Cerverteri/Rome
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Saturday, May 21
Today we went to Cerverteri, a port on the Mediterranean Sea. We toured the Etruscan catacombs there, which are different from the catacombs at Domatillo. These catacombs are all mostly above ground structures over tombs dug a single level deep into the ground. Our guide, Massimo, told us that the frist Etruscans carved out large tombs for entire families, but later reduced the sizes of the tombs for cost and space reasons. eventually, they were creating tombs for large groups of people — sometimes reusing them.
He also told us an interesting story about an older man who is one of the current caretakers of the catacombs. It seems that when he was about 14 years old, he was working with his father and some other men in the catacombs. One of the men discovered an unopened tomb. They dug a small hole into the tomb wall and the boy, who was the smallest of the group, crawled through the opening. Once inside, after his eyes adusted to the dark, he discovered four nearly perfectly preserved corpses, complete with elaborate burial clothing. In addition, there were many Greek vases all over the inside of the tomb.
Unfortunately, the bodies didn't last long. they began to dissolve as soon as they were exposed to the outside air and were completely gone in about three hours.
after we left the catacombs, we had lunch at a restaurant on the beach. Josh and I had sandwiches, chips and a drink for less than ten Euros tota, probably the cheapest lunch we had the whole time we were there.
Many of the kids went to the beach to play around in the water. Hannah Cheeseman and Phil Amos played volleyball with several younger boys and girls and seemed to be having a good time.
I wandered over to the castle that was on the far side of the beach and took a few pictures, then headed back to the group. After a few group pictures — including the girls with John Luca, our bus driver — we headed back to Rome.
Once back in Rome, we went to an art museum. I've forgotten the name of it, but there were many paintings, sculptures — including the famous statue of Romulus and Remus suckling from the female wolf — and tapestries, all very interesting and beautiful.
There were also several weddings today outside the museum in the nearby churches. The photographers were taking many pictures around the piazza of brides, grooms and families. One of the happy couples drove off in a Jaguar, while another was using the Coliseum as a backdrop for the photos!
After the museum, we came back to the hotel, though we got a little confused on the subway — even Flavia. We got it strightened out though and managed to get back to the hotel in time for dinner. Tonight was risotta for the first course, then an omelette (!) with melted mozzarela cheese and potoatoes on the side. Our dessert tonight was a lemon ice treat in a champagne glass. Very good!
As we did last night, we walked over to the gelata place (the Cornetteria) just up the street from the hotel. Tonight I had chocolate in a wffle cone, rather than the lemon I had last night, since tonight's dessert was lemon gelata. After all of the walking we've done, I figured I could get away with it.
Tomorrow is our last day here in Rome. We will go to Ostia Antica, an ancient Roman colony/port on the Mediterranean Sea. Then we will have some free time in Rome in the afternnoon. Later that evening, we are planning an excursion into Rome at night. It will be pretty cool to see some of the sites lit up at night and to experience Rome's night life.
All for now... I'll finish up tomorrow night.