Back Home Again

Alas, the journey ended yesterday when I returned home around 6pm. I nearly collapsed due to jet lag, and am now having to spend an entire weekend putting everything back in order! In all, this was a great trip. Look at all of the things that we saw here in this blog: art, culture, history, food, travel, people, the rise and fall of an empire, the founding of the Church. I think the definite highlight of the trip was seeing the pope so closely, being there with 100,000 people on Wednesday morning. What did you think?

There's so much I didn't cover here, and I have hundreds of photos. I never talked about the side trip to Ostica Anitica, the Borghese Gallery, the eight or so ancient churches with relics (the crib of the baby Jesus, the chains of Peter the apostle, the bodies of Peter and Paul, and dozens of popes and saints). Such a rich history of famous people who lived and died in Rome. A great place for even the most fidgety of all travelers, one could not see everything in an entire week.

Here's some other neat trip movies:

I ran around Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) on Thursday night. Click here.

I took a video snapshot of the crowds at St. Peter's square on Wednesday. Click here.

I explored the crypts of Ostica Anitica, an ancient Roman port town. Click here.

To capture the moment of being in St. Peter's square, I did a panoramic video capture. Click here.

Thanks for following along, this will probably be my last post on this blog. If you want to send additional comments, or ask any questions, feel free to contact me. :)

Top 10 things You Can't Do In America

In Europe, the culture is different, and there are many things you can do here that you would get into trouble (of some sort) if you did these things in America. Just for fun, these all happened to me. Here we go:

10 -- Go to a McDonalds and ask for a number #4 and get (and pay for) FOUR sandwiches, FOUR drinks, and FOUR fries.
9 -- Take two photos of tourists in a park and demand $8 for them, or else you won't return the camera back.
8 -- Walk through a busy highway without looking, expecting everyone to weave around you, without getting mad at all.
7 -- Stop and have a conversation with someone in the middle of a busy highway and have everyone weave around you and no one get mad at you.
6 -- In a packed subway car, bump and push your way through people to make an exit.
5 -- In a packed subway car, bump and push your way through people to make an exit, and not wear any deodorant.
4 -- Don't wear deodorant at all, anywhere you go.
3 -- Stop in the middle of any intersection, busy hallway, exit, terminal, or any place with a bottleneck of pedestrian traffic and just start talking to other people, totally oblivious to anyone else around you.
2 -- Creating a ticket line and have tourists start queuing up. Then, have only ONE ticket man selling tickets and allow five thousand people go through 1.5 hours of shoving, knocking others over and (potentially) trampling on children. Not to mention the ordeal of deodorant absence.

And the number one thing you can't do in America (or anywhere else civilized) but you can do in Europe is:

1 -- Get together with a group of friends at the bottom of a down-escalator. Start chatting and ignore dozens of other people continually trying to exit the escalator without being shredded.

In America, these are called (in order): extortion, extortion, suicide, suicide with bells on it, a good way to start a fight, a really good way to start a fight, a way not to impress women, inconsiderate and rude, a lawsuit waiting to happen, a multiple homicide waiting to happen.

Pope Benedict XVI from Three Feet away!

This is a once and a life time event! This morning at 4:15am EST, I was in St. Peter's square with nearly 100,000 faithful Catholics as we gathered for Pope Benedict XVI's blessing. Hundreds of youth tour groups crowded busses, subways, trains, and sidewalks and filled the entire square with banners, flags, and signs. Songs were sung, prayers were said, and chants of "Benedicto" were ushered. In the audience were priests, bishops, swiss guardsmen, nuns, and at least one sighted cardinal giving an interview (perhaps for KPOP?). Although it has been very hot here all week (35C), this morning was blessed with cooler weather and some clouds.

At this time, the Holy Father in his parade around the square passed my railing on the direct north side of the obelisk. He was only three feet from me. I was holding my camera in hand, and managed to capture a video of the experience which can be found here. This is an Apple QuickTime MOV movie, most Windows users should be able to view it with the right plug-in. Mac Users are already in the game.

