and more of Italy...

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Hm... where did I leave off.. I'll try to make this more exciting to read than the last few entries.
Last weekend my friend Janice and I headed up to La Spezia (near Cinque Terre) to visit my friends Enzo and Sandro. They took us sport climbing near Porto Venere which overlooked the Ligurian Sea. I was proud of Janice for making the sketchy descent down in flipflop sandals and I was proud of myself for doing a few routes with certain techniques I havn't used in a long time (for the one person who would understand the lingo - crack climbing, laybacks, heelhooks).
This weekend I decided to head down to Rome. since I've done most of the typical touristy things I had to seek out new and exciting adventures. Yesterday consisted of going to a place called Cerveteri which was an Etruscan burial ground (those crazy people buried their dead in large burial mounds). I must say it was a bit eery to be wandering around through ancient graves (which unfortunately have been all ransacked). The coolest grave there was one which had carvings of tools used for daily life in the grave - meaning they thought they would have to take those things with them into the next life).
Today, I'm off to see Ostia Antica which was the Roman port city about a half hour from Rome.
As for the dig - its been an interesting experience. We got rained out the last few days so we've had museum time and lectures and now I worry constantly about the mud not wanting to let go of my shoes (honestly). I've been lucky enough to be able to reconstruct pottery which is neat to piece things together and recreate parts of a pot (the other suckers only got to scrub pottery) and on site I'm working on uncovering a mosaic from the villa.
I'm super excited to go home as I can honestly say I'm tired of travelling and glad to not go somewhere else again this summer.
I will see most of you all soon. ciao!

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Photos

Beautiful Cinque Terre
sorry... forgot which town

Lemons for Lemoncello
Cinque Terre is known for its lemon liquor

Cerveteri
Etruscans used huge tumuli for their burials

Ostia Antica
Roman port city well-preserved because of its burial under silt

Ostia - dolia
storage jars stuck into the ground

public latrines
arn't you glad you don't live in the roman age?