Il Papa - A gentle man

I've been going to church most of my life.  I am a believer and draw inspiration and peaceful feelings from attending church services.  For me, it's really just that simple.  I don't argue my beliefs with others.  They are my beliefs and I know I'm not alone in them.

Until the fall of 2012, I had attended only a handful of Catholic masses in 60 years.  Kathryn's mom, Avis, spent her final days at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis.  Nazareth was originally built as a retirement home for  the
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and a large percentage of the residents are retired sisters.  While Avis was at Nazareth , Kathryn and I took her to Mass in the facility every Sunday.  The resident Priest and the Sisters were wonderfully welcoming and we enjoyed our Sunday mornings there.

Since we began travelling in 2008, We've visited some of the most impressive churches in Italy but mostly as  tourists.  But after our experience of last Fall at Nazareth and the naming of a new Pope, Francesco, earlier this year we really wanted to see the Pope while in Rome.

Saturday, in Milan, we visited the Duomo, supposedly the third largest church in the world.  When we went in it was packed as a Saturday Mass was in progress.  It was very inspiring to see such a large group worshiping even as tourists wandered around the perimeter.

As an aside, we loved Milan.  Planning to go back and spend more time in the future.


So, it was with great enthusiasm as we headed to St. Peter's square at the Vatican this morning for outdoor mass.  The metro was jammed and the crowds walking to St. Peters from the metro stop was large.  We hoped we would be able to see Pope Francis but what we didn't realize what that he would be officiating the mass and delivering a homily.


We did not have a ticket so we were in the open area behind the seating.  As a concession to the 21st century, but I'm grateful, they have a wonderful PA system and three large screens setup in the square.  So even as we were way back, we could see and hear.

After some opening music and a bunch of Ave Maria's, we could see that there was a procession coming from inside the basilica and and the end was Pope Francis.  He emerged to polite applause from the 100,000+ in attendance.  Not what happens for most parish priests but to be expected from a crowd hoping to see Pope Francis. The mass went on and the the Pope stepped to the alter and gave his homily, in Italian.  (English translation - http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/09/29/pope_francis:_homily_at_mass_for_catechists/en1-732802 )  He is remarkably soft spoken and a gentle man.  Even as I wasn't able to know what he was saying, it still felt great being there.

After the homily we moved on to let others move up to our vantage point.  The experience was moving and I came away with a warm feeling towards the Church and their leader.

Ciao.

Giovanni

I read once that some years ask questions and some years answer questions.

2012 and most of 2013 only asked questions. One after another.

Giovanni and I have always been pretty rock solid in our spiritual beliefs. Then 2012 hit and everything was shaken to its core. What had previously been a source of great comfort, and a place for our service (both physical and monetary) became unrecognizable to us. The shifts and changes we experienced, the demands on us to accept, conform, and comply knocked us off center and left us spiritually homeless.

Since that time we haven't been at peace.

Sunday morning we joined 100,000 people  (give or take a few thousand) in St. Peter's Square for a worship service. There was singing, praying, preaching. Nothing too radical. The experience took my breath away. It brought tears to my eyes. It was moving and healing and appropriate.

Pope Francis' homily could have been given 1500 years ago and it would have still been relevant. It could also have been given in any modern day church in the U.S. and been equally relevant.

There were no apologies for embracing traditions or decorum, dogma or doctrine.

The service was reverent, the crowd was respectful. In fact, this was the first time in two years I've felt totally at peace spiritually.

Today there are 1.2 billion members of the Catholic church, and its growth outpaces population growth every year. It was an honor to share space with believers and Il Papa.

Katerina

A Little TLC, Please

It had to happen.

Look for the green cross.
The pharmacists are your friends.

Mr. C and I have traveled together for almost 12 years and I don't remember either of us ever getting sick.

Tuesday morning I woke up with a sore throat, pounding headache, coughing...by afternoon I had a full blown cold.

Not to worry. Two doors down from our apartment there's a Farmacia and unlike the U.S., the pharmacists can dispense lots of medicines without a doctor's prescription. I explained my "mal di gola e mal di testa" and walked out with 8 Panacef capsules. Panacef is the Italian brand name for an antibiotic called Cefaclor.

