, and study tables for Members and Visitors.

The second and third floors of the new wing currently hold the collection of periodicals, and have additional study spaces.


From windows in the stairwell there are pleasant views of the Director's House and Lykavittos, and of the garden.












The building is built on a hill, so the lower two floor of the new wing are classified as basements, even though they both open onto the garden.

These two levels currently house:

1) IT Department (offices, server room, etc.) and the Archives and Special Collections, which is administered separately from the Library and includes the Administrative Records,
Excavation Records, Personal Papers, Antiquities Collection, and Photographic Collection of the American School.

2) The Computer Laboratory, and a large, essentially unoccupied and unfinished space reserved for the eventual installation of compact shelving for the Blegen Library.

This Weekend

We got more work done this weekend on the new apartment. We still don't have enough places to put things (mainly bookshelves) but we'll manage. We spent Saturday working at home, and Sunday Patrick went and spent the day with Jesse, the son of Lisa, our child care (and everything else) provider. While he was there Alex, Chuck and Charlotte went to the National Archaeological Museum. This is a great Museum, filled with old friends:





Later we went out to eat in Plaka, and at one point watched the Albanian/Gypsy/Nigerian street vendors disappear as a pair of police men approached. They all re-appeared moments later when the coast was clear.



Here Alex and Charlotte (AKA "The Blur"), sort things as they emerge from boxes. As you can see from the stereo in the background, we have tunes, but not yet TV, much to Patrick's annoyance. At some point I'll write about the amazing children's TV offerings on broadcast here (who know's what's on cable or satellite?).


This is Charlotte's room, bright and cheerful with orange walls!



Below is Patrick's room, where he intends to sleep in the "Ucker Bunk". We imagine this room will also be the guest room.


And finally, a view of the living room and dining room. We're going to have to rewire those lamps.

We'll be moving finally next weekend we think. That will be nice!

Looking from the cool shade of our dining room out onto the terrace. You can see that this partment is painted in interesting vibrant colors, each room different



Patrick resting in the middle of a trike ride. It was hot on Monday but we got a lot done.

One of the things we found as we unpacked this weeked is the digital camera (thanks to Eric!), so we have some pictures. This is a view from our terrace of Messalongiou Square. It has a nice playground, a big open area where kids kick soccer balls around, several cafes around the edge, and a lot of trees.

Alex had made friends with the woman who runs a little tiny shop across the street, which sells everything (her name is Lita and she has a son called Adonis). There are some very interesting product names. "Strep" is a line of cosmetics. "Foxy" toiletpaper, and "Fist" soap.

Alex, Charlotte, and Patrick take a break from unpacking.

Chuck displays the card we were given by friends at a going away party in Chicago waaaaaay back at the beginning of June - It seems a long time ago now! You can click on any of the pictures on this blog, by the way, sometimes with unexpected results.

This is the view from the back balcony of the place we have been staying - 48 Xenokratous Street in Kolonaki.

This weekend was preeettty hot. We are making lots of progress in the new apartment, we've got a lot unpacked, beds made, books on shelves (and still lots in boxes that will have to stay there for a while).

View from the Terrace

Here's a view from the front terrace. The hill in the background is Ymittos (Imittos, Hymittos). The square below is Plateia Messalongiou.

This is a holiday weekend in Greece

This is a holiday weekend in Greece, right in the middle of the holiday season. Monday is Koimisis tis Theotokou, the Feast of the Dormition (Assumption of the BVM), a very important time in the Orthodox calendar. We're told that it's traditional to return to home villages, so even remote locations are busier than usual as the Greeks of the diaspora (and Athens) return to their homeplaces to connect with family and the church. Athens certainly seems quiet.

We will be at home organizing ourselves. We went to the new place in the early evening today (Friday), and Patrick and Charlotte showed unmistakable signs that they recognize friends as each emerges from its carton.

Alex and I worry a lot about how to make the terrace and balconies safe. We see the devices we need to extend the level of the balustrades, but how do we go about organizing such things?

