Benvenuto in Italia!
Here is my travel journal on my intensive field research scholarship in Ancient History and Classical Archaeology with the University of Sydney and University of New England in Rome, Italy. Guided tour by the best lecturers and experts in Roman history, Kathryn Welch and Bronwyn Hopwood, also with the help of Academy Travel for all travel arrangements.
Room 4 Mosaic of Neptune, seen from the south-west
The mosaic of Amphitrite in Room 3
Ostia is a beautiful ancient town located at the mouth of the Tiber river (about 30km from Rome) and it dates back to its earliest in 1400 BC. Ostia is the Latin word for "mouth" hence the mouth of the Tiber. It was a port city, utilized as a point of goods delivery as it was close to the harbor. In the Imperial Period, they added two more harbor to the north of the town, and this district was then on called Portus, which was the Latin word for "harbor". It was then ruled over by many different settlements and Emperor interchangeably making Ostia a fully functioning and developed small town. Temples, offices, theatres, baths, housing, gym - and many more, are within the compound. It would probably take you around 3 hours to walk the whole town from end to end. It's a very fascinating place and I love the idea of the small compact town that is walkable all around. No traffic jam!!! Ostia has beautiful mosaics in some of their compounds, awesome black and white graphics! (Sorry, I have this fetish with floor mosaics!)
Baths of Neptune is one of the compounds existed in Ostia Antica. From the current day entrance, Baths of Neptune is one of the first compounds you find on the right hand side.
The Baths of Neptune is well known for its Antonine black and white mosaics. This compound has a dimension of 67 x 67 metres and it was excavated by Lanciani in 1888 and Vaglieri in 1909 and 1910. The complex replaced baths from the late first century A.D. and it was financed by the Emperor Hadrian and Antonius Pius.
Ever since the first day we hit Trastevere, I have been eyeing the stuff that they have in this shop. Luckily it's only 5 minutes walk from where I was staying so it was very convenient :) 
Boys hoodies, jackets, shirts
Kali and Andra
I ended up hanging out with the boys at the shop from time to time. It was awesome coz only one of them speaks English, and the rest was talking to me in sign language. They gave me a taste of Italian red wine (I swear I have never seen red wine stored in a big gallon of glass before) and they took me out for a Chinese dinner, which was dreadfull (DO NOT EVER eat Chinese in Italy, yep! Thought I gave in just for a try but they couldn't even do a proper spring roll, and don't get me started on the fried rice!) The boys gave me a taste of Italian weed which had a weird taste and after effects but enough to get me lost on my way back home to the hotel. The skate shop is literally 5 minutes away from my hotel but it was dark and I must have took the wrong turn, plus kinda not sober, and I forever curse Italian alleys. (I got so lost and had to ask two tourists to borrow a map, turned out that they were Australians and it was their first day in Rome too. What a nightmare!)
Me and Skilo Spaghetti (yes, his name is Spaghetti!)
Anyways, the shop is awesome. You should come and check it out when you hit Trastevere. It's right on the main street and drop by their website. It was tons of fun hanging out with the boys, some of them are pro skaters and designers. Yes, Italian boys can be yummy (if they shower!) but in short, great sneakers & jackets collections: I wish I was a boy in this shop :(
Via del CorsoThe famous strip to hit the shops would be Via del Corso. Find Piazza Popolo in the map and Via del Corso is the middle road out of the diverged three. Shops from world famous brand are amongst the trading line on this 'beware pickpockets' street, a few boutiques here and there but nothing really special. Affordable shopping, Italian local brands, and watch out for gypsies definitely! Shops closes around 6-7pm sometimes later during sale seasons. I was there in January, during the big sale seasons - incredible bargains!
