May 2021 – A Traveling Fool

May 31, 2021

Be It Ever So Crumbled, There’s No Place Like Rome

The two main things that struck me about Rome on my first visit in 1984 were: how old it was and how badly in need of repair it was. The newer buildings seemed to be almost as bad off as the ancient ruins. Sometimes it was difficult to tell them apart. It was, however, a fascinating city.

There is so much history in Rome that you can practically overdose on it. The Vatican, the museums, the Colosseum, the catacombs, the Circus Maximus, the Spanish Steps, the Vittoriano, the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Constantine, the Pantheon, the Palazzo Venezia (from which balcony Mussolini gave his speeches), various temple ruins, palace ruins, the Roman Forum — to quote the King of Siam, “Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”

Fortunately, I like history. Actually, I hated it in school. For some reason the teachers seemed to try to make it as boring as possible. Most of it was about memorizing dates. I don’t do well with memorizing dates. I can remember who did what but not necessarily when. I figure I’m doing well if I can get the approximate century. I learned to love history on my own, outside of school. Anyway, Rome is loaded with it.

To get to all of this history, one must drive. They had a very rudimentary mass transit system back in 1984 and, because of all of the historic relics under the city, they have had difficulty creating much of an underground system. Every time they dig for any reason, they strike ruins. Then the place gets declared a national monument and they have to find somewhere else to put whatever they had planned to put there.

Driving in Rome is an adventure. If it isn’t designated the accident capital of Europe, then it should be. European cars are, for the most part, much smaller than American cars in the first place. The streets are quite narrow. They can also be steep and/or winding, and there are loads of traffic circuses. An Italian traffic circus is a circular torture device where you drive in, then drive around and around and around until you die — or until someone gives you space to drive out — whichever comes first.

We entered Rome from the south and crossed the Tiber River into the main part of the city to take a quick gander at St. Peter’s, Castel Sant’Angelo, the Coliseum, and a few other landmarks before heading to the hotel (which was on the northeastern fringe of the city). We had just exited one of those traffic circuses (after only three rotations) onto the Via Arenula and were feeling somewhat cocky when we felt a thump and found ourselves sitting on the back bumper of a Lambourghini. They do say, “When in Rome …” Fortunately we had Ricardo with us.

Ricardo could speak French, German and English, but his native language was Italian. He leapt out and proceeded to have a very spirited discussion with the driver of the Lambourghini. He was in his element and a wonder to behold. His eyes flashed, his nostrils flared, his arms waved — I was very impressed. Soon he returned and climbed back in with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Everything okay?” we asked.

“Si, si,” he replied as Louis (who was Belgian and spoke no Italian) threw it into reverse. We backed off of the rear bumper of the Lambourghini and onto the front bumper of an Alpha Romeo. Fortunately that driver was preoccupied with the driver of the vehicle sitting on his rear bumper, so we gunned it and vacated the scene of the crime. We must have immediately reached our quota as we didn’t have any more accidents our entire stay … at least not with cars.

We reached the hotel, checked in, argued with the management about surrendering our passports (most hotels in Italy, at that time at least, expected you to surrender your passport to them for the duration of your stay), and went to our rooms to unpack and freshen up. The hotel was a brand new, modern, round tower, with balconies all the way around. This was important — the balconies, I mean. When it came time to leave the hotel (we were supposed to meet downstairs) we couldn’t get out of the room. The door lock kept turning and turning, but the door stayed locked, so I ran out onto the balcony and hollered down to Ricardo to get help. The cavalry promptly arrived and sprang us. The lock worked fine from the outside. It appeared that they just hadn’t quite gotten all of the bugs worked out in their new hotel. They had only been open a couple of days. We were quickly moved to another room.

I have always liked Michelangelo’s art, so I was looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel. This was before the restoration that took place in the 1990s. What I saw back in 1984 was pretty muddy. But it was still magnificent (unfortunately the camera I had at the time didn’t do interior shots terribly well, so I only have an even muddier photo). I was quite tempted to lie down on the floor to save myself from getting a crick in my neck. But I didn’t want to embarrass my country any more than I already had by this point in the tour. I tried to imagine Michelangelo lying on his back on the scaffolding while he painted this breathtaking ceiling, but I kept picturing him as Charleton Heston (I had seen “The Agony and The Ecstacy” too many times).

After watching the Pope ride around on his “Pope-mobile”, we went into St. Peter’s Basilica. Peter is reportedly buried beneath the altar of the Basilica in an ancient tomb. St. Peter’s is the largest church in the world (St. Paul’s in London is second in size) and is definitely impressive. Actually the entire Vatican compound is impressive. On the way to see the Sistine Chapel, we had gone through the museum with its amazing collection of art.

