Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014 (for Sabbath, July 5, 2014)
Time: 11:08 pm local time (5:08 pm EST) Place: Paris Hello folks! Sabbath dawned far too early, and I went down to have my warm Swiss cheese sandwich for breakfast. Yummy… I’m very much ready for some scrambled eggs or apple and raisin muffins. We had to leave the hotel by about 8:30 to catch our train to Lutherstadt Wittenberg. When we got to the town, we walked for about a mile until we found the old town. There we walked down the long street until we came to the town square, which contains a statue of Luther and one of Melantholen (I don’t remember how to spell his name). We continued down the street until we came to the Schlosskirche (Castle Church) where Martin Luther had nailed his 95 Theses to the door. Last year when Dad and I had gone to the church it was closed and there was a gate up so we couldn’t get up to the door. This year, in addition to that closing and the gate, almost all of the church was covered in what was effectively bubble wrap. They are renovating the church for the 500th anniversary of the day the Theses were nailed to the door. That’s coming in 2017, so I’ll have to be sure to get there then. We went around the corner, past the church, and found an unused staircase. We all sat down, and Joel and I were in charge of the church service. I taught the group to sing A Mighty Fortress in German, and then we sang a version of it in English. They didn’t seem to care, but I got to do it, and the Laughlins, Kathy, and the Wohlers enjoyed doing it. The Wohlers thanked me for it later. Joel gave the short “sermon” which basically consisted of telling about his car accident, and then saying how we could very easily see that God, the Mighty Fortress, was in charge. The day before, after visiting Checkpoint Charlie, one of our group fainted due to dehydration, but we could see that God was in control. In everything that has gone wrong, we can see that God is protecting us and keeping us safe. On our way out of town we stopped and went into the courtyard of Luther’s house. There Dr. Wohlers told us a little bit about Katharine von Bora, his wife. He quipped that she probably wasn’t the best preacher’s wife, since she couldn’t even play the piano. I quipped right back that the piano wouldn’t be invented for 200 years. We all got on the train again, this time heading for Leipzig, the home of Bach for some 27 years. Last year I had been there, and so when we were released to go find food, I led my group to the Italian restaurant that Dad and I had enjoyed the year before. I got a pizza this time around, and it was quite delicious. From there we walked to the St. Thomas Church (which was maybe a 3 minute walk). Bach had been the official town music director, which put him in charge of all music in the 4 churches in town. St. Thomas was the “first church,” which means that his new music premiered in the St. Thomas church. We got to experience a concert of absolutely amazing music, most of which would have premiered in that church. The concert started with an organ transcription of Bach’s famous chaconne for violin. It continued with a motet by Heinrich Schutz, Bach’s motet Jesu meine Freude (Jesus, Priceless Treasure), and his cantata no. 167. I was about the only person to love the concert, but I did love it with all my heart. After the concert we waited around for a while, then took a subway train back to the train station. From the station we made it back to the Berlin Hauptbahnhoff, which brought us back to our hotel. Later in the evening Joel and I went down to the market, and I bought a bag of gummy bears that weighted a kilogram (2.2 lbs). After we got back, a few of the girls came and knocked on the door to see if our roommates wanted to go to the Laundromat with them. They declined, but Joel and I jumped at the chance for clean clothes. It was a fifteen minute walk to the Laundromat, but it was much nicer than the one in Florence. It was actually inside a building instead of what looked like a garage. And there was ample seating (and enough washers and dryers). After a few goof ups, we got clean laundry, and went back to the room. I soon fell asleep, which is also where I’m heading now. Love to all! Robby
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Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2014 (for Tuesday, July 1, 2014)
Time: 10:15 am local time (4:15 am EST) Place: Same train (Vienna to Prague), about three hours out now… Hello folks! Yesterday was quite the adventure, though misadventure probably is the better word. It was a day full of hurry up and wait. We left the hotel somewhere between 8 and 9 to take the train to Budapest, Hungary, for the day. We got to Budapest about 1 pm. We were instructed to go find food (if we hadn’t already eaten on the train), change money, and go to the bathroom. I needed to do none of the above, so I just stood around for a while. Eventually we moved outside the train station (which from the inside made me feel like I was behind the Iron Curtain, but from the outside looks quite nice). We wandered around the courtyard for a while, taking pictures, admiring the restaurants (a KFC, a McDonalds, and a HUGE Burger King), and listening while Kathy Goddard or Lisa Diller held court (telling stories or teaching). We were waiting for Dr. Wohlers to get us tickets to ride a get-on-and-off tourist bus. He finally came out of the station with tickets in hand. We had been told to follow Hammy and that he was a “good guy” that we could trust. I immediately didn’t trust him. The whole city felt like it was waiting to pick my pocket. We walked a couple of blocks to the bus stop, and then waited for about 30 minutes there, trying to get on the bus. We finally got an empty bus, and settled in for a tour of the city. It was a lot of fun to ride around the historic parts of the city. We began our day in Pest (on one side of the Danube), then we crossed the river to Buda. The joke told by residents of Buda is that the only good thing about being in Pest is that you can see the rolling hills of Buda. The information given us was very interesting, and all the sights were fascinating, but I still managed to doze off several times. One time I nodded so hard in my sleep that on the rebound I bonked my head quite hard into a metal box between my seat and Dr. Laughlin’s. We arrived back at the train station without problem or delay, and I felt slightly more rested after the trip. We had