Paestum:

Palmer and I went on a 3 day field trip to an ancient Greek village last week. The Brownies from the school were going on a camping trip that weekend, so I agreed to drive one of the dads (who was going on the field trip, and also camping with his daughter) down there, and drop him off at the campsite on the way back (to meet up with his family).

Wednesday, Palmer rode the regular school bus to school, and the class left at about 9:00 for the 5 hour drive. The other dad (Mike) and I left at about 10:00, to meet up with them at the temple complex. We ended up getting a little lost on the way, but still arrived a few minutes before the bus. We all had gelato, then walked through the temple complex. The temples down there are about 2500 years old, and are among the oldest known Greek temples. We took a few pics, but not nearly enough.

The kids played at the beach for a couple of hours, getting completely covered in sand. The dads were enlisted to hose the kids off with cold water before tromping back into the hotel to get ready for dinner. Much shivering, screaming,  and hilarity ensued.

That night, we had dinner at the kids hotel, and thus began the festival called “The Stuffing of the Chaperones”. The kids meals were reasonably sized, typically with 2 courses and a dessert. The adults meals, on the other hand… mamma mia!

These meals get their own paragraph. Lunches and dinners both started with pasta. Lots of pasta. You’d think the waitstaff were paid by the noodle. After the pasta dishes were cleared, they’d bring a salad cart around. Pretty simple salads, grated carrots, quartered tomatoes, lettuce, and some sorts of grilled veggies – zucchini and eggplant, I think. Followed by the main course – usually a meat, but once it was another pasta dish. Plenty of bread and wine accompanied the meal. Dessert and coffee after every meal. I’m feeling full just typing all of that!

The 3rd grade classes are very full this year, so there wasn’t room in the hotel for all of the adults. We had to stay at a hotel down the street, about 1/4 mile away. Let me tell you, it really sucked. You’ll know from previous blog postings that I’m not big on inline images; please forgive me for this one indulgence:

Yeah, those are the guest rooms on the far side of the pool. About 200 yards behind those buildings (toward the sunset) is the beach. Again, it really sucked. Let us speak no more of it.

The next day, we went and toured another Greek village, Velia (that’s the Italian name for it – the Greek name is Elea). Pretty amazing tour, you can still see most of the buildings. The kids spotted a live bullfrog in one of the ceremonial wells on the tour. The museum at the top of the hill is pretty cool, they have some glass vases from 2500 years ago there; I didn’t even know that the Greeks knew about glass!

Afterward, we had lunch at the kids hotel, then the kids got to spend their tourist money buying trinkets, then back to the beach for a couple of hours, then hose the kids off again and get ready for dinner.

After dinner, we went back down to the temples for gelato, and cool pics of the temples all lit up at night.

Next day, the adults checked out of our hotel, then went to join the kids for a trip to the museum, followed by a visit to a buffalo mozzarella place. I hesitate to call it a store (even though they had a store), because they make the cheese there; but I hesitate to call it a “cheese factory” because that just sounds weird. They had buffalos, cheese, and a store. Kids got their pics taken with buffalos, adults got to buy cheese straight from the “factory”.

Next came yet another meal, then the drive back. I dropped Mike and his daughter off on the way by the campground, then drove home by myself (Palmer chose to ride the bus back).

Pretty cool trip, interesting to see how Cori enjoys it next year.