a concise recollection of my recent italy trip….

22. January

2:30 pm at the airport; let the excitment begin. Aside from buying my flight tickets, booking the hostel for my first night in rome and printing out some info on italy (namely the entire wikipedia article on italy) I haven’t really considered this 8-day trip that I am about to embark on. While saying my goodbyes to some friends in Reutlingen a friend asked my what time my flight was. The entire time i knew it was at 14:55 (3pm’ish) but the whole time I was thing 5pm for some reason. At about 1:30 pm i realized my flight was about to leave in an hr or so…i would still make it to the airport in time but this would cost me an extra 50 euros, as the bus is free but would not get me there as fast as a taxi. Considering I didn’t want to spend more the 500 euros for the whole trip 40 euros was a huge setback.

Arrival in rome. I found the hostel (2 ducks hostel) the woman at the desk informed me that my room was actually in another building. We waited for another girl who was staying in the other building and together we walked a couple of blocks to the apartment building where the hostel had a couple rooms. The other girl staying at the hostel (Lynn) was Thai/Sweedish. She was living/studying in rome and living in the hostel until she was able to move into her apt. She had a huge piece of heavy luggage which I carried for her to the other bldg. In the room lynn and I met phillip from finland. Lynn had cooked a meat sauce spaghetti with olives, corn, and onions. We all ate together, the meal was actually quite good. After dinner the 3 of us decided to go for a walk. We walked to the Trevi fountain, a monumental tourist attraction, with impressive sculptures and fountains. Lynn left early to go see about an apt. and Philip and I continued our walk. We stopped in the ‘julius ceasar pub’, a bar recommended by the woman at the hostel. After a quick drink we called it a night.

23. January

Got up at 8ish and had a quick breakfast. Nuetella, sliced bread and Nescafe. I left my bag in the room and went to the main office of the hostel in the other building to request to stay another night in the same bed. I was told that the hostel was booked solid, and I needed to leave my room but that I could leave my bag in the main office. I went back to the other building and grabbed my bag. On the way out I saw a key-copying place next to the hostel. I removed the front door key from the keychain and had it copied. I figured worse come to worse, I could sleep on the floor in the lobby of the building should I not be able to find another hostel. I returned the key and left my bag in the hostel.

I didn’t want to waste time finding a place for that night so I decided to get to the some main sites. I headed for the Vatican. I took the subway to ‘ottaviano’ and walked the last couple blocks to Vatican City. First I went to Basilica s. Pietro (st peter’s cathedral) the largest church in the world and from where the pope makes his public appearances. I went up 300 plus steps to the top of the Cuppola where I got a view of all of Vatican city and into rome. After I went to the Vatican museum, the worlds largest museum complex. The musem was very impressive. As I was about to enter the Sistine Chapel I saw a man with a kippah on giving a tour. I figured he was giving the tour in Hebrew and I went closer to listen. The tour turned out to be in english but from a jewish perspective. In this private tour there were 3 young female yeshiva teachers from nyc (Marissa, Rivka, and Jaime) after listening with fascination for 30 mins as David, the tour guide spoke I was eager to hear more. I asked the guide if he minded, he said it wa no problem and told me to ask the girls. I did and without enthusiasm they said ok. One of them remarked “we are paying for this you know”. I quickly offered to chip in, I was very interested in the guides knowledge and was willing to pay for it. The seemed more welcoming as I began to make small chat. The tour guide spoke about how many parts of the Sistine chapel were riddled with links to Jewish things. How Michelangelo included ideas of from the Talmud and midrash into the paintings to spite the pope because he didn’t want to paint, he wanted to sculpt. The hidden images of showing michaelangelo’s study of torah and science despite the rulings against dissection and the likes during his time. The tour guide also pointed out the a painting depicting the siege of Vienna that took place on sep 11, 1863. not coincidentally the the same day bin laden chose for the attacks. (the story also goes that the story for the creation of the croissant was at the battle of Vienna, but after a quick bit of research http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#croissants the truth of this story is uncertain.) He told us how Pope turned saint, John 23 and how he single handedly saved the lives of 10s of thousands of jews during the holocaust (after being exiled for the current pope at the time for trying to help the Jewish people) by illegally forging baptism papers for many people. And he changed the wording of ‘damned jews’ in every Christian holy book to ‘our brothers and sisters’ and how he prohibited an catholic from further blaming jews for the death of Christ. We also observed the colums surrounding the catherdral and how with unparalleled precision Bernini was able to make the 4 column deep structure seem as only one column when standing in a certain spot in the st peters square (which is really an oval). Overall I found the tour very interesting. I haven’t confirmed the validity of everything of what the tour guide was saying but the concepts in any case were very thought provoking. After the vatikan I took the subway 2 stops to the piazza del popolo and walked down to the Spanish steps. Enroute a purchased a very Italian sweatery/furry jacket. And a slice of pizza. I finished my pizza and was about to walk on when I saw a sign for a John Keats Museum. I remembered my highschool english teacher (McCall) was a huge keats fan so I decided I would stop inside. I listened to a brief history of keats and wandered across the museum. He had a tough life; his father died when he was 8 one brother died later and another moved away, and keats himself died in hes 20s (1795-1821) from turburculossis. But many of the beautiful verses he wrote in his last couple years became famous after his death. Here is a quick example of his impressive romantic prose:

