Acropolis Museum for KIDS ! (Gr)

Ξενάγηση στο Μουσείο Ακρόπολης για παιδάκια

Μετά από επιτυχημένες ξεναγήσεις στο Μουσείο της Ακρόπολης στα Αγγλικά, Γερμανικά, Γαλλικά, και Ελληνικά για μεγάλους και

εφήβους, μας ζήτησαν να οργανώσουμε μία ξενάγηση για παιδάκια… και επειδή εμείς χατήρι δεν χαλάμε, είμαστε έτοιμοι.

Λοιπόν την Κυριακή 9/1/11, σας περιμένουμε 11.45 μέσα στην είσοδο του Μουσείου. Η ξενάγηση θα είναι σχεδιασμένη ειδικά για παιδάκια από 6 – 8 με 9 χρόνων, θα διαρκέσει 1 με 1,5 ώρα και θα είναι στα Ελληνικά.

Τα παιδιά μέχρι 18 ετών δεν πληρώνουν εισιτήριο εισόδου στο Μουσείο. 

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Dearest friends,
CHRONIA POLLA!
 
After the successful Acropolis Museum guided tours we have organized for teenagers, foreigners, in French, in German, in English, in Greek, we are now organizing a guided tour for little ones (6 – 8 or 9 year-olds) in Greek!
 The tour will last 1-1.5 hours, because it has been planned especially for kids and we don’t want to exhaust them.
It will take place on Sunday, 9th January and the appointment is at 11.45 at the entrance.
If you are interested, contact us for details.
Kids up to the age of 18 do not pay entrance fee !
 We are also planning especially designed tours for kids in other languages, along with other activities that you will love for sure!!!

 

 

Pandora’s Box

Dearest friends and colleagues,

Let us tell you a myth from the Greek Mythology and let you make your analogies:

When Pandora opened her box, a box that Zeus had given her with the advice not to open it because that would lead to trouble for all the people, we know what happened: misfortune, pain, misery, trouble, tears, all streamed out of the box and went to live with the people.
Zeus had taken his revenge from humans, since they had discovered the fire and had managed to become as strong as he was.

*

However, Zeus had  included something positive in the box:

HOPE !

That’s why people, no matter how tough the times are, always keep their hopes for better days and that gives them courage to overcome the difficulties

 

CHRISTMAS WISHES

Dearest friends,
 
The weather has finally become more “christmasy” and we can hope for a more suitable to the season atmosphere.
 Of course, this year Christmas will be somehow hectic and” tight”, given all the recent developments in the country, but we must try to keep our spirits high and return to habits and practices that we might have neglected the last years. One of them is our home and the company of our close friends and family. In the past we used to focus on going out on holidays, eating out with friends, living OUT in general. Now, with the finacial difficulties we are all encountering, this has got to change, but…you know what? It’s not necessarily bad-or should I say, it’s a lot better! This is our chance to “hug” our own people again, to spend more quality time with them, to listen to them, visit them or have them visit us, cook together and eat simple and delicious food seated around large tables-or even squeezed around small tables.This is what we all grew up with, this is what our parents used to do, these are our memories-people gathered around tables! Getting together is back! Let’s all enjoy it and let us not nag and complain about the things we can’t afford anymore. We can gain our integrity and our “soul mates” back-think how important this is!
 
So, we wish you all, Greek and foreign, crisis-affected and non-affected,
 a very happy holiday, a better New Year and health and happiness to all of you.
 
We will continue to inform you on a daily basis about everything going on in Athens these days.
We are working on  lots of activities and events in the new year, after the turmoil of the feasts and bazaars and trips and…and….
One of them is a visit to the theatre (!), a Greek mythology group in English, (you know we already have one in French, don’t you?), Greek dance classes, visits to sites and museums, familiarisation with flavours from all over Greece, and a lot more–surprises as well!
 
So brace up for all that-we guarantee you will love them.
 
