Would You Like to Taste Some Fish Sauce?

Day 4 Pompeii: Venerdi, Febbraio 12:
Day's Mileage: 6




















Our professor for our History of Science and Technology class, Giovanni D'Pasquale, took us behind the scenes into the laboratories at Pompeii. He also got us into Pompeii for free! Here he was showing us samples of marble from buildings. We also saw human bones and skulls (which made me think of one of my favorite TV shows 'Bones'. I know Dr. Brennan, aka Bones, and the other Squints could have solved the lives of these people!), a bread loaf that looked like burnt dark chocolate, a vine woven basket, textiles, assorted fruits (dates, pomegranate), seashells (the flatter ones were used for paints), and ingredients for 'Garum', a fish sauce. The archaeologists remade the fish sauce and ever so kindly offered to give us a taste (no thank you, but have you remade that bread yet!?)....no one took them up on the offer, however, we did smell it and it smelled like a pungeant soy sauce. Whew!















A Pompeii kitchen, the 'sinks' were separated for hot and cold coals. You can tell this home belonged to a wealthier family because the counter was made from marble. The average person had counters made with brick.




















A look at Mount Vesuvius down a Pompeii street















A cool paving pattern in the palace.















A tiled floor in the palace. It took 1 million tiles to make it. Each tile was about the size of a fingernail.




















One of the Pompeii dogs in the baths. Professor D'Pasquale told us that there are about 60 dogs who permanently live on the ruins of Pompeii.














In the baths. These men have been holding up this structure for thousands of years now...





















Another Pompeii dog, they are all so friendly and used to humans coming around. This one posed patiently while I took my picture.














A petrified Pompeiian body














The city's sundial




















An interesting array of brick styles





















Some ruins with Mount Vesuvius looming in the background...















The arena where gladiators trained




















The loggia surrounding the training arena. The sun came out just for a few minutes that day, enough time for me to take this photo.















A garden owned by a wealthy Eqyptian, here he would recreate the River Nile Flood every year




















Another Pompeii dog. Funny, his fur coloring matches the architectural materials in the background...
















Heidi, Laura, and I doing a K-S-U across one of Pompeii's sidewalks

" I Guess We Have to Expect 1 Good Scalp in a Big City Like This"

Rome Day 3: Giovedi, Febbraio 11:
Day's Mileage: 11.25
















Castel Sant'Angelo







































Sculpture on the bridge to Castel Sant'Angelo















A look at the Basilica of San Pietro from down the street




















Some sculpture at San Pietro




















Two Polizia walking through the columnade at Saint Peter's




















Outside Saint Peter's; a look at the Vatican's Swiss Guard




















A glimpse of the Baldichino at Saint Peters.














The Pope, I saw the Pope. We couldn't get up close to the altar that day because there was a service going on. We knew it had to be something special because there were so many people there. It turns out this day was honoring the 18th Annual Day of the Sick. We were lucky to get in that day; shortly after we got in they stopped letting people in.














Inside the Church of San Pietro. After visiting San Pietro we went to lunch at 'Universal Bar' Cafe. All of our sandwiches cost 6 euro each (a little pricey). Some people also ordered cokes which were 6 euro as well. After which Tony commented to us "I guess we have to expect one good scalp in a big city like this."















The Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli, built on the former Baths of Diocletian




















One of the doors of the Basilica














The dome inside the Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli















This is the University of Rome's equivalent to Durland Hall at K-State, where all the engineers hang out (this one is for you Mum!)



















Michaelangelo's Moses



















Walking back to our hostel that night there were some fire twirlers in the Piazza Navona (I stopped to watch hoping they would be fire throwers....but they never did)















Another gelato, this one in Vaniglia. Can you tell the historic landmark I was sculpting?

"I Had to Throw the Architects a Huge Bone"

Rome Day 2: Mercoledi, Febbraio 10:
Day's Mileage: 11.5





























A really interesting permanent art exhibit inside Parque Musica. The phrases were spelled out in different languages and different colors of lights.
















An outdoor amphitheater at Parque Musica.















Inside one of the theaters at Parque Musica. The ceiling looks like a giant tortoise shell.















Some modern landscape architecture outside of the MAAXI, Museo Nazionale Delle Arti. The architects were of course looking at the building. I, however was looking at the landscape. After seeing all these modern architectural landmarks, Tony tells me (as one of the only two LA's here) that I'm going to like the space we were going to see next. He tells me he figured "I had to throw the architects a huge bone" after seeing all the piazzas and amphitheaters.
















This pretty much sums up our day....















The Spanish Steps


































The Trevi Fountain in the daylight. I was testing out some sepia tone pictures.


































The Trevi Fountain at Night. I like it much better lit up at night than during the day.

'Ombrelli, Ombrelli, Ombrelli'

Rome Day 1: Martedi, Febbraio 9:
Day's Mileage: 7.6














Some Gelato from 'Blu Ice' (Italy's equivalent to Baskin Robbins 31 flavors)














Amanda, Amy, and I eating our first gelato. I had mint chocolate chip.














Area Sacra ruins, they have been taken over by cat lovers and turned into a cat sanctuary.














The Taruga Fountain in the Jewish Ghetto




















Steps up to the Camidoglio, they were long and shallow, scaled for horses














The Ancient Roman Forum













Laura, Amanda, and I at the Roman Forum














Check out some sweet permeable paving found all over Rome. As a landscape architecture student I often find myself looking at paving patterns.....plus it was raining all day and I didn't have an umbrella.




















Amy losing her umbrella outside the Colosseum. Instead of helping her, we all just stood there, watched, and laughed; I immediately grabbed my camera.




















Nice umbrella Amy. Perhaps you should buy one from those ridiculous 'Ombrelli' salesman?...












We made a stop at the Pantheon in the evening, but of course there was no sunshine that day so we couldn't catch a beam of light.