This morning I took a warm shower – 7:00am is the start of the hot water; it’s official. Breakfast was at 7:30 and was the usual fired eggs, corn flakes, yogurt, and coffee. We grabbed our packed lunches and hopped on the bus at 8:30. Today was officially Pompeii Day.
The weather was not in the mood to celebrate today, however, and it put quite a damper on the trip. It rained on and off all day. That was annoying. I am glad I am going back to visit the site with Mom in a week or so. I am also looking forward to the audio guides provided by the site, as they made the difference between the Charlotte Discovery Museum’s exhibits so much better the second time (the first time I went to the exhibit sans guide, with my Roman Religions class – the second time I went with mom and bought the guide). Three guys on the trip actually took the seminar on Pompeii offered last semester, so Krentz divided our group into three and had each of them lead their group around the city.
I was with Rob. He did a good job, but I don’t know that his heart was really into leading a group all day. He also didn’t have a raincoat and got soaked. The best parts about the city, for me, was the House of the Faun and the Villa of Mysteries – two of the most famous buildings in Pompeii. The House of the Faun is a 26,000 square foot house and takes up an entire block. It has this mosaic (around 100 BCE) called the Alexander Mosaic, which is thought to be a replica of a painting that is now lost. Kyle did his presentation on the mosaic, and pointed out how pathetic (as in pathos) Darius the Persian looks. When you look at his face you can’t help but feel for the him – he is reaching out with a pained expression on his face and his is obviously about to lose the battle. And though this mosaic portrays a battle won by Alexander the Great and his Macedonians, more space is given to Darius and his Persian army. That this mosaic, which gives so much sympathy to the “barbarian” Persians, is found in a Roman house, it would seem that the family who lived here was not happy with Pompeii’s becoming a Roman colony in the early 1st century. So the family’s roots may have been against the Roman intrusion dating back to the Samnite wars against Rome in the 2nd century BCE.
We met up for lunch outside the walls of the ancient street where all the tombs line the road. We sat down on a stone bench in front of one of the funerary monuments, and this is actually what was intended by the monument’s designers. This was a place for travelers to the city to sit and rest, or for the family to come and sit beside the monument. These grave markers were much more ostentatious and were intended to be seen and the wealth and status of the deceased was on display for all to admire.
After lunch we visited the Villa of Mysteries. This house contains a beautiful fresco that covers every wall of one of the rear rooms. The image on the fresco is of the cult of Dionysis, a very popular mystery cult from this time period. There is little known from this mystery cult (they actually kept the secrets pretty well) and these images give us insight into the legends of the cult. This cult was run largely by females and was popular for the homes as Dionysus is the god of wine and merrymaking. After the Villa of Mysteries we split back up into our groups and walked around the city. The rain continued ot pour on and off, and my group sought shelter in various places including the Forum Baths – very cool with several rooms that would have been lavishly decorated –and a few houses and the entrance tunnel. The streets are all paved in stones and there even stepping stones where pedestrians would cross the street without having to step in the muck of the road. These stepping stones were fairly high, but, they were just short enough to left the carts pass over. We checked out the stadium, the brothels (yes, there are frescos on the walls which depict what happened here), fish market, the bakery, the plaster casts of the body cavities found during excavation, the older forum, the Temple of Jupiter, the barracks of the gladiators and the city walls. I am glad I am going back to Pompeii with Mom, because there are still houses that I didn’t get to see and I hope the weather will be better because it did affect how well we could enjoy the site.
We left Pompeii at 5:00 and headed back to the villa for more discussion on The Aeneid. Again, our discussion group went really well. Everyone had good things to say and it worked especially well because we don’t all agree, but no one is abrasive or condescending when expressing their opinions. We just happen to have the right mix of people in this group. I don’t think the other half of the group is going as well – I think it is a bit of a dud.
We had dinner at 7:30 when beckoned by the gong and dined on pesto penne, eggplant lasagna, mozzarella balls, cooked carrots, and cream puffs with chocolate sauce for dessert. I even had some of the wine made by the villa. They make a really good white wine, and if you finish off the bottle, you will see a bit settling to the bottom of the glass (including a bug or two – it’s just protein, right?).
After dinner, I hit the books and studied for a few hours. The tests are on Thursday and Friday and keep creeping closer and closer.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
March 30
This morning I woke up and found out quickly that the hot water does not turn on until 7:00am. It wasn’t a huge deal this morning, but it is something to keep in mind for tomorrow. Breakfast was served at 7:30: eggs, cereal, and yogurt, again. We even were given bagged lunches to take with us to the site: salami and cheese sandwiches, a small salad, fruit juice, a pastry, and a bottle of water. Reed traded me his salad for my sandwich. We agreed to keep trading every day – big time Elementary school flashback.