to wait for a while now for Dr. Wohlers to buy us metro tickets so we could go down a few stops to a square with some restaurants. We waited for quite a while, during which time I found out that Chris Dant had lost his Eurail pass, though as best as we can tell it wasn’t his fault. It had ripped from the rest of the folder and we think that the conductor didn’t return it to him. We finally got our tickets and went down to brave the subway system. The escalators moved very fast, but the tickets were not easy to validate. We went down three stops and got off at the stop for the square, where we should have had about 40 minutes to get supper. Unfortunately, however, a few of the girls didn’t get their tickets validated properly and were stopped and hollered at (in Hungarian) by the guards. That ate up time and shaved several months off Wohler’s life as he went down to get them released. We were out of time by that point, so we walked back down into the subway system and rode back to the train station. We waited for about 40 minutes, got on our train, and went home. Kaiti and I watched most of the new Star Trek movie, and I enjoyed an episode or two of Hogan’s Heroes, as well. That’s about all for now! Love to all! Robby Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2014 (for Monday, June 30, 2014)
Time: 9:06 am local time (3:06 am EST) Place: On the train between Vienna and Prague Hello all! Monday gave every indication of being an easier day—we didn’t have anywhere to be after Lisa’s lecture until about 11:30, and that was just to get on the metro to go up a few stops to Schönbrunn palace, the summer home of Maria Theresa (and later her famous great-grandchildren, Franz Joseph [I think] and his wife Elisabeth [called Sissi]). Dr. Wohler’s verse for the day was Psalm 84—How Lovely are Thy Dwelling Places. Which was the perfect verse for the day’s itinerary. The Holy Roman Empire was a loose confederation of states with the Emperor being elected from the kings of the states, though from the 1400s onward it was the generally the king of Austria. The Hapsburg dynasty began in the 1300s in Switzerland, with Charles V living at the same time as Martin Luther. He was the Holy Roman Emperor, and also king of Spain and the Americas (neither of which fell under the HRE). Charles decided to retire from ruling, and also decided to split up his empire. He made his nephew the Holy Roman Emperor (and king of Austria), and his son got Spain and America. They basically left the other one alone, except for when they needed to fight France (which was between them). At this time the various cantons (in Switzerland) and dutchies were allowed to choose to be either Protestant or Catholic, depending on who was in charge. The Protestants generally allied with the Protestants and the Catholics with the Catholics. The Hapsburgs remained Catholics. Under their rule Austria became the second largest European country. The last great war fought in Europe over religion was the Thirty Years War, which actually lasted 30 years (from 1618-1648), and it was very devastating—almost as devastating as the plague had been. This was a war between Catholics and Protestants, but the Pope usually sided with the Protestants. The war ended with the Treaty of Westphalia, which can be seen as the beginning of the modern era. This is when we became “civilized enough” to not fight over “superstition” (religion) but instead fight over important things like land and money. I hope you hear the sarcasm in my voice. As Christians we believe that the only thing really worth fighting for is Christ (but then we are given a headache because he wouldn’t want us to fight), but they saw that as fighting over superstition. The 1700s saw the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, and from this Enlightenment came the idea of Enlightenment Rule. There should be one law for everyone. People should become homogenous. The problem with that, however, is deciding whose culture to choose. This was the age of benevolent despots and a centralization of power, all of which sounds good on paper, but that is flawed in real life. Revolutions during this time were not against the backwards governments, but were instead against the governments who were trying hard to modernize. They weren’t just trying to reform, however. They wanted to become a powerful Empire in the style of Rome, which included being the center of art and culture. Maria Theresa (Queen of Austria) was against the church, because it was trying to take away some of her power, but the common people were for the church because they felt like it was the only one looking out for the common people. During the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century Austria fought for the French nobility (partially because of Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Maria Theresa was queen there) and partially because when one monarchy goes, others tend to follow. In 1804 they fought Napoleon. The year 1848 is very important in European history because it was the year of many historical independence movements, including the movement for Hungarian Independence. This was the age of nationalism. Every people group should have their own country in their own language. The Austrians didn’t want to lose Hungary, so they agreed to a dual monarchy, turning the Austrian Empire into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On June 28, 1914 (100 years ago Sabbath) the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Throne (Francis Ferdinand) was killed by Serbian anarchists who wanted to have their own country. Then came World War I. After Francis Ferdinand was killed the Austrians wanted to wipe out Serbia, who called on the Russians for help, prompting the Austrians to call on the Germans. The goal of this war was to be the last war that needed to be fought. The countries vowed to split up territories into Nationalistic regions at the close of the war, problems from which we are still dealing with today. The problems in Syria and Lebanon can be attributed to this arbitrary splitting. Now tribes are split between several countries, forcing tension. When we got to Schönbrunn we were told we were going on the Grand Tour, which included an audio guide (yay!). It’s so much easier to appreciate the tour of 40 rooms with the audio guide instead of trying to read the signs (which aren’t always in English) around the crowd. I really enjoyed the palace, though they encouraged me to not take