by Greg | Jun 14, 2010 | Blog Posts
This is our last full day in Rome and I am almost certain my last blog entry from Rome. We decided to make it more or less a full day in the city, squeezing in a rest time in the afternoon. Speaking of rest, I look forward to sleeping in my own bed in our happily air-conditioned house! Last night was a long night with nary a breeze to stir up the disquieting quiet. We boarded the bus to begin our trek through some of our favorite places in Rome, but first we needed a quick breakfast. In Italy a typical breakfast is a cappuccino and pastry – no bacon, eggs and certainly no grits. The four of us dined for about 7 dollars. We started our day of shopping with the Piazza of Campo de Fioro (translated it means “field of flowers” although the only flowers are the ones sold in stalls and it has not been a field in about two thousand years). At the market I bought some very pungent spices that will go well with olive oil and bread when we are settled again in Augusta. I just hope it will make it through customs. We also bought a few other things along the way that we had putting off until the last minute. In fact, most of our shopping was accomplished by wandering down alley after alley walking in stores that we thought to be interesting. By the time lunch rolled around we were all laden with small shopping bags and the satisfaction in knowing we have done our small part in helping the...
by Greg | Jun 13, 2010 | Blog Posts
Saturday was my first and last Saturday that was completely unscheduled so I did what I usually do when faced with the “oppression” of an open schedule – I scheduled something! Actually I had help from Amy. The other day we read an advertisement in the subway that there would be a “Fan Fest” starting Saturday in the Borghese Park for the World Cup. We both agreed that this sounded like fun and easier than the side trip I was thinking about taking south of Rome to look at some more ruins. About mid-morning we took off first by bus and then by walking another mile and a quarter to the park itself. Along the way we picked up a few foccacia sandwiches and chips with the hope to find a place to picnic before the jumbo-tron. Gates opened at ten and the first game (Greece versus South Korea) began at 1:30. It was already noon and we wanted to beat the crowd, since the place was designed to only hold 20,000. Our concerns turned out to be groundless. We arrived and no one with the exception of workers and one lone person was there. I am not kidding. In fact I have a picture to prove it. We plopped down in the middle of the expanse of artificial turf rolled out for all the fans and ate our sandwiches while listening to Italian radio. All along we kept thinking, hoping that the swelling crowd was making their way rowdily from somewhere in the park and just have not arrived. By the time the game was about to start...
by Greg | Jun 12, 2010 | Blog Posts
Today was my first day on sabbatical leave that was not in one way or another dedicated to my intended studies. For 17 straight days I have been walking, talking, listening, and taking in the sights, sounds, and conversations related to sacred art. If I have counted correctly I have visited 19 different churches, some of them multiple times; six different museums; innumerable historical sites; and eaten enough pasta and pizza to become a regional authority on southern Italian cuisine. Today we took it easy, or at least easier than the past two and half weeks. The timing could not have been better because for some reason I have developed a painful blister on the ball of my right foot two days ago. Normally one gets blisters on the first few days which then become calluses. I am not sure how this one slipped by until now, but either way it is painful to walk. People have asked me if we were planning to travel outside of Rome in our remaining few days in Italy. Originally that seemed to be a sensible plan, but truthfully we are all about spent and there are still some things we want to do and see while in Rome – like see the skulls and bones of the Capuchin friars! In spite of an irritating blister, I swallowed my pride and wore “socks in my crocs” and walked a bit today, visiting a favorite market in the piazza Campo dei Fiori. There were a few items we needed for supper as well as just the need to leisurely browse without having to worry...
by Greg | Jun 11, 2010 | Blog Posts
Even though my more or less formal study of sacred art in Rome under the tutelage of Michael Schwartz concluded on Wednesday, I still had a couple of more commitments today. Just after lunch I left my family to meet with the president of the Union of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Italy, Anna Maffei. I am not sure if I have clarified how I became acquainted with Anna, so let me explain. Two or so years ago, when I began planning for this sabbatical, I contacted Rob Nash, the global missions coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and asked him for help. He put me in contact with Anna, whom he came to know through shared work with the Baptist World Alliance (more about the BWA later). My primary concern was to locate suitable and affordable housing for a three week stay in Rome. Through a flurry of email exchanges Anna suggested I rent from her sister, Adrianna, which is exactly what we wound up doing. Even though we have been here for well over two weeks and our time about to wind down, due to my heavy schedule and Anna’s we were only able to meet Thursday afternoon. The headquarters are just above the Rome Baptist Church where I worshipped Sunday. The offices were rather ordinary with modern, inexpensive office furnishings arranged beneath what looked to be a rather old, coffered ceiling that was at least a few hundred years old. As I said earlier, the denomination (although that is not a term used much outside of America) of Italian Baptists belong to the Baptist World Alliance. The...
by Greg | Jun 10, 2010 | Blog Posts
Today marks the “official” last day of class, although there are some extra excursions planned before the weekend. Before meeting up with the class this afternoon I took some time to go on a “hike” on the Appian Way. As you recall from an earlier post, we walked a portion of it Monday, but there was still more to see. I set out on my own, since the family has no desire to do any additionally walking and ambled my way southward (and in this case upward, as in a hill) along the Via Appia Antiqua. Before reaching the terminus, I came to a place where it was fenced off, apparently due to an archeology dig. Over the years when I have been out hiking, walking or just plain wandering around and have come to dead ends, I tend to look for another road, which was what I did today. I found a small dirt foot path to my right that wove through a pasture end emptied into a dirt road. I kept walking. Along the way I found the ruins of some old structure that could have been an old home and barn. This is what makes Rome endlessly fascinating – treasures on every corner (or in this case pasture). Down the path were all sorts of wildflowers growing including delicate purple blooms. I was reminded of a line from the novel The Color Purple that goes something like this: “I think it makes God mad when someone walks past the color purple and not notice.” Well, I noticed and snapped a picture for good measure. It was...
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