“What a world of ruined sculpture was about us! Set up in rows—stacked up in piles—scattered broadcast over the wide area of the Acropolis—were hundreds of crippled statues of all sizes and of the most exquisite workmanship; and vast fragments of marble that once belonged to the entablatures, covered with bas-reliefs representing battles and sieges, ships of war with three and four tiers of oars, pageants and processions—everything one could think of. History says that the temples of the Acropolis were filled with the noblest works of Praxiteles and Phidias, and of many a great master in sculpture besides—and surely these elegant fragments attest it.”
Mark Twain, in his “Innocents Abroad” wrote the above quote when describing Athens. I predict Greece will probably be a bit different from Nepal, but I am excited for the change except for the difference in prices. (My dollar will not be going as far once I get to Europe.) It also seems fitting that as I move from the Eastern to the Western world, I start at the cradle of western civilization.