Ostia Antica

Ok. This is what I knew before going to the Ostia Antica Ruins:

It was a large port city for Rome around the beginning of AD.

Men of the poorer classes would have 12-hour feasts, where they would eat 8 courses LAYING DOWN! This is basically why I wanted to go check it out. So, I did.

This is what I learned while at the Ostia Antica Ruins, and afterward:

Italy smells nice, like flowers. I knew this from my arrival at the airport too. Italy is #2 is scent, #1 being Maui.

The ruins were huge.

I am glad I didn't pursue the dream I had at age 9 to be an archeologist. My attention span leaves something to be desired.

The firemen in Ostia would use blankets covered in vinegar to put out fires if they couldn't get water quickly enough.

When I don't watch where I am walking, I twist my ankle and it REALLY hurts.

Apartments in this Ostia city were like this- the better ones were on the bottom and got worse the higher you went. So, contrary to today, Roman penthouses were for losers.

Romans really liked baths.

Coconut gelato is just as good as coconut icecream in Argentina.

People in Italy are nice and many speak English. Which is good cause I have a stupid phrasebook that just has phrases, and not verb conjugations, which I can actually use to learn.

People know I am not Italian before I speak. Not sure why. And I am not holding a dictionary or map.

Grafitti covers everything here, including the trains. I wish that were the case in New York.