Well, yesterday’s post took a lot longer
than I thought. Of course, there’s the problem of writing when a football game
is playing and in clear sight. Combine this with being forced to be away form
football for two whole weekends and, well, you get my point. No such issue
today, although the cinema is beckoning after a similar absence. Yesterday as I
sat down to write, I thought about how surreal the last twenty-four hours had
been. Sunday morning, I awoke in Bosnia, took a bus ride through Croatia (unbelievably
beautiful – see next post), took a plane out of Dubrovnik, saw the windmills
and canals of Holland during a quick stopover in Amsterdam, flew into Boston
and then home in a van. It felt honestly strange to walk into our home after
that itinerary, but, oh so good. I probably got carried away with the descriptions
yesterday and should have let the way too many photos carry the story. I’ll
try, but no promises, going forward.
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| Statue of Athena in the Vatican Museum |
Day 4 – Bachelor Loose in the Museum
After our exertions of the first three
days in Rome my Favorite Panamanian decided to take the day off back in the hotel
while the rest of us headed back to the Vatican. She was only seven weeks from
knee surgery and there was a lot of walking involved every day of our trip. I checked
the trusty apple watch stats and I averaged over 12,000 steps a day for the
trip (so glad I brought my knee brace). Never someone to hedge her bets, my
wife appointed two ladies from the group to ride herd on me, insuring I didn’t get
into trouble. They took their charge seriously, but I did escape for about a
half hour to wander through some back streets which I always find interesting.
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| Entry to the Vatican Museum |
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| A Central Courtyard |
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| Photos on my Walk Through the Museum |
Our first stop of the day was the
Vatican Museum. I saw a line of thousands waiting to get in and thought we were
in for a long wait but Flavia had arranged reservations for us while those in line
did not have one. At the appointed time we walked straight in and for the next
two hours I was constantly amazed as we walked through room after room of the
Pope’s private art collection assembled over the past centuries as well as the Sistine
Chapel by Michaelangelo and the paintings of Raphael adorning the former Pope’s
living quarters. I’m not a big art connoisseur (vast understatement that) but I
was visually stunned as we passed through room after room of beauty.
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| Raphael's Paintings |
Flavia added some interesting background
on the paintings, including the stories of particular persons who were portrayed.
Michelangelo didn’t like a certain guy so his likeness was painted on a character
descending into hell. We weren’t allowed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel
and I was one of the few people that took that restriction to heart. The Swiss guards
were constantly circulating amongst the crowd to remind people and escorted a couple
out. The Chinese tourists were particularly resistant to the restriction. I’ve
included a few here that I gleaned from the internet. You can see what an
impression the room makes. This will also tell you how good Raphael’s stuff
must have been to impress me more.  |
| Sistine Chapel |
We then walked down to Saint Peter’s
Basilica, the last of the four major basilicas we visited. Here I was truly astonished
by the sheer scope of the place. The photos cannot capture the immense dimensions
of this sacred place. The dome was fully ten stores high and the people walking
the catwalks up there appeared miniscule. This is the largest church in Christendom
and there is a line up the main aisle where the size of smaller cathedrals (like
Notre Dame) are noted. There were a lot of dead popes on display which I
thought was a little strange, but interesting. The ones displayed had to be canonized
to reach the main floor.
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| Above St Pete's Square |
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| Entry to the Basilica |
After touring this amazing place, we
walked out onto Saint Peter’s Square which was once again remarkable, especially
seeing it from where the pope sat on Wednesday. After wandering around there
for a while, we headed into the area just outside the walls for lunch. My lady
chaperones were vigilant but a lot of fun. There is a lot of competition between
the different restaurants to get tourists to sit for meals in their sidewalk cafes.
We availed ourselves of one for lunch that promised a free prosecco for each of
us. I’m not a big sparkling wine guru but, since I was exploring a newfound admiration
for the fruit of the vine, decided to try it. My two chaperones then admitted
they didn’t drink it, so I ended up with three glasses of the stuff. I later
complained to my Favorite Panamanian that her friends were plying me with wine.
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| Swiss Guards |
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| The Square |
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| Wandering the Streets |
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| Lunch with my Chaperones |
After the adoration, the group walked
down into the area outside the Vatican for dinner. Flavia pointed out the
ongoing, and pervasive construction throughout the city. 2025 is a Jubilee
Year, which rolls around every 25 years. It’s a major celebration and massive amounts
of pilgrims are expected. That was the reason there was construction everywhere
and many of the sites we visited had scaffolding surrounding them. Flavia was
very critical as she was pessimistic if the work would be done in time. We had
dinner at one of the area’s establishments where my wine education continued.
After we returned back to the hotel I spent an hour going over the hundreds of
pictures and videos I’d taken so my wife could see what she missed.