It took us over two hours to drive to Paestum this morning, but I just studied on the bus and tried to be as productive as possible. There are a ton of tunnels in this region, however, and it gets a little annoying that the lights basically go out every few minutes or so for long stretches at a time. We arrived at Paestum, ancient Poseidonia, around 11:00 and spent the morning and afternoon checking out the three temples on site. First, we looked at the oldest temple, the Temple of Hera I, dated back to the mid 6th century BCE. Next, we checked out the Temple of Hera II, right next to Hera I. This temple is dated to the mid 5th century BCE. This temple is the largest and best preserved of the three here and is comparable to the Parthenon in its refinements, though it has no decorative sculpture. This temple still looks very top heavy and the columns are too squat to be considered as beautiful as the Parthenon.
We ate lunch right next to these two temples and Krentz had us spend a few minutes discussing why the Parthenon appeals so much more than this one. To me, the Pentilic marble used on the Parthenon is much more beautiful than the rough limestone here (though these columns would have been plastered in ancient times). I also agreed with him that the ratio of the superstructure to the column height is too small. The Parthenon’s extended width made for a narrower pediment, which looks so much better with its slimmer columns. The columns here are just too stocky.
Next, we looked at some of the Roman houses that have been excavated. They were nothing special, everyone is waiting for Pompeii tomorrow to get a good look at the typical Roman houses. There was not much here to see. After the houses we looked at the last temple, the Temple of Athena. This temple was constructed around 500 BCE and its biggest claim to fame is that it is the first building ever to combine Doric and Ionic styles.
After the temples, we went to the Paestum Museum to hear Jensen give his presentation on the Tomb of the Diver. He spoke about the painted travertine stone slabs of this tomb. The walls of the tomb are painted with scenes of a typical Greek symposium – a dinner for men only where they reclined on benches and had musical “performances” (naked women) as they ate – and the ceiling with an image of a man diving into the water. There are several theories on why this man is diving, but no one knows for sure. It probably was something to do with the afterlife as the image was found in a tomb.
After this museum, we drove back to the villa. I am in Discussion Group B and we met up as soon as we got back to talk about books 1-4 of the Aeneid. Krentz is having two people in each discussion group lead the discussions each day. I go on Wednesday with Trent and we will be leading discussions on Books 9-12. I was worried at first, because when Krentz told us our partners at dinner last night, Trent hadn’t started the book (I had already finished). But, he got through 6 books by the discussion time this afternoon, so I think we’ll be fine.
After the discussion, it was soon time for dinner. Tonight our pasta course was lasagna. Then we were served baked chicken and potatoes. Spiros brought his own olive oil tonight to share with us. I didn’t know this till tonight, but Spiros grows his own olives and makes his own olive oil. It was ridiculously good! There were even whole kalamata olives in the bowl and I munched on those as well. For dessert, we had some sort of apple cake.
After dinner, I hit the books for a few hours and then went to sleep. The trip today took much longer than I had hoped and I didn’t get all the studying done that I planned. Tomorrow will be a very long day as well – the Pompeii site is huge. I’m trying not to get worried about these tests, but everyone (well, the girls at least) is a little frantic right now, trying to get everything sorted out mentally. Krentz is also putting his foot down this time about the 1 hour time limit. That is not good news. He says he is shortening the test length, but I am doubtful they will be all that much shorter than pervious tests (one of the tests last time took me over 2 hours to finish). Well, I shouldn’t worry, that’s not helping anything. I am just making do with what time I have. That includes sleep, so goodnight.
It took us over two hours to drive to Paestum this morning, but I just studied on the bus and tried to be as productive as possible. There are a ton of tunnels in this region, however, and it gets a little annoying that the lights basically go out every few minutes or so for long stretches at a time. We arrived at Paestum, ancient Poseidonia, around 11:00 and spent the morning and afternoon checking out the three temples on site. First, we looked at the oldest temple, the Temple of Hera I, dated back to the mid 6th century BCE. Next, we checked out the Temple of Hera II, right next to Hera I. This temple is dated to the mid 5th century BCE. This temple is the largest and best preserved of the three here and is comparable to the Parthenon in its refinements, though it has no decorative sculpture. This temple still looks very top heavy and the columns are too squat to be considered as beautiful as the Parthenon.
We ate lunch right next to these two temples and Krentz had us spend a few minutes discussing why the Parthenon appeals so much more than this one. To me, the Pentilic marble used on the Parthenon is much more beautiful than the rough limestone here (though these columns would have been plastered in ancient times). I also agreed with him that the ratio of the superstructure to the column height is too small. The Parthenon’s extended width made for a narrower pediment, which looks so much better with its slimmer columns. The columns here are just too stocky.
Next, we looked at some of the Roman houses that have been excavated. They were nothing special, everyone is waiting for Pompeii tomorrow to get a good look at the typical Roman houses. There was not much here to see. After the houses we looked at the last temple, the Temple of Athena. This temple was constructed around 500 BCE and its biggest claim to fame is that it is the first building ever to combine Doric and Ionic styles.