"Cefaclor is effective against susceptible bacteria that cause infections of the middle ear, tonsillitis, throat infections, laryngitis,bronchitis, and pneumonia. It also is used in treating urinary tract infections, and skin infections." [Medicinenet]

My name for it is "wonder drug". By the way, total cost? 7,66 euros--$10.35.

Finding The Eternal In The Eternal City

Since Rome has been around for two and a half thousand years (!), Mr. C & I decided we could devote a few more days to exploring its ancient history.

Everyone’s familiar with the Colosseo, the stadium that was the precursor of most others (at least in terms of design), but adjacent to it there’s a lesser known area--The Roman Forum.  More than a thousand years of history have been unearthed here. Surprisingly, we can thank Benito Mussolini for uncovering it. Apparently in his zeal to create a big boulevard, Il Duce’s construction guys found centuries worth of forums, rostra, meeting sites, arches, columns, etc. Focus shifted from building a fancy new street to restoring artifacts as a way to inspire civic pride. Nationalism was the name of the game for Benito.

Walking through the Colosseo, what’s still standing of the Roman Forum, and other sites in the area you begin to understand why Rome is rightfully called “the eternal city.” Many of the buildings that are standing are the third, fourth, or fifth iteration on the sites. For instance, The Curia is a building on a site where Romans had been meeting for centuries before a building was even erected—centuries before Christ was born. The building that’s left standing is the fifth one built on the site.

In another area of the Roman Forum, a series of steps lead up to a surface area where civil court cases were heard from 40-something B.C. to about 410 A.D. It’s called the Basilica Julia (after Julius Caesar).  There are permanent grooves in the marble steps where kids played games like marbles, and a sort of tic-tac-toe. 

Other highlights for me on this walking tour  were Trajan’s Market, the Circus Maximus, and the Vittorio Emanuelle monument.

 Trajan’s Market once housed hundreds of shops and arcades on multiple levels where goods sourced from throughout all of the Roman empire could be purchased. You can still see portions of the original marble floors.

Multi-level, multi-cultural
market

Circus Maximus

The Circus Maximus is an area made famous by Charlton Heston in the movie Ben Hur. More than 200,000 sports fans could watch chariot races here--and they had them all the time. The Caesars had palaces at the top of nearby Palatine Hill, giving them a prime perch to see the races. No reason to get too jealous of the Caesars and their luxury boxes...most of these guys and their families died violent deaths at early ages. Power had its price in the Roman empire.

Keep walking east from the Circus Maximus and fast-forward to the late 1800s. That’s where you’ll find the Vittorio Emanuele Monument. It’s completely constructed of a white marble quarried in the Italian city of Brescia. Brescia is north of Rome, at the foot of the Alps. Imagine carting tons and tons of marble 350 miles. I never did find out how they did it.

Regardless, this building will take your breath away from all angles. And, when you’re traveling in Rome, you’ll see it from all angles since it seems like wherever you're going--the Vittorio Emanuele is right there with you. It was originally built to honor Italy’s first president, thus it's name, and in 1921 the Italian’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and eternal flame were added.

There’s a massive sculpture of Emanuel riding a horse in the center of the monument.  Really massive—440 feet wide x nearly 250 feet high. Apparently when it was finally finished, a bunch of people celebrated with a fancy sit-down dinner inside the horse’s rear.  

American soldiers stationed here in WWII nicknamed the monument “the wedding cake.” Locals are more likely to call it “the typewriter” because that's what they think it looks like. People who know a lot about architecture say the Vittorio Emanuele is too big and gaudy, it's overdone and as a modern structure in the middle of ruins it's out of place.

Maybe I just like big and gaudy, but I say it’s awesome (in a giant wedding cake sort of way).



It’s certainly easy to feel insignificant when you immerse yourself in thousands of years of history. You get swept up thinking about leaders with names like Augustus and Septimus and Titus and, yes, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony and Cleopatra. But then you walk the streets, see the steps kids played on, look into the interior of what was a woman's home, and you can’t help but think about the generations of folks who lived here and led lives filled with dreams and hopes, family ups and downs, challenges, losses, and triumphs—just like our own.

