Rome with Bonnie and Wendy, Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Wednesday, 22 October 2014 – Touching the Past

I’ve noticed something that is really quite touching (and here no pun is intended).  My sister Wendy has the habit of encountering the really ancient by touching the object – to take it in deeply.  There is awe in all of us really about the past, and today we attempted to take it in – deeply and profoundly.  The first stop at the Roman Forum was at the Curia, which was unfortunately closed, due to work on the Arch of Septimus Servus, next door.  It was open the last time I was here, and it is always moving to me to be in an ancient room, where people known and unknown to me have lived out life.  That was not to happen today, at least not here.

I think it is that coming from a disposable society and peering into a society that values and uses the ancient we begin to see what we are missing in not being able to connect with what has come before us.  Here it is tangible.  So it is a delight to take Bonnie and Wendy over to the House of the Vestal Virgins and to see not only their imperial digs, but the republican digs that have been discovered a couple of meters below. 

Before we begin our way up the Palatine Hill, we stop by the Arch of Titus.  The history that stands around and within the meanings of this monument moves me.  Earlier in my life I was able to visit Masada, and see the siege ramp that Titus’ general Silvus built to reach the height of the mesa (as they say in New Mexico).  That it still stands there and that one can see the remains of Roman encampments, their neat squares doting the desert, makes it all the more rich and understandable.  All of that is brought together in this monument that celebrates the victory over Judea, and the plunder of the Temple in Jerusalem. Isn’t it odd that the history of others eventually becomes our own as well.  Standing at this monument, I become fully aware of that.

We work our way up to the Palatine where we experience some really remarkable views.  From the palace of Domitian one can see the Coliseum off to the southeast and from the western edge St. Peter’s profile becomes evident.  It is a windy day, and palatine dust is soon on clothing and in eyes.  Delights that I had hoped to show Bonnie and Wendy, such as the House of the Griffons, is closed and unavailable. (The Domus Aurea of Nero is also closed for repairs after a cave-in – also a disappointment).  So we celebrate what we can see.  The views from the Farnese Gardens are always a delight, and a visit to the Nymphaeum under the pavilions of the gardens is a pleasure as well.  I take Bonnie and Wendy through the Neronian Cryptoporticus, where they can see some original stucco decorations on the ceiling.

After that we leave the hill, briefly look at the Basilica of Maxentius (which is being fortified due to the Metro Linea C that is being built directly below it), and go out for liquid and lunch.

Wendy leaves us to see a church with catacombs and displays of bones.  She's a medical illustrator, and this is right up her ally.  Bonne and I meander next to the fora that line the eastern side of the Via dei Fori Imperiali and especially enjoy Trajan’s Column.  We wander back through the area around the Pantheon to look at vestments, prints, and people.  Always crowded, the Pantheon always amazes.

Dinner is at Facoincasa near Navona – wonderful fagioli romana, and lamb chops that were exceptional.  Time for sleep.

Rome with Bonnie and Wendy, 19-21 October 2014

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – 19-21 October 2014

Sunday

Leaving on this trip is complicated by a text message that a Lufthansa pilot strike has cancelled my flight from München to Roma.  Grief and disbelief followed.  I rushed from the choir concert at Saint Mark’s (which I regretted having to leave) in order to drop by the airport and make other arrangements.  Lufthansa is not there, so I go home, grab my bag, and Arthur takes me back.  Long and short: I am rerouted on United to London and then on Alitalia from Heathrow to Rome.  At Heathrow I have to get a boarding pass from Alitalia, which proves to be a minor problem (such disorganization) and has to be produced manually – but I am given a Business Class Seat.

Monday

I arrive at 8:05, Passport control is easy, no visa stamp, however.  My baggage, which is marked “Priority”, is the last piece out!  My driver is there, and getting to the apartment is a bit of an ordeal.  It sits a good three flights of stairs up from the street, but is lovely.  Bonnie and Wendy are already here, so we walk over to Navona for a bit, and have dinner at a place Louis and I enjoyed a couple of years ago.  Now we are all tired, so it’s back to the apartment, and I crash.

Tuesday

Breakfast at Navona, and the plaza is crowded – there’s no off-season here.  Bonnie and Wendy have Spaghetti Carbonara pizzas (who knew) and I have bruschetta pomodoro along with carciofi giudia.  Delicious!  We walk to the Pantheon coming at it from the far side of the piazza.  It is always overwhelming, and Wendy is beside herself with excitement.  She and Bonnie take photos while I stand in place and just absorb – it think it is the most wonderful sight and place in Rome.  We walk the perimeter to see the brick construction and how the building was once a part of a much larger complex of buildings, some of which is preserved at the rear.  Wendy is gracious as I mention my mounting misanthropy – “At least there here, looking at it, taking it in.” – a good comment.