It is nice to have our household (semi) installed. We feel like we are home. All of us have felt slightly adrift for a while so it is good to be home.

You distant ones may know that this is the view of Athens you usualy see , but if you turn around you see a view more characeristic of the way the city looks.


But there is an old city behind the concrete facade, and there are are old and new nighborhoods in it. And we feel like we have found a nice one

This evening we were finishing our supper (Alex, Chuck, Patrick - Charlotte having gone to bed already) when we heard the sound of accordion music from the street. A couple of guys, one playing, one singing, were strolling around the square hoping for change from the people sitting in the cafe and the restaurant. Very nice, quiet songs, I was tempted to toss them a coin or two, but from the fifth floor, I probably would have maimed them.


In Plaka and Monastiraki, there are still some organ grinders. Alex and Patrick talked to one of these old guys - it turned out he had lived for many years in Montana. These instruments feature prominently in movies of the 30s(?), 40s(?), which they still play on TV. The organs themselves are decorated with scenes from those very movies

Anybody want to buy a fabulous place on Cape Cod?

For a virtual tour, click here

Well... They got our stuff moved in today. The outside elevator is an interesting device. - basicly it is a long boom, which they extend to the rail of the terrace, it has a ca. 5 x 6 foot open platform which slides up and down the boom. [They should use these in the USA]. A crew on the bottom loads it up, 8 or 10 boxes at a time, zips it to the top where another crew unloads, checks each item off the inventory, and puts it where it belongs - They managed to get all ca. 200 packages up to the fifth floor in a couple of hours, then they unpacked and assembled whatever had been disassembled - and presto! we're moved in. We will unpack most of the dishes and kitchen stuff later, as well as the books, but most everything else is done. Everything is accounted for, and there is not a trace of damage or breakage. It now really feels like we live here!

The lady from downstairs came to greet us. She is the building administrator. She was pleasant and friendly - The neighbor on the 5th floor, who our landlord told us is NEVER there (he told us she own a ship), showed up, and complained to the movers that they had broken something on the terrace. The first day and the neighbors are already annoyed!

This is a picture of the garden of the American School of Classical Studies where Chuck works.





As I'm certain she will explain, Alex finally managed to figure out how to go swimming in Athens. She is now a member of this pool at the Olympic Pentathelon complex in Goudi


Another relic of last summer's Olympics is this advertisement for a Jazz concert. The venue was in Messalongiou Square, which is where our apartment is. We live just above the "Sq" in square, on the top floor.



If all goes as planned (Hah!), our container is being sprung from the customs pound in Piraeus today (yes it happened!), and the stuff deliverd to the new apartment tomorrow (Yes, we'll be ther bright and early!). Given narrow streets, small staircases and elevators, standard procedure for moving stuff into upper floors is to use an outside "elevator" - a sort of a large cherry-picker truck. We'll see how this works tomorrow.





This photo, courtesy of Google Earth, shows our new neighborhood called Pangrati [or Pagkrati]. Plateia Messalongiou is the square more or less in the center of the photo (which is oriented North-South). Our place is on the West side of the square (facing East), near the Northwest corner. The red-roofed building is a large public school just down the hill from us, and opposite the very nice Pangrati Park. Both the square and the Park are lovely Green places with playgrounds which the kids already like. [Getting them to leave is like pulling teeth sometimes!]. We have lots of shops around - including a supermarket and a Friday Farmer's Market. We have one of these outside the front door of the place we've been staying this summer.


We have been spending a pleasant hour or two each evening for the last couple of weeks at Dexameni Square in Kolonaki, where there is a playground as well as an open plateia where kids play football. It's a blast! Patrick and Charlotte have made fast friends with a variety of kids, and Alex and Chuck have made friends too - although no one wants to speak Greek with Alex - everyone wants to practice English!

We'll be using this space to let people know what's happening with our family here in Athens.