From the book itself....

"It was in Warwick Castle that I came across the curious stranger whom I am going to talk about. He attracted me by three things: his candid simplicity, his marvelous familiarity with ancient armor, and the restfulness of his company-- for he did all the talking. We fell together, as modest people will, in the tail of the herd that was being shown through, and he at once began to say things which interested me. As he talked along, softly, pleasantly, flowingly, he seemed to drift away imperceptibly out of this world and time, and into some remote era and old forgotten country; and so he gradually wove such a spell about me that I seemed to move among the specters and shadows and dust and mold of a gray antiquity, holding speech with a relic of it!"

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier


One of the coolest things we saw in Athens was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

This monument is located at the foot of the Parliament building in Athens.

It is the equivalent of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC, USA. Guarded by two Greek soldiers 24/7, it is a really solemn and awesome thing to see throughout the day as you walk past. The most intriguing thing about it is that it is not hidden away in a sense the way the Tomb is at Arlington, it is literally in the middle of the city and can be seen as you walk by every day.

I loved the experience of seeing it so many times a day because you really come to understand the idea of it being under guard 24/7. At some points in the day, there was as many as a hundred tourists to see the changing of the guard. But at one point I walked by at 11 at night, and the changing of the guard went on the exact same way as it did to the large audience. It was really cool to see.

The links below are two videos.
The first shows the entire ceremony of the changing of the guard which occurs every hour on the hour.
The second shows the Ceremonial Steps that the guards take every half hour during their "shift".


Changing of the Guard

Steps


Hope you enjoy them!

Patrick
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