Corinth, Day 2

Well, It's three in the morning on Wednesday here and i should be fast asleep, but for the second day in a row, I'm wide awake! Should be around 7:00 p.m. in Normal,which is where I still am apparently. Anyway our first day was incredible. We started with a morning tour of Athens looking at some of the historic stuff the city has to offer. We stopped at the temple of Zeus (or the remains of it - very impressive structure still and it's over 2,000 years old). We got a great group photo of the whole group in front of it with the Acropolis in the background. But the coolest stop for me was the olympic stadium built in 1896 for the restart of the modern Olympics. It is very simple, but seats 70,000 and you could buy tickets to get on the actual track which several of us were going to do, but the workers were on strike. Well, I didn't come this close to not get on the track. One quick jump of the fence (with Sara yelling, Michael Robert!) and I was briefly on this ancient ground. It was the original site of the games from the 5th century B.C.

After this we made our way to the ancient acropolis and headed directly to the Mars Hill, the place where Paul debated/preached to the philosophers in Athens in the Bible (I know I told you yesterday the wrong place in Acts TWICE! - again sleep deprived) in Acts 17. J.K. was up to do our video teaching and as he approached the place he began to weep. It is very moving to see with your own eyes what you have studied for most of your life. I have experienced the same thing. Well, the group was awesome dragging all of Scott's stuff up this hill so we could get some quality video. J.K. did an awesome job as people from not only our group, but others also gathered around to hear. Pretty cool. After we finished our taping we headed up the hill to the Parthenon (google that and check it out), then by the ancient agora (market place) and to a lunch on the plaka (plaza area with outdoor restaurants, etc...) We were served octopus that was chilled and marinated with something...very weird taste, not everyone tried it. Anyway, we spent the afternoon looking at some old churches (11th century ad) and then back to the hotel for a nap before supper. the hotel here has a view of all of Athens with the Parthenon lit up and in view. Very cool. Again, I'll try and post some pics later, but Sara's camera is in the room with her where she's sleeping.

Today - five hours from now, we'll get in the bus and head for Corinth. I'm doing the preaching/teaching for video today, so pray for me when you can and I'll catch up with you all tomorrow if I have service (hopefully not at 3:00 a.m.)