One of my favorite shops for stockings, socks, leggings, tights, everything! - is
CALZEDONIA (they are in almost every corner of Rome, so don't worry if you couldn't find one because there is one outlet at the International airport!) I bought nonsense amount of everything. I didn't realize it until I unpacked everything. But I had my reasons: finding the perfect winter stockings aren't that easy, my dear. I love thick stockings for winter and because European winter is much colder than Australia's - they have much higher standards of winter under garment... Plus at that time it was sale packages (5 stockings for 20EU, etc.) so it was a total bargain for sure. They also have a nice line of fashion stockings - rockin' fishnets, awesome colors, nice patterns, lotsa sexy and kinky stuff too.. Hmmm lingerie! Totally recommended for those whose got the fetish like me... A good local brand, I wish there's one here in Australia!
If you aren't too commercial and would like something more boutique-y kinda shop, then head to
Via del Babuino - which is located just to the left of Via del Corso (the far left from Piazza Popolo.)
Via del BabuinoSurprisingly, I found many cute little boutiques on this street! I had more fun here than at the Corso... Not that I bought anything from these boutiques because most of them are the super high end kinda out of my budget stuff. In short, it's the stepford wives alley. It's really fun window shopping from one boutique to another! Each boutique was very unique with their own Italian architecture style. There are a lot of shoe shops here, Italian leathers in specific.
Eleonora
00187 Roma Via del Babuino, 97 Tel +39 06 67.93.173 Fax +39 06 69.38.08.66 info@eleonoraboutique.it
www.eleonoraboutique.comGotta say, this is quite a boutique! 5 stars from me.. This is the place for fashion freak: All the way from Dolce & Gabbana to John Galliano. They have a cute cocktail bar in it too with nice maroon velvet big couches (in case you are planning to spend the day in that store shopping all your money away, there's a place to lay back and rest for a while haha!). Boutiques in this street have fascinating layout, not the usual square plan but kind of a zig zag entering - with each space gets bigger as you go through the halls... First of all I was greeted by the beautiful shoes at the entrance of the boutique. The small corridor was decorated with to die for pump shoes in a certain way that makes me want to know what kind of dress selections they have inside. By the way, the shoes were GREAT. Man, it was such a torture to see... then on you go further inside the boutique, another alley and a much bigger space that leads you into the very inside and the core of the boutique. A gorgeous red glass chandelier lights up the room, and then I realized - damn, they got nice clothes too. Ugh.... I could only weep. And then left feeling like a loser.
Plus, what gets me even more sad was the fact that they line up all the colorful Apple laptops and the red iPod Nano!!! Sons of bitches, huh.
I forgot to bring my Press pass that day so I didn't take many pictures as I'd look too snoopy and might get me into trouble. But that's just another reason for you to go and check it our yourself because this shop is worth stripping out :)
Designer boutique such as
Valentino - whose other boutique is also present at
Via Condotti, the street that leads to the famous Spanish Steps.
Obviously I can't recall all the cool boutiques I went to one by one, but one of my habits is snatching business cards at the boutiques I considered as fashionable and nice, or at least had some good stuff in it. So when you're in the neighbourhood, check out these shops coz it's damn fine... Don't know why but Italians are pretty behind with their websites!
After a long stroll at Via del Babuino, eventually the road meets Via Condotti at the Spanish Steps landmark - so there you go: Shopping Route Day#1 with a lunch intermission taking pictures at the Spanish Steps and then close the day by raiding the leftovers at the Condotti :)
Sunset at the Spanish Stepsis yet another shopping strip with worldclass fashion designer brands from end to end. Funny thing is, it was dominated by the Japanese tourists... haha rich bastards!
Valentino at Via Condotti
La Perla at Via Condotti
I love trees, especially Italian trees :)
Childhood Storybook comes to life
Aquaducts
The +8km walk that day back to Trastevere: wish you were here to walk the walk with me
Tombstones!
LHS of Via Appia Antica: The view across the road
The afternoon walk that changed my life
Perfect timing for sunset!
Life is beautiful.
The virtue of Roman ancient road & stones: I had to ditch my boots at the end of this trip!
The long and winding road...
It was one hell of an experience! Highly recommended.
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