Cultural Observations/Italica

It's okay to let your dog do it's business on the sidewalk.
People bundle up even when it's only in the 50s.
You always use an umberlla, even if it's sprinkling.
Shops are never open at the times you want visit them.
Anyone from Asia is a "chino."
Ham is everywhere but beef is nowhere to be found.
Seeing naked people at a nude beach on the news isn't all that uncommon.
I watched a game show and the "mystery picture" was an up close shot of a butt.
People here really like their dried meats, me not so much.

On Saturday I went to Italica, Roman ruins in Santiponce outside of Sevilla. The first thing we saw there was the coloseum. It's a lot smaller than the one in Rome (which I really want to see!) but was impressive nonetheless. We got to walk around inside it so it was a little like being a gladiator. Then we walked around parts of the old city Italica. Only certain parts of it are left exposed because being covered up helps to preserve the ruins. The rooms in the home were really small but many of them had beautiful mosaics on the floor. Some of the mosaics are now in downtown Sevilla because over the centuries wealthy Sevillanos have have them removed from Italica and put in their homes (not illegal until the 1800s I think). We saw things like ovens, courtyards, fountains, and bathrooms. The Romans were much more advanced that their successors. Also, a section of lead pipe was shown uncovered. This was part of the well developed water system but also contributed to the very low life expectancy (20 for servants and slaves, 30 for upper class). On Friday we're going to Cordoba so I'll have more to tell soon.