Katerina

Belle Finestre

Are You Ready For Some Futbol?

The last time I watched a soccer game was about 19 years ago, and the teams were made up of 10 and 11 year old boys. Soccer (aka futbol, aka calcio in Rome) is everyone’s #1 sport here.  Rome actually has two professional soccer teams—the A.S. Roma, representing the city, and Lazio, representing the region. Today we saw A.S. Roma vs. Lazio. You can imagine the rivalry that happens. This is the Hatfields and McCoys. the Capulets and Montagues. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. You get the idea.

A fine male specimen
outside Stadio Olimpico

Mr. C and I bought our tickets last week and headed to the stadium about 1:00pm today. Game time was 3:00pm, but we were told to be there an hour early. We walked to the Piazza Popolo and then caught the tram from there. The Stadio Olimpico is shared by Lazio and A.S. Roma. Both call it their home. Oh my. I can only imagine the fights about who trashed the home team’s showers last.

The Stadio was built in 1937—and was the site of the 1960 Olympics. It’s in a huge sports park built by Benito Mussolini—originally called (naturally) Foro Mussolini, and renamed (naturally) Foro Italico after WWII.

Tailgating

We were early, and grabbed some street food from one of the many spots on the via outside the stadium—pizza and some fried cheese balls.

Meet me at
the Mussolini

Amazingly, there’s still a huge obelisk at the entrance with “Mussolini” inscribed down its length. Kind of like telling your friends you’ll meet them at the Stan the Man statue at Busch stadium, this appears to be the rendezvous spot: “ci incontriamo al monumento Mussolini.”





We’d been warned that these A.S. Roma vs. Lazio affairs can get pretty wild and spirited, so when we saw the dozens of police cars, officers, and empty buses ready to cart off the lawbreakers we were on our best behavior. Our two water bottles were confiscated by the authorities when we checked in and we didn’t complain—just in case it might mean a night in the Roma slammer. The police checked our IDs to make sure they matched the names printed on our tickets (yes, personalized tickets for all 70,000+ fans!) and then we were in.

I can’t begin to tell you how exciting this game was. Today’s was considered an A.S. Roma home game, so the Lazio fans were relegated to one endzone (or whatever it’s called). There were hundreds of pennants and flags and also banners willingly stretched across rows of fans.

Pregame fire bombs

At each end there were dozens of firemen in full uniforms.  Before the game and throughout the two hours they’d hose down the running tracks that encircled the field. Why? Because every now and then some fan would toss out a bomb-like flare, that would flame on down there. A designated firefighter would use a set of 3-foot, or so, tong-like things to pick up the still flaming flare and drop it into a contraption that kind of swallowed it all up. Stay with me here—I am not making this up. Also, every single time one of these things was thrown down it made an exploding noise like a bomb. It was very scary at first, but then I kind of got used to it. The young guy next to me jumped each time one of these flaming bombs got thrown down on our end. I think it was kind of funny that the police confiscated our water bottles, but let the fans bring in bombs.

Throughout the game the fans sing and chant in unison—kind of like a girls' softball game, but not as annoying. The one chant I picked up and participated in was “forza Roma”—roughly that means “Rome strength.” 

Flag-colored smoke from firebombs on the Lazio side

One of Lazio’s team members got two of those penalty cards and when he got thrown out, the Lazio fans lit up their end with red, white, and green bombs (see above) like the Italian flag. Apparently, this was a big show of solidarity.

When someone scores the fans jump up, scream, kiss each other, hug, etc. These people are REALLY into the whole scene. I don’t know much about soccer, but our team (the A.S. Roma’s) scored twice and the Lazio’s didn’t make any goals, so we won!

When the game ended everyone stood up, waved their flags and pennants and banners and sang “Grazie Roma”.  It was actually quite moving. While the fans were singing, the team members and coaches were blowing kisses and bowing and waving.

I like calcio!

