On Friday we had our first regional field trip, and we went to visit the narcropolis' of two small Etruscan Towns (Tarquinia and Cerveteri). We didn’t really know what to expect. We just met at the train station at 8:40 so that we could leave at 9 as we were told to so. We had assumed that we were going to take the train since we were meeting and the train station and that is how you get places over here. Boy were we wrong! After walking half way down the train station we went out a side door and began to questions our professors sanity, we walked up to a 50 passenger charter bus and were told to get on. Now you are probably thinking to yourself "Megan, so what? Lots of people travel on charter busses when touring” Yes this is true but keep in mind there were only 12 of us on this bus including the driver and our professor. Needless to say we all spread out and it was a very comfortable way to travel.
It took about 2 hours for us to get to Tarquinia and we spent an hour or 2 touring the tombs. They were very interesting. They were rooms build in large mound type huts. They were painted with very colorful frescos; though the color had faded you could still appreciate the art work. We then boarded the buss and went into the "downtown" Tarquinia to tour the museum and eat lunch. Having our professor with us at the museums over here is very nice because, one, he knows a lot about everything in the museums, and, 2, everything is written in Italian so with out him I would have little idea what I am looking at.
After lunch we hopped back on the bus and drove an hour back towards Rome the Narcropolis of the town of Cerveteri. The tombs of Cerveteri were really cool. They were much larger and when you entered them they actually looked and felt like multi room houses. They rose from the ground like large stone huts but instead of being build up from he ground they were carved out of the ground. It was amazing to think about how people in 400-500 BC were able to create such structures.
Once we were done touring we hoped back on the bus and headed back to Rome. It took us about 2 hours to get back to the train station because of traffic. Since we were close to the train station we decided to all go to Pizza Fantasy again. It was still not a Fantasy! At least this time more peopled agreed that it was mediocre Pizza at best since they were all sober.
Saturday was another early morning. I got up at 7am so that I could be at the train station in time to board a train at 8:40. I took the train to Florence where I grabbed a quick lunch and a very large homemade chocolate chip cookie. After my lunch I met up with my tour and boarded a bus for Tuscany. The sites are absolutely beautiful. It is the beginning of grape picking season and the finest Olive Oil producers will begin picking in the next week or so. Therefore everything in full bloom!
The first stop on our trip was to the small town of St. Brigida. In St. Brigida we visited the small, beautiful and quaint church of St. Bridgida which is built on top of the grotto where she lived with a bird after her brother died. We then continued our tour on to Castello del Trebbio. At Catello Del Trebbio we learned about the history of the castle and how it was once owned by the second most powerful family in Florence until they tried to kill of the Medici Family. We toured the castle and wine cellars and learned all about wine and Olive Oil from the Chianti Region of Italy. At the end of our tour we tasted 3 wines Chianti Classico, Chianti Reserve, and a Vin Santo. The wines were accompanied by local snacks. Everything tasted wonderful. After the tasting we had time to explore the vineyard and the gift shop. It was a very fun experience and the drive back to Florence was as pretty as the drive to the castle. It was nice to get to meet new people and spend time with a large group of people who speak English.
When I returned to Florence I had about 2 hours until my train left for Rome so I walked around the city and grabbed an anti-pasta for dinner since I wasn’t very hungry. The train ride back was much nicer than the train ride there because it was on a faster a train. The faster trains tend to be a little bit nicer. The train got into Rome a bit later than schedule. After a long but wonderful day I made it back to my apartment at about midnight!
I should have showered and gone straight to bed but instead I stayed up talking on the phone and facebooking until the Razorback game started the 2:45am local time and followed the first quarter on ESPN.com. With the Razorbacks up 14-7 at the end of the first quarter I decided I should call it a night. I did however roll over several hours later just in time to follow the very disappointing end to the game on my IPhone. Although we lost I still love the Razorbacks and miss football season terribly (almost if not as much as a I miss my family and friends).
Today is going to be spent resting and recovering from my weekend so that I can hit the ground running with new adventures next week.
Here are a few pictures from Tuscany.
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