pictures. Luckily, though, the postcards were fairly cheap, so I bought a few. After we went outside the palace we walked through the French gardens on the grounds of Schönbrunn. French gardens are gardens that are very manicured and perfect. They are contrasted with English gardens, which are allowed to grow wild. From Schönbrunn we walked around Vienna for a while. Dr. Wohlers had us walk past the winter palace of the Hapsburgs (the name of which I can’t remember), the Spanish Riding School (which is closed for renovations, but which would normally hold the Lipizzaner horses which are trained in ballet), eventually winding up at Stefansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral). I went to St. Stephen’s last year with dad and took a picture of one of the organs, but I didn’t realize that there are two more. I was able to walk up much closer to the front this time around, and I tried to take pictures of the new organ (which Judy doesn’t quite approve of) and the smaller choir organ, too. Unfortunately they didn’t come out very well, but it was fun to see them. Now I can report back to Judy that I finally saw the right organ (and that it only took me two trips). We made it back to our hotel again (I can actually navigate the city of Vienna, which is slightly alarming), and took some time to eat, some of us changed, then we went to the Musikverein in time for a concert by the Vienna Mozart Orchestra in the Golden Hall. The orchestra performed in Mozart costumes, which added a little bit of flair, but it was also quite cheesy. The music was outstanding. On the program were two overtures by Mozart, quite a few opera arias and duets (including La ci darem la mano & Papageno/Papagena), the first movements of Mozart’s symphony no. 40 and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and several other pieces. The concert was concluded by the Racoszy March by Johann Strauss, Sr., which calls for audience participation. We got to clap, and it was so much fun! At the close of the concert the conductor threw the baton into the audience, but unfortunately I was too far away to even have a hope of catching it. I would rather catch someone’s baton than a baseball (and probably more than a garter). What a souvenir it would be! We walked back to the hotel, and went to bed. We needed to be out fairly early the next day, as we were going to Prague. Love to all! Robby Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2014 (for Sunday, June 29, 2014)
Time: 8:43 am local time/2:43 am EST Place: Train between Vienna and Prague Hello all! Sorry it’s been so long since I wrote last. We’ve been out late the last few nights, and I didn’t want to stay up beyond that. I’ve got a five hour train trip now, though, so I’ve got plenty of time. When last we left our intrepid adventurers, they were getting off their night train in Vienna. We walked to our hostel, which was named after Adolf Kolping, who lived from 1813-1865 and was an advocate for apprentices (which are called journeymen in German). We tried to check in, but they wouldn’t let us until 2 o’clock, though they did let us leave our luggage. We walked back to the metro station and took the train from Längenfeldstraße to the museum district where we went to the Kunsthistoriches museum (Historical art museum). This museum had a nice exhibit of Egyptian artifacts, but I went through it, I was looking for a restroom, so I walked quickly. There was a very nice gallery of paintings (which had chairs to sit down and enjoy them) which included a very famous painting of Marie Antoinette, her future husband Louis XVI, and empress Maria Theresa. There was also one of St. Michael fighting demons which was especially stunning. We left the museum at about 1:15 to get back on the metro to go back to our hostel. We got there a few minutes early, but were able to check in. We had one hour to shower (if desired, which it was since we hadn’t gotten to shower on the train) and be ready to go to the ballet. The rooms weren’t anything special (at all), but they were clean and private. Joel and I stayed with the two Chrisses and I got a bottom bunk. By this point it had started to rain (making it nice and cool), so walking to the Volksoper was an adventure. Dr. Wohlers only knew how to get there at night, so we got lost for a few minutes, but it wasn’t bad. When we went into the hall we saw the curtain, and I was immediately terrified of what the music would sound like. The ballet is fairly recent, and is called Ein Reigen (I think. I don’t know where my ticket is at this moment). The curtain said Ein Reigen, but also had a few slightly garish (and definitely primitive) figures on it. We’re still not quite sure what the ballet was about, but the music was really nice. It was a combination of Dmitri Shostakovich and George Gershwin, with a few tunes by Johann Strauss, Jr. thrown in for good measure. I’m ashamed to say it, but I fell asleep during both acts of the ballet, though in my defense I didn’t know what was going on, it was a comfortable temperature, and the music was exquisite. I couldn’t help but fall asleep. When the ballet was over we walked back to the Hostel (by this time it was between 6:30 and 7:30, and I was ready to be done for the day. Joel and Chris went to do laundry, but I stayed in and wrote journals. Love to all! Robby Date: Monday, June 30, 2014 (for Sabbath, June 28, 2014)
Time: 10:25 am local time/4:25 am EST Place: Vienna, Austria Hello folks! Sabbath was, ideally, to be a restful, easygoing day, but thanks to the Three Stooges plus 1 (or Laurel and Hardy Squared) it was a bit of an adventure. