On Wednesday I took my first on site visit for a class. I went to Ostia Antica with my Archaeology class. Ostia Antica was Ancient Rome's original port town, but it became deserted after the coastline extended a few miles. This place is really cool because it is literally an entire city of ruins, literally a few miles worth of ruins. My guidebook informed me that this is the place to go if one does not want to make the trek all the way down to Pompeii. It was not destroyed by a volcano like Pompeii was, but remnants of the entire city are still there (much like in Pompeii). Unfortunately I forgot my camera on this trip. I would have rather just walked around the city by myself, but we had to follow one of our professors, who does not speak very loudly and is not at all engaging. He did mention, however, that a few things (like the Ostia theater) are just replicas of what was originally, and they are very poor replicas at that. The reason they are there is because in the early 1940s, Rome was supposed to host the World's Fair (though that never happened because nobody wanted to visit fascist Italy). Mussolini insisted that Ostia Antica's archeologists recreate the city for an exhibition, but they did not have enough time to do everything, and did a terrible job.
On Friday, Gabby, Zoe, and I took a day trip to Anzio, a city South of Rome right on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. We went basically to just relax on the beach and eat their famous seafood. The seafood was the best part. We chose this restaurant because it had outdoor seating and it was a gorgeous sunny day, and we wanted to see the water as we ate. This turned out to be a GREAT decision. The main chef took our orders and served is everything. We got THREE FREE COURSES from the chef. He first brought out a polenta with some sort of grated, salted fish on it. I'm not sure exactly what it was because the chef only spoke some English, but it wasn't that great. Zoe and I did our best to eat all we could, just so we didn't seem rude. Then he brought out a second course of thick, ring-like noodles with calamari. BENE, it was delicious. Then we got the dish we ordered, which was pasta with baby lobsters and clams. Probably one of my favorite dishes ever. This is usually the type of pasta I get at Italian restaurants at home (Frutti di Mare). Finally, after we said we didn't want dessert, he brought us out Italian flaun with caramel drizzled on top if it. We also had two glasses of wine each, and only paid for our main pasta dish and the service charge. He also gave us a recommendation of his friend's restaurant in Rome, hopefully we can check it out and get equally great service. Sometimes it is actually really awesome being an American tourist in Italy. Italians love to impress foreigners with their food and drinks, and this often leads to a lot of free additions to meals.
Anzio
Me in front of the water
Pasta with baby lobster and clams
Italian flaun
Then yesterday morning, I woke up at 4:30 AM to get to Termini station for a 7 AM bus to Venice. The bus ride took about 7.5 hours, and unfortunately I'm not much of a bus/airplane sleeper, but it was all worth it because we were heading to Carnevale. We got into Venice at around 2:30 and we had to book it to Piazzale San Marco, where the main action and performances were. We were meeting up with a Res grad, someone who worked in the student life office, and a resident student to go to a fancy dessert aperitivo. Unfortunately, they didn't make it very clear that we needed to be in full costume, we only wore dresses and masks but we actually had to look something like this:
(Taken from the internet) There are people who actually wear these full on costumes, as well as Marie Antoinette style costumes and wigs.
Anyways, it was unfortunate we couldn't get into the aperitivo, but we decided to just walk around Venice and stop into random places for drinks (especially Bellinis, champagne and orange juice famous in venice). It was fun seeing everyone in their masks and costumes walking around. I do kind of wish we stayed in San Marco to see the performances, but the place was packed. I had a really great time though, and had delicious gnocchi with salmon for dinner. We then had to get back on the bus at 10:30 to head back to Rome. We got in at 5 AM this morning, and I've been napping on and off ever since. this is another place I'm excited to go back to with my parents because I was running around the place so quickly, I didn't have time to stop and look at things, take pictures, or do anything touristy. Plus I'm really hoping to take a boat around the Venetian canals, but not fall in because they also work as the Venice sewage system.
Me trying to take a picture of someone really dressed up
My first look at Venice!
The Grand canal
Piazzale San Marco (St. Marc's square)
We joked that this was the leaning tower of Venice, though you can't tell it is tilted here
One of the famous mini canals!
Me in my mask
Next weekend I am going to Paris with Gabby and staying in the same hostel as I did in 2008 with high school. It should bring back some awesome memories, and I'm so excited to see everything again and eat crepes and a Croque Monsieur.
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