A Little Taste of Modern to Ancient

This weekend we were able to execute our many travel plans with the maximum efficiency and mastered Italian public transportation! Oh yea! We started our journey, like all of the others, in Florence. 1st we went to Venice for the day to see a famous art show called the Biennale! At this show many countries sent their top modern artists to put on an exhibit. Each was very different and because it was modern art, they were all very 'unique.' All though we were not in Venice very long i totally fell in love. Of all the cities i have been to in Italy thus far Venice (for the 2 hours we were there) has been my favorite. Ill be going back for sure! In fact we may be planning a ditch school day to go back, but i didn't say that ;)

We then had a class trip to two cities just outside of Rome. So at about 4:30 on Friday afternoon we left Venice and took a 5 hour train ride to Rome. We got in about 9:00 and decided that you cannot be in Rome one night without having at least one adventure. So we walked to the Tevi Fountain which i think is best at night (not that i have seen it during the day)!

I stayed at my very first hostel that night. It was right near the train station which was perfect because we had an early day on Saturday. The hostel was somewhat like a hotel, haha. There were about 7 rooms that looked like hotel rooms from the outside then when you walked it there were 4 bunk-beds. And dorm style bathrooms down the hall. We shared a room with 3 Australian girls, 1 British guy, and a random guy who we never met. They were all about our age just traveling around! Ill be going back to Rome with a class trip but my first experience was good! It felt a bit like New York actually: very much a huge busy city.


Saturday we caught the right train to Tarquinia (at 6:00am): a small town outside Rome known for its Ancient Etruscan ruins. We went with our professor who was also giving a tour to about 45 Cal State students. It was fun seeing fellow Californians again! The museum was awesome, especially because everything that was in it will be on our midterm (this week): best review session ever! Then we saw some of the Ancient Etruscan tombs from the Orientalizing Period and Urns from the earlier Villinovan Period. The picture to the right is of one of the tombs. The entrance that you see is how they are preserving some of the oldest fresco's in the world.


Inside the tombs are painted and when the paint/fresco is exposed to our body heat and breath they disintegrate so everything is behind glass doors now. But with my amazing camera i was still able to get awesome pictures of some of the oldest paintings!
The picture below is of me making good use of an ancient Urn :) Well the stone pot that held the Urn.



We then went to Ceveterei another ancient Etruscan tomb site. These were from the later period called the Archaic Period. Exploring these tombs was totally Indiana Jones statues! We ran around, in and out, up and down, all over these hut like tombs. They are completely carved out of stone and made to look exactly like the homes that the Etruscan used during this period. We were exploring the city of the dead. In the Etruscan culture they had tow city's: one for the living and one for the dead. The one for the dead was to facilitate then dead in their after life. So they were buried in homes that looked like their real homes, on their own beds, with their own possessions.




































This weekend was a little crazy busy. We saw modern art and ancient art. We were in three cities in two days. And had tons of adventures! I was not feeling a 100% due to a cold that i caught but i pushed through and ignored it for the most part, haha. Im feeling better now, all i needed was a good adventure. This week is midterms and then we have a week off! Ill be traveling around northern Europe with Alex and Maggie. Meeting up with other friends along the way. We have Europasses to get us around, a rough plan of where we are going, money to last us the week, one backpack each, and cameras! We are set to go :)

Wish me luck! LOVE!