Katerina

I've been attending sporting events since I was a little guy, beginning in the late 50's.  My first baseball game, Stan Musial got his 3,000th hit at Wrigley field as my Cub Scout group looked on.  My first NHL hockey game, I saw Maurice, The Rocket, Richard in his final Stanley Cup season at Chicago Stadium.  NFL championship (before there was a Super bowl in 1963.  World Series Game 7, 1968 didn't go well.  Point is, I've been to a lot of games over a lot of years.

A few months ago, while we were planning our time in Rome it occurred to me to find out if the Major League soccer season would be going on in Italy while we would be here.  I knew nothing of how the leagues work in Europe.  Anyone remember Sunday mornings on Channel 9 in the 70's, "Soccer made in Germany?"  So I Googled Italian Soccer League Rome and found the team AS Roma.  Would I like to "Like" AS Roma on Facebook?  Sure.  So AS Roma news has been showing up in my Facebook news feed for a while now.

Our second night in Rome we were having a late night coffee and gelato and the waiter wanted to talk.  etc, etc, etc.  I ask what everyone is watching on the TV inside and he says the AS Roma team is playing Parma.  I ask, "Where can we buy tickets to see AS Roma play?  He says "Right over there, the building with the lights."   So the next morning we bought two tickets for today's match between AS Roma and Lazio.   The Italian in the seat next to me said "For your first game you have picked the best possible game, with Lazio."  Turns out Lazio also is based in Rome and the rivalry is hot.   Really hot.

Aside - Everything in Rome is "Right over there", or "Just make the next right turn...".   It never is.  You go where they say and then ask again.  Eventually you are standing in front of your destination unaware of how the initial direction you got played a part in your ultimate finding of your destination.

Mosaic sports vignettes decorate
the sidewalk entrance to the Stadia Olimpica

We decided to get to the stadium early.  We caught the #2 Tram from the Piazza di Popolo for a 10 minute ride to the Olympic Stadium, site of the 1960 Rome Olympics.  Colorful crowd, lots of flags, pennants, etc.  Amazing police presence.  Riot gear, buses for hauling off offenders.  While the crowd outside was not all male, it seemed mostly male and mostly young.  We were told there was no food inside so we chose pizza and risotto balls (yummy).  Sort of a tailgate as we sat on a curb with our fellow soccer fanatics.

When it was time to go in we started hearing loud rhythmic cheers from inside the stadium.  Sent a chill down my spine. Upon entering the stadium there was this incredible spread of color and sound.  40 minutes till game time.  The teams come out for warm up.  Hooray for the AS Roma team, boos and whistles for the Lazio team.  Where are the Lazio fans?  Their half of the stadium is almost empty.  The man besides me speculates they are being held outside for security.   Really?  Then I notice the demarcation aisles of the stadium has hundreds of yellow suited "stewards" designed to keep the fans of the two teams from coming into contact with each other.

A few minutes before kickoff everyone stands up and cameras, iPads, et al are raised.  What's going on?  National Anthem?  Nope.  There is a Roma, Roma song that all the fans know and they sing lustily.  As they are singing fire bombs are flying out of the south end seats (Curva Sud).  There are lots of bangs and a lot of smoke.  Spine chilling again.  I should point out that the fire department has been on the scene soaking the track behind the goals in anticipation of the fire bombs.  We had our bottled waters confiscated at the gate but apparently it is fine to bring in fire bombs.

Game time.  Lazio takes the ball and pressures AS Roma.  All of a sudden loud booing, whistling.  Whats happening?  The Lazio fans have entered the stadium.  Pouring into the empty sections like ants at a great picnic.  Fire bombs and smoke galore.  Oh my, the spine chill has morphed into a full body OMG shake.  Lazio nearly scores, the pace is frenetic.  Players have no room on the field to make a play because the skill level is so high and the energy of the players is fresh.  Hard plays on the ball.  Cheering, whistling, the game ebbs and flows.  Finally the players get a bit tired and play settles in to a pace that I can follow.  Lot of careful strategy, no one wants to make a mistake.  45 minutes elapse in a snap.  It's 0-0 at the half.



Second half begins and AS Roma is taking over.  Finally 63 minutes in, #45 scores.  Total eruption, the fans are going wild, the AS Roma players are going wild.  Lazio end quiet.


