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The Eternal City
I had heard that Rome was dirty and congested with great landmarks in-between; therefore, I was completely surprised to find it quite the opposite. There are crowds of people, but there is room for them to spread out, unlike Venice, where there is little “spread-out” room, and people are stacked up on each other. And, the city of Rome was clean with great piazzas everywhere. It is all quite inviting.
Our hotel, the Residenza in Farnese, is well-located–a short walk to most landmarks–just steps from the Tiber River to the south and the beautiful Piazza Navona to the north. The piazza has three beautiful fountains, with the central fountain being representative of four great rivers coming together and copious amounts of water gushing forth. Another close piazza holds a daily market with fresh foods and dried Italian seasonings and other goods.
The day was fast. The Berg’s, Dan and Charlotte, joined us from home, and to keep them awake we took a walk towards the Vatican and the Castel San Angelo, a medieval bastion to protect the pope while also serving as a prison. We crossed the beautiful Angels Bridge over the Tiber with its soaring angel statuary along the way. Exhausted, we all (Graumann’s, Krahn’s and Berg’s) went to the hotel and took naps.
We have already learned that American Italian and Italian are not the same. Pasta is very al dente cooked and sauces are quite different. Italian salt pork, ox tail and hot spiced tomato sauce are some of the varieties we have tried. Different pasta noodles come with certain sauces, with many being a noodle variety we seldom, if ever, use. Pizza crusts are super thin.
While eating in an outdoor osteria today, a vendor came by with a fun and beautiful serving tray. It caught Allen’s eye. I won’t spoil the secret of the tray, but maybe Allen will bring it out at some of his fabulous cookouts at home–or ask him to let you see it sometime. I was helpful in bargaining the price down from E40 to E15. I thought the seller believed I would also buy a tray, but one in Tomball is enough.
Arrival in Rome – Dan & Charlotte Berg, Allen & Rhonda Krahn, Wayne & Kathy Graumann – August 29, 2015
Rome, Italy
August 29, 2015 – WEG
In the Umbrian Hills
This day took us to the premier Umbrian hill town, Orvieto. We arrived in the train station, walked across the small city park and boarded a funicular (hill-side tram) for the several hundred foot ascent of the rock formation upon which sits the beautiful hill town of Orvieto. The rich brown tones of the homes and businesses that lined the narrow streets of this medieval bastion blended well with the golds, blues and yellows of the pottery that filled the shops and flowed out into the streets. All along the way trattorias and osterias invited one to linger under large canopies for a cool drink and a bite to eat.
The pre-Roman Etruscans started the city and left behind some ruins. Today, however, the beautiful cathedral on the highest point of the hill draws visitors from around the world to view the richly decorated exterior, considered by many to be the most beautiful building exterior in the country. That is not to imply that the interior is of less importance. Frau Angelico and Lucca Signorelli, among others, painted marvelous frescoes within. The pipe organ is also breathtaking in gold and white with wondrous carved angels.
I wish we had more time to stay in this charming, romantic, idyllic Italian locale. Perhaps we can return another day to walk the walls and view the wide expanse of country with vineyards that lay out from this high hill. Tomorrow we head into Rome to greet additional friends, the Berg’s, who will join the Krahn’s and us on our sojourn. WEG
Fresco by Frau Angelico in the Duomo (cathedral) in Orvieto, Italy
The Clock of Maurizio, the first automated clock of its kind to regulate working hours in the beautiful hill town of Orvieto, Italy: Etruscan, medieval, and also modern
The fresco of Lucca Signorelli’s resurrection scene in the Chapel of San Brizio in Orvieto’s Duomo (cathedral)
More than Parma Ham
In our previous travels to Italy, Kathy and I had never been to central Italy above Florence. That is why we chose Bologna as a central location from which to take day trips to the surrounding Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Many popular Italian foods originated from this region, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano, Parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar, tortellini, tortelloni, tagliatelle, Ragu sauce, Parma ham, mortadella and prosciutto. The area is rich in farmland and old cities, including Bologna, Parma, and Modena. Today we spent a relaxing and enjoyable day in Parma.
The city of Parma is known for its university, one of the world’s oldest, for three beautiful churches in close proximity, and for its multi-storied baptistery. Inside the stunning Italian Romanesque Cathedral (Duomo) is the Assumption of Mary ceiling fresco. Painted by Correggio, the fresco is considered the world’s finest Renaissance fresco work and was radical in design. It changed the techniques used in painting and was studied by all the great painters who followed. It was one of my bucket list works of art. To stand in the stunning building and gaze upward at the swirl of three-dimensional movement as Christ descends, feet downward, to meet His mother as she ascends to heaven, surrounded by angels, was inspiring. I was transported into the scene, and that was Correggio’s intent. Outside the cathedral was the multi-storied baptistery, a building of great significance and architecturally one of Europe’s great monuments. Used for Christian baptisms, the building signified the architectural movement from Romanesque to Gothic design. We viewed the richly painted interior and stood before the ancient baptismal in the center of the octagonal structure with reverent awe.
Obviously, Parma is more than the ham for which it is also famous.
Thursday, August 27, 2015 – WEG
Correggio’s ceiling fresco, The Assumption of Mary, in duomo in Parma, Italy
Another view of Correggio’s fresco masterpiece in the dome ceiling of Parma’s cathedral
Interior of the cathedral
Venice the Menace
Rhonda & Allen Krahn and Kathy & Wayne Graumann at the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, Italy – 08/26/2015
Our day trip to Venice reminded us of the difficulties of navigating the city. Once off the train we were greeted by the beautiful sights of the city across from the train station, sights that are repeated in every view as you move about–churches with large domes and tall, sometimes pointed, bell towers, stately palaces along waterways in muted pastels, and windows with arched frames. First, the vaparetto–a large water bus–that circumvents the grand canal with stops along the way to the main city square–San Marco. You could take a water taxi–faster, but at 10 times the cost. The views are spectacular, especially as you glide past fabulous yachts anchored along the way.
