On Monday, the group celebrated Dan Gorman's birthday. Dan is a splendid compadre on this team, and we knew we had to give him the best 20th birthday possible. First, we all got up really early in the morning and went to the archeological sites of the ancient Greek temples and Olympic stadium. While they are mostly remnants, the stone structures makes one realize the essence of time. I found myself realizing that I was walking in the same spots as ancient Greek athletes who founded our Olympic games thousands of years before us. It was pretty surreal. The Temples of Zeus and Hera were some of the earliest monuments in Greece. The original Olympic stadium was located right beneath Mt. Kronos and P. Ryan explained that all of the men would sit on the hillside and watch the events. I could picture the entire scene happening right before me. It's one thing to see these sites in documentaries, or read them in textbooks or journals, but actually visiting them and seeing them with your own eyes gives you a whole new perspective and respect the monuments. We saw many more archeological artifacts at the Olympia Archeological Museum, located right next to the site. It's amazing how these artifacts have lasted this long in time. The most fascinated thing I saw were stones that long jumpers threw behind them during their jump to try and propel them further through the air. C'mon ancient Greeks. We'll give you the ancient olympics, but your physics weren't the greatest.
After posing as archeologists, we had some poolside chilling in the sun. We then presented Dan with his birthday gifts (a fedora and an "I Heart Greece" shirt), and went to a real authentic Greek buffet. There was music, delicious food and even plate smashing. I didn't get to smash a plate, but man does it get you real pumped up just seeing it happen. Dan went out and moonwalked across the dance floor better than MJ himself.
Once we were all partied out, the crew went up to the roof of the hotel and stargazed for a little while. It was an awesome birthday, and it wasn't even mine.
See you soon USA!
-Ian
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