“I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion - I have shuddered at it. I shudder no more - I could be martyred for my religion - Love is my religion - I could die for that.” [John Keats]

After the museum I walked to the piazza novena then the pantheon and from there I decided to visit the synagogue. Coincidentally marissa, rivka and jaime were there as well. We chated for a while and despite the fact that it was dark and raining I decided to walk towards the coliseum. I really had no where to go, so I just walked around to kill time before returning to foyer of the apartment building where the second hostel was. While walking I thought I saw a familiar face and sure enough at second glance I recognized Dave, a friend from NU. We walked and talked and it turned out that him and another friend of mine from NU, Juliet were living together in Rome for study and coop. I asked if I could spend the night and they said it was no problem. Meanwhile my bag was still hopefully safe at the hostel. For dinner Juliet made a great spaghetti meatball dinner and the 3 of us shared a great bottle of Italian wine. I slept comfortably on their couch.

24. January

Got up around 8:30 and walked toward the Coleseo (coliseum). I first stopped at Piacenza vienecia a magnificent building stood right in the middle of the piazza with large statues topping each wing of the bldg. I walked by the ruins of the forums and approached the coliseum. For the 3^rd time now I bumped into the 3 girls from nyc. Again we spoke briefly and then I entered the coliseum. An amazing structure dating back tot the first century AD by jewish slaves and funded by money looted from jews in an earlier war. After the coliseum I continuted on to the palatino, ruins of an old palace. I took the metro one stop to Termini and had a great piece of pizza (mushroom, artichoke, and a some special sauce). Back at 2 ducks hostel I picked up my bag and saw Lynn again. We spoke for a while then I began walking back towards termini to grab a train to Florence.

I arrived in Firenze (Florence) and walked to the hostel ‘emerald fields’ but it was unfortunately booked but since I called before the owner called a firend that owned a 1star hotel nearby and offered me a special rate for the night a couple more euros than the price of a hostel. I dropped my bags at the hostel and walked to Basilica Santa Maria a beautiful church with an impressive dome (duomo) I walked up the small staircases and hallways till I got to the top and admired the close up view of the dome and birds-eye view of Florence. I walked around a bit and made my way to Galleria dell Accademia where I saw michalengalo’s David sculpture. Of course I have seen fotos and videos of it many times but nothing compared to its awesomeness in real life. I then grabbed dinner at a Za-Za a place recommended to me by the a worker at my hotel. I ordered the rabbit dish and a glass of wine. Before calling it a night I went for a walk and picked up a liter of milk as I suddenly had a huge craving for milk. (this was great milk, it tasted like boiled milk.) I went to an internet café checked some email, finished the milk and went back to the hotel and slept like a king till morning.