After the temples, we went to the Paestum Museum to hear Jensen give his presentation on the Tomb of the Diver. He spoke about the painted travertine stone slabs of this tomb. The walls of the tomb are painted with scenes of a typical Greek symposium – a dinner for men only where they reclined on benches and had musical “performances” (naked women) as they ate – and the ceiling with an image of a man diving into the water. There are several theories on why this man is diving, but no one knows for sure. It probably was something to do with the afterlife as the image was found in a tomb.
After this museum, we drove back to the villa. I am in Discussion Group B and we met up as soon as we got back to talk about books 1-4 of the Aeneid. Krentz is having two people in each discussion group lead the discussions each day. I go on Wednesday with Trent and we will be leading discussions on Books 9-12. I was worried at first, because when Krentz told us our partners at dinner last night, Trent hadn’t started the book (I had already finished). But, he got through 6 books by the discussion time this afternoon, so I think we’ll be fine.
After the discussion, it was soon time for dinner. Tonight our pasta course was lasagna. Then we were served baked chicken and potatoes. Spiros brought his own olive oil tonight to share with us. I didn’t know this till tonight, but Spiros grows his own olives and makes his own olive oil. It was ridiculously good! There were even whole kalamata olives in the bowl and I munched on those as well. For dessert, we had some sort of apple cake.
After dinner, I hit the books for a few hours and then went to sleep. The trip today took much longer than I had hoped and I didn’t get all the studying done that I planned. Tomorrow will be a very long day as well – the Pompeii site is huge. I’m trying not to get worried about these tests, but everyone (well, the girls at least) is a little frantic right now, trying to get everything sorted out mentally. Krentz is also putting his foot down this time about the 1 hour time limit. That is not good news. He says he is shortening the test length, but I am doubtful they will be all that much shorter than pervious tests (one of the tests last time took me over 2 hours to finish). Well, I shouldn’t worry, that’s not helping anything. I am just making do with what time I have. That includes sleep, so goodnight.
March 29
Today was a free day and the villa was a perfect place to just chill out and relax all day. Breakfast was served until 9 (they can serve the breakfast at anytime, but we only going to have those of the female variety and Krentz at breakfast if we ate before 9am on a free day), so I slept in a little this morning. The beds are super soft. You actually sink in quite a bit when you sit down on the bed, almost to the point of tipping over backwards. It made for a very comfortable night’s sleep – normally, hotels have really hard beds and I end up with an achy neck, but not here! Louisa and I tried to go down to the kitchen and get a cup of coffee before breakfast was served, but she handed us two shot glasses’ worth of coffee and kindly (and in Italian) indicated that breakfast was at 9. We got the message and tried to be very gracious to her. Breakfast was fried eggs (probably from the chickens in the front yard, corn flakes, yogurt, and really good coffee.
After breakfast I finished The Aeneid – after travelling for so long the past couple of days, I only had 15 pages left. After that milestone, I went for a run. This run was much better than last time as I was able to find a sidewalk. After that, it was laundry time and then lunch. They served us homemade pizza, ricotta cheese balls (fried) salad and fruit. The pizza was awesome! The morning flew by pretty quickly. The rest of the day I devoted to studying. There is just so much to go over, that I need to be in the books all week if I am going to be ready by Friday to take these monstrosities. I got a lot done and there is plenty of nice places to study here. I picked the long table on the first floor.
A few more things about the villa: There are 3 floors. The first floor is the main hangout area with a tv, and lined with couches. There is also a library in this floor (all books devoted to Virgil and ancient Rome, of course) and a long dining room table, though we don’t eat here. We eat in the basement. It too has a long table and fits us all very nicely. The second floor has the bedrooms and shared bathrooms. Each room has its own balcony and mine overlooks the excavation of an amphitheater, right on their own property! You have to admit this is a pretty cool place, how many hotels can say that their property includes an archaeological excavation?
Dinner was at 7:30. Tonight we had pasta for our first course – penne and a tomato sauce with vegetables – beef, mashed potatoes, and eggplant. I dove into the eggplant like my life depended on it. It was fabulous. Then for dessert, we had tiramisu! This place will make you gain 20 pounds if you aren’t careful! After dinner, I studied some more and then went to bed.
All in all, it was a nice, productive day. I needed it!
After breakfast I finished The Aeneid – after travelling for so long the past couple of days, I only had 15 pages left. After that milestone, I went for a run. This run was much better than last time as I was able to find a sidewalk. After that, it was laundry time and then lunch. They served us homemade pizza, ricotta cheese balls (fried) salad and fruit. The pizza was awesome! The morning flew by pretty quickly. The rest of the day I devoted to studying. There is just so much to go over, that I need to be in the books all week if I am going to be ready by Friday to take these monstrosities. I got a lot done and there is plenty of nice places to study here. I picked the long table on the first floor.
