We had a bit of a problem reaching the first museum and were beginning to lose
faith when Kara checked the map again and discovered that we were close . The Museum
had 4 floors of exhibits and an extra exhibition area in their old
building - which Kara had read about - the very ornate yellow building. 
I really like the earliest art with its simple lines. There were more
great busts with incredible likenesses of people - they were so alive
looking. We also saw an exhibit by Ai Weiwei which was interesting and
some Mytillean photographs as part of an exhibit of photos relating to
the recent refugees.

On our way back to the Acropolis area, we
passed on the outside of the National Gardens where the Parliament and
other buildings were and there were 3 of the Evzones - the guards dressed in old
national military uniforms with pom-poms on their shoes. They did a changing of
the guard sort of maneuver that was quite impressive.

My plan to see the antiquities sites in the morning, then go to the Museum of Cyclades Art and finally to return to the New Acropolis Museum meant we had to return to the area we had previously been in . It turned out to be a lot of walking and a feeling of being rushed. My original blog entry does not include reference to the policemen we saw around the National Garden on our way back. We decided to return by walking around the perimeter of the National Garden across from the Presidential Palace. After we saw the Evzones, we began to see policemen - some in riot gear. I remarked to Kara that there seemed to be a lot more policemen today than yesterday when we came through the same area. We saw groups of police - some with riot gear, some chatting, some munching on snacks. They seemed pretty relaxed. I wondered what was up. We didn't find out until I checked the internet and found out that in the evening there was a major demonstration against EU fiscal belt-tightening measures and the demonstration became violent. I think I read there were over five thousand demonstrators. Luckily we had places to go and thus no reason to hang around the area.

As we walked back, I was
worried that we would be running the risk of not being able to see
everything at the New Museum of the Acropolis so the new plan was to go
there first and then get some lunch - or more likely dinner by now .
This museum was going to be open until 10 pm so there was no problem but
we went ahead with the plan to visit sooner instead of later. The
building had some really interesting features - such as the glass
floors which looked down to archeological sites below. You could see
the walls, outlines of walls and various stones. We saw
pieces of the pediment and friezes of the Acropolis including some nice
pieces from the Old Temple of Athena. There were some original
karyatids there and a mixture of restorations and bits of original
pieces. I liked how they showed what the original colors may have
been. Here too it was amazing how lifelike some of the sculptures were. I may have gotten a bit over-stimulated by all the art - between pottery and sculpture yesterday and today.

On
our way to find the special taverna recommended in one of the guide
books, we got lost innumerable times. We went up on the side of the Acropolis, down some back lanes with barely enough space to get through,
saw tons of graffiti and cats, kittens of all kinds and just missed the
street we wanted. We took another street to almost where we would turn
to go to our hotel and then tried to reevaluate our strategy. We both
agreed it made sense to give up but I was fixated on this restaurant and
Kara looked at the map, said it might not be that far and we went back
to try again. This time we eventually made it and had a very lovely
rooftop dinner except that we think Kara may be allergic to the tastes of
squid from yesterday and grilled octopus from today . We had another
bottle of Peloponnese wine and a mixed salad that was very good. Kara
enjoyed her moussaka and we shared a mixed Greek dessert that was more
than we needed but nice as well. We looked at some shops in Plaka on our way
back to the hotel and did some shopping along the way earlier in the day.

During
our walks we also checked out that we knew where the Metro station was
and we got our tickets for tomorrow. We asked at the hotel desk about getting
the Metro to Piraeeus and arranged for our boxed breakfast. Now my
photos are uploaded, blog written, Kara has messaged her State Police
doctor to find out about her weird rash. Think it is an allergic
reaction. Now it is time for me to shower, finish up packing and get to
bed for our 5:30 am wake up call.