We go by Barbiconi, a wonderful vestment shop, but I don’t go in.  Perhaps later I’ll see if there is anything that “I need”.  My intent is to take them to Campo di Fiori, but we get lost in the Jewish Quarter, and make our way over to the Capital, and then an overlook of the Forum right by the Arch of Septimus Servus.

Wendy is amazed at the extent of the ruins, and wants to go down right away.  I convince here that we will need a whole day, so we will go on Wednesday.  We walk along the edge, giving them both a taste of what is to come.  There is a huge excavation at the base of the Basilica of Maxentius where they are building Linea C of the Rome Metro.  The Colosseum looms beyond and both are anxious to visit there.  We are there in the evening and the light is just magic.  We talk about architectural details and the various stages of development of the arena.

We take time for a quick antipasto and drink across the street, first looking at the remains of the gladiatorial school.  Then it’s back up to the Trajan Forum, whose column is bathed in blue light and up the Trevi Fountain (which is being restored and not magic at all).  The Spanish Steps are disappointing as well with Trinita dei Monti all covered up for its restoration.  We go to Otello della Concordia for dinner (zucchini fritti with anchovies – really good, and Wendy and I have osso bucco with rice, and Bonnie a spaghetti dish).  Lots of memories here.

We walk down the street and end up by the Tomb of Augustus with its marvelous Mussolini buildings on the northern and eastern edges of the site.  I show them the Richard Meyer building with the Ara Pacis, and hope we can come back.  We walk back to Navona for tartufi at Tre Scaline.  Wonderful

4-5 May 2014

Es gibt kein da, da

I’m going to combine two days, Sunday, 4 May and Monday, 5 May.  On Sunday, Arthur leaves for Berlin, so we taxi over to the Hauptbahnhof, have a coffee, and he mounts the stairs for his train to Berlin (which happens to be operated by Czech Rail – the same people that took me to Prague just the week before.  I have some sadness at his leaving, and not a small bit of loneliness.  I do go to the Reisecentrum and buy a round trip ticket for Lutherstadt-Wittenburg for the following day.  Now what to do?  I revisit.

Well, not really.  I go to the Porzellan Sammlung at the Zwinger.  It apparently was an exhibition that Arthur was not interested in.  So I go by myself.  August the Strong collected over 22,000 pieces of porcelain and then established his own concern at Meissen.  Beautiful things are held in the collection, which manage not only to reflect his taste, but also the development of porcelain manufacture in China and Japan.  Porcelain + Baroque = Incredible! 

I go to revisit two of my favorite things.  One is the van Eyck triptych, which I showed in an earlier post.  The other is the Dürer Adam and Eve.

The first was newly discovered here, and the second was something I have longed to see all of my life.  Both of them encapsulate not only my faith, but my esthetic as well.  It’s delightful to see them in the pigment.

In the early evening, I go to the Hofkirche for Mass.  It is not a pontifical mass, even though the Bishop turns out to be the celebrant.  It is a warm, welcoming, and “just what I need” kind of mass.   The sermon is an excellent exposition of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and the readings are done by a laywoman, who also serves as a Eucharistic Minister as well.  She has a no nonsense kind of presence, while the bishop tosses off several jokes.  It is an interesting juxtaposition.  The mass is celebrated at the new altar at Hofkirche.  I don’t know what it is made of (stone and glass, I think) but it comes across as a not-so-good green dress with sequins. My friend, Lizette Larson-Miller, asks me what I think of it.  I comment that it is certainly no worse than the Pieta in the front chapel.  Another friend, via email, warns me about Roman pitfalls.  At this point in my life I prefer to see our points of agreement and prayer rather than detect fine lines of difference.  I go home quite satisfied.

The next morning I make my way to the Hbf again (it is only later that we discover that Dresden Mitte is much closer.  The picture above, the main door of the Schloßkirche is what I was hoping for.  From a very desolate train center (First Clue) I take a taxi to the Church. “Really?!” says the driver (Second Clue).  When we get there I see the problem:

When I check in at the information center my worst fears are realized.  Both this church and the “city church” are closed…until 2016.  So I go to a restaurant that specializes in potatoes (101 Angeboten) and drown my sorrows.  I walk around the town a bit; discover a Lutheran convent (Christusbrudershaft) and their beautiful little chapel (closed).

A small bulletin board tells me all about them.

I go back to Dresden, go to my hotel, and check into flights.  I do have a ticket to Schwannensee at the Semperoper, but I’m not expecting much.  I go over early expecting to be rejected at the door (these are the tickets I purchased from a scalper.  I get in – go up to the FOURTH Ring, Row 1, Seat 73.  From this vantage point, I can see nothing. 

The people sitting next to me are from Holland, and as luck would have it, purchased their tickets from the same guy.  We laugh.  During the performance we make our way to the SRO rail, and see the entire performance from dead center.  Wunderbar!  I have wonderful conversations with Tom and Maia (who spent a great deal of her life working with people with AIDS), and then we take our leave.  They are on to Berlin in the RV, and I’m flying home to San Francisco.  What a wonderful time zusammen.