Aquino (2)

Sorry, I'm way behind on posts, but I'll try to keep plugging away. When we got to the train station that serves Aquino, we got this view:

We asked in the station (we had to knock on a closed door near the small waiting room to actually find someone to talk to) if there was a bus to Aquino. No. Could we get a taxi? No. You can get to it on foot. So we started walking (which was pretty fun):

And walking:

And eventually we arrived. Here is Abbey at the hometown sign. I'd have liked something a little more elaborate such as 'Hillsdale: It's the people!'--perhaps 'Aquino: We have a great view of the mountains and you'll be the only foreigners here!'--but this was cool too:

In other news, Liz and Dan are here now which is sweet. Allison and Liz are planning to go to the airport to pick up the other girls, and Dan and I are planning to head out to Ostia for the afternoon.

Marathon Post-Game

This is just a quick note to let you know that Allison did an AWESOME job yesterday. She finished the whole thing and ran it in about 4:45, which I'd say is pretty spetacular. Sometimes it takes me that long just to get going in the morning, whereas she can knock down 26.2 miles in that time frame. The weather was beautiful and the conditions seemed pretty ideal (aside from having to run on cobblestones for long stretches). So anyway--

Congratulations, Allison!

Countdown

This was an exciting morning as I headed out to Marathon Village to pick up my official number for Sunday's race (I probably shouldn't call it a race so much as an event I'm participating in)! It was a fantastic feeling to march up the steps and hear people mingling in all different languages--while waiting, I met two people from Canada and two from Australia who flew in just to run. Crazy!

It was like living out my childhood dream of being an Olympic athlete and staying in Olympic Village (as a skater, runner, gymnast, whatever). Only, different. Instead of a specially built hide-a-way for athletes, they plopped the happenings in the lobby of a convention center that you could attend from 10 am to 8 pm. Instead of donning USA gear, I was gifted with a special running shirt from my mom. Instead of being asked to represent my country, I had to pay 50 euro. . .I think you get the idea.

But in any case, it was a special day that I have been looking forward to a long time. And just as the make-shift village lifted my spirits and substituted for official grandeur, the sloppy, sweaty, mess I will be in on Sunday will substitute for the strong, powerful Victory I had envisioned for the finish of the race.

It makes no difference.

This whole process has been fantastic. I'll let you know how it goes.

Aquino (1)

This post will (I hope) be followed by others. Consider this an intro. For a slightly more geekified post on Aquino/Aquinum, see here.

Last Monday, Abbey, Kirk, Allison, and I got an early start to head down to Aquino. Ok, a moderately early start. Ok, it was in the morning, at least. Anyway, the reason we were going there is that Abbey's maiden name is Aquino and, well, you see, her familial forebears took the name of their old Italian town as their new last name when they got to the U.S. (anyone who's seen Godfather II knows what I'm talking about). Here we are on the train.

Allison: 'I'm so excited! I love trains!'

Eric: 'Yeah, you heard the newsflash right, Walter Cronkite. I am too cool for school.'

Kirk: 'Why is it so dark in here?'

Abbey: 'I'm so excited!!! Yipee, yipee, yipee! Do you think I'll find any seventh cousins thrice removed?'

The train station served three different communities:


Ok. More later.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I had the most surreal experience today. I was on my way down to a library by St. Peter’s to do some work, and I was reading a book about medieval church history on the bus on the way down. The particular section was about the period beginning in the mid-11th century in which the papacy began to develop and consolidate its theory (and practice) of absolute papal sovereignty. Here, some of the major outlines of the type of papal power with which most moderns are most familiar started to take shape and to be drawn more sharply. Upon exiting the bus, I was walking down some side streets to get to the library when I heard a voice chanting over a PA system. So I followed the voice. Lo and behold, I had stumbled into the middle of the ceremony in St. Peter’s Square in which new cardinals were being created. It was like stepping back into the Middle Ages, except that everyone was wearing waterproof jackets and carrying digital cameras.