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| Refugee Statue on the Square |
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| Jubilee Construction |
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| Dinner Time |
Day 5 – Off to Assisi
The Favorite Panamanian was back in
action for this day, a trip to the village of Assisi, famous for Saint Francis.
We had a 2 ½ hour ride through the beautiful, if foggy, Italian countryside to
get there. As we approached the destination I noticed a village perched on the
side of a mountain with a castle atop the mountain. Flavia got on the mike to
inform us this was Assisi. The castle is closed to the public and used mostly
more movies. We parked the bus and took an escalator up the final few meters
into town. I loved Assisi which has a real medieval vibe to it with all cobblestone
streets and alleys. There were also, unfortunately, seemingly endless shopping opportunities.
You know where I’m going with this.
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| Drive to Assisi |
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| First View of Assisi |
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| View from Assisi |
My wife wanted to start shopping immediately
which conflicted with Flavia’s plan which for us to walk to other end of the
village and release us to the wild before a late afternoon mass at the main church.
She claimed it was only a five-minute walk. We’d been around Flavia long enough
to know that she had an incredibly poor sense of time. Everything was a five-minute
walk which usually turned into something closer to fifteen minutes. I coined
the phrase, “The Flavia Five” whenever she tried to assure us that it was
closer than that. As soon as my wife heard about the plan she rebelled and said
she was staying at this end to shop. I was volunteered to walk with the group
to the other end. I told her to remain in the area I was leaving so I could
find her in the crowded village when I returned.
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| Escalator Up to Assisi |
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| Arriving |
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| The Shopper |
I should have known better. I enjoyed the
walk-through the village, enjoying the sights, including an ancient Roman
temple of Minerva. It would have been easier without the cloud of cigarette
smoke I had to walk through. I felt transported back to the late 20th
century as the Italians and the Bosnian later, have no compunction about
lighting up in a big crowd, even in restaurants. It turned out to be a twenty-minute
walk to the other end and as I hurried back I knew my wife wouldn’t be easy to
find after all this wandering time. I was right. I checked over thirty
different shops with no luck. I was getting mildly peevish at this point as my
tour of Assisi had ended up being one of my trademark search for a shopping
wife who didn’t want to be found. I retraced our steps and found her conversing
with a nun outside the first church we had stopped at. She had the good grace
to feel a little bad about my situation.
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| Temple of Minerva |
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| The Mannequin Guy |
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| The Main Cathedral |
That first church was dedicated to Saint
Claire who was famously Saint Francis’ contemporary and friend. The time had
not gone to waste as she found her Christmas present while awaiting my return. One
of the big attractions of Assisi, for my wife, was the shrine that contained
the remains of Carlo Acutis. He was young Italian who held a deep faith and
passed away at the age of fifteen in 2006. A large number of miracles have been
attributed to him and his body lies in state, uncorrupted even after all these
years. My Favorite Panamanian was very excited about visiting the shrine and I
was responsible for navigating her and her shopping buddies to the shrine. Luckily,
I had a map and after dodging through a bunch of alleys and streets we reached the
shrine.
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| Carlo Acutis |
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| Very Happy Wife Outside the Shrine |
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| Told You She Would Stop |
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| Inside the Cathedral |
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| Chapel Where we Had Mass |
I was impressed at the small church and
the line of people passing by the future saint. My wife was in tears for
realizing the dream of visiting this long admired location. After leaving church
I was faced with the daunting task of getting my wife and her buddies all the way
across Assisi, eat lunch, and rejoin the group in less than thirty minutes. We
had to pass by one of those living mannequin guys garbed up like Saint Francis
which I knew my wife would stop at. We did it but that was a very fast lunch. Father
Bob said mass in the massive church dedicated to Saint Francis and we then
passed into the lower regions of the cathedral to pass by Saint Francis’ remains.
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| After Mass |
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| Our Very Fun Group |
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| Looking up to the Village from the Cathedral |
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| Entry to the Basement |
After that we had to walk downhill to the
bus and we were in good shape although my wife was gazing raptly at the shopping
opportunities we were passing by. Suddenly, she broke away, having spotted a
meringue store. She emerged with the biggest meringue I’d ever seen. We made a
hasty Facetime call to our son from the bus since he is a well known connoisseur
of this treat. He was impressed. We returned to Rome for another lively dinner
with the group that was rapidly becoming good friends.
