Juya and Thais Romancing Ostia

So, we finished the background classes, a combo of economics, mathematics and statistics. As usual, mathematics bled me dry. Statistics on the other hand was very exciting, and it was not just because of the charming mazziotta (oh, it helped!). Economics on the other hand was potentially interesting, I just wish we had more time to devote to this.

Wish granted, we will be starting the first module at school - development economics on Wednesday. There will be lessons on microeconomics, macroeconomics, environment & poverty, institutions & development, international economics, foreign debt...and examinations. Calling on my economics Gurus for assistance!

But for now, we have 5 days of no classes.

Thais said, "Oh, we must, we must, we must leave Rome this weekend, or I will surely soon perish in this insanity. The advantage of this trip will be entirely yours. I am determined to change your mind if you insist on rusticating." (can you tell I have been watching Jane Austen? :P). Since we had only one day free - italian classes for Thais on monday - we chose to do a day trip to Ostia Antica and the excavation site, and Ostia and the beach. We decided to take the boat down Tiber to Ostia as it looks like it was going to be sunny, which takes 2 hours, and later come back by the metro.

Thais and I spent 4 hours walking around the ancient ground, before heading to the beach just in time for the sunset and dinner, then home, tired and happy. But not before we were distracted by and stopped at a local amusement park.

The captain worked at sea for 36 years before retiring to the river boat. He's been to Melaka and has a son in the engineering faculty at Rome Tre. Dont know why I had that last piece of information ;)

Ostia Antica (Latin: mouth 'ostium') which sits at the ancient mouth (siltation in the last centuries have pushed the ancient city 3 kilometers from the mouth of Tiber) of Tiber River that runs through Rome ancient and modern, is about 22 km from Rome. So far two third of the real city has been excavated.

It used to be the harbour city for Rome in the 4th century BC - its inhabitant at one point peaked at 75,000 - until 9th century AD when it was abandoned due to the repeated invasions and sackings by Arab pirates. Romans then used the bricks and marble from the abandoned city to build various buildings in the area and even farther. It was said that the leaning tower of Pisa is built entirely from bricks of Ostia.

Thais had this great idea of climbing on the walls to get better access to some of the more overgrown areas....until we realised that we have a slight fear of the heights.

Some of the mozaik that survived the centuries. Even then, they knew men were supposed to give us things (in supik) and we women sit with our curvy thighs and lopsided breasts and smell the flowers :)) Go for shorter men as they will fly like the wind to please you

some of the current inhabitants!

somehow all the marble carvings of men seem to have lost their....well, gems.

the gem of the site (me thinks!) - the teatro.

Ostia - or Ostia Lido/Lido di Roma - is the summer destination for many Romans, only 3 kilometers from the excavation site. It was sleepy when we were there but apparently summer at the Lido can be very busy. At the beach, it was molto fredo! in the sky were the wind surfing parachutes.

the sunset.

We were on the way to the metro station when we saw the amusement park and thought, "Why not!"

We tried the very tame roller coaster....

...and the amazing trampoline (a.k.a rebound-tumbling facility). It was my first time and boy, was it a lot of fun! I couldnt stop laughing and was totally bushed by the time our 10 minutes were up.

It was a good day. A short, simple and sweet break. Now to the books!

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