Trip to Rome 2005

 Trip to Rome    2005

We just returned from a 3 day visit to Rome where
Astrid went to a Middle School Teachers Convention.
The day we arrived Thursday rain poured  and we went
touring the city under our umbrellas. We  visited the
Spanish Steps , the Piazza Venetia , we saw the
Monument to  King Victor Emmanuel and the went for
ice- creams and coffee to get out of the rain.
Friday I took  Metro to the Coliseum.  The Metro is
very good value for money as it cost only 77 cents ( 1
Euro is slightly more than a $ ) and you can ride it
for 75 minutes for you fare.  I then took a long walk
around the Coliseum , Constantine Arch , Titus's Arch
where I had somebody photograph me with the menorah in
the background, saw the Roman Forum where Julius
Ceasar was assasinated and then Vaspatians Arch.  That
whole area is fascinating and I was happy just
wondering around .  Every piazza in Rome is
interesting with fountains and statues and there  is
no end of them. Every building is a delight to look at
and each bridge crossing the Tiber River is a work of
art with statues at the end.
Many of the old fountains have the shape of a ship.  I
also wondered up the hill from the Coliseum and walked
past the University of Rome / or part of it that is in
old buildings in that area. I walked all the way
through the city till I got back to the Vatican where
there was transport back to the hotel.

That evening there was an organized trip to take all
the teachers to the Vatican Museum on a private tour.
Well we had an excellent guide and we saw and learned
about the art of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel
with Michael Angelo's ceiling and Raphael wall
frescos. The statues and marble floors and walls are
endless, each of different colours as well as mosaic
floors. The Sistine Chapel has only been cleaned
lately and we are one of the first groups that have
had a proper view of the cleaned up art. To me it is
strange that the poor faithful put their pennies into
the bowl in church every week so that this wealth of
art could be created for the Glorification of the
different Popes. We were lucky as we were able to get
a chance to see all as we heard that normal tours ,
the crowd just keep pushing you through.

On Saturday I thought I would go to see the Rome
Synagogue but got there too late for the service as I
lost my way and meandered around  The Shull is a
superb building next to the old Jewish Ghetto and next
to it is a church with writing in both Hebrew and
Latin with a picture of Christ.  It was for converts
from Judaism.
From there is a bridge over the Tiber River onto an
island and then into a very old residential area , I
wondered through the narrow roads with piazzas in
between and found a second hand book shop with English
books run by a woman from Durban, South Africa. She had been a nun for a number of years.
I also found an open air market and bought some
Italian Cheeses. The amazing thing was that I was able
to make myself understood in Italian.  I asked some
kids to show me where I was on  the map.I asked them
if they learned English at school and they said no.
Kids in Israel that age would know quite a few English
words from school , the movies or the computer. You
are aware that there are very few kids around as Italy
has one of the lowest births / capita.
I made my way to Saint Peters and wondered around the
plaza there are hundreds of pilgrims all the time , I
notice many who looked like they came from Japan or
Korea and one group of women in traditional dress told
me they were from Vietnam.
St Peters basilica is overwhelming by its size and
with the main altar but it also has small chapels.  It
is full of pictures , icons and an artists dream , but
it didn't give me a spiritual feeling.  To get in you
have to go past Carbonieri (police) with metal
detectors nowadays and it strikes me that this has
become a norm not only in Israel.
I took a long walk past Hadrian's mausoleum and then
tried walking back to the hotel which is out of town.
My walk took me over a hill to the east and had a
unbelievable view of the city.  I walked along Via
Garibaldi and saw Garibaldi's statue and then Anita
Garibaldi's (one of his many wives) plus the statues
of his henchmen that fought the Pope for Italian
Independence. There is also the house where his rebels
made a stand in battle.  I found out all this as I got
lost and the man I asked help from was a  retired art
historian and we had a long walk and his English was
good. He asked direction for me introducing me a the
"Senor de Cieti de Cap"  (Cape Town)  as I told him I
was from South Africa. Eventually I got a taxi back to
the hotel as everyone directed me to Villa Pamphita
and not Hotel Villa Pamphita, which is the other side
of an enormous park.

Saturday night there was an organized bus ride to take
all the teachers into the city and we went with this
other couple from Israel and walked around to see the
Pantheon - this was rebuild in the year 125 and still
has its original doors.  It was later turned into a
Church. We enjoyed being in the streets of Rome at
night and which was crowded with people till late and
even retuning in the taxi after midnight the roads
were jammed.  The cold winter weather did not get the
people off the streets and Rome like Tel Aviv never
sleeps.