Theatre site in Ancient Roman Aventicum
I have been able to do a bit of traveling, mostly for research purposes, but also for fun. Generally I drag my traveling companions along with me for side trips to theatre and performance-related excursions. For instance, the Alpers just took a tour of the puppet museum in Munich with me. No pictures allowed in there, but it was very thorough and had a lot of puppets as well as whole puppet theatres. And the kids enjoyed it, too, as long as we kept them out of the wax museum/grand guignol/death mask room and didn't let them get too lost in the abstract expressionist toy theatre movie, which made the 2 year old just about start to cry, until she saw the Punch and Judy video (which is actually really violent), which both the kids loved. Go figure.While there weren't any ancient theatre sites that I was able to see while in Munich (I'm sure they exist, but I had a limited amount of time), I did get to sample some of what they do have in abundance at this time of year:
Spargels!
And spargel season is just beginning! They were just as good as the vegetable that was (and probably still is) in season in Rome when I was there a couple of weeks ago:
Artichoke!
These were delicious served marinated and steamed or marinated and fried. We had to sample each variety multiple times to make sure that they were both equally good!
But I came here to talk about theatre, as well as the food.
I recently read The Hunger Games, which is a sort of post-apocalyptic gladiator story, so amphitheatres have been on my mind. We saw one interesting Roman amphitheatre outside of Basel, but my camera batteries had died by that point. Good thing I went to Rome so I could see the:
Colosseum!
Which was very exciting, because you could see the labyrinth that was underneath the floor.
In this picture, not only can you see the labyrinth, but you can also see the part of the floor that is currently being reconstructed.
It was just as interesting to see ancient theatre sites that were not smack in the middle of Rome, which is so cram packed with ancient things I can't even begin to decide which pictures to post!
For instance,
An obscure fountain grotesque,
OR
Trevi Fountain
OR
An ancient Roman theatre (in Rome) that is now being converted into condos
?
Speaking of Ancient Roman theatre sites, we did make it out to Ostia Antica, which has a very impressive ancient theatre site,
Theatre from the temple grounds. It's missing the third tier of seating.
As well as a lot of cool mosaics:
Double fish mosaic in the marketplace, also in the center of the city, along with the temple and theatre ruins.
Although the ancient sites in and around Rome were impressive, I thought that the remains of Roman cities in Northern Switzerland were just as interesting. Perhaps it is because they are in varying states of ruin/reconstruction, so you can see a sort of archaeological history at work (for more information about that, go visit Doug's History Equals Place blog). Also, the city ruins in Switzerland, unlike Ostia Antica (which is the remains of an entire city preserved because it was completely submerged in river silt for hundreds of years), sprout up amidst the contemporary cities and farm landscape. Which is certainly true of Rome, as well, but was unexpected for me in Switzerland:
Medieval castle rising over amphitheatre seats in Avenches, Switzerland
Also, I really liked the way that the remains in Roman Aventicum (in and around Avenches) just looked so perfectly like the diagrams I draw on the chalkboard in my theatre history classes. It's just like in the history books - AMAZING!
Just heard a lot of thunder rumbling outside. Guess it's a sign to get off the computer for tonight. Especially considering that I think I've finaly completely fried the kitchen wiring (no lights in the kitchen since last Thursday - a good thing the days are getting longer...).
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