In the Basilica itself is “The Pieta”, Michelangelo’s sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son. It had been attacked and damaged not too long before we were there, so it had been placed in a glass case and was heavily guarded. It was difficult to get too close to it and it was much smaller than I thought it might be. But it was exquisite.

We covered a lot of territory in the couple of days we spent in Rome. The Coliseum gave me a great deal of exercise climbing up and down over what had once been seats and exploring the area which had been under the stage (and is now exposed to the elements). One popular myth is that the Christians were thrown to the lions in the Coliseum. This is untrue. The Coliseum is much older than that and was already a ruin by that time. The lion feeding took place in the Circus Maximus — a much newer stadium that was located near Caligula’s Palace (the remains of both can still be seen today). The Coliseum did have gladiator tournaments, pageants, plays, and even water sports. They used to flood it and bring in boats.

On our last night in Rome, we drove out to Tivoli, which had been a resort town in ancient times. Up on the side of a mountain is a former monastery that originally was a castle and is now a restaurant and hotel. We sat down and found seven plates stacked before each of us. With each course a plate was filled and a different wine was poured. The courses included: 1) melon and proscuito; 2) a salad (antipasto); 3) a pasta dish; 4) another pasta dish; 5) soup; 6) the entree with vegetables, and 7) dessert.

As I said, a different wine was served with each course. The trip down the mountain was rather interesting, what with fairly intoxicated American tourists singing songs, the Belgian driver trying to stay on the mountainside road, and the Italian laughing uproariously. I don’t drink usually more than one or two glasses at a time as a rule, so seven glasses …

Next time — Florence and Pisa.

Piazzo Navona The Rivers Fountain by Bernini

May 17, 2021

First Time Ever In Italy

From Austria we crossed the Alps into Italy via the Brenner Pass. I was really looking forward to this part of the trip. The first evidence of civilization we encountered was a cool castle that was wrapped in the clouds. As much as I liked it, I thought it was just a bit too isolated. Maybe it had been someone’s summer home. I thought it would be completely snowed in when winter came.

After traveling from Innsbruck to Balzano, we took a break in Trento. Trento began as a Celtic village, but was conquered by the Romans back in the first century BC. Then it changed hands several times, being conquered by the Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Lombards, and Franks. It became part of the Holy Roman Empire at one point. By the 14th century, it was part of Austria. Continued from there on through Verona, Vicenza and Padua.

On the outskirts of Venice, we had lunch in Maestra, followed by taking a taxi boat into Venice itself. People seem to either love Venice or hate it. I love it! It is beautiful, unique, and full of history.

Starting with St Mark’s Square, we toured the Basilica and a glass factory. Up until that point, the Basilica was the oldest building I had ever been in. The original building had been built in 828 AD, but was burned down (with the Doge inside) in 976. The Doge was the ruler of Venice. Obviously this particular guy was not a favorite.

The present building was built as an enlargement of the version built after the fire. The body of St Mark (which had been stolen from Alexandria, Egypt) was discovered hidden in a pillar and reburied in the altar. We were not on our own for this tour, so it wasn’t until a later trip that we could really explore what is one of my favorite churches/cathedrals/basilicas in the world. As it was, the interior was gorgeous with loads of gold mosaics.

Since Venetian glass is world famous, visiting a glass maker was fun. The way that the colors were included and the glass was blown was fascinating. Afterwards, we had some free time. Mom and I went to the Doge’s Palace.

This version of the Palace was built in 1340. In addition to the Doge’s residence, it also includes Council Chambers, court rooms, the Senate Chamber, and other government facilities. Across the Bridge of Sighs is a prison. The Bridge of Sighs is named as it is because the prisoners would sigh over their loss of freedom on their way across it to the prison.

It was in the Doge’s Palace where I encountered my first ever Turkish toilet. This is a hole in the floor that must be straddled. I quickly found out that the McDonald’s in Venice had western-style toilets (and fortunately also the hotel). Whenever in that part of Italy from then on, I kept my eyes open for a McDonald’s should I need a restroom. Eventually I also learned how to correctly use a Turkish toilet for the times I traveled to other parts of the world where that was my only option.

That evening, before dinner, we went on a gondola serenade as a group. I loved gliding along the canals in the gondolas listening to traditional Italian songs. Even alone, with a friend, or with one’s mother, it is still a magical experience, not to be missed.

That night we stayed in the town of Gambarare and had a dinner of lasagna and fish. The next day, we set off for Assisi where we visited the Basilica and the tomb of St. Francis before heading to Rome.