Did I say Venice crawls with people? Huge cruise ships dock at port and disgorge thousands upon thousands of people. We had no problem getting into the Palazzo Ducal, the home of the ruling Doges (elected by the nobility) for centuries. The wealth of middle ages Venice is evident in the palace with rooms decorated with paintings of some of the great names in art history-Tintoretto and Titian being prominent. Mind you, it isn’t a simple painting hanging on the wall, but the entire room was used as the canvas.
Out in the square, the multi-domed San Marco, with its gold mosaic interior, loomed with mystic glory. We walked to the Rialto Bridge, one of the finest of the hundreds of bridges that traverse the canals that criss-cross the island city. Venice is a jigsaw puzzle with narrow major streets that dead-end into smaller streets off of which run very narrow alley ways. It is easy to get lost, but we did not. We did find an excellent trattoria in which to eat. We were hungry and thirsty and grateful to find such a wonderful place to rest our weary feet. My calzone oozed with buffalo mozzarella, parma ham and mushrooms–the air pocket-filled crust was charred from the oven and covered with a rich marinara sauce–every bite was wondrous. Allen, our friend along on the journey with his wife Rhonda, declared that his pizza was the best he had ever eaten–that is saying alot since Allen’s home office has a wall full of culinary trophies.
I commented that Venice can take the starch out of you physically–bridges everywhere, narrow dead-end streets filled with people–we realized we had walked several miles as the day came to an end, and we boarded the train back to Bologna. It was a good day. WEG
Overlooking the Grand Canal while on the Bridge of Sighs
Rhonda & Allen inside the Doges Palace
Wayne & Kathy inside the Doges Palace
Interior courtyard of the Doges Palace
Tasty, plentiful afternoon lunch at a trattoria off the main traveled route – “and that made all the difference,” to which Robert Frost would smilingly attest
Can I Borrow that Egg?
Nothing better than a good Italian breakfast to get the day going–I enjoyed the mortadella (baloney with fat inclusions) and prosciutto(cured ham)– along with scrambled eggs (yellow gold to almost orange–farm yard fresh). The buffet was large and varied. Kathy’s selection of a boiled egg gave us the laughs of the day. Having not yet eaten the egg, she decided to take it with her; however, in moving the chair and with her hands occupied with purse and room key, the egg rolled out of her hand and lodged in a delicate place on the top portion of her body. Allen and Rhonda looked on helplessly as I gently removed the egg. Once things quieted down, Rhonda, looking at Allen said, “Can I borrow that egg?”
The highlight of the day was the Basilica of San Petronio, one of Italy’s largest churches, exceeded only by the cathedrals in Milan and Florence. Unfinished on the exterior, the basilica majestically anchors a fortresslike piazza. The interior nave, while plain by Italian standards, was solemn and reverent, yet, commanding in its simplicity. The side Chapel of the Magi, painter in dispute, is considered one of the great frescoes. While heaven beckons from above, one’s eye is drawn to Lucifer in the lower portion, gobbling up unrepentant sinners and excreting them into hell below.
We enjoyed the remainder of the day wandering the narrow streets and alleys, looking into markets with fresh produce, (especially interesting were the many varieties of figs) and into shops with giant wheels of parmesan or parmigiano-reggiano cheese and whole ham prosciutto hanging in rows from the ceilings. Salami in more varieties than I knew could exist beckoned from the butcher’s blocks.
It was a refreshing, unhurried day, made all the more pleasant with two stops at the gelateria just down the street from the hotel.
The Egg & I, Starring Rhonda Krahn – “Can Borrow that Egg?”
Wayne & Kathy, Bologna, Italy – August 25, 2015
The famous painting following Dante”s imagery in the Chapel of the Magi at the Basilica of S. Petronio, Bologna’s largest church
Rhonda & Allen Krahn, Wayne & Kathy Graumann – August 25, 2015
The Best Nine Dollars I’ve Ever Spent
After a long trans-Atlantic flight into Rome and another four hours getting to Bologna in north central Italy, the Krahn’s (Allen and Rhonda) and the Graumann’s (Wayne and Kathy) were tired, to say the least. We had thought about walking to our hotel from the central train station, but the taxis were right there and the allure of a quick ride was too appealing. The taxi took us along a grand boulevard and into twisty narrow cobble-stoned alley ways. Suddenly we arrived at our hotel located in the old town of Bologna. When the taxi driver told us it was nine Euros for all of us, Allen mused that it was the best nine dollars he had ever spent. I reminded him he said the same thing about Rhonda’s wedding ring–(thats a joke, folks!)
After freshening up we all gained renewed energy, and a delightful evening unfolded before us. Our hotel offered welcome drinks on the patio which overlooked the two towers of Bologna, the city’s noted landmarks from the fifeteenth century. Wondrous church bells pealed from a tower nearby. We walked the streets listening to drum-playing street performers and then stopped by a popular osteria (restaurant) for some local fare. Rhonda and I enjoyed our tagliatelle with Ragu, concocted in this city, with the recipe still kept by the government to regulate the authenticity of those who advertise it for sale. We thank God for safe journeys and a great beginning to our adventure. Now, for a good night of sleep.
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