Ok,
The first part of the day was going to the beach. Ahhh, the Italian
Mediterranean... I'll let the jealousy sink in properly now...
ok,
now that you're green with envy, here is the next part of our day : Ostia Antica.
It was the origional port city for rome, and expanded as rome did, so this
city of ruins is nearly the size of rome itself. It is extremely
interesting! It's like a giant playground. And it's been excavated
for so long, that any pieces of pottery or rock you find on the ground are just
discards from the archaeologists, and they don't care if you keep a few...dozen.
You
have to use your imagination, but you can tell how ornate this used to be.
This first area is the Necropolis, or Street of the Tombs.
oooold
statues...
more
ooooold statues.
Derek
and a grave marker.
hehe,
ok maybe the graveyard shouldn't be called "playground" but that's
what we did...play.
I
could barely see over this thing.
Yeah,
we're looney sometimes.
Ok,
getting serious, this is the mosaic floor of the Baths of Neptune.
ruins
You
can see more of Baths of Neptune here...
This
place was huge and very populated!!
um...pretty...
Here,
in the very back there, you can see the remains of the old theatre. When
it was whole, it looked like a mini-colosseum.
Here
we are after our late lunch, taking a break in a courtyard while we look at the
books we bought.
Dad's
new vice...cigars. *sigh*
Maybe
I should warn you I like mosaics as much as statues...
This
mosaic of ships advertise the Transport shop that used to stand behind it.
You can kind of see at the front of the left-had boat, they're unloading
an Amphorae (big vase).
This
is a depiction of cupid riding a dolphin, advertising a guild of ship owners.
Here
are the masks that were originally set around the theatre. There was a
show set up while we were there, and you can see the lights here too. We
didn't get to see the show.
lotsa
pillars
Here
is the House of Diana (right) and the Theropolium (bar) on the left.
View
from on top of one of the buildings in the last pic.
Mosaic
of Alexander fighting Helix, one of my favorite mosaics in the place.
I'm
not sure what this one shows, but it's pretty safe to guess that it's venus,
being born from the sea. Every mosaic has some kind of ocean-theme
Close
up of the could-be-venus
Here
is the mosaic floor of the gymnasium. It's not a very good shot cause it's
so big and I couldn't get above it, but it shows all kinds of exercises,
including what is very clearly a soccer ball! The most famous is the
weight lifter, who has dumbbells in his hands. The one in the corner
closest to us here looks kinda like the statue of liberty...
ok,
and a statue thingy. And we're done with Ostia and VERY exhausted.