St Francis is the patron saint of animals and lived in Assisi in the 13th century. The Basilica was built in the 13th century, shortly after St Francis was canonized. There is a lower Basilica and an upper Basilica. The lower part was built first and was where Francis was buried. When we had a little free time, I found a place that had replicas of old weapons. I found a small crossbow, a mace, and a couple other things that I was not certain what they were called. They are in my family room.

Next time — Rome (be it ever so crumbled, there is no place like Rome).

For some reason, this site was reluctant to upload all of my scanned photos from 1984. So I have included what I could get uploaded and added a later photo of St Mark’s Basilica from a different trip.

May 2, 2021

Flying Low Through Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein & Austria

Luxembourg is a very small country, but has signs of occupation all the way back to the Paleolithic Age, roughly 350,000 years ago. It is down below the lower southeastern corner of Belgium with Germany and France as its other neighbors.

We visited Luxembourg City between breakfast and lunch on the day after we visited Belgium, having breakfast in Belgium, lunch in France, and dinner in Switzerland. In Luxembourg City, we were given a coach tour of the city and visited the Notre Dame Cathedral there.

Lunch was in the town of Luneville, France. Not much there in the area where we stopped. Just a cafe and a Cora store (similar to Kmart in the US). We explored the Cora after lunch. We liked getting fresh fruit to take along with us. We would sometimes also pick up some bread or pastries.

The afternoon break was in Basel, Switzerland, on the border of France, Germany, and Switzerland. It also spanned the Rhine. Since it was my first time seeing the Rhine, I was fascinated as we crossed over the river on a bridge and then drove alongside it for a while before making our pit stop.

The main things that I can remember about Basel all these years later (we were there in 1984) are the river and the manner of toilet flushing in the rest room. Because there is such a variety in the way that a toilet can be flushed throughout Europe (at least back then), we had established a ritual that, the first person into the rest room let the next person in line in on any tricks involved with getting that little job done.

Basel stands out because it took me a while to figure it out and it was so unique. I studied the toilet itself and the wall behind it; looked for something suspended from the ceiling or some sort of pedal on the floor. Nothing presented itself. Eventually, I noticed that one of the small, black, tiles in the floor (which was composed of several white tiles punctuated periodically by these small, black tiles) was raised a bit higher than the others. I stepped on it and voila!

As we approached Lucerne, Switzerland, we began to see mountains. I had never seen a mountain before, so I was absolutely awed by the Swiss Alps. We stayed on the outskirts of a village outside of Lucerne called Stans. When on a budget tour back in the 80s and early 90s, the hotels were all on the outskirts of any large city or in some village out in the country. Although it meant that we couldn’t see any major tourist sites anywhere near our hotel, it also meant that we often had some fun and/or interesting experiences when we went for a walk.

In Stans, after dinner, we encountered some preteen boys marching around together, carrying torches and wearing brown shorts and shirts. We found this to be very unsettling (they were also speaking German), so we went back to the hotel fairly quickly. At the hotel, we were told that it was some sort of scouting organization. Ah huh.

The next morning we drove to Mount Titlis where we took a train straight up part of the mountain, then switched to a series of three cable cars to get to the top, 10,000 feet up. A much earlier post, “A Swiss Miss”, from 2017, went into a lot of detail about how neither my mom or I were fans of heights and the difficulty one of the cable cars had docking.

As it swayed in the wind and snow with Mom and I standing in the middle of it, holding onto the pole there, I was imagining being found in the glacier below in another 3,000 years with my fingers still around the pole and Mom’s fingers still around my neck (I had been the one who had talked her into it — how often in one’s life does one have the opportunity to go up to the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps?). We survived, docked, and took some photos of the view from the top. I also purchased a small cow bell as a souvenir.

Back down on terra firma, we had lunch in Lucerne and did some sightseeing. We visited the baroque Jesuit Church and then the Kapellbrucke, which was a covered, wooden footbridge that was built in 1406 across the Reuss River diagonally. It had loads of paintings on the inside dating back to the 1600s. We also visited a monastery, which was founded in about 750 and was dedicated to St Leodegar.

We set off for Austria, stopping off in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, for a quick pic of the castle there. Our destination was technically Innsbruck, Austria, but we spent the night in the village of Auland. Apparently some of the exteriors for the movie, The Sound of Music, had been filmed in the area. After dinner at the hotel in Auland, several people in the group went into Innsbruck for an optional evening at a nightclub there. Mom and I stayed behind in Auland and went on one of our walks where we encountered a rather stubborn cow on a narrow bridge who let us know beyond any doubt that we were the interlopers.

Next time – the Italian Alps (through the Brenner Pass), Venice, and Assisi.