25. January

After a quick exercise (I have been keeping up with the 50 push a day rule even while on vacation.) and a shower and I was out by 9 am. I grabbed a chocolate chip scone and from the bakery across the street I walked to ponte vecchio, the most picturesque bridge in Florence. I walked across it and just kept walking until I was off my tourist map. Eventually I was walking through a very relaxed residential area, a beautiful place I could easily picture myself living in. at that moment I decided to postpone my trip to Venice till the next day to give me some more time in Florence. I stopped in a asmall café for a coffee which normally comes as an expresso shot in italy. I walked back to my hotel and pricked up my bags and walked to the hostel and booked a room. I walked to the Uffizi gallery picking up a gelato on the way. Wasn’t a hufe fan of the Uffizi, well actually the building was incredible and the ceiling was beautiful throughout, I am just not that into renaissance art. After the iffizi I cam here to a small resteraunt where I am updating my journal while eating small bruchetta and enjoying a glass of wine.

Walked around a bit more through Florence and stopped in the internet café I had been to before. I walked back to the hostel and chatted for a while. I decided to go to dinner with Sarah, Dan and Sjure. Each an interesting character in their own respect. Dan was from Oregon, he was traveling through Europe and decided to stay in Florence and got a job at the hostel, he was 23. Sjure was from Norway. He was tired of working in the uncreative atmosphere of his work so he quit and moved to berlin for a couple months to clear his head and decide what he wanted to do next. He would return to Norway without a job and without an apartment and make a fresh start. Sara was a student in Florence but enjoyed the city and decided to stay and changed her major from political something to culinary arts. She started university at the age of 15 so she was only 18 and she acted like she was 30. she is originally from LA. The resteraunt we went to called ‘pit-stop’ was fantastic. I got a pizza ‘fruchti del mar’, a pizza wit sauce and basically everthing from the bottom of the ocean; mussels, shrimp, calamari etc…the best fork and knife pizza I have ever had. I topped off dinner with the best tiramsu I have ever had. Little cubes of tiramusa cake covered in cream. Fantastic meal!

26. January

The next morning I got up later than usual, around 10ish. Ready to depart to the next city. On my way to the train I ordered a Panini that was at the choice of the chef, basically whatever the chef wanted to put in it, he did. It was great, a little spicy but it kicked the morning off well. I took the train to Venice. Upon arrival I began my walk to the hostel. Through the winding streets and over the bridges following the scrap of directions that I had jotted down on a tiny piece of paper that morning in Florence. At the entrance to the hostel I met ‘Shino’ from brazil, living in London with plans to move to Australia. He had already been traveling for 2 months and had 1 month left. We were waiting for the hostel to open after the mid-day pause. Soon after ‘Ben’ a tall guy with a shaved head, leather jacket and serious boots, showed up. He was a firefighter from Brooklyn. Non of us had booked a room, so the three of us just waited in the hope that we would get a bed. We met the 3 Australians at the hostel during the wait when they invited us to there room to avoid the cold wild waiting. We went to the hostel office at 5pm when they opened and luckily enough we all got rooms. Shino and I went for dinner I got a small zucchini and cheese pizza roll and Shino got a ricotta pizza of which he shared a generous amount with me. Around 7pm we met up with Ben and the Australians for a couple of drinks. Was quite reasonably priced at 1.60 Eur for a large glass so I stuck with that for the night.

27. January

The next morning Ben and I decided to explore the city together. It turned out Ben was Jewish. His parents had both converted to Judaism after meeting in a kibbutz in Israel. Ben studied at yeshiva for most of his grade school days. We walked around seeing San Marcos sq. and Ben mentioned he had gone to the synagogue last night and heard they do services and a Kiddush lunch today (Saturday) so we made our way to the Old Jewish Ghetto where the synagogue and small Jewish community was (about 400 Jews in Venice). There were different services, we went to the one held by the chabad, we’ll actually we missed services as we went to the wrong location, but we made it to the kosher resteraunt for Kiddush. We were graciously served a multi-course meal. Many of the people there were yeshiva students from Israel and were very friendly and were constantly making sure that we were satisfied. One of the meals were salmon and unknown to me we could not have fish and meat on the same tanle but we could have them in the same meal, so when the fish was finished they brought out the meat stew. I asked ben if he knew why. He wasant sure so he asked one of the yeshiva students. He began to conjure an answer: ‘its dangerous…in the torah it is written not to have meat and milk…” the chachamim have developed this further to no fish and meat on the same table as eating them together may also be unhealthy. But he admitted to never having tried eating them together at the same time. So he didn’t know for sure if it was unhealthy but as he repeated “because it is written” he followed. This exact response was another reason why have come to analyze the very basis of religion. I wouldn’t label this yeshiva student as a ‘fundamentalist’ but his actions aren’t much different. This yeshiva student followed a rule admittedly made by a man, albeit chachamim but none the less a man without question and curiosity. It is the same lack of question and curiosity which allowed for the tragedies of the holocaust, give power to fundamentalist leaders, and breed suicide bombers. I guess here the question becomes is it still bad to brainwash if ur teachings are more or less positive and harmless? And then of course we come to the ultimate: who decides what is positive or good and what is bad.

