Hot hot hot -- June 21

Something out of the ordinary happened to me today, and everyone in the group was interested and, I like to think, a little jealous...I got a postcard! I have to say that I've never RECEIVED a postcard while out of the country, and it was a special one, with a beautiful picture of Texas Bluebonnets, which I shared with Taco since he doesn't know much about America yet outside of Manhattan. So thank you so much, Paul and Millie, for thinking of me and getting my address. It's very nice to hear from home!

We had such a busy and tiring day today that everyone has called it quits at this fairly early hour of the evening, which is why I get to do two consecutive BLOG entries in as many days, which is obviously rare. The funny thing, though, is that not much of what we did today will translate very well into any kind of interesting entry. It involved an awful lot of standing around in the very hot sun. My upper body is now officially ten shades darker than my legs, and if I don't make an effort to do something about that soon I think that it will be out of control by the time we get to the beaches by Ravenna. The other result of the deeping tan on the arms and face is that everyone has now begun to suspect (correctly) that my hair is not naturally red. Kudos to Jonathan, my hairdresser, for convincing them this far. But that's not what you guys sign on to read about, so I'll move on...

We visited a couple of active archaeological digs today. The first was at the baths of Trajan. This is a major site...a huge bath complex built, as some of you know, over Nero's famous Domus Aurea (Golden House). the dig is not open to the public and is actually about to reach a stopping point while they make it safe for the public to visit, which may take as much as 10 years here in Italy, or so our professor tells us. We may be the last people who have the privilege of seeing it before it is shut down at the end of this season, so I am glad we got in. It is especially interesting to me because we use it in our undergraduate classes as the example of Imperial grand-scale public architecture, but I had only ever seen plans of it. Now I will be able to explain it much better of course.

The dig is very interesting because not only is the Domus Aurea below the baths, but in the process of digging over the past few years the team has uncovered other, earlier structures, one of which is a frescoed wall from roughly the time of Nero, but no one is sure what the wall was a part of. the fresco is very interesting, and represents a city surrounded by water. No one has been able to identify the city either (I'm not convinced it is supposed to represent a real place), but very few people have had the privilege of viewing and photographing it, so maybe some of you in the field will be looking forward to seeing my pictures when I finally get them up.

After lunch we went our second site, located on the slope of the Palatine closest to the Arch of Titus. It is primarily a training site for University of Rome students, but is quite interesting because it is the site of the Meta Sudans, an Augustan and Flavian fountain (the Flavians rebuilt it much larger than Augustus'). It is something of a mystery because of its strange spindle-like shape, and there has been much debate as to its meaning and possible ceremonial function. We had a full tour of the site, but I didn't follow much of it because it was once again in Italian, loosely and intermittently translated for us. Plus by that point we were all hot and tired and a little freaked out watching the work that was going on, and realizing what we are in for for the next four weeks. I saw an image of myself in a small girl that was moving dirt. They had set up a large area for the accumulating dirt, and laid boards up it so that everyone could walk their wheelbarrows to the top to dump them. This girl, about my size, kept having to back her wheelbarrow up completely across the middle of the site and then get a full running start to build up enough steam to get it up to the top, and even then she was struggling. at least I know a trick now, I guess. I should be in very good shape by the time I get back.

The day seemed to go on forever, and by the time we were done there was no time for sightseeing. Everyone just went back to the Villa, but I hopped back on the bus to run down to the bottom of the hill because I had noticed last week that there was a Triumph store (a brand of British motorcycles) and thought I might be able to pick up a Roman souvenir for my friend Bill who drives one of them. they didn't end up having anything I could afford, but the place was amazing. It was built into a big tunnel (maybe quite old) and was just filled with hundreds of motorcycles. It was like a big motorcycle maze. I really want a motorcycle now.

Anyway, I know that this was not the most thrilling of blog entries, but to make up for it I will relate a funny experience that happened last week that I forgot to mention, but want to make sure I have a record of for when I am looking back over this blog as a kind of diary. When we were standing outside the Museo Civilita last week, a very odd thing happened -- the museum alarm started sounding and a very well-dressed, handsome middle-aged man in an expensive pinstriped suit, carrying a black briefcase, walked briskly out the front to his waiting moped, opened a luggage shell on the back, deposited his briefcase, put on his sunglasses, and drove off. It may not sound like much to many of you, but I guess I have seen one too many heist movies. I just know he stole something. Although why anyone would steal something from a museum that has nothing but replicas, I can't really say. But I'm still watching for it to show up in the papers. Like I would even be able to read it.

So I guess I will close with that and actually get some sleep tonight. Maybe I will have time to write again tomorrow, but I promise at least one more entry before we leave for Ravenna on Sunday. I hope all is well and that I will hear from some of you in the comments section or otherwise!

Love from Italy,
Candace