The Theater of Epidaurus.

That morning, we left Nafplio for our next destination, the impressive Theater of Epidaurus.

We briefly entered the museum, where Vicky gave us a five minute rundown of Greek medical practice to compliment the overview she had given us on the bus, and we studied some maps and artifacts before heading to the real reason we had come to this location, the Theater itself.

The Theater of Epidaurus is a huge and imposing structure, approaching as we did from where the actors would have approached, we were given the opportunity to imagine for a moment ourselves as actors in a traditional Greek tragedy. It was capable of comfortably containing an audience of over 14,000 after it was expanded.

It is in nearly perfect condition and the acoustics, which the theater was designed to carry as best as possible, are amazing. The stage is designed with three sweet spots, the center of which would almost always contain the most important actor. This primary spot would carry their voice to literally every seat in the house. Sitting on the very top of 55 rows, I could easily hear Vicky speaking in a conversational tone to four Italian students standing a mere 4 meters or so on the stage. Ironically, the theater's acoustics actually improve as it fills, because it was designed so that as the basin filled with hot air the voices of the actors would be carried along the top of this warm air cushion, easing their travel to the top of the theater.

It was a very cool place for anyone interested in drama, and I enjoyed the stop a great deal.

On the way back to the bus, I was admiring another facet of the stop I enjoyed, one of the many stylish and well-proportioned students from Italy who was wandering back towards her bus, when my mother spun and pointed to me with an exclamation "Y'know, you could do this!"

My concentration completely fuzzled and momentarily disconcerted, not having yet realized that she was referring to leading guided tours overseas, I affected the best Eddie Izzard voice I could and said in a startled tone "Wot, stare at Italian girls all day?"

She laughed. I said "Sure, when do I start?"

She shook her head in an exasperated way and pointed out that the Italian boys were also pretty, but said "They're really just eye candy." Then she began to press home her point--that I have the knacks of a storyteller and teacher strong enough to make use of them in the guiding sense.

I didn't admit to her at the time just how reasonable and attractive the idea seemed. . .