Warmest hugs and kisses to all of you.

Greek Mythology for Children in French

We have always liked telling stories.

We used to tell our children stories when they were little, but at the age of 16 and 19 they are the ones that tell us stories (usually HORROR ones).To cover our need for story- telling, we have chosen our foreign friends who seem to appreciate them greatly. Except for adults, children seem to be keen on Greek Mythology and the Greek culture in general; therefore we have decided to organize a group for children at a similar age. The children should have an interest in Greek culture because, when we meet, we will tell stories, learn Greek traditional songs, and draw.

Daidalos and Ikaros

Knowledge of Greek is not a must, since the languages spoken will be French or English.

Dear friends,
We suggest the first group to have 10 little ones aged 6-11. We think that the number guarantees their full participation without creating chaos.The program will be adapted to the interests of each age group.We have very ambitious plans for the contents of the groups that stretch from story- telling to dancing, singing, outings, drawing,Greek cooking, etc. Let’s all work to make our dream come true! More groups will follow of different ages.

Please feel free to ask for details on:

http://www.livinlovin.gr/contact/

or:

Katerina Tsitsipi

Aristotelis Makris

Nea Erythrea, Athens – Greece

tel./fax: +30-210-8077073

cell: 693-7073699

e-mail: info@livinlovin.gr



The first group this year will be in French. The next one will be in English


CORNUCOPIA

To your surprise, today we are going to talk to you about a word in English that comes from Latin that comes from Greek!!!

The word is CORNUCOPIA, which in English means “HORN OF PLENTY». The roots of the word are CORNU (horn) and COPIA (plenty), but the amusing part is the myth behind it!

Well, dear friends, you may know Zeus, who was God of all Gods. When Zeus was born, his mother Rea hid him in a cave in Crete (Ideon Andron, you can visit it today) to save him from his father Kronus , who had the habit of eating his children as soon as they were born in order to protect his throne (hmmmm!). His mother had enough already, so she hid little Zeus there, asked a goat, Amalthea, to feed him with her milk and appointed a group of warriors, the Kourites, to bang their spears on their shields every time little Zeus cried, so that Kronus wouldn’t hear. Surrounded by all that crowd little Zeus grew and grew, until one day, while playing with Amalthea, he broke one of her horns – you get really strong if you drink goat’s milk, you know! Poor Amalthea was very distressed, so Zeus promised her that the broken horn would always be full of all the goods she desired.

Later on, in Roman mythology, the horn became the symbol of goddess Copia, the personification of plenty and nowadays it is used to refer to an abundance of something!

The moral (-s) of this story are: drink goat’s milk, it’s good for you.

Don’t eat your children; it’s bad for you and nature.

The (true) story of EUROPE !!

Today we’ll tell you a story that will interest you greatly, since it deals with the continent we live on, Europe. Do you happen to know who Europe was??? Europe, dear friends, was a pretty Phoenician princess, daughter of Agenor and Telephasa. She was playing with her friends one day and Zeus saw her. He was so struck by her beauty that he decided to take her for himself, given the fact that he was a god who loved women. He turned himself into a beautiful white bull and swam to the shore of Asia where Europe and her friends were. When the girls saw him they all fell for him, but he bent in front of Europe and she climbed on his back. He then started swimming very fast and he took her from Phoenicia to Crete, to the same cave where he was born. This is where he disclosed his real identity to her.

Zeus’s love for Europe was so big that he gave her three presents: Talos (the bronze giant), Laelaps – a hunting dog, and the magic javelin that always hit the focused target. However, Zeus lost interest after a while and he married Europe to Asterion, the king of stars. (Men!!!!)

The story of Zeus and Europe has inspired many artists {*painting by: Tiziano (1477-1576)} through time.

Even the 2 euro coin now has an image of Europe’s abduction from Zeus as a bull.

