Italy, February + May, 2004
February 7, 2004 - Our tour starts at the Quirinial, a former papal palace now the home of the President of the Republic; Reconstructed assemblage of various older elements; Bernini's Loggia of the Benediction; Our guide, Liz Lev, describes to a rapt audience, the same certain themes that will be repeated throughout our visit: Water - Twins - Power - Theater; David Ranheim hoping for a papal cure.
Trevi Fountain, delivery point of one of the major aqueducts & symbolic of ocean, abundance & health; Water, Power, Theater; Right side of Trevi showing all going to decay.
Church of St. Ignazio, great counter-Reformation Jesuit church opposite stage set piazza of Sant'Ignazio, here one of the wings of the set. Inside the church is aq wonderful trompe l'oeil ceiling; Bernini elephant supporting obelisk outside Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a Gothic church inside run by the Dominicans; the Piazza della Minerva with Pantheon in distance.
Piazza della Rotunda outside the Pantheon; Porch of the Pantheon; Oculus in the celestial vault of the Pantheon.
Bernini Fountain in Piazza Navona with Borromini's Sant'Agnese in Agone covered with scaffolding; Santa Maria Della Pace with Rafael's Sibyls inside.
Sunday, February 8, 2004 - Ostia Antica. Old Port of Rome, 30 miles out of town; Enter Ostia through a necropolis; Cremation crypts beyond the arch; Our Classic guide, Laurie (who translated the signs throughout Ostia).
Apartment complexes with delightful floors in Ostia.
Approaching one of the theaters past shops and offices or merchants and ship owners, great mosaics.
Menorah symbol from the synagogue serving an early Jewish community.
Theater; Forum adjacent Main Street, no decumana.
Corner bar; The menu board; David waits while we climb in 3 storey apartments. He sits at the entry to a bar-restaurant.
Mills for one of the bakeries that made 4 kinds of bread for the City of Rome.
Monday, February 9 - Coliseum names after the Colossus of Nero (120' high) that stood outside; Gladiator school across street (& through a tunnel).
Bjorn Ranheim and Annemieke Milks; View from the Coliseum; Arch of Constantine also composed of older parts; Forum; Lunch in a delightful wine bar.
Victor Emmanuel II Monument with Tomb of Unknown Soldier; Trajan's Column.
Opposite our Hotel Santa Maria Degli Angeli (old baths of Diocletian - astounding interior by Michelangelo); Our delightful Hotel Exedra with premier of Cold Mountain on Piazza Della Republica.
Tuesday, February 10 - Head of University of St. Thomas facility in Rome, Thanas; Tridente off Piazza del Popolo with Via Del Corso in center; Mid course correction; Via Del Babuino toward Spanish Steps.
Looking up from Piazza Del Popolo past Rostra to Palazzo Borghese; Spanish Steps; Help for the handicapped.
Wednesday, February 11 - Layout of Hadrian's Villa, Villa Adriana; Liz Lev.
Maritime Theater.
Villa Adriana.
Canopus; The Caryatids of Canopus.
Tivoli Gardens, Villa D'Este; Avenue of a Hundred Fountains.
Villa D'Este.
Thursday, February 12 - Vatican Museum.
Judy with another flutist.
St. Peters; Bernini's Papal Chair; In the Crypt.
The New World Symphony concert: David, Annemieke, Bjorn, Judy.
Pompei. Laurie.
May Trip - Ann Porter additions. AM guide prep; Jack, Frankie.
Thursday, May 20 - We land in Rome, shower, then at 1PM Liz Lev picks us up for tour of Ancient Christian Rome; Marketplace of Trajan; Outside the multi-layered San Clemente, full of history; Crypto - Balbi; Mosaic dome of Saints Cosmos and Damian, Byzantine.
Building in rehab, silkscreen cover toward Vittorio Emanuele at day's end; Colosseum view; Porters, Hoeschlers, Leaetta Hough & Kathy Robins, our sextet; Maria Maggiore.
Friday, may 21 - Liz Lev meets us at Piazza Del Popolo. We start with tour of remarkable Augustinian church, Santa Maria Del Popolo; Its gorgeous dome; Santa Trinita Dei Monti, French convent, astrological ceiling; St. Francis of Paola, anamorphosis, visual distortion.
After lunch, the Oratorio Del Gonfalone; Private chapel of Flagellantes; 12 gigantic frescoes show Way of the Cross; St. Andrew's dome, Bernini?
Saturday, May 22 - SJU tour. After Vatican & lunch, St. Paul's Outside the Walls; Disks portray popes; St. Paul's Moorish cloister; Byzantine mosaic dome.
St. John Lateran. Square and round aisles; Obelisk outside St. John's; Sant-Ignazio, dome is superb example of Baroque illusionism; Trevi Fountain, built to celebrate Papal repair of Roman aqueducts.
Sunday, May 23 - Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. Cardinals process; Mass is ended; Pope speaks at noon.
Rain pours through Forum Oculus; Catacombs Gardens; Ken & Betsy Roering, guide and Brother Dietrich.
Monday, May 24 - Subiaco, Birthplace of Benedictines. We walk through amazing grove to get to monastery entrance; Sacro Speco Monastery; 4 sainted popes.
Benedictine saints; St. Scholastica for presentation.
Monday night reception at Nicholson's, Ambassador to Vatican; Leaetta and Kathy Robins; Presentation of Bible page.
Tuesday, May 25 - Gorgeous Orvieto. Romanesque Gothic cathedral begun in 1200s; Signorelli Chapel.
Frescoed ceiling; City Hall, palace where pope held refuge; A good date; Porters, Kathy & Leaetta lunch.
Outside Orvieto Opera House; Main square, old Romanesque church.
Private walks around Rome; Piazza Della Republica & our Exedra; Guarding Quirinale Courtyard; Church of Angels & Martyrs, Michelangelo's redo of Diocletian baths; Arco di Via Giulia & Chiesa dell'Orazione e della Morte, church for burying the poor; Moses, St. Peter's in chains.
Wednesday, May 26 - Presentation of Bible facsimile to Pope.
You can watch ceremony on TV screens; In popemobile; Latecomers; Press conference: Brother Dietrich, Abbot John Klassen & Donald Jackson.
Sant'Andrea del Valle, setting of first act of Tosca; Castel Sant'Angelo & Bridge of Angels; Ann Porter, angel; S. Ivo Alla Sapienza, Borromini's masterpiece; Originally the University of Rome, now Archives.
Thursday, May 27 - French Fountain in front of Farnese Palace, now French Embassy; Final dinner; Art School in Sapienza Cloister; While Ann & I wander, rest go to Ostia.