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| Outside the Cathedral |
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| View from the top |
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| The Massive Meringue |
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| Heading Back to Rome |
Day 6 – Piazzas and Emperors
We were back in Rome and it was kind of weird
because they turned the clocks back there as well. I thought the USA was the
only one foolish enough to do that. The morning was interesting as we were set
to go outside Rome to visit the Callisto Catacombs. You already know I’m a nut
for ancient Rome, so this was very interesting. My psyche was further embellished
when Flavia told us we were approaching our destination along the ancient
Appian Way. Just outside the gates was the Quo Vadis Chapel. This is where Jesus
appeared to Peter as he was leaving Rome and convinced him to return to the
city where he was martyred (nice friend, just kidding).
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| Driving the Appian Way! |
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| The Catacombs Area |
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| Great Day |
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| She Found Gardens |
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| Quo Vadis Chapel |
The catacombs were fascinating and the guide
assigned to us quickly disabused us of the many myths surrounding them. People didn’t
actually live in the catacombs but they were a center of early Christianity and
the final resting place for many of the earliest martyrs. We descended into the
labyrinth with thousands of graves carved out of the rock which the guide
explained to us. There was a so-called Room of Popes where four different of
the earliest popes were buried after they were martyred. The former grave of
Saint Cecilia was also there with a replica of her statue that I would see the original
of in a couple days. In a very touching moment, Father Bob conducted mass for
us deep within the catacombs in the same place the earliest Christians also did
when they had to hide their faith. They were very strict about anyone photographing
inside the catacombs so the pictures here were gleaned from the internet.
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| Inside the Catacombs |
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| Pope's Room With Saint Cecilia |
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| Ancient Stadium Entry |
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| Piazza Navona |
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| Bernini Fountain |
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| Lunch Time |
Our next stop was Castel Sant’Angelo
which involved a couple “Flavia fives” to get to and then seven stories of stairs
to climb. My Favorite Panamanian and one of her buddies decided the shopping near
the piazza was more attractive and we left her there. The Castel was awesome.
It was originally built as the tomb of Roman Emperor Hadrian (he of the wall in
northern England). Subsequent generations built fortifications on top of that
and it eventually became one of the key defensive fortifications of the city. It
was used as a refuge for the pope as the Vatican was a stone’s throw away. A
tall wall was built to offer a safe evacuation route from the Vatican to the Castel.
It’s located right on the Tiber River and offered spectacular view of the
entire city.
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| Approaching Castel Sant’Angelo |
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| Inside |
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| Hadrian's Tomb |
It also served as the home for a couple
Popes and their rooms were adorned with yet more fabulous paintings. The fortress
was named after Archangel Michael because in the Middle Ages Rome was beset with
the Black Plague (as was wont to happen back then). A huge crowd gathered
around the Castel to pray for deliverance (probably not the smartest move given
the whole plague thing going on). Michael appeared atop the Castel and was seen
sheathing his sword and the plague died out, so they named it after him in
appreciation. There were two large statues of the archangel including one at
the very top. I really enjoyed our stay on top of the Castel for the views
which were truly incredible. As we descended, we ran into yet another set of
Papal rooms which, you guessed it, had more amazing art including paintings of
Hadrian and Alexander the Great.
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| Lower Statue of Saint Michael |
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| View of the Tiober |
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| Looking Towards the Vatican |
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Wall Extending to the Vatican
The Pope's Escape Route |
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| Papal Rooms |
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| Statue on Top |
We returned to the bus and, wouldn’t you
know it, my Favorite Panamanian was not at the agreed upon rendezvous point. I
had given her specific instructions and told her to be there at 4:30. I did
this five times as I am a veteran of her efforts at timeliness. I set out for
the piazza once again and ran into her just outside that with her partner in
crime. She was sitting conversing with a couple security guards and told me I
said the meeting time was 4:45. I managed to keep a fairly straight face on our
walk back to the bus as I’m sure her mistake on the time had more to do with a
shoe store than a failed memory.
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| More Papal Rooms |
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| Hadrian |
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| Dinner Time |
Day 7 – Rainout Makeup
The morning schedule called for a makeup
of the places we missed out on when the heavy rain fell on our second day. I
was excited because the itinerary featured a couple of the most iconic places
in Rome. There was a bus driver strike in the city which made the crazy driving
conditions even more bizarre. We were dropped off near the Plaza de España
which had the embassies of both France and Spain as well as another obelisk with
the Virgin Mary perched on top. A short
walk up the plaza brought us to the famous Spanish Steps, the first of those
iconic places. There was a beautiful fountain at the base as well as a horde of
tourists, which, of course, we were a part of. There was a famous house right
next to the steps where Keats and Shelly lived during their time in Rome with the
world famous Babington Tea House on the other side (obviously I learned about
its fame from Flavia because who knows that much about tea houses, I certainly didn’t,
but I digress, back to the tour).
