Academy or Boot Camp?

We left the Centro at 7:30 (found the colon on the keyboard...it's marked as the letter M) for our field trip to Tarquinia and Cerveteri (see links on my site) which are both Etruscan towns known for their necropoli, or cemeteries. We've been talking about tombs and grave goods for three days now and today we went to see some from the 8th century BC down to the 3rd century BC. (The Etruscans, where we get the word Tuscany) pre-date the actual Romans. They said, 'Wear good boots, there are snakes and scorpions.' I saw one dead snake and was glad it was dead; no scorpions hurray! The first place we went to, we needed special permission and a guide with a key to get in. That was cool. Overall, it was pretty fascinating, for the first three or four hours. But twelve hours (yes, we got back at 7:30 pm!) and who knows how many miles of walking through various single tombs, two huge cemeteries with dozens of tombs, AND two museums later, it's overkill (no pun intended). I now know more about cinerary urns, Etruscan chamber tombs and tomb paintings, and Etruscan grave goods (mostly vases and pottery) than I ever thought possible. Another good dinner (turkey) at the Centro and here I am, espresso in hand, exhausted from the long day. We found out yesterday about Rowland...someone is getting the Italy version of the New York Times (in English). Besides that, it's great to hear from home, so thank you all for all your emails and comments! Oh, by the way, the weather has been awesome...70's-80's, blue skies. Buona notte!