Bastille = New Hero
Oh my goodness, I love Paris! it was a little rough and shakey starting out... no place to stay and broken feet... but now Paris has welcomed me into her embrace... maybe embrace is a little much... I'm really enjoying this city. Today is musee d'orsay and Monet musee... yah! and out for wine and walking tonight. Last night was Bastille day and it was beyond cool... I still think maybe it was all a dream... any way, all is well and tomorrow I pack up and head for Rome... yipya!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Last Day Digging
Today I wielded a rock pick for the last time this trip... the digging has stop at Bethsaida 2009. Tomorrow we begin cleaning up the area for the off season. :( It's been so much fun but it will be nice to get out of the heat and spend some time touring in EU.
I leave tomorrow night for Haifa for dinner with my proffesor and will catch a shuttle or train to Tel Aviv afterwards. My plane leaves early early in the morning for Paris, which means a nice nap in the terminal... From Paris I will make my way to Rome. I have 10 days and will be trying to fit as much as I possibly can in this short period of time. Not sure if I'll have access to internet for the rest of the trip so this may be the last entry for a while. After Rome there may be a delay in NYC to see some peeps... we'll see.
Super excited! See you soon America...
Today I wielded a rock pick for the last time this trip... the digging has stop at Bethsaida 2009. Tomorrow we begin cleaning up the area for the off season. :( It's been so much fun but it will be nice to get out of the heat and spend some time touring in EU.
I leave tomorrow night for Haifa for dinner with my proffesor and will catch a shuttle or train to Tel Aviv afterwards. My plane leaves early early in the morning for Paris, which means a nice nap in the terminal... From Paris I will make my way to Rome. I have 10 days and will be trying to fit as much as I possibly can in this short period of time. Not sure if I'll have access to internet for the rest of the trip so this may be the last entry for a while. After Rome there may be a delay in NYC to see some peeps... we'll see.
Super excited! See you soon America...
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Touring Fool
I'll try to catch up to this week with this post. Been a long and exhausting week/weekend. Last week I was moved to a new area, a trench between two walls. Sounds lame but turned out to be incredibly interesting because the inside wall was covered on one side with plaster (all of the stone walls were at one time or another covered in plaster to hide weaknesses and to make the cities really stand out against the backdrop). The one side happened to be facing the other wall meaning that the plastered wall was built earlier in the Iron Age IIb stratum. The other was added later by another group who updated the city and wanted to fortify the city walls. All of this is inside the later 1st century major city wall that surrounds most of the site.
Anyway, very interesting... I'm learning how to see the different stages of the city by just looking at the ruins, something I couldn't do the first week. If I could upload pictures from here it would be easier to see.
This weekend we rented a car and drove down to a place called Bet Sharim, which was the most human of the ruins I've see. The city is a place sacred to Jewish people for it was a site of refuge. What's left of the city are large tombs and in the tombs of course hundreds of human shaped sarcophagus, remnants of the dead. The sarcophagus were actually carved from the same stone as the caves themselves... very cool.
After Bet Sharim we went to Ceasaria, a Roman port city on the Mediterranean. The city was by far the largest I've been to so far. There was a huge ampetheater and a large stadium that went right up to the beach. There were tunnels all over the city that led to the sea that acted as a sewage system and helped fight tidal distruction. Had a great lunch on the beach at Ceasaria and continued up the coast in search of a nice free beach to swim. I was directed,by a coffee barrsta to go to a town called Nahariya just north of Akko. The beach was perfect and so was the water. The water was so warm and the sea was breaking hard which made it kinda fun.
This week coming to a close... we are finishing up a few things but mainly we will be picking up to close down the site for the season.
I leave Friday for Paris... super excited.
I'll try to catch up to this week with this post. Been a long and exhausting week/weekend. Last week I was moved to a new area, a trench between two walls. Sounds lame but turned out to be incredibly interesting because the inside wall was covered on one side with plaster (all of the stone walls were at one time or another covered in plaster to hide weaknesses and to make the cities really stand out against the backdrop). The one side happened to be facing the other wall meaning that the plastered wall was built earlier in the Iron Age IIb stratum. The other was added later by another group who updated the city and wanted to fortify the city walls. All of this is inside the later 1st century major city wall that surrounds most of the site.
Anyway, very interesting... I'm learning how to see the different stages of the city by just looking at the ruins, something I couldn't do the first week. If I could upload pictures from here it would be easier to see.
This weekend we rented a car and drove down to a place called Bet Sharim, which was the most human of the ruins I've see. The city is a place sacred to Jewish people for it was a site of refuge. What's left of the city are large tombs and in the tombs of course hundreds of human shaped sarcophagus, remnants of the dead. The sarcophagus were actually carved from the same stone as the caves themselves... very cool.
After Bet Sharim we went to Ceasaria, a Roman port city on the Mediterranean. The city was by far the largest I've been to so far. There was a huge ampetheater and a large stadium that went right up to the beach. There were tunnels all over the city that led to the sea that acted as a sewage system and helped fight tidal distruction. Had a great lunch on the beach at Ceasaria and continued up the coast in search of a nice free beach to swim. I was directed,by a coffee barrsta to go to a town called Nahariya just north of Akko. The beach was perfect and so was the water. The water was so warm and the sea was breaking hard which made it kinda fun.
This week coming to a close... we are finishing up a few things but mainly we will be picking up to close down the site for the season.
I leave Friday for Paris... super excited.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Trash Pit
Turns out that for the past few days I've been excavating what we think is a trash pit. We thought that the area was in doors, but today we found a corner that faced the other way making it clear that the area I've been digging was for rubbish... which means no coins and lots of 3000 yr old bones... including a boys tooth. Maybe moving to a new area tomorrow though.
Tomorrow there will be a barmitzvah on the site... should be interesting with us all digging and covered in dirt. I don't think I've mentioned the dirt really yet. There is a lot of dirt. And dust and it gets everywhere. I usually swim after we get back in the afternoon to soak before showering and even after the swim and a thourough shower I am still not clean. It's wonderful. On site the dirt is in the air we breathe and the ground we break which helps for breathing. I generally have a nice heavy mixture of sunscreen and mud coating my exposed skin and a spoonful of mud in my nose... it's wonderful... couldn't be more comfortible... really.
Tonight should be good lecture and an early night. Can't believe the dig is half way over already.
Be home soon.
Turns out that for the past few days I've been excavating what we think is a trash pit. We thought that the area was in doors, but today we found a corner that faced the other way making it clear that the area I've been digging was for rubbish... which means no coins and lots of 3000 yr old bones... including a boys tooth. Maybe moving to a new area tomorrow though.
Tomorrow there will be a barmitzvah on the site... should be interesting with us all digging and covered in dirt. I don't think I've mentioned the dirt really yet. There is a lot of dirt. And dust and it gets everywhere. I usually swim after we get back in the afternoon to soak before showering and even after the swim and a thourough shower I am still not clean. It's wonderful. On site the dirt is in the air we breathe and the ground we break which helps for breathing. I generally have a nice heavy mixture of sunscreen and mud coating my exposed skin and a spoonful of mud in my nose... it's wonderful... couldn't be more comfortible... really.
Tonight should be good lecture and an early night. Can't believe the dig is half way over already.
Be home soon.
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