Day 7

Very interesting day. First experience with the public transportation in Rome. Woke up and met up with my class an hour early so that we could arrive on-site for the class, which was quite a while away.

So to get there we hopped on a bus. Now, buses here are NOT the size of buses back home. More like one of those Eco vans. There was a max capacity of 22 people, of which 19 were to be our class. At each stop though, more and more people piled in. At the endit took thendriver 5 times of opening and shutting the door to finally bs able to close it. Calling it crammed would not sufficiently explain it. Reminds me of a certain boat trip in Mexico where it was so overloaded that our boat sank in the middle of the ocean. Anyways, after a few concussions from the crazy driving and the 35 minute bus-sauna trip over, we made it to the museum that we were to meet at for class.

The museum was centered around an old etruscean temple, which was converted into a villa around the 1400s for Pope Julius III.

 The Etruscans were an ancient people who were conquered by the Romans, but the Romans adopted many of their practices because of the experience that Etrusceans had with gold and silver molding.

Unlike the Romans, the Etruscans were not skilled at marble crafting, they instead used terracotta, a much softer and less attractive building material.

The green stuff down there are lilypads that are covering water.  The terrace you see is a good ways under ground level.  As with nearly every Roman water fountain/structure, the water comes from a natural spring that is outside Rome.  Rome is one of the few cities in the world that does not have to every worry about it's water source, thanks in part to the  many discovered in ancient times.

Just a good view of the outside halls, all of the art that is on the roofs are of course hand painted.  They sure do know how to take care of their Pope.











At this point we entered the museum, which contained ancient Etruscan artifacts.  Unfortunately cameras were not allowed, and they did not even let us bring in our book bags.  The objects I saw in the museum were easily the oldest objects I have ever seen.  Most were ranging from anywhere between 700BC-300BC and were mostly personal objects found in tomes.  You could tell what was happening at that time based off of the personal objects people were buried with.  Lots of lavish gold jewelry and beautiful pottery--and it was most likely a peaceful and prosperous time.  Certain people were found with bronze weapons of war, obviously meaning they were likely engaged in combat at the time.

The tomes the Etruscans were buried in were also very lavish, and were sealed air-tight.  The bodies would be put on a couch, and the tomes would be sealed--forever.  Until at least they were excavated much closer to our current era.  The opening of these tomes were very spooky.  Apparently since the tomes were air-tight, the bodies did not even lose form, and would still be in the same position thousands of years later.  When the tome is opened and oxygen rushes in, the bodies immediately dissipate and swirl around as the air was.  I can only imagine the ancient spirits that people opening the tombs in the 1800s must have thought they angered. Very creepy.

The museum was a great experience, I have never seen such detail in their statues or jewelry, and especially in their art of crafting pottery.  I took a pottery class, I know how impossible it was for me to make anything with all our modern technology.  I cannot imagine the intensity of the labor 2600 years ago.

So our trip ended, and rather than taking the public transportation, we took a taxi back.  Extremely good decision, and only cost around 6 euro.  Way better than the bus.  Stopped outside of Castel Saint Angelo and actually got a picture in front of the courthouse in Rome.

Another one of those things that I cannot describe how large it is.  Almost makes you want to have a case there. (ALMOST).  Other than that just went back home and went to wine tasting, which was provided by the college we are studying at.  Actually very interesting as ironic as it sounds, and I actually know how to tell the differences between wine because of that.





Sorry for not keeping up on blog the past few days.  My internet on the laptop decides when it does and doesnt want to work, and will not give me a choice on the matter.  Woke up this morning and it worked fine...oh well.  Thanks everybody as always for reading, and I promise to keep it coming.