Taking it outside...

These are pictures from the grounds outside the museum. There are quite a few headless statues, lots of graves and headstones, and a bunch of other random items.

The pineapple is quite popular on headstones.  Not quite sure why.

Grave excavations (we think).

A storage area with a bunch of stuff.

This is from Zeus' sanctuary.

Really cool metal doors.

I tried all day to get a good shot of the mountain.  It was too hazy, though.

After we finished at the museum, we walked down the hill to the excavation park.  They have a pamphlet with a map and description of the park, and it was also really nice to have signs at each location to tell us what we were looking at.

Sanctuary of Demeter

Sanctuary of Demeter

Statue and head in the Sanctuary of Demeter

Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos.  Do you recognize the statue and eagle from the museum?  These are replicas, but placed where they were found during excavation.  Cool, huh?

Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos

On the bridge between the Sanctuaries of Zeus Hypsistos and Isis

Aubree and Chris!

Mike and Nick Bob!

Sanctuary of Isis

Sanctuary of Isis

Steps leading to the temple in the Sanctuary of Isis

Copy of the statue Aphrodite Hypolympidia in its recess at the Sanctuary of Isis

The Sanctuary of Isis was built atop sacred hot springs.

Can you imagine how this would have looked with all the columns?

 I bought a book about the archeological site and museum, so don't think I'm so awesome for remembering all the names and locations!  I still have more to add, so stay tuned!

More pictures from the museum

The basement of the museum is a learning center.  There is a lot of information on how people lived, the tools they used, and their money.

Random body parts that have been excavated.

Decorative pieces.

MONEY!!!



More Money - including a coin with Alexander the Great's head.



Tools.

Map of Ancient Macedonia.  The giant lake to the left of the outline is Ohrid.

More tools!!!

Example of how the baths were constructed.

Pipes and a model of the aquaduct.

This is the top floor of the museum.  It held more important and complete pieces.  It was also nice to have the natural light, as flash photography was prohibited in the whole museum.

Floor mosaic  - can you guess whose head is in the middle?

Chris playing the steam organ.

Nick playing the steam organ.

Headstone of a family.

So much pretty jewelry!

Where have you seen these before?

Ssshhhh!  I'm sleeping!

A picture of a picture of Mount Olympus!

Little figurines

The elevations of Mount Olympus and Dion.

Dion and Mount Olympus - Part 1

We weren't able to go to Athens after Christmas, which was kind of a bummer, because the guy that told us we could use his house never got back to Mike, and a hotel for several days was too much.  So, we decided to have a super laid back trip and visit Thessaloniki and Mount Olympus.  We left on Thursday and had a really nice drive into Greece.  We haven't had any snow in Skopje this year, but there was a lot on the ground on our drive down.  Thankfully it was just out in the fields and not on the road.  When we arrived, we went to the mall to eat at TGIFridays, wandered a bit and got Aubs a coat at H&M, and then went bowling.  They have an American style bowling alley.  We had a lot of fun playing 2 games, then went to check into the hotel.  It's one we've stayed at before, and the only thing that I hate about hotels over here is that we have to split up into 2 rooms.  They are very strict about that.  After kicking back for a couple hours, we headed back to the mall to get dinner.  KFC this time.  I know, I know.  We go to a foreign country, and only eat American food.  But that's one of the reasons we go.  Can you seriously see Mike eating anything Greek?  I would have gotten a gyro, but me and lamb don't really work well together.  After dinner we headed to the store to purchase breakfast stuffs.  The hotel offers a breakfast, but it consists of lunch meats and cheese and some other stuff the kids won't eat.  So we bought cereal and juice boxes.
Friday morning it was supposed to be raining, but we lucked out!  The ride to from Thess to Dion was just over an hour on a toll road.  Nice, smooth sailing.  Here's a shot of Mount Olympus I took out the car window.

We quickly found the museum and paid for admission to it and the archeological park where they found all the artifacts displayed.  Chris is really into Percy Jackson, and he and Aubree have both studied Greek mythology, so it was fun for them to be able to tell us about the different statues we saw of gods.  It was also nice to be somewhere that actually labeled things, so we were able to wander and enjoy and actually know what things were without having a tour guide.  Here are some pictures from the museum:

Isis

Statue of Zeus