A few more things about the villa: There are 3 floors. The first floor is the main hangout area with a tv, and lined with couches. There is also a library in this floor (all books devoted to Virgil and ancient Rome, of course) and a long dining room table, though we don’t eat here. We eat in the basement. It too has a long table and fits us all very nicely. The second floor has the bedrooms and shared bathrooms. Each room has its own balcony and mine overlooks the excavation of an amphitheater, right on their own property! You have to admit this is a pretty cool place, how many hotels can say that their property includes an archaeological excavation?
Dinner was at 7:30. Tonight we had pasta for our first course – penne and a tomato sauce with vegetables – beef, mashed potatoes, and eggplant. I dove into the eggplant like my life depended on it. It was fabulous. Then for dessert, we had tiramisu! This place will make you gain 20 pounds if you aren’t careful! After dinner, I studied some more and then went to bed.
All in all, it was a nice, productive day. I needed it!
March 28
This morning we left the ferry at 10:30. I had gotten up at my usual time to shower and eat my cereal. Yes, I did bring my cereal onto the ferry. I ate it in my room, not in the café. I then went out to the café to get some coffee. The coffee was pretty bad: this weird instant filter stuff. I spent the morning reading, packing my stuff, and waiting. The ferry service came and kicked us out of our rooms at 9:40. I guess they really wanted to make sure that everyone was awake. Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea, as the boys in our group were still asleep when the ferry guy came and banged on their door. He could have been a little nicer to those in my room – we were all perfectly awake and just waiting for the ferry to dock.
We got straight onto the Spiros bus and headed for the Villa Virgiliana. A ride that should have taken us under 4 hours took us over 5. We stopped for a bathroom break and a quick bite at a roadside stop, but another bus full of Greek high school students also made a stop there and the little shop was packed full. So with this stop, and the fact that Spiros doesn’t really know his way around Italy (and Krentz speaks even less Italian than he does Greek), it took us a while to find the right roads to the villa. So, at 3:30 we finally pulled up to the villa, tired and hungry. Lunch was ready and waiting for us. We get full board here, including packed lunches to take with us to the sites. For this late lunch, we dined on caprese salad, bread with some sort of egg and ham baked in (I passed on this one), fish, and fruit. It was delicious!
The Villa Vigiliana is part of a society dedicated to Virgil. You can only stay here if you are a member of this society – Krentz had to get us all temporary memberships for this trip. The library is full of Virgil’s works in several different copies, and general history about Rome and Greece. It is a pretty sweet place. I love the villa. Everything about it. They even have their own chickens out in the front yard.
After lunch we had 15 mins to settle into our rooms, before we headed out to see the Sybelline Cave just up the road. In The Aeneid, this is where Aeneas goes to enter the underworld, guided by Sybil. It is just a long cave, enlarged and carved out by man. This wasn’t all that fascinating of a place and I was still pretty travel weary at this point. Krentz even told us we didn’t need to bring our notebooks to this site, so that automatically means this place won’t be on the test.
We headed back to the villa for further unpacking. I went for a run to get my blood pumping and my limbs moving after having sat down all day. The road I picked ended up being a poor choice: the sidewalk ended and I got honked at a lot, but I was glad for the exercise. After the run and icing down my shins – I am getting shin splints again – I joined the girls in the bathroom for a singing/reminiscing about middle school songs fest. At the villa, the rooms don’t have their own bathrooms. It is dorm style with a girls bathroom that has 4 sinks 2 toilettes and 2 showers, and a similar setup for the guys downstairs. So, as I showered, I belted out the words to Britney Spears hits, the ones before she went a little crazy.
Dinner was at 7:30. Our first course was a pasta dish: penne pasta and tomato sauce. Then we were served cooked carrots, breaded chicken and French fries (I will never escape there stupid fries!). They also put 3 bottles of the house white wine on the table. For dessert, we ate some sort of cake with chocolate bits and cinnamon icing. It tasted like tiramisu, but in the form of a cake.
After dinner, I got a little work done and instant messaged mom. Tomorrow is a free day, but I will be devoting most of my time to studying. We have tests on Friday and I need to start hitting the books pretty hard.
One side note about today: daylight savings time. There is a one hour time difference between Greece and Italy, so we gained an hour coming to Italy. But, daylight savings time happens tonight, so we will lose that hour tonight. It has been a very confusing day time wise. I just figured I would keep my watch on Greece time, as Italy would be changing to that time tomorrow. But it has made trying to figure out tomorrow’s schedule – namely, when breakfast will be served – particularly difficult. I think Italians have a different concept of “spring forward, fall back” as the woman who works here kept confusing us. The solution ended up: when the gong rings (they sound the gong before every meal), breakfast is served (either 8 or 9 – I’m still not sure).
