Friday began early as we headed towards Delphi with a stop at the Friendly Stop to stretch our legs from this bus and take an obligatory phone booth picture before heading on to Delphi where Dimitri and Shirley were setting the agenda as Shirley wondered if there would be photographs so a group picture was in order involving Shirley, Margaret, Clayton, Trevor, Lily, Danny, Sarah, Jane, Ben, Dimitri and Suzanne as we looked out at the view of the surrounding mountains before making our way to the museum where we first saw a friendly Sphinx as our guide explained this frieze and these pieces of walls where we saw some original color preserved as we alternated between sphinx and frieze and details before returning to the Sphinx and the maiden with come final sphinx photos before we entered the room with the twins among other remarkable pieces including the horses that Apollo, his mother and his sister Athena rode on with this picture showing the excitement at finding the twins as we moved on to see this fancy column of goddesses and the lion down spout with friezes and more down spouts that led into the room of statues of the gods

with details about the family votive offering and more gods

and the view across the gallery. Next we saw this piece that some of us thought had been atop a column though the tour guide disagreed and after a few more tops of columns and bottoms of columns and another god and another frieze we came to the charioteer who we remembered from the visit to the museum in 1999

and saw a wonderful demonstration of his horse (or the few pieces remaining)

Back outside we were ready to explore the sight and first saw this mosaic before looking out at the gymnasium as we made our way into the sacred ground and past a few fragments as we saw the view into the distance and our path with the gymnasium below before we came to the treasury of the Athenians as we were overlooking the reservoir below. We admired the wall and its markings as we neared the Athenian treasury which was documented as we approached the front view and saw how small the entrance was as we glimpsed our first view of the temple of Apollo even as we walked past a mound to the suitably noted Rock of the Sibyl even as Apollo's temple loomed as did the mountains in the distance. So, we kept walking past columns and structures and signage as we made our way through it all to the altar of Apollo sign and caught an oversight of the temple that we could see from many views

as the people moved below we were struck by the temple and its setting

before we came to the amphitheater where Sarah and Suzanne Jane Sarah and Suzanne Sarah, Suzanne and Jane Ben, Sarah, Suzanne and Jane and finally all 5 of us posed for many photos before heading to the agora (no phobia here) to see the many shops that stood there

and this pillar in the midst of the structures standing. After recording the directions our guide presented a copy of her book to Dimitri and Danny which they accepted on behalf of the program in Hellenic Studies.

We got back on the bus and went up to Mount Parnassas where at this ski resort with the large outdoor chess set we had this remarkable lunch with Mrs. Kertsikoff.

Back on the bus, Ben napped as we headed to the Hosios Loukas Monastery arriving a bit late but still able to see the outside structures and a quick view of what was inside

before returning to the outside where Danny gave us background on the buildings we were seeing as Lily and Dimitri kept the monk busy so that our group could continue to receive Danny's wisdom about the buildings and setting as he explained and we got the context even as Ben and Jane admired the growths on the ground among some of the family feet and I recorded the window where the size of panes was limited by their ability to roll glass in bigger sizes as the setting continued to amaze us including the wall down and the ladder up amongst the pathways before we saw the overview and the produce of this market not to mention its patriarch who invited Jane to sit on the bench made from a tree trunk as we recorded Suzanne's purchases said good bye to the monastery noting that we had overstayed our 15 minutes of welcome and then with one final photo called it a day.