Under the Tuscan Snow

Hello World! Let's start with good news- it has not snowed in Rome since Friday! Bad news? It's supposed to snow/rain all weekend! While I'm in Florence!

Anyways, what have I done this week? I went to Cosa! It was not the most exciting day-trip we will have this semester, but it was interesting none the less. After a two hour drive during which I managed to not get my picture taken while sleeping (quite an achievement) we were dropped off on the side of an off-highway road, and started our very steep ascent up to Cosa, an ancient Roman colony (or what remains of it, which is not much.) We started out in the museum, where we also had lunch in order to stay out of the cold for as long as possible. Thing is, the museum was as cold/colder than outside. Unpleasant. After losing feeling in my toes and eating my sandwich, we left the warmth of the museum and entered the cold sea-side cliff that is Cosa. The views were breathtaking. Exactly what you would imagine seeing among Tuscan cliff-top Roman ruins. 

Just like you imagined!

Though I did enjoy the views, that was probably the coldest I've been since I stood at the National Mall for 7 hours without moving in mid-January. Too cold to take notes, so all I really know about Cosa is 'Forum is in valley' and 'there was a garden.' Useful information for life.

After Cosa we stopped at the François tomb, a large Etruscan tomb that used to have frescos in it, and then headed home. 

This morning we took the bus down to Rome-proper (I made that name up), where we visited a few mid-republic buildings including the temple of Hercules (where I could only think of Disney and the pigeon flying dangerously close above my head) and the creepy crypt of a church built between two other temples ('Don't pay attention to those bones over there... they're just Medieval'). We also visited the Largo Argentina, an area where 4 temples once stood in a row. Here are some amazing pictures of those ruins:

 Meow

 Meow

Columneow

...Oh, sorry Professor, you were saying something about history? 

More good news, on our few to the Largo Catgentina (not my best work), I found a few falafel places which I will be visiting soonly. Also, I discovered that apparently Roman Jews have a thing for artichokes. Fine by me. 

Back at the Centro we had gnocchi for lunch, which may be my favorite food ever, and now I have 4 free hours to do homework... right.