We got straight onto the Spiros bus and headed for the Villa Virgiliana. A ride that should have taken us under 4 hours took us over 5. We stopped for a bathroom break and a quick bite at a roadside stop, but another bus full of Greek high school students also made a stop there and the little shop was packed full. So with this stop, and the fact that Spiros doesn’t really know his way around Italy (and Krentz speaks even less Italian than he does Greek), it took us a while to find the right roads to the villa. So, at 3:30 we finally pulled up to the villa, tired and hungry. Lunch was ready and waiting for us. We get full board here, including packed lunches to take with us to the sites. For this late lunch, we dined on caprese salad, bread with some sort of egg and ham baked in (I passed on this one), fish, and fruit. It was delicious!
The Villa Vigiliana is part of a society dedicated to Virgil. You can only stay here if you are a member of this society – Krentz had to get us all temporary memberships for this trip. The library is full of Virgil’s works in several different copies, and general history about Rome and Greece. It is a pretty sweet place. I love the villa. Everything about it. They even have their own chickens out in the front yard.
After lunch we had 15 mins to settle into our rooms, before we headed out to see the Sybelline Cave just up the road. In The Aeneid, this is where Aeneas goes to enter the underworld, guided by Sybil. It is just a long cave, enlarged and carved out by man. This wasn’t all that fascinating of a place and I was still pretty travel weary at this point. Krentz even told us we didn’t need to bring our notebooks to this site, so that automatically means this place won’t be on the test.
We headed back to the villa for further unpacking. I went for a run to get my blood pumping and my limbs moving after having sat down all day. The road I picked ended up being a poor choice: the sidewalk ended and I got honked at a lot, but I was glad for the exercise. After the run and icing down my shins – I am getting shin splints again – I joined the girls in the bathroom for a singing/reminiscing about middle school songs fest. At the villa, the rooms don’t have their own bathrooms. It is dorm style with a girls bathroom that has 4 sinks 2 toilettes and 2 showers, and a similar setup for the guys downstairs. So, as I showered, I belted out the words to Britney Spears hits, the ones before she went a little crazy.
Dinner was at 7:30. Our first course was a pasta dish: penne pasta and tomato sauce. Then we were served cooked carrots, breaded chicken and French fries (I will never escape there stupid fries!). They also put 3 bottles of the house white wine on the table. For dessert, we ate some sort of cake with chocolate bits and cinnamon icing. It tasted like tiramisu, but in the form of a cake.
After dinner, I got a little work done and instant messaged mom. Tomorrow is a free day, but I will be devoting most of my time to studying. We have tests on Friday and I need to start hitting the books pretty hard.
One side note about today: daylight savings time. There is a one hour time difference between Greece and Italy, so we gained an hour coming to Italy. But, daylight savings time happens tonight, so we will lose that hour tonight. It has been a very confusing day time wise. I just figured I would keep my watch on Greece time, as Italy would be changing to that time tomorrow. But it has made trying to figure out tomorrow’s schedule – namely, when breakfast will be served – particularly difficult. I think Italians have a different concept of “spring forward, fall back” as the woman who works here kept confusing us. The solution ended up: when the gong rings (they sound the gong before every meal), breakfast is served (either 8 or 9 – I’m still not sure).
March 27
Krentz gave us the morning off, all except a discussion at 10:45, because the only plan for the day was to travel to Italy by ferry. I woke up at my usual time and headed down to breakfast with my cereal. A few other girls joined me shortly and I spent longer than usual at the table, just because we had the time. I read some of The Aeneid for a while, packed my suitcase and an overnight bag for the ferry, made sure Caroline was packed, and then went for a run.
The discussion went as usual. We talked about a poem in honor of a champion from the Olympic Games and The Golden Ass. We broke for lunch and a few of the girls and I headed to the café next door to get some sun and read. I ate my sandwich on the bus as we drove to Paros, where the ferry was to depart. Maria, Spiros’ girlfriend, met us at the ferry and gave us all chocolate bars. We have been eagerly awaiting Maria’s arrival for weeks. She will be staying with us at the Villa Vergiliana.
We got on the ferry at 4:00 and I spent a few hours writing my journals, my blogs, and reading. I also went up to the deck to check out the view. The food on the ferry is way too expensive, so I dined on my groceries again. I think everyone pretty much brought food onto the ferry, at least everyone in my room did.
I came back to the room to do some work, but ended up chatting with Allie, Caroline, Louisa and Matt for a few hours in the room and then went to bed.
All in all, it has been a pretty uneventful day. Tomorrow will be the same. We get to Italy at 9:00am and should make it to the villa by lunch. We will be getting full board, including a packed lunch to take with us every day.
The discussion went as usual. We talked about a poem in honor of a champion from the Olympic Games and The Golden Ass. We broke for lunch and a few of the girls and I headed to the café next door to get some sun and read. I ate my sandwich on the bus as we drove to Paros, where the ferry was to depart. Maria, Spiros’ girlfriend, met us at the ferry and gave us all chocolate bars. We have been eagerly awaiting Maria’s arrival for weeks. She will be staying with us at the Villa Vergiliana.
