OUR TRIP TO ITALY

Now, we just need to figure out when we can get back there again . . .

[Editor's note: To read and see our stories and pictures, either select a city or just plow through the whole thing. Don't forget to click on the thumbnail pictures to see a bigger image.]

Florence

Rome

FLORENCE

We landed in Florence on December 24^th, and Dr. Rodella gave us a little tour of the city on the way to our hotel, the Hotel Excelsior. This was the first insight we had that Dr. Rodella would fit perfectly into the Davids family – he was prepared with maps, schedules, alternate plans, and specified "free time." He and Shoshana conferred about schedules while Jay just enjoyed the moment – a perfect allocation.

We joined the Rodellas for their Christmas dinner which was a homemade feast that puts every Italian meal we have ever had too shame. The smoked fish and salad appetizer, the pumpkin ravioli, the gnocci, the (kosher!) veal, the leeks, the artichoke, the roasted vegetables, the apple pie -- mmmmm good.

Jay even indulged in a little escargot.

It being Christmas Day, we of course visited a church or two.

We returned to Florence for, L-rd help us all, another multi-course magnificent meal. The Rodellas have a wonderful tradition -- they go out for lunch on Christmas Day in part to give the woman of the house a well-deserved rest and reward after the sumptuous meal of the night before. The hotel where we ate is the one Dr. Rodella stayed in when he first moved to Florence, ahead of his family.

Dr. Rodella was gracious enough to take us to his office in a magnificent (old) building, with the largest private garden in Florence, and then to the Sinagoga e Museo Ebraico. The Jewish community of Florence dates back at least to the 13^th Century, with various periods of calm and distress, including periods of confinement to ghettos. The synagogue is a magnificent structure in a Moorish style, and its cupolas are a major focal point of the Florencian skyline. Outside the synagogue is a memorial to the 248 Jews of Florence who were deported to and died in Auschwitz.

We started the next morning with Michelangelo’s David (ooh la la) and a walk through Florence.

We then rode through the Tuscan countryside to San Gimignano,

where we wandered a bit and shopped a bit.

Of course, we had lunch in a "typical" trattoria and then walked some more to try to work off the food in preparation for dinner.

Finally, on our last full day in Firenze, Dr. Rodella unveiled the true surprises. We started with the Uffizi, where Dr. Rodella had arranged a private tour with an art historian of both the public museum and the galleries that are closed to the public. (Even the Rodellas had never seen this part of their city before, and we enjoyed sharing their discovery with them.) These galleries line the private corridor that crosses the Arno River above the Ponte Vecchio (the Old Bridge) connecting the Uffizi to the Medici Palace (Palazzo Pitti) and contain an overwhelming array of art of the masters, even a Chagall. (We recommend that you visit the Uffizi link which is earlier in this paragraph -- it has some of the artwork for viewing)

For lunch, we went to a farmhouse where the Rodellas like to go for special meals

In the afternoon, we went shopping for typical Italian goods – leather belts, a shearling coat, and the like -- and then rolled ourselves back to Casa Rodella for tea and three kinds of special Christmas cakes and breads. We had a marvelous time listening to opera (Italian opera, of course) and just visiting. Over the four days we had picked up a few words of Italian, and Elena’s mom had grown more comfortable with her English, and we were amazed at how easily we all communicated (OK, Elena’s and her Dad’s translation helped a little). We look forward to having the Rodellas join us as we return to different parts of Italy, and visit with us here. They defined hospitality and graciousness and made our visit to Florence spectacular.

ROME

On December 28^th, we left the Rodella family and the beauty and artistry of Florence behind, and hit the road for Rome. While in the U.S. we had purchased airline tickets for the short hop to Rome, but were convinced by those around us that the train would be easier and would give us a chance to see a different part of the Italian countryside. Now, the train ride was lovely. However, anyone who has ever traveled with us knows two truths: (i) Jay can sleep anywhere at anytime, if only you let him, and (ii) if it is a moving vehicle, Shoshana is asleep. So we saw more of the inside of our own eyelids than the countryside, but what we did see was beautiful.

