Blogging from Newcastle, England, October 28th, 2019

Bloggers: Shawn and Kylie

Steps Taken: 19,500

Flights: 97

Today was the culmination of our time in England with Professor Haynes, who is an expert in the Roman Frontier. He lead us all on a spectacular tour of the wall, from mile castle 39 to mile castle 37. As we climbed up and down the cliffs, Prof. Haynes gave detailed lectures on the purpose of the wall and its design amongst the landscape. We watched our footing carefully but found it hard to not stare at the beautiful views. With the occasional resound “carry on”, we followed along closely to Prof Haynes for two and a half hours of phenomenal lecturing. We then arrived at the fort at Housesteads, where Ben, unfortunately, learned the role of the latrines in the Vindolanda tablets.

We then went to a Mithraeum in an area that is not yet excavated. The Mithraeum went along well as a comparison to San Clemente and the one at  Bloomberg. By now, if Leo were a member of the cult he’d be at the sunrunner rank. We then went to the museum at Chesters, where the true Latinists (Mack, Mila, and Kylie) attempted to read more inscriptions. Prof. Haynes was once again a wonderful guide, telling us the importance of individual artifacts. One that stood out, in particular, was that of a frog, as Prof. Haynes said they were frequent in a local cult. Then we headed for Arbeia, where we were all eager to play our roles during our Roman banquet. We dressed ourselves to the height of luxury, having many quarrels over fibulas in the process. We had an excellent chef and historian prepare our meal, making it as authentic as possible. We had traditional meals with replica cutlery and glassware. The snails were a particularly divisive dish. As we wined and dined we discussed our differing places in society as Empress Stewart, clad in an abundance of purple and beautiful jewelry,  looked over the disappearance of a shady man named Cynegius. It was the humble and pious Anastasia, played by Margaret, who was responsible. She poisoned him in order to help the cause of her non-christain lover, Victor. After that scandalous revelation, we returned back to Newcastle to get some much-needed rest before our 4 am flight.

Cheers and Ciao,

Kylie and Shawn