The Amazing Matta.....

Matta is a renaissance woman and by that I mean that she excels in multiple fields!  She spent her working life at a job she hated (teaching French) while dreaming about the job she desired (being an artist) and now that she is retired, she creates:  She paints. She makes jewelry out of metals and beads and buttons and other "stuff".  She works with glass.  She makes mosaics.  She binds books.  She weaves.  She makes pottery.  She's a photographer.  She writes poetry.  She cooks.  She's filled with historical knowledge.  And she's a treasury of completely useless information.  In the short time I have been here, I've come to realize that there is nothing she can't do.  She can even walk in two directions at the same time.  She's amazing!!!

Today she took me to see an exhibit of erotic ancient Greek art (and I think there may have been some Roman artifacts) at the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art.  I didn't even bother to read the descriptions and information posted by the museum as Matta was able to tell me all about everything herself!  There were signs posted that forbade the taking of pictures, but Matta is also a thief and she managed to snap a few off.  Here's one of a charming little wind chimes that she took.

The exhibit really was interesting and I learned all about Aphrodite and her son Eros.  My sister likes to say that I have huge gaps in my musical knowledge as I've never heard of many the groups/singers that she admires and claims are world popular.  I also have huge gaps in other areas as well.  For example, I know nothing about Greek or Roman mythology and very little about history.  (On the other hand, I can answer every question ever asked relating to food on Jeopardy!)  Seeing the stories of Eros illustrated on ancient vases and in marble groupings and paintings, etc.... really was fascinating!  And then there were the rooms upstairs, where children under the age of 16 had to be accompanied by an adult.  Those rooms were interesting as well!

We were joined at the museum by Popi, a friend of Matta's, and after we finished with the exhibit, we went for lunch at a street cafe where we shared a Greek salad and a large plate of souvlaki (I would post a picture but unfortunately, it didn't sit on the plate long enough to be photographed!)

After lunch, Matta took me to a section of town filled with shops and the plan (or so I thought) was to go shopping.  But Matta's idea of shopping is to walk briskly by every shop of interest without a glance.  And everytime I stopped to look at something, Matta would ask, "What is this?  What are you going to do with this?  Is your husband having a lot of money?"  I quickly realized that Matta had to be dumped somewhere or nothing was going to be accomplished.  As I was trying to devise a plan, Matta looked at her watch and announced that it was time for her to head over for her lecture on bookbinding so she would have to leave me with her friend, Popi, who would take me home.

It's great how things work out!  Popi and I had an interesting time together.  Popi understands English but can't speak it.  She does speak French, however.  I understand French, but can't speak it.  So there we were, Popi and I, shopping together in downtown Athens; Popi addressing me in French and me responding in English.  It worked out great!  And Popi is the complete shopping opposite of Matta.  If I walked by a shop without going in, Popi would say, "Hey!  Did you see this?  Don't you think this might make a good gift?"

Tomorrow, Matta is taking me here (see photo below).  Can anyone tell me what this structure is?