This sunday was great day, I spent the morning at the Porta Portese market again. I found some pants to dig in for 3 euro (The Gabii projects requires all members to wear long pants to dig in which I clearly don't own and didn't bring) I also found a cute chunky metal necklace, two pairs of leather shorts a brown and a black for 7 euro each and a beaded 80s dress for 10 euro. Not a bad haul.
After I got home from the market I had planned to shower and eat lunch and be lazy but I called Catherine jut to se what she was up to. She was going to the catacombs with a few people - so plans to shower were nixed and I was off to the catatcombs - horrifying concept of miles of honeycombing dark tunnels but also amazingly cool from a ancient history point of view!
It took some doing to actually find the catacombs since our planning was minimal, but with some help from bus station maps and Catherine's iPhone we managed to make it. We paid 8 euro for a tour in English and then waited around in the courtyard for it to start. Once the tour did start we were first taken into the underground church (only with high windows above ground to provide light) which marked the beginning of the catacombs.
Next we were taken down into the tunnels. There were thousands and thousands of tombs there and rooms and long dark passageways every where you looked - scary! the tour was short but awesome. The guide ended with a tomb which is thought to have belonged either to a wealthy noble or perhaps a Christian martyr. It dates to the 4th century AD and it has beautifully colored frescoes decorating it. St. Peter and Paul flank the tomb and under the arch above it Jesus and the 12 apostles are painted.
After the easier return trip from the catacombs Catherine and I went to the grocery store to get supplies for the meal we planned to cook in return for the meals that had been cooked for us. We decided on making chicken parmesan and a lemon arugala salad with pesto gnocci and bruschetta. After shopping we went back to Parin, Julian, Sam and Grant's apartment to cook there since 8 people probably wouldn't fin IN our appartment let alone around our miniscule table.
It took us 3 hours start to finish to make the meal but everything was absolutely delicious if I do say so myself. Crispy breaded chicken with 10$ worth of fresh grated parmesan cheese, bruschetta with garlic, minced onion and fresh basil. Danika and Shannon brought over a garbonza bean and spinach salad to go with everything. It was lovely. Not something to do every day what with the extensive preparation and the cost to cook for 8 people, but I enjoyed doing something nice.
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