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We had church in front of one of the most famous churches in Florence: Santa Maria Novella. The front of the church is quite beautiful, but the façade dates later than the rest of the church. It has green accents around the edges. Our devotional was given by Chris Dant, who told the story of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. We went inside Santa Maria Novella, and were specifically told to find two pieces of art. The first was a very beautiful crucifix by Brunelleschi. The story goes that Michelangelo was walking past the church and saw the crucifix and dropped his packages because it was so incredibly lifelike and beautiful. Also in the church was a painting of the Trinity by a man named Tomaso Guido, who was called Masaccio. The painting shows the Father and the Son, but you have to look very carefully to find the Spirit. It is depicted as a dove, but if you aren’t looking for it, the dove looks like part of the Father’s robe. It’s a very beautiful painting. Another statue in the church was very disturbing to me, but I’m not really sure why. Kathy Goddard explained it to me, and it made more sense, but it still struck me as very odd. It was a statue of Christ in the tomb. We are used to seeing Him dead on the cross, but our art doesn’t depict him in the tomb. Theirs did, and it was the strangest thing to me. As I was walking around, I saw a grave marker by the edge of the church, towards the front. It said Jacopo Peri, creatore del melodramma. This is the grave marker of the man who invented the opera genre, though we don’t have a complete score to it. The first complete opera we have is Orfeo by Monteverdi. We were given a break for lunch, and we went out for one last Italian meal. I head that we were to be back with the group by 1 o’clock, but Laughlin and Goddard head 1:30. I deferred to them, though I shouldn’t have. We missed meeting up with the group for the train trip to Pisa. Our group is very efficient, partially because we are all teachers (in some form or another). We all fanned out, leaving one at the center as a meeting point. We walked around the area, looking for them. I got Dr. Wohlers’ number from dad, and then when he didn’t answer I got Chris Dant’s number from Curtis. I texted him and we figured out that they had left us and had gone to Pisa. We decided to follow them, catching a train that left a few minutes later. Once we were in Pisa we took a bus over to the leaning tower, which is the belfry (or campanella) of the Cathedral. In front of the church, and higher, and almost as large is the baptistery. Before we got there, the big group got to go into the baptistry, and they even did a demonstration of the acoustics. Unfortunately, I missed it. We did get to go into the Cathedral, and I was very impressed by it. It was set up for tourists, but they came the closest (except maybe San Giorgio in Venice) to having some form of reverence, which I greatly appreciated. The front of the church had a medieval mosaic at the front which had been rediscovered during renovations in the 1958. I got my picture taken in front of the Leaning Tower, but didn’t attempt to climb it. It was expensive, for one, and it is leaning over. I didn’t want to risk falling off it. I figured my weight at just the right place could drastically change the fragile balance it has and ruin a historical monument for everyone. We took the train back to Florence, and then were dismissed for one more meal. We stopped at a grocery store and I bought a little bit of produce (I’ve been craving vegetables), then we went and ate sitting on the steps of San Lorenzo. It was a nice place to look out at the people walking. The people in the open-air market were closing up for the day, and banging very loudly, and at one point I think I heard a shot (though it could have been a firework), but I felt quite safe. From there we went back to our hotel, collected our luggage, and went to the train station for a night train from Florence to Vienna. We were assigned couchettes (koo-shetts, a compartment with two sets of three-high berths), and I was with both Laughlins, Goddard, Joel, and Lisa. We were a good group. I was the one in charge of climbing up to the top berth and putting our luggage up on the rack. Then we made Kaiti and Lisa sleep up on the top. I was willing to let the older ladies have the bottom, but they offered it to me. We all slept decently, though not stellarly. Others in our large group (the whiners) complained the next day about how bad they slept and how hot it was on the top. Lisa and Kaiti never said anything. That’s about it for Sabbath. I’ll write about yesterday a little later on. Love to all! Robby Date: Sunday, June 29, 2014 (for Friday, June 27, 2014) Hello all! Friday morning we took the train back to Rome to spend the day. We got off the train at Roma Centrali (the central train station in Rome) and then went to two or three art museums, all of which frown upon taking pictures, so they all sort of run together. At the first museum we went to, they had the very famous Roman copy of the Greek Discus Thrower, which does an amazing job of showing all of the musculature. It actually looks as if it could be moving and throwing the discus (which is basically a Frisbee). Standing next to it is another copy of the original (which has been lost for centuries). It looks like it would have been as grand, but is missing its head, and at least one arm. Between the first and second museums Lisa lectured for a while about the relationship between the Roman Empire and the Christians. The Empire was made up of two different classes of people: the Patricians (wealthy, nobility) and the Plebeians (the working class). Suddenly the Plebes found themselves getting some say in how government worked. The Christians had problems because they were seen as unpatriotic. The Romans would allow the people they conquered and ruled to continue to worship their local gods, but they demanded that they also worship the Emperor as a god. The Christians refused to do so, and were actually seen as atheistic by the Romans. The Early Christians didn’t want to just have a religion that would grant them citizenship, but nothing more. They wanted to have a personal relationship with God, and with a community. The Romans worshipped out in the open, but Christians were much more reserved and worshiped in private. For all the Romans knew, they Christians were sacrificing babies or having orgies. In the 300s or 400s Christianity became one of the official religions of Rome, but in doing that, they had to define themselves. What were their beliefs? What were their practices? Who were the heretics among them? Part of the rule was that worship had to be done in public (church) so that people could come in and see what was going on. This is a good parallel to how Adventists officially became a denomination. We needed to be on a list with the government so that our young men wouldn’t be drafted into the Civil War, or at least so they wouldn’t have to fight. Between 300 and 1000 Christians had two major tasks: 1) they were missionaries, and 2) they had to learn to deal with authorities. During this time, however, there were those who felt that they should spend extensive time alone in prayer and meditation. They began to move out into the desert, but then began to move into groups. These were the beginnings of monasteries and convents. Around 1000 the lay people, those who didn’t feel a call to be a nun, monk, priest, or hermit, wanted a way to be more holy themselves, so the Church gave them sacraments. Performing these sacraments (marriage, communion, and several others) literally made them holy (so they thought). In the late 1400s and early 1500s the Church—run by popes and cardinals who were members of the Medici and other rich families—tried to become a stronger political entity, but by the mid-to-late 1500s it was a lost cause. The State won. St. Peter’s Basilica was a last ditch effort to be important. Rome itself really wasn’t important at all between 500 and 1000, but it was still an example of a great empire. Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler all tried to recreate the strength of the Roman Empire. In Florence, where we stayed, there was a man named Sabonarola who called for reformation in the church. He is famous for his Bonfires of Reform, wherein artists—convicted of his message—threw their worldly pieces into the flames and never worked in that genre again. There are two great legacies of Rome: 1) the arch with the rounded top. It is used heavily in Romanesque art. The second (2) is Roman Law. It was very complex, but was codified and became the basis of Church canon law, finally becoming the basis of most of the law in the Western world. The second museum we went to was connected (in some way that I never did figure out) to the Roman baths. In it they had a lot of wonderful examples of early Christian iconography. This included the Chai-Ro (X-P) symbol for Christ, and a way to spell Christos in a design which doesn’t require you to lift your pen. Greg King knows how to do it, and I want to learn how. The group went to St. Peter’s Basilica next, and I was very proud of how the Catholics have done at keeping a reverent feeling in the church. I still felt more like a tourist than a worshipper, but they did better than most (especially San Marco in Venice) at keeping a religious focus. I have a picture of me standing on the spot where (according to tradition) Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope. Charlemagne wasn’t too happy about it, either. He had become the most powerful man in all Europe, then the Pope crowns him, which showed that he (the pope) was more important the Charlemagne. Down the center aisle of St. Peter’s they have markers in the floor saying what size other important churches are. St. Peter’s is easily the largest Western Christian church, with St. Paul’s Cathedral in London coming second by probably 50 feet. In St. Peter’s there is an anteroom chapel on the right side in the back. In it is a gorgeous statue by Michelangelo called the Pieta. It is a statue of Mary holding Jesus after they took him off the cross. It is absolutely elegant and beautiful, though not especially realistic to me. She looks calm and collected, though sad. I think she would show much more sadness and fear at that time. The story goes that a very young Michelangelo carved this statue, and it was delivered one night. The next day Michelangelo was in the church, and he heard someone say that it couldn’t have been by Michelangelo. Hurt, he broke into the church that night, and carved his name into the statue, signing it. As soon as he knew what he had done, he was filled with remorse. That was the only piece of art (or at least religious art) that Michelangelo signed. He lived at a crossroads. Someone a generation before would never have dreamed of signing their religious art because it was a gift for God. A generation after him wouldn’t have thought twice about signing the work. That is the quandary I’m in when I sing a sacred song. I love to sing them, and try to do it for God’s glory. Unfortunately, though, when I do, it’s easy for me to start singing for my own glory. I understand how Michelangelo would have felt. He wanted recognition, but wanted to give the honor all to God. From St. Peter’s Basilica we walked through quite a bit of Rome, passing the Trevie (sp?) Fountain, which was under constructing. We finally made our way to the Pantheon, which was built in about 30 BC by Agrippa to commemorate a great victory he had won. Around 100 AD it was rebuilt and repurposed into a Christian church, easily the oldest Christian church in history. I went inside and was hoping to sing a little bit, but that wasn’t to be—there was a play going on. It was a 20th century take on a medieval morality play, loudly amplified, and done in Italian. It was a shame, too, because I would have liked a little bit more time to go through and enjoy the solitude I was hoping to find. We walked past another church on the way to the fountain of the Four Rivers. That particular church was dedicated to St. Louis of the French. Beyond that, I didn’t pay enough attention, I guess, but there was a beautiful painting on the wall and a beautiful organ in the back. We finally made it to the Piazza Navonna, Dr. Wohler’s favorite place in Rome. We stopped for a few minutes there at the Fountain of the Four Rivers, none of which I could accurately name. There were street musicians in the square, and just as we were leaving they began to play my theme song on the violin and accordion. So pretty. We all walked a ways further until we came to a bus stop. We waited for the right bus for about half an hour, and when it came it was full. But Dr. Wohlers told us to get on, so another 26 people and backpacks squeezed onto the bus. We had been warned to hide our valuables because this was the pickpocket bus (but also the bus we had to take). We all did, with the exception of Kaiti Laughlin, whose phone was stolen. On the bright side, though, she is getting an upgrade when we get back. It’s been a lot of fun, but also a lot of art museums. ☺. I’m tired right now, and I think I’ll lay down for a while. I’ll write about our Sabbath misadventures tomorrow. I don’t know when I’ll get to post this, but when I do, I will. Love to all! Robby Date: Thursday, June 26, 2014
