Roman Holiday (Rome. IT)

I am happy to report that I already feel like a native.  Now if I could only speak Italian.  I was pleased with myself in navigating the streets of Rome to get to the places I wanted to go.  One thing that did impress me, that I have not appreciated in my prior visits to Rome, is that most, if not all, of the streets of Rome are named for men.  Other than the Blessed Mother, I have yet to see a street named for a woman.  I will keep my eye out.  Attached are photographs of the stops I made today in my whirlwind of walking, the Trevi Fountain, St, Ignatius Church, the government buildings of Italy (which are in the area of the city between the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon), the Pantheon, and the Piazza Navona.  I hope you enjoy them.

Trevi Fountain

Tourists in front of the Trevi Fountain

Palazzo Chigi

Chamber of Deputies (Parliament)

On the corner of a government building!

Column of Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Interior of Church of St. Ignatius

Statue of St. Ignatius

Statue on side altar of church

Plaque above tomb of Fr. Dezza

Piazza della Rotunda

The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Tomb of King Umberto (inside the Pantheon)

Tomb of Vittorio  Emmanuele, Father of the Country

Interior of the dome of the Pantheon

Statute of Madonna above the tomb of Raphael

Small altar inside the Pantheon

Still in the Christmas spirit inside the Pantheon.

In case you need a ride after visiting the Pantheon.

Piazza della Minerva

Guess whose workshop I found?

Piazza Navona

Art work for sale on the Piazza Navona

Someday your face may be among these!

Bella Roma - The Eternal City (Rome, IT)

Greetings from the Eternal City!  I arrived this afternoon, trading the snow of Frankfurt for the rain of Rome.  The trade-off is that it is much warmer than London and Edinburgh.  Frankfurt Airport was back to normal today. My flight departed and arrived as scheduled.  To me, flying over the Alps is always so breath-taking.  The Alps are majestic, especially when they are covered in snow.  It was late afternoon when I finally settled in.  I took a brief walk along the Via Veneto and Corso.  The photos which are attached were taken just as the sun was setting.  More "touristy" photos will follow for the next several days before I begin the formal sabbatical program at the North American College.  More on that when we begin on next Tuesday.  Ciao!

Porto Pinciana (at end one end of Via Veneto)

Harry's Bar

U.S. Embassy

Hotel Excelsior

Spanish Steps

A little local color

A Very Snowy Frankfurt (Frankfurt, GER)

I made it to Germany before most of the Lufthansa flights were cancelled because of weather conditions.  I guess the recent storms throughout this part of Europe threw air traffic controllers for a loop these past few days, so flights have been either delayed or cancelled altogether.  Heathrow was also having problems of getting flights off because of the weather.  Hopefully, things will be back to normal tomorrow so that my flight to Rome will depart as scheduled.  In the meantime, I spent a relaxing day at the Hilton Hotel inside the airport terminal.  It would have been a slushy trek if I had to go into Frankfurt for the night.  Tomorrow, it is bella Roma!

Back In Business (London, UK)

I thought I would give you a picture of Victoria Station since I was unable to post a picture of the Edinburgh train station.  My camera is back in action.  It took the service rep at the NIKON store a few minutes to figure out the way to re-set the focus to autofocus, so I do not feel bad that I couldn't do it on my own.

My day began not too far from the building where there was the tragic helicopter accident last week.  The attached picture is the building (in the distance) which was hit.

After leaving the camera shop, I began my journey to my first stop, the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House.  As I walked to the tube stop, I took a few photographs to test the new setting.  The snowy garden at Warwick Square was too picturesque to resist.

I took the Central Line tube to the Temple stop which is an easy walk to Somerset House.  The attached pictures will show the garden at the Temple tube stop exit to the street and Somerset House.

Somerset House

The art collection of the Courtald Gallery is small, but breathtaking!  I spent an hour there before heading to Fleet Street to walk to my next destination, St. Paul's Cathedral.  Along the way, I passed by the Royal Courts of Justice, took a little diversion into the Inns of Court, and visited St. Clement Danes Church, a church which was destroyed during World War II and restored and rebuilt by the Royal Air Force (RAF).  The interior of the church is decorated with many memorials and artifacts related to the RAF.

