Ciao!

Ciao, Italia!

Food for thought

Here's a collection of yummy things I've had here in Italy.

Last Day in Italy

I had a meeting with my professor this morning about my research topic and then headed out of Vicchio. Again, I messed up my train ticket and this time I actually got a ticket from the Train Police. I had to fork over 5 Euro, but managed to avoid jail time. ;)

My Hotel in Vicchio

The Lake our hotel was on

I trained it to Florence and then caught the Eurostar to Rome. From Rome I caught the train to the airport where I then walked to the Hilton to take the shuttle to the Hilton Garden Inn (still at the airport but much cheaper that the regular Hilton). 5 hours of travel and I was in my hotel room. Well worth it! I have been living in very moderate rooms, sleeping on narrow twin beds under coverlets and now I've got a king size bed with down pillows and comforter. Not to mention A/C, which I haven't had since Rome over a week ago! I even have a Herman Miller chair. It's going to be a comfy night.

The Rome Airport Hilton Garden Inn

Well, I fly out at 8am tomorrow and get home about 8pm Dallas time. I've had a blast but am definitely excited to get back home. I miss everyone, especially my puppies!

Bologna

Just got back from spending the day in Bologna. I think it may be one of my favorite cities so far. It is a big city, yet not as massive as Rome. We went to a museum, did some shopping and then had an awesome lunch. Tonight is my last night in Vicchio. I head to Rome tomorrow afternoon and then fly home on Saturday! The time has flown by. Here are some pictures from Bologna.

Another day in the trenches

Today was my last day up at the dig site. What a day. I spent 6 hours sifting excavated dirt and shoveling said dirt. Quite the upper body workout. If anyone in Dallas needs any shoveling done, I am now the one to call. Just let me recooperate first. Tomorrow we head off to Bologna so I should have some fun pictures. Here are some random site pictures.

Ivo, my trench supervisor for the day.

Bob the Beetle, climbing on the sifter. He's about 4 inches long.

This is the sifted I was on today.

Florence

We spent the day in Florence today. Our morning began with the archaeological museum, checking out Etruscan pottery and funery items. After that we had the afternoon free. We were going to climb the Duomo but the line was way to long. Instead we just walked around the city sightseeing and shopping. I got some great stuff! Here are pictures from my day.

Sarcophagus

The Duomo

Ponte Vecchio

Lab time

Today, sadly, we did not dig. We went to the conservation lab instead to learn what happens to the objects that are unearthed on the dig. It was very interesting to see pieces fitting together and becoming actual objects and not just pottery sherds. We spent most of the afternoon doing inventory on old finds. I must say I was having a little bit of work flashback as we were staring at spread sheets and comparing notes all day. Here are some pictures.

Back door of the lab

Draws of finds

Inventory

Side trip to Pisa

I was coming home yesterday from Riomaggoire and I had a switch of trains in Pisa so I decide to hop off and go see the leaning tower, as cheesy as it may be. I was back at the station in 45 minutes to catch my next leg to Florence. Here are a couple of pictures.

The Arno

The Tower

The Duomo

At the Beach

The train strike ended as promised, at 9:00pm last night so this morning I hopped on a train and headed to Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre. Actually, it was three trains but it took less than 4 hours. The first and last train I took were regional ones and I accidentially boarded them illegally with my paperless ticket from the net. Apparently for those two legs I was supposed to get a real ticket. Oh well, you know how I love breaking the rules these days.

I got settled in my hotel and headed out to do my hike. You can hike between the 5 cities (Cinque Terre, get it?) and it's about 9 km and takes 5 hours. I decided to hike Riomaggiore up the coast to Monterosso and then catch a train home. Well, it was tough but some how I finished it in 3 hr 27 minutes. Lots of stairs going up and down the mountain side, Guess the 5 hours is actually a kind estimate so as not to discourage slow people.

I baked in the sun only to get to Monterosso, grab lunch and then hit the beach. I was nice just laying by the ocean and reading. I started to look into Kayaking but figured I had done enough for the day. I might look into doing it before I leave tomorrow afternoon. Some of you know how I love me some Kayak action. ;)

Here are a few pictures from the hike and the beach. I took tons! I won't make you look at all of them. Captions are under the pics.

Near Riomaggiore

Centered in the picture is where I was hiking to...

Vineyards along the hike

This is me on a bridge over crashing waves

Closing in on Monterosso

Made it!

This one's for Frank. It's pretty much straight down from my feet.

Dirt, Dirt and More Dirt

Finished up day 2 of the dig. Today I was in a new trench that was basically uncovering a destruction layer. A structure had fallen and I was coming across mostly roofing tiles. I made a big find of a nice drinking vessel base that probably dates back to 4th century B.C. I also found several arms/handles from vessels. Here are some pictures from the dig.

Moving dirt

Various Etruscan fineware we dug up

The trench I was in today

I am going to head out on a train to Florence in the morning and hopefully make Cinque Terre by 12:30. My 5 city hike should take about 7 hours so hopefully I can finish before the sun sets. Have a good weekend everyone! And happy birthday Mom!

Down in the Trenches

Today was my first day digging in the trenches. What a blast! We are digging at the top of a hill and have to hike up to the site. I was in Trench 32 and we were just breaking thru the 2nd strata, about 15 cm deep. I found pottery shards galore and plenty of tile. I found even more boring rock. By the end of the day I was completely cover in dirt from digging and sifting the dirt we dig out. Right before the end of the day I found our trenches first 'find' of the day. It was a piece of lead. Apparently that's a cool find because it got bagged in its own bag and logged in the field book. My thunder was then stolen by my trenchmate who uncovered a bronze coin. Oh well, at least I found something!! I will post pictures tomorrow or so.

I'm supposed to head to Cinque Terre tomorrow afternoon but the trains in Italy are going on strike tonight at 9 until tomorrow night at 9. I might take a bus into Florence and then head to the coast Sat. morning.

Later!

Orvieto

We headed out of Rome this morning and into Umbria. We are in Orvieto for the day, about an hour outside of Rome. That is, an hour if you are going 150 km per hour on the highway, which we were. People here drive nuts.

We went to an Etruscan Museum and visited tombs restored from 400-300 B.C. Pretty amazing. Then we've just been touring around this cute little hilltop city. Here are pictures of the Duomo, me, and the view from the city. We head out this afternoon to our hotel in Vicchio.