As the game winds down Lazio has chances to tie the game but give opportunity to AS Roma.  Finally in the last minute, Lazio fouls in the penalty area and Roma converts the penalty kick for the 2-0 final.

 The crowd stayed as the game ended.  The players from both teams embraced at mid field.   The Lazio players moved to their fans and saluted them as the AS Roma players saluted their fans.  Then another, post victory, singing of the "Roma Roma" song.  More spine tingles.

Make our way to the tram.   Way more crowded and uncomfortable trip but we made it.

At dinner we told our waiter we'd been to the game.  He said it was not a good day for him as he is a Lazio fan.  OK, too bad.  Then I asked him about the situation with the fans not coming into the stadium before the game started.  He said it was not a security thing but that the fans were protesting the Lazio  owner not spending enough money on players!!!!.  Of course.

I've tried to recap an incredible day for an old sports fan.   Words can't do the experience justice.  While the environment is boisterous, I never felt unsafe and in an odd way the crowd was well behaved.  (I don't get the fire bombs, but no one seemed upset.)  It was not a drunken mess as games are at home sometimes.  Where we sat there were lots of kids with their families.  It just seems to be a way of life.  This experience has moved into my top 5 sporting events of my lifetime and might be number 1.  Awesome, just awesome.

Ciao.

Giovanni

What is a vestal virgin, anyway?

Just to catch up…

I had my second day of class. We’re practicing our past tenses now. (What? Already?) We do a lot of chatting in small groups—helping each other get more comfortable speaking and listening to the beautiful Italian language. E stata dura ma anche divertente. I’ve been a little distressed because I only brought pens. I need a pencil with an eraser.

John and I have walked and walked and walked. The other day we 

got slightly lost—nothing serious because we knew we were only a block, maybe two, from the street we wanted. I was looking at my phone or the map or something and heard Mr. C. say “uh, you might want to take a look at this.” I looked up and whoa, we were smack dab in front of the Pantheon. [Not Parthenon—that’s Greece and in that case we would have been really lost].

The Pantheon

It was like turning the corner from Manchester and say Lindbergh onto a side street and finding the Lincoln Memorial right in the middle of the intersection. The Pantheon was finished in 128 AD. Can you imagine? Me either, and I was standing in front of it! The Pantheon, unlike lots of other similarly-aged places in Rome, isn’t just still standing, it still looks almost the same inside and out as it did 1900 years ago. Luckily for future generations, the Pantheon was converted from a temple celebrating Rome’s ancient gods to a Christian church around 600 AD. That protected it from being demolished as a center of paganism. It still operates as a church to this day—Santa Maria ad Martyres (The Virgin And All The Martyrs). Not the happiest of church names, but a beautiful place nonetheless. We’re going back when we have more time to explore and the crowd isn't as big.

Yesterday and today we took the metro to the Roman Forum and the Colosseo. This is the heart of ancient Rome and on Mr. Frommer’s walking tour #2. I'm very proud of how our metro skills are developing. We didn't get lost once either day.

On our first trip to Rome we took an overview (more like overwhelming) tour of the city with a driver/guide. He drove us to a lookout point where we could see this massive area, but we didn’t walk through it. Five years later we’re making it a mission to spend some quality time in The Roman Forum.

The Roman Forum was unearthed mostly during Mussolini’s time, when he cut a swath through the center for a big boulevard. I guess when ancient pillars and body parts from old statues started appearing someone decided maybe it might be a good idea to look into it, rather than just bulldoze everything into a gigantic rubbish pile. Since then, there have been constant archaeological studies putting the whole place back together and in perspective for people like us.

My favorite section was the home of the vestal virgins. Of course, I knew what a vestal virgin was. Not. Short description: For centuries, Rome’s most high-placed families would offer up their young daughters, 6-10 years old, to join the vaunted vestal virgins. The chosen few served for 30 years, then the government let them out of their contracts, they received a pension and they were allowed to marry. They spent 10 years studying, 10 years performing ritual tasks, and 10 years teaching. If any man ruined their virgin status, both were killed. Unfortunately for the vestal formerly virgin woman, she was buried alive because her blood couldn’t be spilled.