I lost track counting the number of flags being flown, at least 20 countries were represented. When it was our turn (English), the Holy Father said something like this, "In the name of our Lord, greetings to the English speaking peoples here. Especial greetings to those from the countries of England (pause), Scotland (pause), and the United States (pause, some cheers). Many abundant blessings to you all for coming here today."

An Evening Tour of Rome

I started off on an evening stroll by going to the Piazza de Popolo. The subway there was erratic at best, at one point they had to cart away a broken train and replace it with a new one! Ahh, the joys of the Italian rail system (known for its inconsistency). But, I got there in one piece -- eventually.

Take a look at this statue, the plaza (piazza) is surrounded by them on all sides. Bernini is responsible for most of these sculptures, he is considered an architectural legend that brought Rome out of the Renaissance in both art and sculpture. All around the Plaza is busy, not surprising for Italians whose restaurants don't open until 7:00pm. Noticing my hands were dirty from subway "grit", I wash them off in the fountain -- because all plazas have fountains with obelisks.

Ok, lets go. But uh oh, what's this? A three way split in the road! (you only see two of them, my camera can not do panoramic view). The concept of "blocks" is not familiar to Italians, so a natural grid format isn't what you see. Looking at a map shows one that the roads look like strands of multiple spider webs placed on top of one another. The middle vein looks to be the right one. If you look carefully, you can see all the way down to the Vittoro Emmanuele II Monument perched on Capitol hill. That's where we want to go, its close to the Coliseum and home.

We're off, and heading down a very busy street with very few cars, and lots and lots of people. Shops are all over right and left, people buying and selling all kinds of wares. Its not like America, at this time we would mostly be watching sitcoms. Italians just have this way of coming home from work and heading right back out again. The mission tonight is to find gifts for my friends, so we'll be checking out book stores and music stores along the way.

Here's something that's an eye opener, an unmarked church on my map. That's how it is here, old churches are all over. So, I stop in to say a decade, pay my respects and on the way out, give a coin to a one legged beggar on the road. Great! Now I'm 0.000000128% closer to God, so lets continue down the road looking for our shops.

Found a music and CD store with Italian everything. No pictures here, I do want to keep the gifts a bit of a surprise. Outside, there's this grumbling sound, I wonder what it is?

Ahh Piazza Coalanna, we're getting close now. Again, another obelisk, and of course a fountain. That grumbling sound persists, could it be the diesel engines in all of the cars that the Europeans drive? They sure are noisy. Lets check out the mall.

Italians have them, but they're not as big as American malls. This is a ritzy one, with all kinds of expensive stores for the haves (which there are not a lot of thanks to a socialist society). Hold the door on the way out for the amazingly hot Italian chick in a tight orange tank top -- thinking, "is this a distraction while someone else pick pockets me?" Italy's women are amazing, but I feel sorry for them because I'm not jealous of Italian men -- ask me later on this one, in a bar.

That's what the grumbling sound is, my stomach! Ok, lets go off the beaten path and find an authentic Romano cuisine where I can get some seafood. On the way there, look at this guy, he's nearly invisible, looking exactly the same color as the trash can. At first he appears to be a bronze statue! But look at the pot, he's a beggar. Italy has these, they lie still and when you put some coins in the pot, they get up and do something. This one rolls around a bit and acts drunk and then goes back to sleep. A tourist trap, yes, I know.

Finally dinner, and its getting late. Seafood is on the menu tonight, so here's a picture of it. A little known fact, fish here is pretty good. Italians live near the sea and over thousands of years have used fish in all their meals. Seeing that everything else is superb in this country, fish would have to be too. Bon Appetite.

And the final leg home when it is dark. The Coliseum is well lit up in lights making it quite a nice picture to end this day with. Look down below in the picture, you'll see the bottom of a stage. Bon Jovi was playing here 24 hours ago. Italy's great, they never seem to left the late 80s and early 90s, so all that 80s rock is still in fashion here. Someone should resurrect Jerry Garcia and tell these people Madonna really isn't past 40, cause they still love their 80s music. :)

And that's about all, a nice little night stroll of the city. We'll try something again tomorrow but, first a meeting with the Pope!