One more thing about the etymology of the word Europe: one theory suggests that it comes from the word “Ευρυ” in Greek which means “broad” and “οπ”/οπτ” meaning “eye”, therefore Europe means “wide gazing”, someone who sees things in perspective.

Now you know!

“Ariadne’s clue”

small_Θησέας σκοτώνει το Μινώταυρο 2.jpg

Did you know the expression “Ariadne’s clue” ?

Well, Ariadne was King Minos`of  Crete daughter  who fell in love with   Theseus the son of the 623px-Cretan-labyrinth-round2.svgking of Athens,  Aegeas. Prince Theseus went to Crete to kill the Minotaur who had killed lots of Athens’ finest young men and women. This happened as a penalty from Crete to Athens after the Athenians had lost a war. According to this penalty, Athenians had to send every nine years 14 of their finest young people (seven boys and seven girls) to Crete to be eaten by the Minotaur. Many had tried to kill the monster, but in vain because he was hiding in the Labyrinth and there was no way out of  it. Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of string, he tied one end at the entrance and took it with him. So, after killing the Minotaur he was able to find his way out and  save himself  and the other young people. He left the expression “Ariadne’s clue” for us to use when…we have no clue!!

Who was the first robot in human history ?

talosSome years ago, while playing “Trivial Pursuit” with friends, we came across a question: Who was the first robot in human history? We missed that question because we didn’t think of Talos! So, our story today is about him.

TALOS was a man of brass made by Hephaestus. He was given to King Minos and his duty was to patrol   the island of Crete three times a day. Whenever strangers approached, he made himself red-hot in fire and killed them when they landed. He had only one vein, which ran from the head to the ankles and was closed with a nail. When the Argonauts tried to approach Crete he threw stones at them but Medea, by her magic powers took the nail out of his vein and caused him to bleed to death.

Like all myths, the myth of Talos symbolizes a real event, which is the development of metallurgy in the pre-historic-Minoan years. People then had reached such a high level that they had created in their minds a metal hero who protected them.

Don’t we do the same these days?

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

HYGEIA (ΥΓΕΙΑ)

DID YOU KNOW…

where the greeting “ghia sou” comes from? Well, it comes from the name of the Greek goddess HYGEIA {ΥΓΕΙΑ}, which means “health”. Hygeia was the daughter and attendant of the medicine-god ASKLEPIOS. She had two sisters, Panakeia (all-cure) and Iaso (remedy). Her opposites were the Nosoi (Diseases). In classical sculpture she was represented holding a large serpent in her arms.

Now you see what we really mean when we say ‘ghia sou” and “ghia mas”and “me ghia” when someone is wearing something new? We are wishing “good health”

why is Athens called Athens ??

Today we are going to tell you about the myth of Athena and how she became the patron goddess of Athens. Both she and Poseidon wanted to be the protector god of the city, so the king of Athens Kekrops decided to offer it to whoever gave the city the most useful gift. Poseidon hit a rock with his trident and, AMAZING ….a water fountain sprang from it! Only that …the water was from the sea, salty, therefore quite useless. With his second stroke, he offered a beautiful horse! Next was Athena` s turn: she offers them an olive tree, a much more useful gift, so it is decided to dedicate the city to her.  The Parthenon was dedicated and named after her and the most important celebration of Athens was the Panathenea , which was held every four years. During this celebration the finest young women of the city marched from Elefsina to the Acropolis of Athens, carrying a veil that they had woven during those years to wrap around the huge gold and ivory statue of the saint.

We can now understand better why we see so many olive trees in Greece, can`t we? Olive trees have always been considered blessed since they provide wood, oil, olives, even stones or pits were used for heating during hard times. Speaking of which, do you know where to find the biggest selection of olives in Athens? At the central market near Omonia (Athena’s street, by the way) where you will be able to choose the kind you prefer, if you can make up your mind, which we can never do. Armodiou is the name of the street and you can’t miss it. The nutritional value of olive oil and olives is countless, but this can be the subject of another article.