We got on the ferry at 4:00 and I spent a few hours writing my journals, my blogs, and reading. I also went up to the deck to check out the view. The food on the ferry is way too expensive, so I dined on my groceries again. I think everyone pretty much brought food onto the ferry, at least everyone in my room did.
I came back to the room to do some work, but ended up chatting with Allie, Caroline, Louisa and Matt for a few hours in the room and then went to bed.
All in all, it has been a pretty uneventful day. Tomorrow will be the same. We get to Italy at 9:00am and should make it to the villa by lunch. We will be getting full board, including a packed lunch to take with us every day.
March 26
I woke up this morning, early as usual, and went down to breakfast. At this point, I just bring my own stuff down to breakfast, and drink the coffee or tea provided by the hotel. I found a really great cereal in Nafplio and it has lasted me a while. I’m just not a big fan of these hotel breakfasts. Sometimes they have fresh fruit, like in Pylos, but mainly it’s just white bread, meat, cheese, and hard boiled eggs. The coffee at this hotel was pretty good, much better than the gray water at Pylos. Getting up early left me time to make sure that Caroline was all situated for the day, and to read some more.
We left at 8:30 to head to the museum about the Olympic games. This was a new building and very interesting. There were displays on every event and different pieces of artwork showing athletes at the event described. There was little at Olympia that had to do with women, besides working in the brothels. Absolutely no women were allowed at the Olympic games, even though males of any class (even slaves) or nationality could attend. There was one event for women, a footrace for unmarried girls, but it occurred on different years than the actual Olympic games. The middle room was designed to match the dimensions of the Temple of Zeus in the grounds of the sanctuary. The exterior was also designed to match the temple – each corner of the roof was topped either with a tripod, eagle, griffin, or owl.
After this museum, we stopped by the little museum on the history of the excavations. The cool thing about Olympia is that all the finds have stayed here – nothing was taken back to the home country of the excavators – a very rare thing to happen, especially given that the excavations began in 1875. There were journal entries, pictures of the excavators, old tools, newspaper clippings, and sketches of the progress of the dig. Even though it was small, and only two rooms, the museum was sweet. There have been three different excavations here. The first one is called the “Old Excavation” (1875 – 1881), the second called the “New Excavation” (1936 – 1966), and the current excavation called the “Contemporary Excavation” (1973 – now). You’d think they would call the excavations by something other than time. The name only works while that excavation is in progress. What will they call the next one? The “New-Contemporary Excavation?”
After the museums, we hit the site itself. At this point, we have visited all four of the Panathaneic Games sites: Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and Corinth. Olympia was never a town, only a sanctuary for the games, which took place every four years. The games began in 776 BCE and lasted until 393 CE, when Theodosius banned all festivals to the pagan gods. 50,000 people would come to see the games, which increased in number over the years. Late in the Classical period (around the 2nd century CE) a hotel was added, but mostly people just brought tents. When we got to the stadium, Krentz told us the entrance for the athletes would have been flanked with large statues, paid for by the fines acquired from cheaters – just a reminder of the tough consequences of cheating. Allie, Louisa, and I jogged around the stadium to get a feel for the race. The track at Olympia is unusually long. The track is in a natural valley between two low hills. There is no evidence of stone seats, so spectators probably just brought their own seats and watched from either slope.
At noon, we broke for lunch. Krentz told us to meet up at the New Museum at 1:30 to hear Louisa’s presentation on the sculpture from the Temple of Zeus. Allie, Emily, Louisa, and I ate our packed lunch in a grassy area on the site. I had The Aeneid in my backpack, and read for the last 45 mins before we met back up. It was a nice, sunny day, and the time went very quickly.
By this point, I was a little worn out, especially since I had just eaten lunch, so I was glad that we didn’t spend that much time at this museum. Louisa’s presentation was good – again, the sculptures were not shipped off when the excavators found them – so she got to explain her presentation with the actual sculpture right behind her. She talked about the pediment sculpture and the frieze. The pediment sculpture has an overall design, but the style varies among the different pieces. One of the women is very rigid (the Severe Style) and the draping of her clothing is not revealing at all – indicators of an older style. A man, just two figures down from her, is lying on the ground, and is clearly older in years, with his sagging skin and balding hair – indicators of a newer style.
After this museum, we headed back to the hotel. I used Caroline’s computer (I left my charger on the bus, and of course we didn’t take the bus today) and spent some time online. Mom gave me her credit card number and said I could order some clothes from the online sale at Banana Republic! Yeah for new clothes. She is bringing them when she comes for Easter Break. I am getting very sick of the clothes in my suitcase. It’s funny – Kyle “found” (?) a shirt in his suitcase and wore it to dinner the other night. I noticed immediately and commented that he was wearing something new. We all have been wearing the same 4 or 5 outfits and it’s easy to tell when someone wears something new.
