Yesterday morning I went to the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini to meet with Dr. Bondioli and see my first Neandertal skull (well, the first skull for this trip.) Everything went really well. Dr. Bondioli was super nice. He had looked me up online before my visit and seen my blog entries on visiting Turin earlier this year. (If he's reading this one, buongiorno Dr. Bondioli! Grazie!) He also was generous enough to give me a copy of a big monograph written on the Neandertal fossil I had come to see. It's a beautiful book and I don't want it to get damaged as I travel around. I was thinking of shipping it to myself in IL. Does anyone have any experience shipping books overseas? How expensive is it to do that?
The other day I made it into the Colosseum (it was closed when I tried earlier) and wandered around the Palatine ruins and the Roman forum. (I also ran into my priest again. But I don't think that counts as running into someone I know because I didn't know him before I left.) Rome is very walkable and you can reach most of the important sights by foot. I've walked almost the entire city and may need to invest in new shoes soon (or maybe this is just an excuse to be able to splurge on a pair of lovely new leather boots? ;)
Tomorrow I fly to Thessaloniki for 2 days. Not happy about having to get on another plane again so soon. Grrrr. After Greece, I fly back to Rome and take the train up to Brno (via Vienna). Unfortunately, I waited too long to book my ticket and had to settle for a seat on the overnight train instead of a bed, because all of the beds (except for the very expensive ones) were sold out. The seats aren't very comfortable on long overnight trips. The italian guy who sold me my ticket offered to drive me to Vienna himself. It was a very tempting offer, but in the end I think it would have ended up costing me much more than the train ;)
posted by Jodi @ 4:45 AM
12 comments
12 Comments:
Watch out for those Italian men Jodi! Even that priest seems suspicious (accidental second meeting .....eh!) It looks like you've had great weather in Rome. I hope it continues. Just remember one important thing....mother hen can be bribed for many things with leather. Have a safe flight to Greece and I'll be watching the postings.(<: xoxo
Jodi--
I am with your mom about the priest; he may end up leaving the brethern for you and following you around Europe, carrying your luggage.
Good thing you declined the private car ride to Venice. I stood up a field assistant (not my usual guy) the other day for the same reason. Trust in your gut always!
Thanks Melissa. Hey Jodi....are you in Thessalonika yet??? ):
If that priest wants to leave the Catholic church and help carry heavy equipment in the name of science...I'd get some special points for that somewhere, right? What's the opposite of a missionary? Or is it just a hell-bound heathen?
You two know me well...I'm SO the type who would accept a private ride to Vienna with a strange Italian train ticket seller guy ;) Especially one who was trying to get me to meet him after work while he was holding my passport hostage. OMG, did that piss me off. I wonder if that has ever worked for him?
I'm in Thessaloniki. Flying sucks. There's some strike going on here, so they only had 2 x-ray machines working in the Athens airport and they were only letting one bag through at a time. You had to wait until the guy in front of you passed all his bags through individually, got each one searched by hand (each one had to be searched thoroughly before he could put the next one through), and was searched himself after walking through the thing. Everyone also had to be hand searched after walking through the metal detector because EVERYBODY beeped. I almost punched the person who just KNEW I was smuggling WMDs in my bra, and I barely made my connecting flight. Stay on your futon of freedom, Rachel!
Argh. I'm cranky right now, but I'm happy to be here in Greece. I'm going to the university to see the Petralona skull tomorrow morning :)
Ok, I'm going to go to bed early. (Maybe this should have been a separate post instead of a long ranty comment?)
Wow Jodi-ita, As I said long time ago, you are my "Ooooh Canada hero"
Abrazos,
El Oso
Everyone says watch out for the Italian men. I think the Italian men need to watch out for Jodi.
bugaaa!!!
hold on!!!! I will be there soon to rescue and protect you from all kinds of italian men (ticket sellers, priests, gelato eaters or whatever..)...
pispu-nico
Typical worrying mother.....just wondering where you are now and what's happening. It's been a few days since your rant You should be heading back to Rome around this time......right??? xoxo (<:
Jodi -
Rest assured I have not left my futon of freedom, not even once. Believe me when I tell you that it's pretty messy here, but free, very free.
I, too, would look out for Italian men, and Khazak men, too. Nice!
Jason is here with us and kitties. Why don't I get a job?
Eat something delicious and slap the next skeleton you see a high-five for me.
xo Rachel
No need for the worries, listen to Kevin. I'm going to miss Rome. A girl can get used to hearing "ciao bella" every day ;)
I caved in and bought the ticket for the semi-private room on the train tonight to Vienna. With my Eurail pass it's not that expensive really, about the same I would have spent on a hotel room. And since it turns out that I now have a ride to the museum in Dolni Vestonice from Brno and I won't need to rent a car, I rationalized it by telling myself that I'm just spending the money I would have paid for the car rental.
I'm off to spend my last day in Rome at the Museo e Galleria Borghese!
Hey Jodi - how were the Palatine ruins? Do they look like an 'L' like the palatine that I know? Maybe when you get back you can educate me in the root of the word 'palatine'. I am very curious! I've always wondered what a palatine is and now you are as close as it will get for me as the world expert on palatines. I am in awe.
Learn more about interesting things that are the root of wierd words that I deal with frequently in my research, OK!
Oh - also have fun and stay safe!
Hey guys, there's another English person about, :)
I'm a new on thebugaboodiaries.blogspot.com
looking forward to speaking to you guys soon
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