“But when Apollo’s coming had dispossessed Earth’s daughter, Themis, of the holy oracles, her mother raised a brood of nightly phantoms seen in dreams, telling to many a mortal wight, as he lay asleep in the darkness, what has been and yet shall be.”
~ ‘Iphigenia Among the Tauri’ by Euripides (Edward P. Coleridge translation. GB5 - p. 422)
Ever since I started reading the Great Books series, I’ve been thinking that I should visit Greece someday. Well, I’ve wanted to visit Greece since childhood, especially Patmos and Corinth. Now, my list of places to visit has gone beyond the New Testament places. I had a chance to visit the Parthenon in Nashville last month, and it was magical. It was like being transported to ancient Greece, like visiting Greece without having to visit Greece. It was good to know that Nashville is called the Athens of the South. It made me think of other places in North America that make one feel like being in Europe. Montreal and Solvang came to my mind. I went to Montreal a couple of times last year, and it always felt like I was visiting a city in France. A friend of mine visited Solvang recently, and that reminded me of our visits to Solvang in the past and the feeling of being in Europe. It is actually great to experience a place without being there.