…so today we went on a fieldtrip (everyone went, including all of our professors) to Tivoli. We spent the morning at this place called Hadrian’s Villa.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian’s_Villa it’s the beautiful country home of Emperor Hadrian.. he actually ruled for 20 years and whenever he was actually in Italy, the capitol was moved from Rome to Tivoli. It was humongous.. three different types of baths, pools, etc. It reminded me a lot of Palatine but a lot bigger, a lot more intact ruins, and it was amidst olive tree gardens which was really cool. So after we visited the villa for a few hours we took the bus again up the hill to picnic.. we explored the town a little but it was pretty small. When we finally met up again we went to this place called Villa d’Este which NONE of us knew what it was.. and it is probably the coolest place I have ever been.. it’s funny, I think I’ve said that three or four times since I’ve been abroad- in the UK at Windsor, Palatine, Naples/Sorrento and now Villa d’Este. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_d’Este it was the home to Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este.. I’ve never seen so many fountains in my live.. it was like stepping into the gardens of Alice and Wonderland.. but even cooler. We didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time here, but it was breathtaking. Here are some pictures below: (Just click to enlarge)

These two are from Hadrian’s villa:

Villa d’Este:

View from the Cardinals home looking down

A row of “beast” face fountains.. over a hundred I’m guessing…

Me and my roomate Carmen

(A water organ) water was pressured through to play some songs on an organ