After lunch we took a bus/boat to murano an island famous for the glass work. We witness the incredible talent and skill the artists had when we saw the glass making in action, carefully adding gold leafing and intricate details to the glass slipper. After murano ben was heading back to Milan to meet up with his sister. I went back to the hostel. I went out for another quick walk about around Venice and located a nice restaurant. I went back to the hostel and Shino returned with me to the restaurant for dinner. I wanted something very traditional so I got a spaghetti Bolognese and a glass of wine. After dinner we stopped for a crepe. Before reaching the crepe place we were lost for a good while but it made the crepe all the better. I got nutella/banana , hands down the best crepe ever.

28. January

Got up around nine and walked to the train station with Shino. He was going to Florence. I got on my train to Milan. I thought I heard the guy across from me speak Farsi so I took out my Persian practicing exercises and immediatly he asked me where I was from. We began speaking in Farsi ( he didnt speak much english) I had no idea idea the type of story I was about to here…

Ali had spent the last 4 or five days in the cargo area of a truck from iran. He hadn’t eaten and drank only water. At tnight he got out of the cargo to get some water but when he retuned the truck was gone and with it all of his belongings in the truck. The truck driver had no idea Ali was in the cargo for the past couple of days. Ali had paid a man in iran who got him into the cargo which was headed from germany. Ali had no idea where he was but soon found out he was in Venice, italy. His contact in iran who got him on the truck gave him a cell phone with a limited sim card to make a call incase of emergencies. He called back to iran where he was told to get to Milan from where he could get easily to paris, where he had another contact to get him into London where he would live until he ma could earn enough money to move to America. He was running from the iranian government, who wanted to kill him. Ali was a frequent participant in the riots against the government and he spent a year helping American troops in iraq. Ali was offered a job by the American military but at the time he didn’t want to move to America. . however when he returned to iran he was informed by his friends that the government was looking for him. We spoke for a while. He told me many things that surprised me. First he said Iranians love president bush. The ones that hate the government in Iran are waiting for bush to bomb Iran like he bombed Iraq and liberate the Iranians the way he liberated the Iraqis. He said bush must stay in t iraq and if needed send more troops until a proper government is setup. I said many American claim the war was for oil. He replied; bush has acquired a deservable amount of oil considering the service he has provided. He went on tot say that bush was a very wise man because he was strategically targeted Afghanistan, and Iraq and he has already friended Iran’s other surrounding nations and bush has been aligning himself for an attack on Iran for a while and it would not be long until he “liberated” Iran through a series of bombings. I asked whether an internal uprising within iran would be a more effective way of overthrowing the gov. and liberating the people. but he said it would be however it is unfeasible. During small riots many are killed and imprisoned and its hard to make progress. Any money sent by Americans is squandered by greedy, corrupt, and weak leaders. Despite the fact that he had no more than the clothes on him and the money in his pocket ali didn’t seem to worried or scared about his future I invited him for lunch and after a customary taruf he agreed. We walked out of the trainstation in Milan however not much was open as it was Sunday. We found a quick Turkish doner place where we got kebab sandwiches. The man that got him in the cargo was able to get some of ali’s reserve money in iran from one of ali’s friends. Ali would go back to the trainstation to meet a man who was friends with the man in iran who helped him escape and get some money. We parted ways and I walked to the hostel.