A guard outside the square let me in, so I decided to play hooky and watch for a while, figuring this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A good part of the service was in Latin, albeit with ecclesiastical pronunciation, so I decided it wasn’t a total loss for work. The whole college of cardinals (as far as I could tell) was on the platform in front of the basilica, and it was the first time I’d seen the pope in person regaled in vestments that were not plain white. The coolest part of the ceremony to my mind was the consecration of a cardinal in a wheelchair, whom they had to carry up the steps (reminding me a little of the story of the paralytic in Mark 1:1-12 in which the man’s friends lower him through the roof where Christ is preaching); instead of the man bowing down before the pope as all of the other cardinals-to-be had done, the pope stood up and came to him, and this was as it should be for the servus servorum Dei. May we all take it as an example (a visual metaphor, as it were) of going to serve where there is need.

One other thing I noticed: the pope keeps a handkerchief shoved in the left sleeve of his robe. This strikes me as an incredibly good idea. I’d never thought about the lack of pockets in their vestments, and this is a solution to the problem I applaud as someone who likes to carry a handkerchief at all times.

Oh, and I think I almost got on Italian TV, except that when the woman queried in Italian something to the effect of whether she could ask me some questions about the ceremony, I kind of looked at her and said, ‘Scusi?’ The gig was up at that point, and she and her camera-woman were off to find more promising quarry.

And one more note of interest (at least to me). Last Sunday morning when Kirk and I were at St. Peter's, I noticed that during communion the choir was singing 'Ah, Holy Jesus'. I thought this was interesting, because this hymn is an English translation of the German hymn 'Herzliebster Jesu', written by Johann Heerman, who was (among other things) a Lutheran pastor. Moreover, the hymn's music is by Johann Crueger, who studied theology at Wittenberg, Martin Luther's old stomping ground. Needless to say, it was odd and surprising to hear a German Protestant hymn at a crucial point in the high Latin mass in the sanctuary of St. Peter's, the nerve-center of all of Roman Catholicism. Perhaps a little rapprochement is on the horizon?

Postscript
Here are the Enlish lyrics they were singing:

Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee.
’Twas I, Lord, Jesus, I it was denied Thee!
I crucified Thee.

Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.

For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.

As you can see, five verses. The German version, on the other hand,
has fifteen.

Vidimus Papam!

On Sunday morning (March 12) Kirk and I walked down to St. Peter's. As we were waiting in line, we overheard someone mention the papal blessing at noon (given from a window of the papal apartments, which I'm guessing are something like our apartment), a weekly occurrence about which I had totally forgotten. After we exited the church, the St. Peter's Square was starting to fill up (though not, apparently, to the extent that it was filled today for the weekly Wednesday papal audience, at which there was a crowd estimated at 50,000 according to a news report I read):

Here is Pope Benedict XVI in the window:

And here's one I tried to doctor on the computer to get a closer view:

Afterwards, we picked up a little food and went to meet the better halves in Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon. I believe Allison took this shot of Kirk and me on the steps of the fountain:

You'll notice that there's a bottle next to Kirk's right leg. It is some sort of concoction made by Fanta called, enigmatically, 'Red Emotion'. I don't know what's in it. Furthermore, I didn't know emotions had a color and, beyond that, I didn't know they had a flavor. But Kirk seemed to enjoy it, so, hey--I'll second that emotion.

In the News: Of Italian Interest

Italians to See Mussolini's Secret Bunkers

(These are just some excerpts from the article by Ariel David, Associated Press Writer. For the full story, click the link above.)

ROME - The 19th-century villa of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini opens to the public for the first time Wednesday, allowing visitors to see his elegant frescoes and lavish chandeliers — and the hidden bunkers and anti-gas chamber he could hide out in.

Mussolini, who lived lavishly and entertained guests at the Rome residence, built the underground chambers to protect himself and his family from possible air raids and gas attacks.

A $6 million restoration was undertaken after decades of decay during which the villa's neoclassic treasures were shunned as a tainted reminder of the fascist period.

[...]

Visits require advanced booking and take place in small guided groups.

Mussolini lived at Villa Torlonia in 1925-1943 with his wife and children, delighting in tennis games and horseback rides on the grounds that surround the house, built by one of Rome's aristocratic families.

[...]

Two underground structures, built in great secrecy, cover more than 2,000 square feet and include an anti-gas chamber with air ducts and showers for decontamination, all protected by a double set of airtight doors.

Mussolini dug the bunker 23 feet deep, burying a 10-foot thick concrete box with bare cylindrical corridors and multiple escape routes.

