well the trip is going along here! today is number 6 since we took off from eugene to the portland airport with jim and will. after a lovely thai dinner in wilsonville, they left us off outside the airport w/ our small suitcases, and nary a backward glance! surely they miss us by now.....
well, we flew, and then we sat in the chicago airport for hours. almost missed our flight to DC because they changed our gate w/o telling us, and then some filmmakers tried to stop us on the way to the proper gate!! a few more hours in the DC airport, eating and all before the nite flite to rome.
a young texan was getting on the same plane as us and he was sporting a hat people hat!! so i had to chat w/ him. the day he received it a babe he knew gave him a big hug as he arrived at a party and burned a hole in it w/ her cigarette.
the nite flite was long, and they fed us and we slept in the sardine can they gave us. but we did get there and stretch and walked about, finally. rome started off hot and humid. we took the train into the city, found the beehive hotel. ate. rested. and hit the streets to dodge traffic and look at stuff. lots to see. tall old buildings w/ cool windows and shutters. cobblestones. lots of tiny cars going fast, and barely stopping for anyone. whenever it started raining, africans would appear several times on each block to sell you an umbrella. we piled onto the metro underground w/ the romans and tourists and students and zoomed down to the colosseum. it is big. a mine of building materials for the centuries. i think they have stopped that now. most impressive. took photos. constantine's arch. because of him, christianity became the roman state religion--i guess that's how it got big so fast.
we decided to walk back to the beehive and see what sights along the way, w/our trusty map.
strolled by some other ruins not even marked, the baths of triana (?) also in brickish ruins, in a park and w/ some wisteria growing on them. popped into a couple of churches because they were on the map, and not. not real fancy on the outside, but when you get inside they are vast and full of art. if not a painting, a sculpture, or reliquary, artfully designed to contain some morbid bit of a saint or remnant of jesus' trials and tribs. one had 9th century mosaics, of saints and angels. in golden domes and over the altars. this was st. praxedes. it also has frescoes, and marble walls w/ it cut in butterfly filets, and one color framing another. and then there was the floor, also inlaid marble and porphyry, in colors of white, gold, black, red, green--all in patterns--and they change --a different one over each section, plus swirls and oh my goshes. the 3rd church we visited that day was a bigger one, santa maria maggiore--the the mosaics were more worn there. i think they felt the need to redecorate a bit more each century or so. it all built up and is now just plain over the top!
maggiore contained bernini's tomb, but it is so plain i missed it. they had more mosaics on the nave, and gold angelini and lion feet holding up the table, plus a giant marble pope down in a marble tiled crypt--he was kneeling there. confession booths all around, and some fresh young nuns in a side chapel having communion--wearing blue and white. i saw a lot of nuns and priests in various garbs all over the city. i think they are here from all over the world for holy week, soon coming up!
after we visited the vatican museums on thursday, we thought we would try to also go into st. peters's, but we had to sit on the piazza and look at the big screens like at obama's inauguration. the pope was having a special shindig inside the church for holy week prep, w/ dignitaries and opera singers and choirs. a lot of people were out there watching. the circular piazza is surrounded by huge tall marble pillars w/ a walkway along the top--along which stand life size (or larger) statues of the popes (i think that is who they are) lots of them, all around.
our book said that before WW2 on holidays they would have 2 runners w/ torches each run half the circuit and light candles to illuminate it. a race to see who would go the fastest. all lit up columns and statues, i am not sure which, but it must have been lovely.
our 2 nites in rome i ate risotto, which i have learned is a nice warming comfort food. rice w/ cheese and different veggies. i will do it at home. one nite we were in a trattoria---candles, wine, table napkins, mineral water. very nice and quiet. sorta spendy. the other time we were in the cafeteria upstairs in the main train/bus terminal, by our flat. also very good fresh food. you can buy a tiny bottle of wine to go w/the meal. both times we sort of realized we were getting way too tired and hungry and needed to stop before any further exertion or undertaking, like trying to get home or moved into our homebase. important activities for which a clear head is a good idea.
friday a.m., we got on the train for the airport and had a nice chat w/ a young italian man who was going to kazakhstan to see his dad. he will be on facebook w/ us now. luciano.
it was odd to look at all the flights going out of rome that day--to budapest, and moscow, and dubai, and finland, and other places in all those directions. everytime i see someone nearby and who i am curious about i sort of linger near and eavesdrop a bit so i can figure out what language they are speaking. i did that a lot w/ the tour groups in the vatican museum---got tidbits of info from spanish and english ones. it also helps me to talk to some of the same people later if i think i can. i feel that i was starting to get a grasp on italian in the 2 days we were there so far (we are going back), and even in our one day so far in greece, my vocab is growing. our host here in santorini is a very friendly greek fellow and he is helping me a lot; we are talking pretty good w/ some of my greek and his english all mixed up. his helpers gave us a ride this am and they are from georgia, that was part of the ussr. (they are NOT russian--yes, another language) we discussed the '48 chevy. they know the car. and english too.
our hotel here is not on beach as we expected. christos has 2, and since the season is not yet going, he did not want us to stay down at the beach because no one else is around. he feels we are safer at his "dream villa" where he is staying now, to build the new terrace. we have a nice room there. tall french doors, and heavy wooden shutters painted blue. there are geraniums in bloom, and some fruit trees in the garden. the grapevines here are grown looking like baskets. they grow them in a tight spiral to keep them protected from the wind. it looks very cool.
today we are in the town of fira, where you can sit in restaurants on the cliff and look out over the caldera. we are hoping to get a room over here, but a lot of places are still shut down. it seems like it will be crowded this summer. all the shops and hotels are gearing up for the tourists. we had a long chat w/ a man at an art gallery today about history and bringing up kids after the teen years. he spoke good english. his wife is a teacher and has to take jobs on distant islands for several years in order to get one she really wants closer to home in athens.
this blog is now being written in a computer room w/ 10 monitors, in a room w/ a tall ceiling, marble floor, fake roses in jars along the walls, techno music on the stereo, blue curtains, a sea breeze, traffic outside. to get here we come up a tiny spiral staircase w/ a brass rail, from a bar/cafe where we paid the guy 4 euros to use the computer for 2 hours. i still have a few minutes left, so may come back tomorrow. the bar has big square umbrellas and tables out front, young waiters in white shirts and black aprons, coffee in shapely glasses, cocktails, but no granita coffees!
we will take the bus back to christos' place in a little while, maybe after dinner. i am hungry again!! hope to press a few wildflowers here--saw poppies and sage brush, well maybe wormwood. mo' later friends!!!
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