Cumae-lative Weekend

Professor Redfield told us this morning that when FSU was rated the best party school in the nation (and the U of C was rated the worst) he went to a conference at FSU, bought a huge amount of FSU sports clothing and wore it around campus for weeks.

Another time, he had taken his five-year-old daughter to a U of C football game. The Maroons were a yard away from their opponent's end zone. Three downs later, they hadn't moved an inch. They decided to try for a field goal.

"This is a field goal, Emily," he said. An ornery man two rows ahead of him turned around and glared.

"You're one of those critical 'Chicago' types, aren't you?"

The Professor, irritated, went home.

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Today, we went to Cumae, an ancient Greek colony/mining town. Cumae is by far the most beautiful place I've ever seen in Italy.

Apparently, this place was settled by pirates and mendicants (the Professor said they were analogous to Vikings) who sought their fortune and heard there was money to be made in the mine.

We hiked up this beautiful vista to the ancient Acropolis, which was where most of the holy places were located.

I had this amazing experience where I climbed to the top of the vista and looked out at the Mediterranean and the tiny town, harbor, and beach. Out in the distance, two chariots were racing up and down the beach.

I felt closer to the ancients than I'd felt the entire trip. Something about seeing this landscape (which hadn't changed in millenia) versus seeing Pompeii (which had) really helped me relate.

For some reason, I couldn't get "May the Force Be With You" out of my head. You know that scene in A New Hope where Luke's looking out at the Tatooine skyline? (It's called "Binary Sunset.") The wind was blowing in my hair and I was watching the chariot races back and forth.

I can't reproduce it. I can upload some pictures when we get back to the Casa San Giuseppe.

Afterwards, we walked into an ancient, gorgeous series of tunnels that may or may not have been mentioned in the Aeneid.

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At night, we stayed in this incredibly rustic (Ross would say "Quaint") Italian villa that was totally adorable. The owners had homemade everything (from pasta to wine), served us dinner themselves and even packed us bag lunches. The bag lunches had cheese, tomatoes, a sandwich, a pear, a banana, and water. They were among the most delicious things ever.

We had two birthdays during our stay. Both nights, the staff made these delicious Italian pastries and sang "Happy Birthday" in Italian to the birthday boys. On the second day, the elderly hotel owner bent down and kissed Harrison on the cheek and said "Come Mamma."

I don't know if I'll ever be fed or cared for as well in any other hotel.