Whe a Roma... di Pasqua

Previously in Ira's life: My world revolves around trains and busses. The first Passover food  had, which was before the Seder, was a hotdog, in a bun, with a fries and a drink. It was all kosher, don't worry Dad...
The Passover Seder concludes with "Next year in Jerusalem." The next night, I was on the one public bus (and bullet proof at that) back to Jerusalem. BUT only for an hour, to gather my things, pack my suitcase worth of clothes and homework into a backpack that didn't belong to me, and head off to the airport.

The airport food got worse as I got further away. On the flight to Istanbul, the meal was matzoh with butter and fresh jam, and fish, but from Istanbul I got the French edition, a non-kosher for Passover Kosher can of ratatouille and fruit. I got by with the free gumballs I got at Ben Gurion airport from the Pelephone company. I barely slept though, so by the time I got to Rome, I was ready to sleepwalk to Piazza Bologna, where I was to be staying.

First observations in Rome were that graffiti was absolutely everywhere, and on everything. Whole trains were filled with the stuff, and the buildings had some too, but not as much. I followed the directions given by the Home in Rome, where I was staying, and before I had arrived, I knew the metro system. The Home was incredible! Huge room with two beds, nice views, TV, wi-fi, and best of all, free Kosher for Passover breakfast each morning!

The first place I went to was the Colosseum, because there were two other guys staying in the same place (from Israel and from the States but studying in Israel). Unfortunately, it was closed due to an evening appearance by the Pope. We walked around the area, looking at the Arches of Constantine and Titus, which the American reminded me Jews are forbidden from crossing under, and then we came back, and got ready for Shabbat. There is a very large Libyan Jewish populations in Rome, so I went to services at one of their synagogues, where I met the Chabad Rabbi. I had arranged through him to have a place for dinner, and he originally invited me to his place, but the other two guys were invited by one of the members, so I went with them. This guy had been in Israel for a little while, so he spoke Hebrew and Italian, and his kids spoke Hebrew too, except for his son who was the youngest and spoke English and Italian. So most of the meal, which consisted on tongues and chicken, was conducted in Hebrew. He also showed me some nifty Haggadot, some of which included Arabic versions of songs like Dayenu, but written in Hebrew.

Before I continue, I want to remind you that I am alone so far. I flew solo to Italy, in order to arrive before the group I was to meet, because they were flying out on Shabbat. I also had brought both my cellphones, but with no intention of using them.

Through Facebook, I arranged to meet with the group a the Trevi Fountain on Saturday at 12:30. I got there 15 minutes late, and it was packed, but I found them! They are Sarah, Caitlin, Jaime, and Carly, and we headed together back to the Colosseum, by way of some very cool graffiti artistry, and lots of National signs, which, as Sarah pointed out, are spelled Nazi Zion.

Following the canon of Sarah's Lonely Planet tour guide book, we walked through the Colosseum, and back through the this time open ruins. Of course I stood under the Arch of Titus. He's not here anymore and has no forwarding address. In addition, it appears that the arch was made by his successor, and therefore not a direct symbol of the victory in Jerusalem. We headed back to  the Colosseum, where Carly had apparently made a vomit trail around the complex, due to over-exhaustion. So they headed back to their hostel, and I met them for dinner. We found a place across the street with vegetarian and gluten free options, so I got some weird tasteless dish called Orecchiette, while Sarah got Cannelloni. Mine was okay, but while we first laughed and wondered why her's said Gefullte in German, we found out because it wasn't chopped up fish inside. After that affair, we walked to the Spanish Steps, and explored the local obelisks, one of which containing a statute of Moses holding a scroll in Hebrew. Then we called it an Erev Pasqua night.

Sunday was of course Easter Sunday. In Hebrew פיסחה land Italian Pasqua, like Pesach. Sarah and I were determined to make it the Vatican in the early morning, and it was pretty sweet. People of course were everywhere, the guards looked ridiculous, and I made a Matzah note which I thought was pretty clever, except that I'm sure I made some think I was a Jew for Jesus. There was some fine hymn renditions by an American Men's choir, and then the Pope said a few words, before we took off and met the rest at the Pantheon. The Pantheon, which means temple for the gods, and not only enormous, but contains the burial spot of Raphael. It has a whole in the roof, and strategically placed holes in the floor to drain rain water.

We then walked, me with my box of Tam Tams, to Piazza Navona by way of Hadrian's Temple and some neat street performances, such as glass playing at human sculptures After the Piazza, we headed south to the Jewish Ghetto, which was closed completely. However, the Synagogue was open, so we took a tour. Mind you, there were guards around the perimeter, because in the 80's there was a terrorist attack. There were also no pictures allowed. I broke that rule. A lot. I got caught the first time in the museum area, where all these clothes were stored from hundreds of years earlier, as well as remnants from early Jewish catacombs and gravestones. This harsh woman in a red blouse warned me, so I put the camera away until we entered the main sanctuary. This chamber was enormous, including an extremely high ceiling, and quotes around the corners. Then, after that tour, I found my way back to the museum, where I found a very interesting bit about the Roman Jewish community's relationship with Israel. Once the state was established, the chief Rabbi of Rome gathered the community under the Arch of Titus, something that hadn't ever been done. However, the community had been critical at times of Israel's actions, such as during the first Lebanon War in the 80's (the subject of a massacre that took place, and was the same subject as the Oscar nominated film "Waltz with Bashir"). However, soon after the terrorist attack hit the Synagogue, and Israeli nationalism became unconditional. I was taking a picture of a neat photo of Israeli flags waving in front of the Colosseum, when this same red woman found me and was waiting to close the museum. She took me to the front desk, and had me walked out to the guards.
Now my natural reaction to a situation like this is that I start to tremble, because I don't know what's coming, even though I have a vague idea. I understand the consequences of my actions, but it doesn't mean I agree with them. Therefore, while having a mini panic attack, and without looking, I made the most of my final 60 seconds in the Synagogue gates, and popped open my camera, taking out the card with all the pictures of the Synagogue and the trip on it, slipping it in my back pocket. Then I thought, if the guard looks at the camera, he won't see any card, so he'll really have my number, so I slipped another camera card quickly into the camera, while following behind one of the museum employees on the way out. Then I thought, if the guard doesn't see any pictures on the camera, he'll know something's up, so I started taking pictures left and right without looking, all the way out the gate. The guard saw my blurry incoherent pictures, and said "thank you, bye bye."

Dinner was a whole trout and potatoes, overpriced at a tourist restaurant near the Trevi Fountain, and then I headed back to the Home in Rome one last time. I have to mention that I rushed out in the morning for the Vatican, and forgot my map, so without the group I had no form of navigation all day. Excellent. I'm writing this now on the train to Florence, wondering what's going to happen next, and whether the hostel I booked is really a hostel.

Note: Because the internet access depends on the location, things may get sloppier multimedia wise. I'll try my best

Pictures:
Rome 1
Rome 2












next stop, Firenze