Time: 8:25 pm local time/2:25 pm EST Place: Florence, Italy Hello all! Here’s my second blog post du jour, so hopefully I won’t bore you too badly. I even have high hopes of being able to post this one the same day that it was written. This morning we had to be out by about 8 o’clock because we were due over at the Bargello museum, which, like the other two museums today, is an art museum. The building was a community center of some sort during the Renaissance, and then was turned into a prison during the eighteenth century. The first thing I saw was a statue of three musicians, two of whom were playing sakbutts, which are early trombones. When composers of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras wanted to portray Hell in their music, they would use the sounds of sakbutts and oboes. I think that may be one of my favorite pieces of musical trivia. The Bargello has an exhibit of historical statues of David. The famous statue of David came later in the day, but we got to enjoy these wonderful statues from several hundred years of history. These were wonderful ways to see how the styles had changed. Two of the Davids were at least partially clothed, but the third stands naked as a jaybird, except for what looks like a straw hat. They are all standing on Goliath’s severed head. In the same hall as the David statues are the two contest scenes by Ghiberti and [someone else, who I can’t remember]. They made these squares to see who would get the contract to decorate the doors of the baptistery in front of Il Duomo. Personally, I preferred the square made by the loser. There was a set of statues called Gli Ucceli (Lee ooh-chelly--the Birds). Included amongst the bird is a peacock, a rooster, an owl, and several other “normal” birds. They are absolutely beautiful statues, however, and very lifelike. From the Bargello we made our way to the Uffizi Gallery, where we got to enjoy more art, this was mostly paintings (with a few statues thrown in for good measure). Included in the collection is a painting called the Birth of Venus, which is one of the first, if not the first, secular painting ever painted. It shows the goddess Venus coming out of a shell. I don’t quite understand the point of it, but it is very historically significant. It was after that point that artists began to feel free to make secular art. Out on the roof of the Gallery (which, by the way is right across a small street from where we watch the fireworks a few nights ago) we had a wonderful view of the Dome of Il Duomo and also the Campanella (or bell tower). We also had a view of Dr. and Mrs. Wohlers enjoying the café, not the museum. We were given a lunch break after the Uffizi gallery, and the four of us (along with John and Kim) decided to go over to the restaurant where the three adults (Laughlin, Goddard, and Diller) went to eat on Tuesday night. I got spaghetti with tomato sauce, and it was yummy. Not a very big portion, but it was enough, and so good! It started to rain again (and yes, my umbrella was in my bag, but it was back the room again). I didn’t buy a new umbrella again, though, because it wasn’t bad rain. Just nice enough to cool things down. It didn’t leave us muggy at all. Our final museum was the Accademia, which houses the famous statue of David. I had been disappointed the day before at the Sistine chapel, so as I rounded the corner I was purposely letting myself down. But I wasn’t disappointed. It was an incredible statue. It looms probably at least fifteen feet tall, and it is just incredibly amazing and awe inspiring. The Accademia also holds a musical instrument museum, which I enjoyed. Included in their collection were several Amati or Stradivari instruments, a lute with a built in keyboard, a three- and five-stringed double bass and five harpsichords. Unfortunately they were all unstrung, though, which meant that I couldn’t give an impromptu recital like I did in Vienna last year. After I went through the musical instrument museum, I led Dr. Diller on a tour of it, since she doesn’t know much about music or music history. I tried to help it make more sense to her, which I think I did. We decided to come back to the hotel after our visit to the Accademia was done for the day. The four of us quickly grabbed our laundry and walked a few blocks to the Laundromat, where we were all able to wash our clothes. Next time I must remember to double the number of shirts and pairs of underwear I bring on a trip. I’ve just been enjoying the afternoon in the hotel room ever since. I’ve written a couple of blog posts now, I finished watching Follow Me, Boys, and I’ve listened to most of the Inventions by J. S. Bach. Maybe most important of all, I finally got to cut my fingernails! All-in-all a wonderful day in Florence! Now, I want to hear from you! I miss you all! Write me and let me know what’s going on. Either send me an email, comment on this post, or visit my contact page. Love to all! Robby Date: Thursday, June 26, 2014 (for Wednesday, June 26, 2014)
Time: 7:56 pm local time/1:56 pm EST Place: Florence, Italy Hello folks! I feel much better now! I have clean clothes, I’ve gotten my old blogs up, and (most importantly) I’ve cut my fingernails. I feel wonderful! We got on the train fairly early yesterday and went to Rome, which is a decent city, but not my favorite place to visit. Our first stop was at the Flavian Amphitheatre, which we lovingly today call the Coliseum. It gets its name from the (now destroyed) colossal statue of Nero that was nearby. It could hold fifty thousand spectators to the gladiator fights. Dr. Wohlers told us that there were no recorded murders of Christians in this particular amphitheatre, but that there probably was at least one mock sea battle held there. A few minutes after we got into the Coliseum it began to rain. After the first day in Switzerland I vowed that my umbrella wouldn’t leave my backpack, which it hadn’t. But I left my backpack in our hotel in Florence. So I bought another one (for E13) and the rain stopped before I could use it. I was not impressed. The building is being restored and repaired, which brings up important questions. What is the role of preservation and restoration of historic sites and landmarks? Would it be better to not restore it at all? Or would it be best to tear it down and start again? Somewhere on the spectrum is the answer, but it is hard to find the right answer and then defend it. After our trip to the Coliseum Dr. Wohlers took us into the Roman Senate, which, as best as I can tell, is a few acres of Roman ruins. We passed a few temples, and the place where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death. There hasn’t been much done in the line of restoration in this area, so there’s not much to see. At the beginning of the area there is a Triumphal Arch (which looks like the Arc du Triomphe in Paris) through which the Roman soldiers were allowed to march after winning a war. Inside