An inner courtyard of Temple Inn

A pub across the street from the Royal Courts

St. Clement Danes Church

The interior of the church

Marble floor of church inlaid with RAF badges

The Stuart coat of arms above the sanctuary of the church

The afternoon was bright and sunny which made it ideal to visit St. Paul's Cathedral.  The interior of the church was filled with natural light.  I was surprised that I spent less than an hour inside the cathedral.  Unlike Westminster Abbey and other significant churches, I was impressed by how much the cathedral felt to me more like a monument than a church.  The beauty of the church is undoubtedly its architecture, but as a place of worship it seemed cold and lifeless.  The cathedral is rich in history, especially in remembrance to all those who died in wars and as the people's church, but it did not impress me with any sense of the sacred and divine. [I hope my blog isn't being monitored by Her Majesty's royal watchdogs.  I may be booted out of the country for what I just wrote!]

View from Ludgate Hill Street

Statue of Queen Anne

View from Millennium Bridge

After visiting St. Paul's Cathedral, it was 3 PM and time for lunch.  I ate at Cafe Rouge, a French restaurant in the shadow of the cathedral.  My picture was taken by my waitress, Patricia, who is from Poland.  When I asked her about her name, she said it was her given name which she likes, even though it is not a Polish name.  She also told me that all the girls working at Cafe Rouge were Polish.  The food was absolutely French cuisine, and delicious!  And, Patricia was absolutely charming, even as I said merci on the way out.

Cafe Rouge

After I left Cafe Rouge, I walked to the Millennium Bridge, a foot bridge which crosses the River Thames, before getting back on the tube to return to the hotel.  I am at a small hotel at Paddington Station so I can catch an early morning train to Heathrow Airport.  I will go to Frankfurt for the day, then finally to Rome on Wednesday, where I will be for the next 12 weeks.  

Millennium Bridge

View from Millennium Bridge

Tower Bridge in the distance

School is out, so ciao for now!

Back in Snowy London (London, UK)

I departed Edinburgh this morning on the 10:30 AM train to London.  I have many fond memories of my visit, especially of the many wonderful people I met.  I took a picture of the terminal at Edinburgh's Waverley Train Station to check on my camera.  It remains out of focus and blurry.  I have been unsuccessfully trying to fix it for the last hour!!  [Chris O'Connell, where are you???]  Sadly, there will be no pictures on this post.  My priority tomorrow will be to find a camera shop for some help.

Now back to my return trip...the train ride was just as enjoyable as the one to Edinburgh, despite the one and a half hour delay due to the weather.  There were signal problems along the whole route, attributable mostly to the snow.  And snow there is!  It certainly made the scenery more picturesque.  The gray skies today also added a dramatic touch to that part of the train ride that went along the coast of the North Sea in Scotland.  The dark waters looked cold and foreboding.  As our train got nearer to London, it was apparent there was more snow on the ground since I left on last Tuesday.  In fact, it is still snowing.  I must admit a snowy London is quite dazzling.  Everything is picture perfect quality, but alas that only reminds me of the problem with my camera!  Hopefully, tomorrow's post will be with photos attached.  Until then, Cheers!

Dinner with Anne and Maeve (Edinburgh, UK)

I have just returned from a delightful dinner with Anne and Maeve.  Jim was on assignment in Glasgow, preparing to write a review of the musical festival.  Jim, in his retirement, is a freelance journalist who covers the arts.  Maeve will perform next weekend at the Glasgow music festival.  She is a very accomplished harpist, which I can personally attest to after having listened to one of her recordings after dinner.  Her original composition inspired by Moon River is quite lovely!  And, as it turns out, Maeve is almost a neighbor.  She attended Berklee School of Music in Boston, and now lives in Somerville.  This goes in the category of small world.  Dinner was absolutely delicious, and Anne gave all the credit for cooking the meal to Jim.  However, it had all the appearances of a joint effort to me.  Anne and Maeve could not have been more hospitable.  I certainly felt right at home.  Finally, Maeve was correct.  The photos we took were out of focus.  They are attached anyway.  It appears the camera was set on video. My apologies to Anne and Maeve for not capturing on film the full quality of their beauty!  And now, it is midnight and I need to pack.  I leave in the morning for London.  Cheers!

With Maeve

With Anne