Athens is a small but vibrant city with an eclectic group of residents (one guy told me that I should have
"brought some of that good Oregon weed") and the distinction of having been home to a surprisingly vibrant music scene including R.E.M. and the B52's. We also found a lovely art museum on the university campus which just so happened to be showing a documentary film about an art heist (including an invaluable painting by Vermeer) that occurred in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (which Isaiah has been to). The biggest art heist in U.S. history, this crime deeply affected many different lives and made for a fascinating story.
The characters involved were so unique that they seemed to be just that; characters-famed Art Detective Harold Smith (so badly riddled with skin cancer from sun exposing "medical treatments" in his Army days he wore an eye patch and a prosthetic nose); "Turbocharger" (a hyper manic criminal-turned-informant who believes the IRA is involved in the caper...which amazing does seem like a possibility) and a museum docent so deeply in love with Mrs. Gardner's legacy that he wept over her ghost speaking to him as a child that his destiny was to work in the museum. Sadly, Harold Smith did not live to see the outcome and the artwork is still missing with a $5 million dollar reward still promised for it's safe return.
The museum itself was intimate but well put together, featuring mostly unknowns with a few surprises thrown in.
Little River Canyon
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