Interestingly, most of the VVs just stuck around after their 30-year contract ended, collecting their pensions, and living high on the hog. Some people say the vestal virgins were the precursors of the Catholic church's nuns.

Actually, these women were VERY powerful in the Roman empire. Six at a time made rulings and judgments and advised the emperors. 

They also had cool hairstyles. Here’s a link to a You Tube video a hairdresser did explaining and demonstrating the complicated braiding technique.

We’re going back to the Roman Forum next week because it’s massive and so far, it’s Mr. C’s favorite place. Next time we’re getting the headphones. BTW, I highly recommend the headphone tours at places like these. They’re only about 5 or 6 euros to rent, you can go at your own pace, stop and start or start over whenever you want.

We also visted the Colosseo. We’ve been here before, but it’s such an amazing, breathtaking place I could come every day for a year and still be enthralled. By and large, the Romans deny that any Christians were killed here or gladiators were eaten by lions. But, in the 17^th century a pope blessed the site of the Colosseo and all the Christians that were “lost” there. Hmmm. I rest my case. 

It's also beautiful at night when they light the whole place up from the insides.

We’ve already had so many fun adventures. Mr. C. has discovered a supermercato and is very pleased with himself about it. He keeps going down there and buying things and saying grazie, etc. I love their little rolling baskets, kind of a riff on the Little Tikes kids' carts, and very efficient use of space in narrow aisles.

In the "Mrs. Lincoln" box

A night at the opera

Last night we went to the opera which is around the block from our apartment. Inspired by the Roman women who effortlessly walk the cobblestones in their six-inch heels, I put on my big girl shoes and traipsed on down there--I figured I could handle a 5-minute walk. We enjoyed a special program of arias from various operas and there were cool costumes. Oh, and they serve free pasta in the intermission. Multi buona!

Katerina

Plaza del Popolo

Thursday was another great day in Rome.  Our plan was to rediscover one of our favorite spots from our frenetic one-day visit last year, the Piazza del Popolo.  Home to yet another Egyptian obelisk, two great looking side by side churches and some amazing people watching.  

But first things first, we needed some "paper products" for the apartment.  This would cause me to find what the Italians call the "Super Market."  Really, that's what they call it.  So no drive to the mall.  Just a walk past the Hotel Sienna where we stayed last year, followed by that lost feeling, turning back and finally asking a restaurant employee, where is the Super Market?  "Right down there, 50 meters."  I say, "really?" because I had walked about 48 meters before turning back.  "What does it say on it?"  It says "Super Market."  "Really?"

So the highlight for me was asking the Italian woman which TP was the softest, sqeezing my hands like Mr. Whipple in the old Charmin ads.  Without hesitation she directed me to the "Foxy Soft" brand. Katerina said, "it's a good thing you didn't get slapped."

Turns out the market has a dazzling array of everything from fresh fish, meats and, well everything.

The Desparo "Super Mercato" seems like a place I will be checking out a lot.  Now that I can distinguish it from every other store front......

Some observations.  I'm becoming a snob about some North Americans.  People that just walk up to Italians doing their job and just start jabbering at them in English, as if these locals should drop everything and pay attention to the loud American.  I just think there's some value in learning how to say "Excuse me, please and thank you" in the language to see if the person has a moment to help you find the Trevi Fountain or your hotel.  Also, why would you come all this way to order T-Bone steak? 

Having said this, all Italians seem to know that I am an American.  I guess it's just that obvious.  I say "BuonGiorno" and they say "Good morning" back.  The waiters figure it out right away.  Last night at coffee and dolce, the waiter started out in English with us and I said, "no no, Italiano".  So he said ok.  That worked great until I switched back to English and he said "No, no, all Italiano."  Oh well, we all had a good laugh over this one.

Tomorrow Kathryn and I go to a major league soccer match.  AS Roma vs their suburban rival Lazio.  Oh and we just found out that when these two teams play, this is when the fans go nuts.  If this blog ends abruptly, be concerned.  We'll be rooting for AS Roma, but we've been told to skip that if we are seated in the Lazio section.  I suppose it would be like wearing my St L. Blues gear to the Hawks game in Chicago, ...... times 10.

Giovanni