No One I Know Will Ever Have Fun At The Acropolis...

Wish & myself recreate 'Creation of Adam' - not really Greek but...

Well, you’ve no doubt heard of the Fashion Police and all sorts of variations on a theme but I’m here to tell you, the No Fun Police are alive and well at the Acropolis..!!

But before we delve into that, did you know that the Acropolis means ‘highest part of the city’..? I thought that the Acropolis was the name of the building, mostly due to the printed image that accompanies the name Acropolis...! No, that’s the Parthenon – although I knew the Parthenon existed, I expected it to be standing next to the Acropolis!! Not to be! Most towns/cities in Greece have an Acropolis but Athens definitely has the ‘famous’ one. It’s the place in the city where everyone evacuates to in time of invasion. The ancient Athenians were once being invaded by the Turks (from memory) & the Turks had basically run out of bullets so the Athenians started throwing down their own supply of bullets in order to stop the Turks from melting down statues to make more bullets! Crazy!

Wish & I picturing how Ancient Greeks would have reacted on Opening Night of a new play at the Theatre Of Dionysus.

Along the way up the Acropolis there is quite a number of sights to see and none that affected me more than the Theatre Of Dionysus, the God of Wine. It was this small amphitheatre that was mostly intact and a place where some of the first plays by Socrates, Plato, Euripides and the like were performed. I was able to sit on ancient seats where the first audiences watched the industry I now work in get started – and I’ll admit, it was quite humbling, even more so by the fact I was sitting at such a place because of the industry that was created there...!! Granted, there has always been types of theatre throughout many cultures & periods of history but the Greeks are the ones who made theatre ‘public’ & it’s widely thought & taught as the beginning of it all. It was quite an interesting feeling just to sit there and ponder and ‘feel’...

Hard to tell but this is Wish & I doing the Dr. Ziodberg "whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop" run around from Futurama...! Yes, we're idiots!

Once at the top of the Acrop we ran into a bunch of the Argy’s which now swelled our numbers to around 15 or so, quite a big group but not enough to rival some of the organised tour groups that were there but we were the only ones who were in trouble... Stationed along the climb and then all around the Parthenon were what appeared to be volunteer ‘guards’, urging you not to touch things, to stay inside the barriers etc. As is the Tango way, when ever the kids are out & about, at a tourist site or not, they’ll take photos of themselves in Tango poses. Not in any costume or show make-up, just them doing their things in various world locations. It seems to be like their ‘standard look’ that everyone has... you know the one that you do everywhere...? I’m quite lucky in that I have a number of various ‘looks’ that I can call upon but I definitely have my favourites..!!

Socrates prison.

Anyhoo, it would appear as if Tango poses are a big no-no whilst atop the Acropolis... As are any number of other poses! It’s not like there were tripods set up, that the kids were dressed in elaborate costumes – that we were doing a professional shoot. We were just being tourists doing our thing... but apparently not..!! The first we were aware of our wrong doing was hearing a whistle blowing (something we’d heard throughout the day) & assuming it wasn’t for us as we weren’t touching or climbing on anything, we carried on as we were... Then the whistling became shriller as another joined & became more urgent and voices were heard... loud yelling voices... We of course stopped and turned to see who was about to cop it, only to find two older Greek women baring down on us... One covering our left flank, one our right... Our only means of escape was to jump a chain barrier and flee through the Parthenon....!!!

Vicki, myself, Nelson, Jolly y Cristan strike a pose!

The first one who reached us stopped & commenced panting for breath, moving her arms in the ‘stop/cut/no more bets’ motion (obviously the first whistle blower & chase giver – even though we’d been stationary the whole time!!) The 2nd lady stopped running and approached us, possibly cautiously, and stated, quite clearly, “No funny. Only serious.” Our obviously ‘What?” expressions only caused her to repeat it again... The Argy’s, thinking we’d be able to set the record straight, turned to us and asked “Que pasa...?” (What happened..?) Now I can’t speak for Dan, Toni, Wishy, Lynda or Jacq (the English speakers amongst the group) but my mind was searching all files to interpret what was being told to us... Unable to come up with a match I uttered “No se!” (Don’t know) and the others shrugged their shoulders, shook their heads and looked on quizzically... Then the Argy’s did something that is at the core of why I love them as I do – having played dumb & put the “I speaka no English” card on the table, sensing no immediate danger or threat, they defiantly re-posed and started taking more photos... Which promptly stopped when both women blasted us on their whistles, causing us all, & those around us, to cover our ears with our hands!!

“No funny. Only serious” was basically screamed at us now, from both flanks & it finally dawned on us... We weren’t allowed to take ‘posed’ photos... only ‘tourist’ photos... The Argy’s were now looking at us for some kind of explanation to which we all started throwing out Spanish phrases such as “Nada Tango mas” (No more Tango), “Pare! Pare!” (Stop! Stop!), “Chica habla ‘nada mas’” (She says ‘no more’) This also involved us moving our hand in front of our face to take away the ‘happy’ face & replace it with a ‘sad’ face...

No more fun for you...!

Well, being one who enjoys instigating something in the name of humour if I can (though never through violence) and to also push the boundaries a little (as long as no one could get arrested or shot) and making up a huge part of why I get along with those on tour as I do - we all stopped as one, stood in a line (as neutral as possible) and put the most blank, un-fun expression on our face as we could whilst one of the bunch took a photo... And it was allowed...!! The two ladies watched us sternly, causing us to only pose for more ‘No funny’ photos before they were satisfied that we’d gotten the message and wondered off, stern glances thrown our way with their hands still itching to grab their whistles and blast us again...!!

The Parthenon which is on top of the Acropolis..!

Lesson learnt, we carried on around the Acropolis, sometimes even posing for a photo with actual smiles but not hugging or interacting... Until it had become too much to bear and another Tango pose was done... I kid you not, the same, original lady came bearing down on us yelling & whistling!! She had been following us for at least half an hour (that’s how good we’d been before we broke rank!) We immediately did our en mass ‘No Fun’ pose and she stopped, still watching us but advancing no more... her point proved... the fear instilled...

If only she could see some of the photos taken before she discovered us...

My desk (that has no glass!) and my view of the stage! (this was actually loaded up by mistake...!)