Random photo: Epidaurus
I have tons of photos, several thousand of which are online here. I think I should do something with them.
I'm going to start a regular feature called Random Photo, in which I pick one photograph and blog about the scene it depicts. All of my photos currently online are travel-related, and most of those have some kind of architectural element as the focus.
I'm doing this partly to encourage myself to blog on a regular basis. If there's no particular topic I want to blog about, I can just pick a photo and describe it.
The picture at right is of the amphitheater at Epidaurus, Greece; I visited there in November 2004.
The amphitheater was constructed in the 4th century BC and is completely intact. It seats around 14,000 people and is still used for summer theater productions today. As the photo shows, it's located atop a mountain with a spectacular view behind the stage; Epidaurus is in a fairly isolated location (which may explain why it's intact).
The amphitheater is famous for its remarkable acoustics; a person standing in the center of the stage can be heard in a whisper all the way to the back row of the nosebleed seats. The tour guide demonstrated the acoustics by whispering as I stood where this photo was taken.
I could hear every word she said.
After I climbed down the stairs from this spot, I stood in the exact center of the stage (marked by the small white dot at center stage). My traveling companion stood at the top of the stairs and told me to say something. I began reciting "The Tyger" by William Blake (which was the first thing that popped into my head).
With the first syllable, I had the strangest sensation -- I did not feel like I was outdoors anymore. The feeling is difficult to describe exactly, but it felt as if air pressed against my face with every syllable. I could feel each sound bounce back down and hit my skin, and I could hear no other sounds from the people around me. It was as if my head were inside a metal drum.
I literally felt the word "Tiger" slap me in the face.
Here's a larger version of the same shot.