EUROPEAN HOLIDAY
Tom Kando
My wife Anita and I took a long European trip this past fall - first a couple of weeks in Holland, then three weeks in Rome. We are old and have several ailments that make travel increasingly onerous, but we have persisted. We both walk slowly and use sticks. Stairs and cobble stones are a challenge. So it wasn’t easy. And there are always “surprises.” First, let me dispose of the negatives. Then I’ll get to the positives
For one thing, we had difficulty accessing our bed and breakfasts . They were great once you were in, but they closed before our arrival time. Another surprise was a flat tire on our second day in Holland. That’s when we learned that most advanced cars no longer have a fifth emergency wheel. Instead. our rental had a repair kit, but I had no idea where it was located and how to use it. We called a Dutch friend and she called the Dutch equivalent of the AAA to help us out. Bummer. Using my iPhone internationally was also a major challenge.
For some reason, I was able to use my iPhone at will in Holland, but not in Italy. When you use your American iPhone internationally, you have to start out by dialing the prefix +. This is a combination of the international access code (01) and the US exit code (1). So using a landline, which doesn’t have a + key, you must first dial 011. Then you enter the code of whatever country you are calling. For some reason I was not able to do this in Italy.
In Rome, we took a day trip to Pompeii, just outside of Naples. This was a bus with about thirty tourists. It picked us up at dawn in front of our hotel, but dropped us off at 21:00 hours about two and a half miles from our hotel. We needed help to find a taxi stand in the dark.
There were various malfunctions and discomforts. Our rooms were too cold, both in Holland and in Rome. At least the hotels provided an extra heater. In Rome, the toilet seat kept coming loose. They fixed it after three days. And there were the usual irritants: a last-minute change of gate for our Amsterdam-Rome flight, forcing us to run through a mile of airport. Also, a two-hour delay of our Rome-Atlanta return flight, jeopardizing our connection to Sacramento
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But enough bad news. All in all, we completed this elaborate trip without any major issues. As the cliché says, it’s made us more resilient. Plus, we have fond memories. This was a joyful experience and an achievement for two old geezers.
In Holland, we met, ate and visited with several friends, celebrating life-long friendships. We stayed at a small bed-and- breakfast outside of Amsterdam. We shopped at the town’s opulent farmers’ market. The Dutch list of cheeses is practically endless. The hotel’s breakfast was fabulous. Also, The owners were incredibly solicitous. They stayed open for us after their regular closing time.
We try to travel wisely. We take siestas. We eat dinner between 20:00 and 22:00 hours, as most Italians do. Life in Rome is festive every night until late in the evening. There is a joie de vivre not found in most American cities.
While we have been in Rome innumerable times, never before did we witness as many tourists as this year. But this was more amusing than an irritant. We noted that the two largest contingents were Italians and Americans. It is good to notice that Americans are open to widening their perspective upon the world, humanity and history.
When we stroll around the Forum, we don’t rush. We imagine the legionaries marching. When we gaze down into the Colosseum’s arena, we imagine the gladiators and the crowd of 60,000 Roman citizens wearing togas. .
It is impossible to do justice to Rome’s innumerable and unsurpassed points of beauty. In my view, only two cities vie for the label “most beautiful city in the world” - Rome and Paris. Of course, they have both had several millennia to build up their heritage. Perhaps by the year 4,000 New York or Rio de Janeiro will equal such an abundance.
The essential recommendation for an enjoyable experience in Rome is encapsulated in the Italian term Passeggiata, meaning leisurely walk.
When in Rome, you want to take it easy. You want to take leisurely promenades interrupted by enjoyable relaxations at sidewalk cafés or restaurants. Don’t rush. Enjoy people watching.
For example, you can stroll down the Via Imperiale, a broad and mostly car-free avenue next to the Forum. This can be an exquisite experience, despite - or maybe precisely because of - the astounding number of visitors. The entire world is here. It’s a cacophony of languages. Thousands of Americans of course, as well as every other conceivable European, Asian, African and other countries. Plus thousands upon thousands of Italians, who proudly and wisely vacation by visiting their own country’s treasures. And much of this international multitude is dressed to the nines. Quite a few women look as if they were heading to their wedding or to some other major celebration.
Meanwhile, you are walking by two thousand year old monuments in varying degrees of preservation. Some, such as the Senate House, the Colosseum, the arches of Titus, Septimus Severus and Constantine are amazingly well preserved. You walk by the temple of the divine Julius Caesar, his cremation site, still a pilgrimage site where visitors leave flowers. You imagine what the Via Imperiale looked like two thousand years ago, when emperors and conquerors such as Pompey the Great, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and Augustus held their triumphs there, with elephants and legionnaires galore.
Likewise, you can do passeggiatas in the magnificent Borghese Gardens and its world class gallery of largely Renaissance art. Other musts on your bucket list include:
The Pantheon: This is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world, commissioned by Marcus Agrippa, emperor Augustus’ head general.
The Capitoline Museum: The best museum in the world for sculpture, painting and archaeology of ancient Rome.
The Trajan column and “marketplace” area: Recently and ongoingly excavated major areas of ancient Rome.
Castel Sant’Angelo: Emperor Hadrian’s mausoleum.
The baths of Caracalla: These were gigantic baths built by the emperor for the people of Rome. The daily capacity was once eight thousand people.
Trastevere: A picturesque area across the Tiber river, with bohemian lifestyle, street musicians and quaint streets and architecture.
The Vatican: The Saint Peter Basilica, still the largest church in the world. The Vatican museum, one of the largest in the world, with a huge collection of Renaissance and religious art, and the Sistine Chapel.
If you have time, you can take a one-day trip to Pompeii and/or Capri. It’s really worthwhile. In Pompeii, you can see the plaster casts of men, women and pets who were incinerated by the eruption of the Vesuvius two thousand years ago.
Extremely famous and popular, but less important, are the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps.
Also, there are always wonderful concerts given indoors in magnificent churches and outdoors in one of the ancient Roman structures. On a previous trip, we saw Verdi’s Aida at the baths of Caracalla.
Once again we took a cooking class. This time, we made Cavatelli pasta with Gorgonzola sauce and chopped pears on top; Linguini with tomato sauce (including melted anchovies); Gnocchi with a sauce of pureed anchovy, broccoli and sausage. - All with wine for each course, including a red Barolo and an Italian Pinot Grigio. We finished with a light but outstanding desert of strawberries with chopped mint and a Sauterne sauce. There were a dozen participants in this class, which lasted about seven hours, including preparing and consuming the meal and socializing afterwards.
The class was taught by chef Federico Alessandri (Google him). It began at 9 AM, when we met with the chef near the Campo de Fiori and did the shopping for the ingredients at and around what must be the greatest farmers market in the world. Federico then led us across the Tiber to his kitchen located in quaint Trastevere. The extremely pleasant company included several Americans, two couples of gigantic Swedes and a few other nationalities.
Many countries claim to have great food. Certainly the French have good reason to do so, as do the Hungarians, the Mexicans and several others. But there can be no doubt that the Italians are second to none.
And to repeat: Take it easy. Don’t try to see several of the things I have listed in one day, or all of them in one week. Anita and I select a few different things to see and do. every time we return to the eternal city.
Spend more time at sidewalk cafés and restaurants than at museums. Take a siesta every day. Spend a long time over dinner, and eat after 8 PM. leave comment here