I hadn’t booked a room but I had hoped there would be a spot. After finding the unmarked hostel on a graffiti ridden street I buzzed ad called but no answer. Another traveler showed up and we both waited after an hr or so a man poked his head out the window and after seeing us let us in. I confirmed my booking for tomorrow but decided to go to Piacenza to visit the other NU students. Jess met me at the train station and we walked back. And Jessica, Melanie, and I shared stories of school and of living abroad. It seemed as though we had shared many similar experiences. Jess and I got a slice of pizza and some gelato. One of the scoops of gelato I got was “half cold” a type of cross between whipped cream, frosting and fluff. It was great with my other scoop, nougat. We returned to the apartment and there other roommate returned and a couple of other friends and we exchanged a few more stores and then called it an early night.

29. January

Got up late around 10 and had a Panini and cappuccino with Melanie then grabbed the train to milano. The train didn’t take me to centrale so I got a 24hr pass and took the subway from Lambarte to centrale. And walked to the hostel and dropped my bags. The most unique hostel I have been to. The walls and furniture were all covered in graffiti and the backyard was a cross between a junkyard and a an art studio. And at 10 euros a night it pulled an interested crowd. I took the subway from the ‘Zara’ stop to duomo and saw yet another wildly impressive cathedral from there I just walked around without a target for a couple of hours until I was tired. Then I got on a bus which brought me to Lambarte where I had a quick plate of spaghetti in the ‘miro café’ at the recommendation of the bar tender I took the subway two stops to ‘larate’ where I wandered in and around of shops. I went to “muji” a store I had read about before. Known for its non-advertising, non-labeling, plain and simple style; a pretty cool store with an interesting approach. I walked around a but more until stores began to close and I got on the metro back to the ‘zara’ stop. Back at the hostel the light didn’t work in my room and my bunk mate was sleeping. I went to the common kitchen where a man was smoking dope. I had a brief conversation with him and a bored Korean student. Then I left to grab a bite for dinner. Many places were closed around the hostel. I went to a greek place and got a pita souvlaki. It was actually very, very good. I decided to call it an early night but didn’t get much sleep as my bunk mate snored the entire night at sound levels exceding the limits of my ipod.

30. January

Got up and had a Panini and capucinno for breakfast at a café on the wat to the train station. It was a bit early to head to the airport so I decided to find a gelato place one last time before I left italy. I found a nice place after a decent walk and oreded a cone of ‘macedonia’, basically a mix of kiwi, strawberry, lemon, and pineapple gelato. It was very refreshing. I then began my walk back to the bus and got on a bus to the Malpensa airport.

I was a couple of hrs early and sat in Terminal 2 for a while reading and I ate a slice of pizza. I keptwatching the check in coumter but it never oped for my flight. About 45 minutes before departured when It hadn’t opned I knew something was up…heres where it gets fun. After a closer examination I realize I was at the right check in at tehe wrong terminal. I grabbed the et bus which got me to the right check in at the right termaila about 5 mins aagter check in closed. My flight had not taken off yet so I rean to the te security ut without a boarding pass they wouldne let me kn. I was redirected to ticket sales where I was not able to get another glight until the net morning and at a cost of 200 euros. That’s about 1/3 of what my enture itlay had costed me thus far. HLX said they would refund the majority of my ticheket giving me a mere 30 euros. To top it, I need to vacte my apt by 12:00 noon on the 31ast (the next day) my flight that leasves Milan at 7am first goes to zurich then to Stuttgart, probably getting me to reutling at about 11:30…thinkgs weill get pretty exciting tomorrow. But shit happenes. And all and all I have enjoyed my time here in the airport….I have finished cover to voger reading a sepaical edition of the Spiegel magazine discuissing various relisions and there place in taodays societworld I have also made progress in my own writings, I ate a BK King XXL burger meal (I hate fast food but it was the only thing open so I figured, go big or go home), I did 200 pushups and I discovered a compfy area with couches where I will sleeeep or nap before my flight. Soon after relocating to my new spot a guy and a girl came over the girl napped and the guy and I played footbag (hackisack) at around 11pm we began talking and turns out e s a the best beat boxer in belgiu, and was in prague to judge a beat box battle and the even was sponsored by footbag companies. We talked for a while about his career, Belgium, politiks at about 3 I slept for a couple hrs and got up at 6 well before my flight, and I checked in and made home safe and sound.

Another inconceivably rewarding trip.