Apocalypse Beach

After the mini archeological expedition we all boarded the bus, and headed toward Paestum.  After stopping momentarily in a deserted bus depot, then taking a wrong turn and having to back down a narrow street resulting in a complete congestion of a roundabout, we finally arrive at a our hotel.  Not wanting to just sit around in the hotel room, and with the beach only meters away, I decided to go explore a bit.  The beach was quite deserted.  So deserted that it felt like I was in some sort of post apocalyptic thriller. You know the kind, where you and your small group of friends are some of the few left alive, wandering through the crumbling remains of a brighter time.

The Return

So earlier today Mike and I returned from our trip to Baiae, Paestum, Pompeii, Napoli, Capri, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast and Mt Vesuvius.  The first destinations (Baiae, Paestum, Pompeii, Napoli and Capri) were put together through our University as a field trip of sorts.  In Baiae we checked out some old thermal baths.  It was during this endeavor that several of us, myself included, wandered down a pitch black corridor.  We used our cameras as flashlights and ventured deeper into the under-level of the maze of the bath complex.  The corridor terminated in a room of maybe 20 feet in diameter, with two adjacent rooms of a similar diameter. Still with what appeared to be original paint on the walls... It was incredible.

On the floor there were small remnants of columns.

Patrick volunteered to climb the wooden ladder up out of the first room, what lay above was not enticing enough for any of the rest of us to climb the ladder and then scale the 45 degree slope coated in dust to the top...

That was essentially the highlight of the Baiae baths for me.  Although the Temple of Echo, and the other randomly discovered spaces were really impressive as well.

Temple of Echo

View down from the side window of the Temple of Echo

Looking down from the oculus

Another discovered space

I'm afraid this is as much of the trip as I will be able to post this evening.  I am simply too tired, it is 4 a.m. after all...

Stay tuned. The eerily deserted beaches of Paestum lie ahead.

Off to the coast!

So its been a while since my last post.  We had a review yesterday so I was a little preoccupied with that.  Now that all that business is over I can get back to enjoying Italy.  This last weekend a few of us went to check out some catacombs along an ancient Roman road.  The road was totally not designed to handle two way traffic and pedestrians.  I was fairly certain we were going to become the victim of some sort of tragic hit and run accident every time a car went by.  Along the way we noticed something that we thought looked 'cool' and paid the 2 Euro fee for a ticket.  Turns out it was the Circus of Maxentious.  Not sure on the spelling of that one but it should be close enough.  We wandered around there for a while and then moved on, continuing down the Roman road.  We stopped at a castle that we thought would be cool.  Mike persuaded us to spend the 6 Euro on a ticket, which turned out to be a ticket to a very lame space within the castle, maybe our expectations were too high?  Is climbing to the top of the castle really too much to ask for?  Regardless of our expectations, we did not get to climb to the top.  We checked out a few sculptures and on our way out asked for a reminder of the other sites for which our ticket was valid.  We were told it was valid just down the road, at a villa.  I unfortunately can not come up with the name at the moment, but it doesn't matter much what it was called.  We never reached it.  We walked along this Roman way, looking at (and climbing on/in) monuments from antiquity.  After a couple hours we gave up our search and began to return to Rome.  Our return trip is entirely another story...   Long story short (because I'm tired) is that we made it back home after taking several busses and wandering around aimlessly for a while. Upon our return we realized we were a mere 400 meters from the Villa we were searching for... 

Photos of our excursion are up at

http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/b82ta/Roma/

Sorry to cut the story off, but I am exhausted.  Ho stanco (if you want the Italian equivalent...) 

Until a later date,

Adam

The next entry

Well nothing new or exciting for this blog entry.  I had a rather uneventful and frustrating day.  Just one of those days where it seems the whole world is working against you.  My battle with the Italian language continues and for today, I think it has won.  It looks like I will need to study it a little harder, but not tonight.  I need a break from that.  Today was also a day of rampant un-productivity, aside from browsing through page after page of customized motorcycles.  I'm starting to miss people, things, and the ability to easily communicate...

On a more positive note though, since it wouldn't be right to end on such a sad and homesick sentiment, I had a delicious sandwich today at a small café.  Its one of the only places near us where you can get a pastrami sandwich, it was also famous for its 'cappuccino art'.  I had a pastrami classico, and it was a wonderful change from the sandwiches that i've had since I got here, which to be honest all taste pretty much the same.  I think that Mike and I are going to get up early tomorrow and head to the Ostiense fish market to get some fish to fry up for supper tomorrow.   I'm looking forward to that.  On that note, I should probably get back to doing something productive...

Entry1

Most of people that are reading this will know me.  For those that somehow haphazardly stumbled onto this page, I have never 'done' a blog.  I don't often read blogs.  I really have no idea what it should or shouldn't be.  This will more or less become a place for me to put down some thoughts from the day, or week, or whatever interval I actually get around to updates.  This first post is already a bit late, I have been in Rome now since the 7th,  It seems really crazy to think that it has been that long.  I'm having such a great time it feels like its only been a week.  So far I've hit up quite a few of the common touristy type attractions, and some exploration into our neighborhood (Trastevere).  The apartment I'm is probably nicer than the one I live in in Ames... I will surely miss living here when I go back home.  I am still getting acclimated to living in a different country, there are a lot of day to day things that are different that you don't think of before actually going through it.  The langue barrier is the biggest frustration for me right now.  I know just enough Italian to get myself confused about what word to say, or I just completely go blank.  Our 3 week intensive Italian class is nearly over, but I need to figure out a way to motivate myself to keep pushing and learning more about the language.

All that being said, being in Rome is amazing.  There are so many layers of history visible at the same time.  The juxtaposition of ruins/buildings that are over 1000 years old, right next to something that is maybe 50 or younger is an incredible thing to experience.  The organic growth of Rome gives it a very different feel than most cities.  Streets twist around buildings, expanding to use every last inch of available space between the structures.  As you can imagine sometimes navigating the city efficiently can be an issue... I've gotten much better at relying on landmarks rather than using the cardinal directions.  

I think this is about enough rambling for tonight. It will take me a while to get caught up, in fact I may never get there.  I need to get some sleep though, getting up at 9 or so tomorrow to go check out the open air market near our apartment building.  

Also, the link to my photobucket page is below.  It gets updated more frequently than this will I'm sure.  I will also probably be linking some of them to this site, just for some extra emphasis on things I really like....

ciao

http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/b82ta/Roma/