Day 9: Am I An Archeologist?

Today on our field trip I felt like Blake Lively in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (for all you normal people that aren't Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants fans, she went out to Egypt for an Archeological dig intern-type thing for the summer). Our group went to two different ancient ruin sites and it took us all day long--who knew it'd be so exhausting studying old bricks and artifacts? I could have sworn I was an Archeologist for the day. The trip was mind-blowing (I'm sensing that that happens a lot in Italy when you're surrounded by this much history). I could not believe that I was walking right where someone else did 2000 years ago. For real? That's prettttty awesome.

The first trip was to Ostia Antica -- a city built before Rome. It's right to the west of Rome and on the Tiber river. All of the structures, mosaic floors and columns are original to the town they created back in that time.

Kasi and I outside a Cafe before we went to Ostia Antica. I love the orange/teracotta building color that is all over Italy.

Smart Cars are EVERYWHERE! Their so small!!

Becca and I creeping in an old doorway to a family's tomb

The mosaic tiles are still intact--hard to believe, but true!

This is Ashley, a.k.a. Cherry Blossom, our GTA.

The Romans must have been taller back then... pretty high doorways (or maybe I'm just short!)

There were a ton of tour groups there also, and all of them had matching yellow shirts and bright orange hats. I thought it was hysterical! Also, imagine if that was your field trip in elementary school? Forget the Space and Rocket Center--I'm going to a 2000 year old city's ancient ruins.

Face pictureeee :)

What remains of Ostia Antica

Auburn KD's reppin' half way across the globe!

The design carved in the theatre's floor marble trimming. Egg for women and arrow for men.

Becca, Kate and a few columns...

The painting right there is a fresco painting, and it was used as a menu. Travelers would stop in this "restaurant" and point to a picture to show the staff what they wanted to order (because there wasn't one dominating language--pictures were universal).

I found Elvis again at lunch. I love him. Italy loves him.

I finally figured out how to focus on one subject and blur the background in a picture! Horray!

After Ostia Antica we went to the Necropolis of an old Etruscan city. Here there were tons and tons and tons of tombs. The Etruscans started off cremating the bodies and burying them in urns, then they later moved to building mounds that resembled houses and burying the bodies of the family in it. Creepy, I know.. but it somehow relates to the creation of the Roman Kingdom. So, the Necropolis is the sight of all these Etruscan tombs. We got to go in them and explore -- very eerie!

This is what they looked like from the outside

These are the shells that the urns would be placed in and buried. They reminded me of multi-grain cheerios!

Becca and Caitlin in a tttooommbbb

Peek, our Auburn instructor :)

Look at this little Wishbone dog!! He kind of reminded me of a short, wire-haired, jack russell terrier that is so ugly it's cute (which, then in turn, reminded me of Deuce)!

The best preserved Etruscan tomb is this one below. It is full of frescos (which are wall paintings) and decorations, so this was the tomb of a very wealthy family. Everything is preserved so well because the tomb is underground, so the weather conditions don't cause it to deteriorate. Those Etruscans knew what they were doing!

These were the stairs leading down to the entrance of the tomb.

The later tombs resembled houses, so some had chairs to sit in and ponder life.

These are the stairs leading down into the last tomb -- verrrrry deep into the earth and so it was verrrrrry chilly down there!

Our field trips lasted all day (and we were walking most of the time) so by the time we got back around 4:30, we were ready to fall into a chair and not move. BUT that is until we were headed back on the bus to Ariccia and the driver said he would let us off in Albano to shop and we could walk back to the Palace. Now you know I can rally when shopping is involved. So a few of us hopped off the big blue bus and walked around Albano, popping into little stores along the way. I didn't find anything I couldn't live without (depressing), but I did find something I've been searching for since I got in Italy--CANNOLI! If you don't know, Cannoli is this decadent dessert consisting of tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling usually containing ricotta cheese and chopped succade. I spotted one in a caffe and nearly had a heartattack. I ran in there as fast as my little legs could move me and promptly ordered myself one for a mid-mid-afternoon snack. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I could have eaten them until I was sick, but I resisted. That treat and a can of Coke Zero gave me enough energy to walk back to the Palace and then walk (uphill, remember?) to the grocery store. I did a little better in the grocery store this time because I had a list and was prepared for the chaos!

Since we had been to the grocery store and gotten a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables, most of the group decided to stay in and cook. Cooking for me meant boiling eggs to have for the week (I need proteinnnnnnn. These people must not believe in chicken or turkey as a delicacy because you can't find it anywhere--and I am not too big of a fan of their Porchetta, pork, that is served everywhere). So I had a Cobb-style salad for dinner with a little Kinder chocolate bar for dessert. Not to shabby for a home made meal in Italy :)