Livy and I went back to the Parthanon today. It rocked, again. We had seen the outside lit up at night, but neither of us had ever been inside. It was worth putting off our exit from Nashville to go back and see it. Inside the Parthenon is a huge, to scale, recreation of the original statue of Athena. That original statue is lost, but an artist from Nashville read up on the ancient sources and made the statue based on what the original was supposed to look like. Well, it was amazing. It is as tall as the whole inside of the temple, all covered in gold. Athena is holding the goddess Nike (victory) in her right hand, and she holds a huge shield with Medusa's head in the middle in her left hand. The inside of the shield is painted with a gorgeous battle scene, and the outside has Amazons on it. Athena is wearing her armor and helmet, all gold, and it is just a stunning sight. There are lots of casts of the statues found in the pediment of the temple, and we had a great time identifying which gods and goddesses were there. Livy, who has never shown an interest in mythology, is suddenly excited about hearing stories about Athena. I think we'll get the Ariadne story when we get back, and we might even start with the beginning of the Illiad. I don't think she will care a jot for the battle parts of the tale, but the beginning with the goddesses and Paris and the golden apple might be fun for her.
After the Parthenon, we had a picnic in our car and set out for Mammoth Caves. I don't think I have ever been to Kentucky, so that's kind of neat-o. Lots of horse farms, as one might expect. We got to Mammoth Caves early in the afternoon, so we decided to do a cave tour even though we were trying to have a low key day. The caves were stunning. Our tour guide was a park ranger who knew tons of stuff, and once he discovered I was actually interested in his knowledge (which didn't seem to be the norm), he told me tons of stuff about the caves. We did a 2 hour hike through some wet, dome and pit caves (vertical caves), quite a few dry horizontal caves (some very large rooms from collapses), and some amazing rooms of formations that looked like frozen waterfalls (they are really made out of limestone). I learned there are caves made out of coral reefs too (though not here) in places where there used to be seas (Carlsbad Caverns are these kinds). I think Livy and I may have to get some books on caves, cause it was real interesting stuff.
The people on the tour with us were a whole other kind of thing. Here was the list of characters: the guy who really thought he was funny and his wife who agreed, though nobody else did, the foreign bartered bride from Eastern Europe and her older husband (she was all protective of Livy with me right there and it nearly drove me crazy - I swear to God my 6 year old can walk down a hill unassisted, and if she's cold, she'll ask for her coat without some overbearing stranger telling her to put it on), the three college aged girls, one of which was claustraphobic (why would you go in a cave?), a nice older lady who was also actually interested in the science of the cave and busted the husband of the Euro-bride trying to break off a stalactite, and three South Koreans who took a lot of pictures. So along with cave crickets, packrats, bats, and eyeless fish, the cave was well-stocked with exotic species.
Anyway, we liked the caves so much, we are headed back to do another hike through. The tour today was centered on the formations, but the one we are going to tomorrow is about the history of the caves (the Indians that used them and the white people who rediscovered the caves and made them a tourist attraction).
Tonight, we did do our relaxing. Livy watched two movies (Little Miss Magic and Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm). I kind of watched with her (which means I oohed and ahhed when she insisted I look at some magic spell or an amazing punch Batman gave the bad guy), while I read Guns, Germs, and Steel. I'm not a big non-fiction reader, and I have tried this one before, but some many people I generally trust on book recommendations told me I MUST read it, that I am trying it again. It's not that I find it boring; quite the contrary, I like it a lot. But soon, I will be tempted by a juicy novel, and my resolve to read even the most interesting non-fiction will waver. Even now, I am contemplating a new mystery novel by Charlaine Harris, Moll Flanders, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and a journey through Johnson's Rambler essays (which are technically non-fiction, but they are literary, they read like fiction for me).
But no great literature or science for me now. I'm gonna watch I Love Lucy and fall asleep. Good night.
12/15/09