the Arch is a relief statue of victorious Romans bringing back furniture from the Temple in Jerusalem. Joel, Dr. Laughlin, Kaiti, and I had our traditional picnic lunch (Nutella or Peanut Butter sandwiches or a combination thereof). We bought drinks and tried to sit down in a little restaurant to eat, but we were very rudely chased out of the area. So we stood at the tables in front of the restaurant and made our sandwiches, which were very yummy! Our next (and final) stop of the day was the Vatican Museum (which includes the Sistine Chapel). Dr. Wohlers got us to the right place, and pointed us in the right direction, but somehow I managed to go the wrong way. Luckily for me, though, Dr. Diller was also headed the wrong way. We stayed together and had a lovely time looking through the amazing wealth of art housed in the Vatican museum. They weren’t very keen on photos being taken, so I didn’t even bother. I will say that it is absolutely incredible how much art is owned by the Church. There were statues dating for thousands of years, paintings worth millions, and everything in between. My favorite part of the tour was not the Sistine Chapel (it was too crowded and I just couldn’t get a feel for it—it deserves more time than I was given), but the extremely long hallway dedicated solely to old maps. Most of them were close enough up that I couldn’t place them, but a few (like the one of Venice) were very recognizable. The beauty and sheer number were just amazing. After finishing our tour of the Vatican Museum we went outside and waited for John and Kim to come out. They had been herded out the wrong door and had to walk from St. Peter’s Basillica (which is a decent little walk). Then all of us went to a great little Gelato place where I enjoyed Chocolate and Mint. From there we went back to the train station, found some food, and came home. Love to all! Robby Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Time: 9:53 pm local time/3:53 pm EST Place: Florence, Italy Hello folks! I have no clue when I’ll be able to post this, and the one from two days ago, and for the rest of this week. I’m having really crummy internet service, and have been running around all over the place, so I haven’t had a chance to do anything about it… This post will focus on yesterday’s events, since I didn’t get back to the room until about 11:30 at night. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We left our Venetian hotel about 9 am on Tuesday, which allowed us to take our train trip to Florence, arriving a little before lunch. One of our first orders of business was to go find some food, and I had a hankering for some pasta. The two days we spent in Venice were not especially great days for Pasta, because Pasta is more from Tuscany than Venice. But now we were in Tuscany, and I wanted some Pasta. We went into a market that felt like a mall food court, but at least three stories tall. We looked around for a few minutes, then decided on a particular restaurant. The menu was completely in Italian, so I only knew a few words, one of which was funghi, which means mushroom. So I ordered some sort of pasta (more of a fettucine shape than spaghetti, but it had a different name) with funghi e pomodori, which are tomatoes. Luckily for me, there were very few mushrooms, and the tomatoes were ground up into a wonderful sauce. The mushrooms that were there I donated to Mrs. Goddard. Our large group met up outside a church (whose name is escaping me) where Lorenzo de Medici is buried. We were going to head up to Il Duomo (the Dome, the most famous church in Florence) to look inside it and at the doors to the baptistery (which is actually outside the church). The city wanted to have the doors to the baptistery decorated, so they put on a contest between the best artists in the area. They were to submit a foot-square relief sculpture that could be hung on the door. Their topic was Abraham sacrificing Isaac. A man named Ghiberti won the prize, and was awarded the contract to decorate the doors of the baptistery. Next we went into the church, and looked around for a few minutes. They did a better job, I thought, than San Marco in Venice at keeping an air of awe and reverence, but it was still too touristic for my tastes. I wanted to take some pictures, but I knew that my pictures wouldn’t do justice to the beauty inside the church, so I went looking for a gift shop, which was downstairs. When I got upstairs again, Mrs. Goddard came up to me and said that they had made sculptures of the founders of the church. These weren’t the rich people of the church, but the architect, and the organist, etc. We went around and found the sculpture of the organist, which was really quite special. Ideally church musicians do their work solely for the glory of God, but it is very nice to be recognized by the powers that be. From Il Duomo we went up the Pont Avecchio, which is a bridge where, for hundreds of years, the gold- and silversmiths have had their shops. It was nice to see them, though I knew they would be horribly overpriced, so I didn’t even pay much attention. We were then given free time, and were allowed to do whatever. The adults (Laughlin, Goddard, and Diller) wanted to go out to eat, but us kids weren’t necessarily hungry (and weren’t necessarily invited, either), so the three of us (Joel, Kaiti, and I) just puttsed around the city, stopping at Steven Blondo’s favorite Gellataria, where I got mint. We met up with the adults a few hours later, and Joel, Dr. Lauglin, and Dr. Diller headed back to the hotel. They were pooped. I stayed with Mrs. Goddard and Kaiti to watch the fireworks (which weren’t scheduled to start until 10, and it was only 7:30 or so). The fireworks were to celebrate the feast day of St. John the Baptist, who is the patron saint of Florence. We had the best possible place to sit, too. I sat on the wall almost right up to the river, just outside the Uffizi gallery. The Pont Avecchio was (I think) behind us, and we were looking away from it. We spent the whole time talking, sometimes about religion, sometimes about literature. When the fireworks started I was less than impressed, but as they continued on, I grew to appreciate them more and more. It was just amazing to see how different they could be and how much they could do. What was so strange to me, though, until I realized where I was, was the colors they used. I didn’t see a single blue firework. They would do red, white, and then wouldn’t do blue. Instead they did green, which is their other color. The firework show lasted most of an hour, and it was really quite fun to watch. They really outdid themselves, though they didn’t outdo Epcot. After the show was over, the three of us walked back to the hotel, where, almost immediately, I crashed and fell asleep. More tomorrow, my battery (and my computer’s battery) are about to die. Love to all! Robby Date: Monday, June 23, 2014