I ate some groceries for dinner – the tomatoes here are Excellent – and went to bed after reading a couple of books from The Aeneid.
We left at 8:30 to head to the museum about the Olympic games. This was a new building and very interesting. There were displays on every event and different pieces of artwork showing athletes at the event described. There was little at Olympia that had to do with women, besides working in the brothels. Absolutely no women were allowed at the Olympic games, even though males of any class (even slaves) or nationality could attend. There was one event for women, a footrace for unmarried girls, but it occurred on different years than the actual Olympic games. The middle room was designed to match the dimensions of the Temple of Zeus in the grounds of the sanctuary. The exterior was also designed to match the temple – each corner of the roof was topped either with a tripod, eagle, griffin, or owl.
After this museum, we stopped by the little museum on the history of the excavations. The cool thing about Olympia is that all the finds have stayed here – nothing was taken back to the home country of the excavators – a very rare thing to happen, especially given that the excavations began in 1875. There were journal entries, pictures of the excavators, old tools, newspaper clippings, and sketches of the progress of the dig. Even though it was small, and only two rooms, the museum was sweet. There have been three different excavations here. The first one is called the “Old Excavation” (1875 – 1881), the second called the “New Excavation” (1936 – 1966), and the current excavation called the “Contemporary Excavation” (1973 – now). You’d think they would call the excavations by something other than time. The name only works while that excavation is in progress. What will they call the next one? The “New-Contemporary Excavation?”
After the museums, we hit the site itself. At this point, we have visited all four of the Panathaneic Games sites: Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and Corinth. Olympia was never a town, only a sanctuary for the games, which took place every four years. The games began in 776 BCE and lasted until 393 CE, when Theodosius banned all festivals to the pagan gods. 50,000 people would come to see the games, which increased in number over the years. Late in the Classical period (around the 2nd century CE) a hotel was added, but mostly people just brought tents. When we got to the stadium, Krentz told us the entrance for the athletes would have been flanked with large statues, paid for by the fines acquired from cheaters – just a reminder of the tough consequences of cheating. Allie, Louisa, and I jogged around the stadium to get a feel for the race. The track at Olympia is unusually long. The track is in a natural valley between two low hills. There is no evidence of stone seats, so spectators probably just brought their own seats and watched from either slope.
At noon, we broke for lunch. Krentz told us to meet up at the New Museum at 1:30 to hear Louisa’s presentation on the sculpture from the Temple of Zeus. Allie, Emily, Louisa, and I ate our packed lunch in a grassy area on the site. I had The Aeneid in my backpack, and read for the last 45 mins before we met back up. It was a nice, sunny day, and the time went very quickly.
By this point, I was a little worn out, especially since I had just eaten lunch, so I was glad that we didn’t spend that much time at this museum. Louisa’s presentation was good – again, the sculptures were not shipped off when the excavators found them – so she got to explain her presentation with the actual sculpture right behind her. She talked about the pediment sculpture and the frieze. The pediment sculpture has an overall design, but the style varies among the different pieces. One of the women is very rigid (the Severe Style) and the draping of her clothing is not revealing at all – indicators of an older style. A man, just two figures down from her, is lying on the ground, and is clearly older in years, with his sagging skin and balding hair – indicators of a newer style.
After this museum, we headed back to the hotel. I used Caroline’s computer (I left my charger on the bus, and of course we didn’t take the bus today) and spent some time online. Mom gave me her credit card number and said I could order some clothes from the online sale at Banana Republic! Yeah for new clothes. She is bringing them when she comes for Easter Break. I am getting very sick of the clothes in my suitcase. It’s funny – Kyle “found” (?) a shirt in his suitcase and wore it to dinner the other night. I noticed immediately and commented that he was wearing something new. We all have been wearing the same 4 or 5 outfits and it’s easy to tell when someone wears something new.
I ate some groceries for dinner – the tomatoes here are Excellent – and went to bed after reading a couple of books from The Aeneid.
March 25
Happy March 25th! Today is a national holiday in Greece, celebrating the Greek War of Independence, fought between 1821 and 1827. We celebrated the holiday by driving for hours and hours to Olympia. We did make two interesting stops on the way.
The first stop was a bathroom break at a kapheneion. Traditionally, these are the coffee houses where Greek men socialize over coffee and cards. Women never really go into them. They are not quite as popular as they used to be, but they are still pretty common in the small Greek towns. But, as usual, the girls all had to use the restroom, so Spiros pulled over and indicated that this place was where we should go. We looked in the window and saw that they place was full of men and that they were all staring right back at us. We asked again if this were the place Spiros had in mind. He indicated yes, again. So we all went into the little kapheneion and I ordered a small Greek coffee to go as we stood in line. The place was packed even though it was about 9:45 in the morning. I wonder how long the men stay here, or if they are retired. Not all of them looked older; some were probably around 45. One indication of the lack of gender differences here was that there were no signs on the bathroom doors indicating which one was for females. Both were just blank. There were packs of cards and stacks of chess boards along one of the walls. They continued staring, not gawking, but just a confused kind of look, as we all lined up and then left the building.
