After Technical Difficulties, We're Online in Italy!

The short story: some kind of citywide outage was afflicting systems from public lighting (the Roman Forum and a host of other major sites were not lit as they usually are by night) to cell phone coverage to internet access. Even the computerized wake-up call for our first night never came! Hotel wi-fi, neighborhood internet cafes - no access for either day we were in Rome. Quite a shock for those of us used to being nearly always connected! But we have just arrived (an hour or so ago, 4pm local time) in Sorrento, and our hotel here is (obviously) not suffering from any such malady.

And so, some observations, commentary, and pictures from the first two and a half days of our Journey into Antiquity...

Giorno primo (Venerdi 12 febbraio)

The flight from JFK was uneventful. We arrived at Rome's Fiumicino airport around noon local time on Friday. The tour guide Simona (an Italian version of Marj, if you can imagine!) and our bus driver, Rosario, met us, loaded up the bus, and took us to the Catacombs of Domitilla, with a quick stop at an Autogrill along the highway for a quick bite to eat. The snow on the ground (light and already melting away) was the first measurable amount Rome had seen in 25 years, according to Simona. Under the palm trees in the courtyard outside the catacombs, we took advantage of this historic occasion to hold an impromptu snowball fight...

Thereafter, off to the Grand Hotel Palatino on the Via Cavour. Dinner in the hotel restaurant/ dining room Le Erbe. We were all jet-lagged, of course, but we pressed on after dinner: a group walk down the Via Cavour to the Roman Forum, where we saw a festival including a giant glowing globe, music and crowds dancing, and a section of several dozen people pedaling something like exercise bikes – some kind of event promoting conservation. We walked to the Trevi Fountain, tossed the traditional coin, and wended our way back to the hotel for a relatively early bed-check. As one says in Italian, dormevo come un ghiro: I slept like a log.

Marj, Simona, Erik, and Shannon conferring at the Autogrill.

Some of our group outside the Catacombs of Domitilla.

Shannon, Vanessa, and a Carnevale clown at the Trevi Fountain.

Giorno secondo (Sabato 13 febbraio)

After a buffet breakfast including blood orange juice and croissants (as well as bacon and eggs), we boarded the bus for the Vatican Museum, where tour guide Gian-Piero awaited us with radio transcievers and earphones for our audio tour. Incredible ceiling tromp l'oiel mosaics, Roman statuary in every niche, including a Diana of the hunt and a fertility goddess. The highlight, of course, the Sistine Chapel, in which photos are vietato, forbidden, as are the wearing of hats and talking. Deadly serious looking Vatican police enforce these rules, and do not hesitate to remind visitors of them! Gian-Piero is an art professor, and so was exceptionally qualified to tell us about the history and symbolism of the paintings in the Chapel. Breathtaking. Thence out to St. Peter's Basilica, with Michelangelo's Pieta, the statue of St. Peter with feet worn to slivers by the centuries of people rubbing/kissing them, and the 7-foot-tall letters in the inscription encircling the inner walls of the building. Out into St. Peter's Square, with its imposing obelisk, circular layout, and snazzily-dressed Swiss Guard. We stopped in one of the souvenir shops, wherein one can purchase all sorts of trinkets and religious and/or touristy paraphrenalia, and can, for a bit extra, have them blessed by the Pope and then delivered to one's hotel. I picked up a couple of magnets, as well as a reproduction of a painting. Many of the kids found a magnet or keychain or postcard here - hopefully some parents will be receiving postcards soon! Back on the bus, and off to Trajan's Amphitheater (a.k.a. the Colosseum). What can one say about the Colosseum, other than troppo figo! - "too cool!"? Afterward, amidst the usual throng of vendors of cartoline, scarves, and tourist items, and Roman impersonators, an American dressed in a Cookie Monster suit, advertising free hugs (abracciati gratis), of which several of our group availed themselves for photos!

Next: free time from about 2p to 6:30p. Groups of students planned itineraries ranging from going to see Michelangelo's Moses at the church of San Pietro to the Pantheon to simply relaxing in the hotel! I and some others took a walking tour including the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Spanish Steps, the Piazza Navona, the Piazza del Popolo (where there was a Carnevale event including a horse show, and crowds everywhere), and the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, where we saw two paintings by Caravaggio. We took taxis back to the hotel in time for check-in and dinner, then did the "Rome by Night" tour.

Other sights seen at various points during the day: Tiber Island with the hospital of Aesclepius, the circular Temple of Hercules Invictor, the Arch of Ianus, the Bocca della Verita, the Castel Sant'Angelo, the Aventine and Palatine hills, and the Circus Maximus.

Some of us with Michelangelo's Pieta.

A member of the Swiss Guard in his distinctive uniform.

Dr. P. and fellow turisti in the Flavian Amphitheater, a.k.a. Colosseum.

Giorno terzo (domenica 14 febbraio 2010)

6:45a wake-up (ugh). On the road at 7:45 to Pompeii. On the way, many sleep; I begin to type this journal and listen to my iPod. We are heading south, away from the relative chill (45 degrees Fahrenheit or so). On our way out of Rome, we drive past the Porta Maggiore. Outside the city we begin to see the so-called castelli Romani, "Roman castles": small fortified hills, each a mediaeval-era village with a central castle. Among these is the Castel Gandolfo, the summer home of the Pope. Outside Naples, in Torra del Greco, we stop at a cameo factory, then proceed toward Naples, with Mt. Vesuvius looming over the skyline. The highway actually cuts through walls of volcanic rock in places, reminders of the eruption of 1944 (and for scholars of Latin, of course, that more famous eruption of 79 C.E.). Along the highway are the ubiquitous umbrella pines, and many fields of citrus trees and olive groves.

Being in Pompeii is a unique experience. Words fail - as a student of antiquity, it's always a thrill to stand on the very stones trodden by the feet of peoples millennia ago. The entire group felt the excitement, especially when we stood at the threshold of the house of Caecilius - one of the central characters in our Latin textbook! More than a few had their pictures taken standing in front of Caecilius' front door.

The Amalfi coast is glorious, and as Rosario expertly maneuvers our huge tour bus through the switchbacks on the ever-more-winding mountain route up to Sorrento, we are treated to amazing mountaintop views of the Bay of Naples and the tiny villages clinging to the mountainsides. Reminders of the Romans are everywhere - often, ancient Roman bridges remain the preferred route for traffic (more modern bridges, with their shoddy workmanship, require constant repair!).

And so this blog, dear readers, has caught up to the present. Our group is currently out on the main street in Sorrento, the Corso Italia, enjoying the street fair for Carnevale. We eat dinner in about an hour, and then many of us will go to a traditional performance of the Tarantella, followed by a couple of hours at the disco. Others will choose to relax this evening as they choose; and I will leave my laptop with the chaperone on duty, in case anyone wants to make personal e-contact with someone at home.

Tomorrow we go to Capri - stay tuned!

At the house of Caecilius!

Overlooking the Bay of Naples.

Mount Vesuvius.