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| Plaza de España |
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| Spanish Steps |
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| Keats Shelly House |
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| Wife in Front of Bernini House |
We made the short walk from there to the
Trevi Fountain (iconic place #2). We passed by the house of Bernini (that guy again)
on our way. Wouldn’t you know it, but the fountain had been drained and was undergoing
renovation for, you guessed it, the jubilee. It was still very impressive and surrounded
by gelato shops which is where I found my Favorite Panamanian after she
disappeared again. We set out again walking the back streets of Rome which were
a lot of fun to traverse.
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| The Fountain |
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| Another Hadrian Temple |
Our next destination was the famous
Pantheon built by Marcus Agrippa, close buddy of Augustus Caesar and one of my favorite
figures of antiquity. Unfortunately, there was a long line to get in so I
missed out on seeing the largest concrete dome ever created so I could
accompany my Favorite Panamanian on a shopping foray, which I had inadvisedly
promised earlier. We re-entered the nearby area of the Piazza Navona and set
out from there while the rest of the group toured the Pantheon. We found the street
we were looking for which passed by the Italians legislative building and a
truly imposing obelisk created Marcus Aurelius commemorating his victories over
the Germans (the opening scene in Gladiator). Using my phone and a map I found
the Via Corso and set my wife loose on the unsuspecting shopkeepers. We wound
up back at the same café near the Piazza for lunch (because of the gelato shop
next door) before boarding the bus for our next destination.
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| The Pantheon |
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| Before Setting Out for Shopping |
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| Marcus Aurelius Obelisk |
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| Target Acquired |
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| Found Her! |
We drove an hour south of Rome to reach
Castel Gandolfo which has nothing to do with a certain wizard of LOTR fame. It
was a summer escape place for Roman Emperors and now for the Pope who has his
summer place there. It was a picturesque little village set on top of a hill
overlooking a large lake. The hilltop offered sweeping views of the countryside
all the way to the Mediterranean coast. Our first event there was a wine
tasting session, in which I was now a willing participant. My Favorite
Panamanian finally found a bottle of sweet wine which she had been searching for
since our arrival. The Italians prefer a more dry wine. We were set up on the
central village plaza with the door to the Pope’s place across the way. We
ended up taking in mass at the Pope’s church which was as ornate as you can
imagine. This was followed by yet another very fun dinner with the group in one
of the village’s many restaurants.
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| View Towards the Mediterranean |
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| Entry to Gandolfo |
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| Pope's Summer Place |
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| Wine Tasting |
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| Pope's Church |
Day 8 – Final Roman Day
Flavia took it easy on us on our final
full day in Rome. We were able to sleep in and enjoy a leisurely pace for once.
Our first stop was the Basilica of San Lorenzo which was located next to the largest
cemetery in Rome. We made our way through a literal blizzard of the omnipresent
scooters to reach the simple but very impressive church, which also had yet another
dead pope in the basement. The church had to be restored after World War 2
because the Germans were staging near it and those dastardly Americans bombed
them mercilessly (its what we do). Lorenzo was another early Christian martyr
who was roasted over an open flame. Legend has it, as he was being roasted, he
told his executioner that he was done on one side and they should turn him
over. I guess that qualifies as true gallows humor.
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| San Lorenzo |
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| Ancient Murals |
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| Cemetery Entrance |
We had a mid-day break so my Favorite Panamanian
tackled one of the hotel maids to get a vacuum so she could shrink her plastic bags
containing her clothes so she could fit everything into her suitcase, along
with her purchases (including a bottle of that sweet wine). For the afternoon,
Flavia took us to her favorite place in Rome, where she grew up. The Trastevere
neighborhood has gained a reputation as one of the really chic areas of modern Rome
and we enjoyed our walk through the small cobblestoned streets. We had our mass
with Father Bob at Santa Maria which was a gorgeous place in the central plaza.
This was followed by more gelato just before dinner.
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| Trastevere Plaza |
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| Central Church |
Before we ate dinner, Flavia took us through
the darkening streets to the church of Saint Cecelia. You remember her from the
catacombs? She was another early Christian martyr buried in the catacombs. Her
grave was discovered a thousand years after she was killed and her body was uncorrupted,
looking like it had been buried that same day. A sculptor created a statue of
what she looked like when she was uncovered, including the wound from the beheading.
It was a potent image. Her body now lies below this church. We passed by the
oldest synagogue in Rome as we walked back to dinner, because, again, why not.
Our final dinner in Rome was predictably fun.
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| These Ancient Water Fountains Are All Over Rome |
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| Saint Cecelia Church |
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| Cecilia Statue |
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| Oldest Synagogue |
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| That is All |
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RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut
Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor
of the big river; Curbside Girls – close
friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of
course); FBR - First Blog Reader -
first granddaughter; First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend
since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife –
her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew –
son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; PanaGals – female relatives
/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin
Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we
have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor
Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos
- two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever
explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course