While restoring the chamber, archeologists discovered it was built over a second-century Christian tomb, where they found three bodies. The area was a common burial ground in Roman times, housing mainly the sprawling underground corridors of one of six Jewish catacombs in the city.

[...]

Above Villa Torlonia's World War II relics stand elegant stuccos and polished marbles, a ballroom with crystal chandeliers and private chambers with tromp l'oeil frescoes that give the illusion of being in an ancient Egyptian temple or a Gothic cathedral.

Architects and painters Giuseppe Valadier and Giovan Battista Caretti built the villa in the first half of the 19th century for the Torlonia family. It is part of an extravagant complex that includes a frescoed reproduction of an underground Etruscan tomb, an exotic garden, a theater and a Swiss chalet in Liberty Style.

More recent are the life-size drawings of exotic dancers left by U.S. soldiers who set up headquarters there in 1944-1947.

Future plans for Villa Torlonia's grounds include opening the ancient Jewish catacombs and building a museum dedicated to Holocaust victims right across from Mussolini's residence.

More from the Via Appia

The ancient road herself, far enough down the line that you don't have to worry so much about get flattened by zooming Smart Cars when you walk down it:

A sculpture of St. Sebastian in the basilica at the catacombs of San Sebastiano:

Via Appia Antica

Here are some pictures on/of Via Appia Antica I got the weekend previous to the arrival of Kirk and Abbey.

Allison having fun and looking cute:

Sheep (I've never seen anyone as interested in sheep as Allison--or I hadn't till Kirk saw them the next weekend):

The tomb of Caecilia Metella:

Catacombs

On Saturday, Kirk, Abbey, Allison, and I went to visit the Catacombs of S. Domitilla on the Via Appia Antica, and the site includes the super cool feature of a 4th century Christian basilica whose roof just pokes up above ground. This is a picture Allison took of the other three of us. Ok, so you can't really see any of Appia Antica or the catacombs. I have some other shots of the region that maybe I'll try to post soon.

Enter the Schultzes

Over the last week or so, until Friday morning, we had Kirk and Abbey Schultz as visitors in our domicile. Some of you may remember that Kirk was a groomsman in our wedding. Some of you may not know that he's really good at Napoleon Dynamite character impressions, or that he has almost every episode of Seinfeld memorized. Anyway, here are Kirk, Abbey, and I on the night of their arrival. As you can see, I'm sporting the sweet new Pistons shirt that they brought me.

And here are Kirk, Abbey, and Allison immersing themselves in a map of Rome so as to plot out plans for the coming days.

I hope to get a little photographic record of the fruit of said plans up on here in coming days.

Until then--

Folk Medicine

So they have some really hot peppers here that are good in such things as penne all' arrabiata. Apparently the Amalfians think they're good for something else as well--variously called either 'natural'...

or 'poor man's'...

Hotel Sweetness

Allison found us a sweet hotel in Amalfi. The rooms had little terraces, and this is the view out over the sea therefrom.

And this is what the little decks looked like (the white building behind the palm trees):

Amalfi, Post-Tumultuous Bus Ride: Cliffside Townscape, Duomo

I believe that at least some of the buildings picture here belong to the next town back on the way to Salerno (from which we took the bus to Amalfi).

This is the Amalfi's Duomo, dedicated to St. Andrew (some of whose remains are said to be in and underneath the church). I think that the original date of the cathedral here (though the church, especially the interior, has been much rebuilt) dates to the 9th century or so (?--I don't recall for certain).

Shots From the Bus, Amalfi Coast (2)

Shots From the Bus, Amalfi Coast

(For this next one, I won't even tell you what kind of precipitous road our bus had to be on to snap it.)

Back in Full Effect

Sorry for the lack of posts around here lately, folks. You see, someone--*ahem*--forgot to upload the pictures onto the computer. Ok, you're right. That someone was I. And I am very, very sorry for it. Really. I promise. Anyway, I'll probably try to put a bunch of pictures up, probably with little to no commentary due to being a little behind in this and other areas (which might have something to do with the fact that I don't get along well with our alarm clock). Allison's family was here the last couple weeks, so we'll start off with a funny one in the Duomo in Amalfi, in which the group is doing a not-so-hot job of LOOKING AT THE CAMERA.