We spent the late afternoon planning our attack on the city and working out in the spa. At night, we hoofed it to the nearest Pizza Parlour so that Jay could have an authentic Roman brick oven pizza, and then enjoyed Happy Gilmore, which was the only English language offering on TV. We needed our rest, because Shoshana had planned a packed two-day tour of Rome.

We began with the American Express tour of Vatican City . Il Papa was out of town resting up after Christmas, and Pope Stanley [Editor's Note: This will be really funny once we get the picture together, so keep your eyes on this space] was in Israel, so we contented ourselves playing with the Vatican guards . We started at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Our tour included the Sculpture Museum, the Tapestry Gallery, and the Gallery of Maps. Among all the art, our eyes were drawn to the uniquely executed three-dimensional effect created in two dimensional paintings on some of the ceilings. In the midst of the ancient art we saw a big modern ball sculpture thing and Shoshana made like a fountain.

A note about the "modern ball sculpture thing" (our guide clearly didn’t like it, so we didn’t learn much about it) – it closely resembles the one in front of the Museum of NYC. There must be a story there somewhere, but don’t ask us. We don’t know.

Our tour concluded with the Sistine Chapel . The restoration project on the Sistine Chapel has achieved remarkable effects – if you saw it five years ago, it’s time to go back and see the fully restored colors of the frescoes. Unfortunately, what we remember most about the Sistine Chapel, which was crowded to capacity, was the guards yelling every minute or so "Quiet. No camera." and the tourists blithely ignoring them to the detriment of the overall experience.

After a quick lunch, we rejoined American Express for a tour of Ancient Rome. This was the same tour that Shoshana took with her brother years ago -- surprisingly enough, it hasn’t changed that much in the past 10+ years. The highlights were the Colosseum, which we could only see from the outside, and the beauty of the ruins of ancient temples at sunset offset by a modern jet stream in the sky. We also visited the basilica of St. Peter in Chains where we saw his chains and the magnificent Moses (with horns, or rays of light), yet another Michelangelo masterpiece.

A busy day, which we concluded with massage and workout back at the hotel.

For the final touring day of our trip, we found some boots that were made for walking and hit the streets of Rome. With our wonderful guidebook called "Rome Walks" and the maps that Shoshana had put together with the concierge, we went it alone and survived to tell the tale.

We spent two hours in the Jewish Ghetto visiting various sites, including the Synagogue and its attached museum. Within a few short blocks we saw the gate through which Titus brought the Jewish slaves and the plunder from Israel into Rome, a memorial to the Roman Jews killed in the Holocaust, and a plaque commemorating when "On October 9, 1982, after prayers, Stefano Tachi Gay, two years old, was killed in front of this temple and forty Jews injured by anti-Semitic gunmen." Facing the synagogue is a church erected in the 17^th century, which speaks to the Jewish community in Hebrew and Latin with a quote from Isaiah, "All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Inside the synagogue, the museum is a dark and gloomy shadow of what it once was – the Nazis confiscated most of its riches and the history it told of many communities that came together in the Jewish Ghetto.

Then, we tackled Rome’s newest old attraction, the Palazzo Altemps, which had opened to the public for the first time only a week before our arrival. The Palazzo Altemps is a Renaissance villa from the 14^th-16^th century with a large collection of sculptures and original frescoes. After all the art we had seen, we were not too reverent as we wandered around. It didn’t help that there were no English-language materials available yet, so we amused ourselves making stuff up when we didn’t know what we were looking at.

Then, to the Pantheon (did somebody say McDonalds?)with its astronomical orientation based in part on the sun and the two equinoxes. After a scientific study of the pamphlet, "The Pantheon As An Astronomical Instrument," the weary travelers headed back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped at the Fontana di Trevi around sunset, so that we could see it all beautifully lit up and, like millions before us, make a wish for our return to Rome. Final stop, Barberini Square where the Menorah was lit every night of Hanukah and, more importantly, where the shuttle bus waited to take us back to the hotel.

On the morning of the 31^st, we hightailed it back to New York to welcome the new year sound asleep with our kittens.