Time: 8:00 pm local time/2:00 pm EST Place: Venice, Italy Hello all! We spent today in Venice and Burano (an Island that is probably still considered Venice). It was a lot of fun, but oh so very hot and sweaty. We had breakfast in the hotel this morning. It was the traditional European breakfast: croissants and other pastries, hard boiled eggs (passed), luncheon meats and cheese (passed), corn flakes, and a hot drink. It was quite good, but not much to talk about. I had taken a shower and was wearing clean(ish) clothes, but by the time I got down to the lobby it was already hot, sticky, and nasty. After a while we rode the water busses (vespetta?) out to the San Marco station. It was maybe a 20 minute ride. Our first stop there was at the Doge’s palace, which was the home of the Doge (the leader of Venice, who was elected for a one-year term by the richest families in Venice) and also the seat of government for the city. The building was absolutely huge, with a courtyard at least as big as a soccer field and one room that could have been a basketball court with only minor modifications. The dungeon had at least 30 cells, with probably many more through doors that we weren’t able to go through. We got to see the armory, which was full of all sorts of old armor, swords, and guns—including a musket that had about 15 or 20 barrels (Imagine a revolver, but with each a full barrel). After finishing up at the Doge’s palace we went to the Basilica San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica, where the Apostle Mark’s bones are supposed to be buried). Dr. Diller explained to us why it was so important to these Christians to see the bones of the saints. She said that now we have the Bible and the historical evidence behind it to say that, at the very least, Jesus was a historical person. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, however, this research didn’t exist, or if it did, it was unavailable to the common people who instead wanted to see these relics. San Marco was a breathtakingly beautiful place, but I didn’t feel the same sense of awe that I felt at San Giorgio’s yesterday. St. Mark’s felt so busy and commercial. There were even two gift shops. The church is beautiful and significant (especially musically), but I feel that the spiritual life has gone out of it. The inside of the church is actually much closer to what you would find in the Eastern Orthodox Church, not the Catholic Church. There are mosaics on the walls and ceilings, and the church is one large Greek cross (with all four arms of the same length) as oppose to a Roman cross (with two short arms and two long arms). After finishing our visit to San Marco we had some free time, so both Laughlins, Joel, and I went to make our lunch. After spending quite a bit of money on food the past few days, we vowed to eat sandwiches at least once a day for a while, at least. We walked quite a ways, and found a nice little bench to sit on and make our peanut butter or Nutella sandwiches. They were very good, especially with Sour Cream and Onion Pringles. For dessert we had some very yummy hazelnut cookies (that looked sort of like Fig Newtons). The four of us walked around the city for about an hour and a half, just exploring around the twisted alleys and tourist shops. It was a lot of fun, and it didn’t even really wear me out. We even managed to find a grocery store that sold 1.5 liter bottles of water for 48 Euro cents. That was beautiful since the night before I had paid E4.50 for a less amount of water. I drank the whole thing, and didn’t even need to go to the bathroom, which shows how dehydrated I am. We got lost trying to find our way back to civilization, but we were able to hop on the water bus and go up about six stops (that means we really went far afield while we were exploring) and make it to our rendezvous point just as the church bell was ringing 2 o’clock. The large group walked to a different bus stop, stopping on the way by a statue of a man on a horse. It was the oldest Equine statue since the time of the Greeks and the Romans. There are four Bronze horses from the time of Alexander the Great which were stolen from Constantinople during the fourth (?) crusade. They went to San Marco at that point, and then were stolen by Napoleon (sometime between the late 1700s and early 1800s). They were put on the l’Arc du Triomphe, but eventually were returned and are in San Marco. We got on the water bus and travelled for a little over an hour to an island called Burano. It was quite lovely, if very touristy. The whole reason Dr. Wholers took us out there was to buy us some yummy cookies. Then he left us on our own to explore for a while. The cool thing about the city was that the buildings are very colorful. There is a puzzle of a row of houses from this city, and we found the row, and I took pictures. I was a statue of Baldassare Gallupi, a composer that was born on Burano in 1706 and died in Venice in 1785. He made his fame and fortune in London and St. Petersburg as a composer of opera. We came back over to the mainland, and then came back to our hotel for a chance to cool down before going for supper. On the way back to the hotel we stopped for the gelato that we never found for lunch. I had chocolate and strawberry, both of which were so yummy! We went to a cheap/yummy Italian restaurant a little ways from our hotel. It is called Brek, and it was quite good. I got a nice little meal (a piece of vegetable lasagna, a roll, and a salad) for about E10, which is about $12-15, so not horrible. On the way back to the hotel we decided to stop for suppertime gelato, which was well worth it. Tomorrow we move from Venice (and hopefully the hot) to Florence, which is in Tuscanny, the home of pasta. I can’t say that I’m disappointed. Venice has been just a little too hot and crowded for my tastes. Love to all! Robby |
AuthorI'm a Classical musician, a growing Christian, and a world traveler. I'm learning, exploring, and trying to understand this wonderful world I live in. Archives
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