KS - Rome
11- The vacation/European tour saga continues. Three post cards from that time trace our tour route through Cannes and Nice on April 18, 1962. We then went through Monaco and Monte Carlo and on into Italy that same day. The writing on one card did mention that the weather was too bad for photos – rainy and cold.
The narratives on the cards were not nearly as exacting as I now would have had them to be. We continued on into Italy, passing through Genoa (spelled Genova in that country) and Pisa – the location of the leaning tower of the same name. The photos I had seen in school and otherwise couldn’t compare with being up close and personal with history.
Then it was on to Rome with its traffic and mass confusion. The traffic was something like rush hour Atlanta without the Interstates, except the cars were smaller and much louder – their horns were anyway.
The three of us visited the ruins of the old city and got many photos of these crumbling remains of ancient times. When viewing the Coliseum, I was amazed by the thought of its history and the remaining portions still standing. This from the small amount of its history I knew at the time – my real interest in events of the past didn’t happen until years later. I wonder how many lives – animal and human – were sacrificed for the entertainment of others in that arena.
We went by the Vatican for a look-see – I don’t remember the name of the Pope back then, but we didn’t see him anyway. I do remember a lot of pigeons, but I don’t remember if I saw them then or in a movie since that time. We did check out the buildings and the way they were constructed – this was a rather large complex.
One town in which we spent the night was a place on the sea called Civitavecchia. Then on the way back North we stayed the night in Pisa on the 20th. The card from that location said that we ate supper at an American military base just outside of town. It also said we took a dip in the sea and mentioned how cold it was.
My memory file contains a stub from the Automobile Club D’Italia from the Pisa area that cost 100 lira, but I can’t remember how much money that translated into or what it was all about – possibly for parking. My brain might as well have been parked for all the good I was doing for others or even myself at that time in my life.
TBC – ec
The narratives on the cards were not nearly as exacting as I now would have had them to be. We continued on into Italy, passing through Genoa (spelled Genova in that country) and Pisa – the location of the leaning tower of the same name. The photos I had seen in school and otherwise couldn’t compare with being up close and personal with history.
Then it was on to Rome with its traffic and mass confusion. The traffic was something like rush hour Atlanta without the Interstates, except the cars were smaller and much louder – their horns were anyway.
The three of us visited the ruins of the old city and got many photos of these crumbling remains of ancient times. When viewing the Coliseum, I was amazed by the thought of its history and the remaining portions still standing. This from the small amount of its history I knew at the time – my real interest in events of the past didn’t happen until years later. I wonder how many lives – animal and human – were sacrificed for the entertainment of others in that arena.
We went by the Vatican for a look-see – I don’t remember the name of the Pope back then, but we didn’t see him anyway. I do remember a lot of pigeons, but I don’t remember if I saw them then or in a movie since that time. We did check out the buildings and the way they were constructed – this was a rather large complex.
One town in which we spent the night was a place on the sea called Civitavecchia. Then on the way back North we stayed the night in Pisa on the 20th. The card from that location said that we ate supper at an American military base just outside of town. It also said we took a dip in the sea and mentioned how cold it was.
My memory file contains a stub from the Automobile Club D’Italia from the Pisa area that cost 100 lira, but I can’t remember how much money that translated into or what it was all about – possibly for parking. My brain might as well have been parked for all the good I was doing for others or even myself at that time in my life.
TBC – ec
posted by mreddie | 3:20 PM
5 Comments:
Sounds as if it was a wonderful excursion.
There is sometimes good from unexpected quaters, this trip sounds like one of them.
SSN - At the very least it was educational - on several fronts - but being hard-headed, it tooks several years to even see the lessons, much less learn them.
peter - Very true, but seeing the good is another issue, especially since I was 21 and dumb at the time. ec
I remember vividly the Vatican, and had the blessing of the Pope, in 1956, when I was a child. When I returned home, everyone wanted to touch me....I wished that they could have been the one to be there, as I wasn't Catholic.
bonita - It would be tough to be a Catholic icon and not even be Catholic. ec
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