After getting back on the bus, we drove to the temple at Bassai, where Trent was to give his presentation. Again the girls had to use the restroom, but the WC was broken. Well, there was no one else visiting the site but us, given that the temperature was freezing cold and the wind was blowing hard, so we all just headed off into the surrounding woods…
The temple is actually covered by a huge tent to protect it from the acid rain, which is a problem in this area. It also blocked out the harsh wind, which made it much easier to pay attention to Trent’s report and to jot down notes. The temple is known for incorporating all three orders – Doric, Ionic, and Corinthians – into the design. As you go further into the temple (well, you can’t physically go further now, because it is roped off to the public), the orders progress as well. Because there is no where near the temple to have lunch, Krentz advised us to pack a lunch and we could eat it at the site. But, seeing as how it was freezing cold and very windy, we all just ran onto the bus to eat. Krentz, never one to pass up an opportunity to see some ancient remains, braved the weather and checked out the rest of the ruins, but we all wanted to get warm. I, personally, wasn’t expecting cold weather, so I just had on a long sleeve t-shirt and my fleece vest. I don’t think anyone else expected cold weather either.
Then we drove to Olympia. I am rooming with Caroline for the next two nights. As soon as we got settled in the room, the weather turned nasty. I looked out our balcony window and saw hail pouring from the sky. Each little ice chunk was a little bit bigger than a be be, but they were pouring hard. I also saw two guys from our group running around in the hail. I guess they were just a little stir-crazy from being on the bus all day. I didn’t get a ton of sleep last night, so after reading a bit of The Aeneid (the next assigned reading), I took a nap.
For dinner, a bunch of us went across the street to a little typical restaurant. The prices in Olympia are pretty high, mainly because it is a town that grew out of the tourist industry. After dinner I went to bed early – The Aeneid just puts me to sleep.
The first stop was a bathroom break at a kapheneion. Traditionally, these are the coffee houses where Greek men socialize over coffee and cards. Women never really go into them. They are not quite as popular as they used to be, but they are still pretty common in the small Greek towns. But, as usual, the girls all had to use the restroom, so Spiros pulled over and indicated that this place was where we should go. We looked in the window and saw that they place was full of men and that they were all staring right back at us. We asked again if this were the place Spiros had in mind. He indicated yes, again. So we all went into the little kapheneion and I ordered a small Greek coffee to go as we stood in line. The place was packed even though it was about 9:45 in the morning. I wonder how long the men stay here, or if they are retired. Not all of them looked older; some were probably around 45. One indication of the lack of gender differences here was that there were no signs on the bathroom doors indicating which one was for females. Both were just blank. There were packs of cards and stacks of chess boards along one of the walls. They continued staring, not gawking, but just a confused kind of look, as we all lined up and then left the building.
After getting back on the bus, we drove to the temple at Bassai, where Trent was to give his presentation. Again the girls had to use the restroom, but the WC was broken. Well, there was no one else visiting the site but us, given that the temperature was freezing cold and the wind was blowing hard, so we all just headed off into the surrounding woods…
The temple is actually covered by a huge tent to protect it from the acid rain, which is a problem in this area. It also blocked out the harsh wind, which made it much easier to pay attention to Trent’s report and to jot down notes. The temple is known for incorporating all three orders – Doric, Ionic, and Corinthians – into the design. As you go further into the temple (well, you can’t physically go further now, because it is roped off to the public), the orders progress as well. Because there is no where near the temple to have lunch, Krentz advised us to pack a lunch and we could eat it at the site. But, seeing as how it was freezing cold and very windy, we all just ran onto the bus to eat. Krentz, never one to pass up an opportunity to see some ancient remains, braved the weather and checked out the rest of the ruins, but we all wanted to get warm. I, personally, wasn’t expecting cold weather, so I just had on a long sleeve t-shirt and my fleece vest. I don’t think anyone else expected cold weather either.
Then we drove to Olympia. I am rooming with Caroline for the next two nights. As soon as we got settled in the room, the weather turned nasty. I looked out our balcony window and saw hail pouring from the sky. Each little ice chunk was a little bit bigger than a be be, but they were pouring hard. I also saw two guys from our group running around in the hail. I guess they were just a little stir-crazy from being on the bus all day. I didn’t get a ton of sleep last night, so after reading a bit of The Aeneid (the next assigned reading), I took a nap.
For dinner, a bunch of us went across the street to a little typical restaurant. The prices in Olympia are pretty high, mainly because it is a town that grew out of the tourist industry. After dinner I went to bed early – The Aeneid just puts me to sleep.
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