Posted on Jun 28, 2009
Last night at midnight we were blowing bubbles off of the top deck of the Eiffel Tower!
Paris has been wonderful. We may be getting this travel thing down, but it would be nice to have a month in each city to really do it right. We have been to the Louvre, which I liked, and then over to the Orsay Museum for the Impressionists, which I loved. Maybe it's the lack of snow in Wilmington, but I loved the impressionist winter scenes. We've walked all over the place. Giles has a pedometer and we regularly log between fifteen and twenty thousand steps a day.
Notre Dame was closed for a bishop's consecration, though we saw a cardinal preach on the Jumbotron in the plaza in front, but Saint Chapelle helped ot make up for it. When OI visited France in high school (1969) I had to write a paper about Saint Chapelle, but it was closed for cleaning. It's a cliche, but when everyone says it's like a jewel box, it is. The most brilliant stained glass I've ever seen.
We hiked up Montmartre in the late afternoon, stopping for macaroons (the rage in Paris) along the way. Then supper in a sidewalk cafe just off the Champ du Mars and a short vwalk to a long line for the Eiffel Tower and bubbles.
Sam was resting with a cold and Giles was taking a break so Alex and I went off to Versailles. They've done a lot since the late 60's. They're currently doing a lot of regilding and it's interesting to see the contrast between the old and the renewed, The gardens are also better kept and were in full bloom. The chapel is unusual. The priest in those days celebrated with his back to the people. The people in the congregation in the royal chapel stood with their backs to the priest, watching the king on his balcony, who was looking at the priest's back. They knew how to do liturgy then.
Tomorrow Giles and I are off to Chartres.
Posted on Jun 26, 2009
I woke up earlier than everyone else and went for a wander. Venice is a city of alleys, and everytime I saw one with nobody in it, I'd turn down it. There were a few dead ends, but mostly a series of fascinating views. I saw Vivaldi's parish church, adn teh church of St. Zeccaria, where the art work is overhwelming, but the crypt under the church is awash in sea water.
We went out to Murano where Giles got to stand up with the glassblowers to watch them work at close quarters. Then back to the main island for a long wander around St. Mark's square and a gondola ride. One day in Venice was not enough, but it was better tahn miising it entirely.
We took off early the next morning for Paris. With two train changes, Milan and Genva, we spent a whole day on the way. The goal was to give Sam and Alex a view of Switzerland, even if we couldn't stop, and Switerland delivered. The eastern part of the Alps are more smaller than what you get in the middle of the country, but for those of us used to American mountains they are a revelation. We spent the Swiss part of the journey glued to the windows.
We got into Paris at 11:00 and cabbed to the hotel (just off of Rue Cler). It had been a long day, but we were wide awake and walked over to the Eiffel Tower. It was too late to go up, but we wandered around the base and took far too many picutres.
Posted on Jun 24, 2009
We had two nights and the better part of two days in Florence. We arrived on a Sunday night. Monday is a day when most of the museums were closed, but we did stumble across the Museum of Precious Stones. This is on the site of a workshop founded by the Medici to do pictures by inlaying various colored minerals. The results were overwhelming and we practically had to use dynamite to get Giles away from it. Fortunately the churches were open. Sam and I climbed to to the top of the Duomo just in time for a thunderstorm to passs nearby, which added a frisson of excitement. Monday was a good day not to do too much and to recuperate from Rome.
Tuesday we managed to squeeze in three major museums before rushing madly to the railroad station. We saw Michaelangelo's David and the Prisoners at the Accademia, a marvelous collection of Renaissance sculpture at the Brgello (including a special exhibit of Bernini portrait busts), and then wandered through the Uffizi. I was absolutely overwhelmed both by the Giotto Madonna and Child, and by a 13th Century crucifix on the opposite wall. I had seen all of this in art books and medieval history texts, but the size and brilliance of the originals was overwhelming. Between Rome and Florence we saw both Michaelangelo and Bernini's David. Sam had an interesting observation. Bernini's David is all tension as he gets ready to let the rock fly (I'll preach someday on how Goliath never had a chance), while Michaelangelo's David stands in a moment of quiet; the decision to act made, but th eaction itself yet to be undertaken.
We arrived in Venice at about 10:30 and had a quiet Vaporetto ride to the neighborhood of our hotel. When we found it there was a jazz band playing in the piazza. A wonderful surprise and a great end to a hetic day.
Posted on Jun 22, 2009
At long last… well, Internet. We arrived in Rome on the morning of the 17th, and, in the midst of all of our touring around we looked for internet cafes. We would usually see them as we rocketed through the darkened streets late at night in a cab, but never in the day.
We did as many touristy things as we could squeeze in. It has been North Carolina hot, which is fine in air conditioned North Carolina, but the Vatican Museum has no air conditioning. We all managed to survive, though, and I think we have had a wonderful time so far. It is much cooler in Florence, and the distances are shorter.
I put my hand in the Bocca de Verite, but refrained from preaching while doing so. We wandered the Coliseum and the Forum, which were closed by a museum worker’s strike last time I was here, toured the Vatican museums, as well as the Borghese and the Etruscan Museum.
Some high points include getting lost on the first day trying to walk to the train station. I had a good map and always knew where I was, but took forever to get to where I wanted to be. It was a grand afternoon for wandering into piazzas. Another was standing in front of an ancient Greek statue of a woman in a peplon (a floor length dress) on the way to see the Bernini sculptures in the Borghese museum. There was something so serene about her that I was rooted to the floor for a while. St Peter’s, as always, is overwhelming just because of its size. I hung around for several hours, but the Pope never came out to see me.
Then there was the food. All of it has been wonderful, but the best experience was in the Trattoria del Pallaro, near the Campo de’ Fiori where Paola Fazi served a fixed five course menu and hugged and kissed everyone who came in the door.
Above all has been a chance for us all to be together. We have not had this much time to see Sam since he left for college thirteen years ago. It is wonderful for us and especially for Alex.
I have to catch an 8:30 reservation, but I hope to be able to do more regular posts from now on.
Posted on Jun 10, 2009
On Sunday June 14, deo volente, my family and I will depart for my(our) sabbatical. The first three weeks or so will be a time of travel in Europe with the family. As I said in the proposal to the Lilly Endowment, I want to give these folks a gift for all they've done to support me throughout my ministry. The rest of the time will be an extended series of retreat. I will visit contemporary religious communities in England and Scotland. These are "dispersed communities," where people live normal lives out in the world, but look back to a common inspiration and rule of life to find their way in the world. I will then spend three weeks with a radically un-dispersed community, the Trappists of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky. One of the vows the brothers take is a vow of stability, a promise to live out their lives in that place. I'll be looking at how all of these people manage prayer in their own daily lives.
Many of us are pretty good at weekly worship, and some of us are pretty good at daily prayer. My hope is to find a balance between the two which will work in the modern world. In a world where so many voices try to tell us who we are, I think that in this balance we can be rooted in our Christian identity.