Independence celebrations and visiting Rome

Right after coming back from my vacation in N. America I was confronted with the issue of whether or not to go to Rome for the celebrations of Israel's 60th Independence Day. Why was there a dilemma? Because things were a bit unorganized over there and I was afraid it would be a monumental waste of time. But I decided to go - it's my job after all and I wanted to use the opportunity to spend some time to be a tourist in Rome.

The first event was a performance of the Israeli Opera at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. They performed an Israeli opera based on a libretto by A.B. Yehoshua - A Journey to the End of the Millennium (http://www.israel-opera.co.il/Eng/?CategoryID=290&ArticleID=402). The performance was professional as where the costumes and the staging was outstanding. However, the theme was way too serious for a happy occasion such as Israel's Independence Day (the story has to do with the conflict between the Ashkenazi and the Sepharadi communities in the middle ages about whether or not men should be allowed to have more than one wife. the Ashkenazi communities being influenced by the Christians against this notion whereas the Sepharadi communities being influenced by the moslims and allowing this). Things get messy in the opera and one of the main characters ends up drowning in a swamp (I don't remember why exactly...). The other big problem is that bringing a modern Israeli opera to Italy is like trying to sell snow to Eskimos (I know this is not a politically correct term so excuse me). You really have to come with something outstanding to live up to Italian opera standards and this opera didn't. The music was, how to put it? a bit boring. We lived through it but a considerable number of other invitees left during the intermission.

What was more interesting in this performance was to do some people watching. Italians really go all out when they go to the opera, dressing up. I took the opportunity to wear one of my evening dresses. The last time I wore this dress was a long time ago in Hungary.... (the other lady in the picture is my colleague from Rome - Gila - holding a similar position to mine over there):

The next day we had the "usual" Independence Day reception. I didn't know most of the people but did have a chance to get to know better my colleagues in Rome. Berlusconi came (as did the president of Italy the day before to the opera - but he left at the intermission...). He was greeted with loud applause, because he's considered a big friend of Israel.

The next day was a beautiful day. Blue skies and not too hot. I went to visit a wonderful exhibition of Renoir's works at the Complesso del Vittoriano (http://www.romaviva.com/Fori-Imperiali/piazza_vittoriano.jpg)- You can see some of the pictures I saw there at this link: http://www.artsblog.it/galleria/complesso-del-vittoriano-roma-renoir/ I love the impressionists.

Then i went up to the top of the monument (which is a rather controversial one) to see what the city looks like from the only point from which the monument cannot be seen....

It's a bit hard to see but at the end of the trees in the far right side of the picture - one can see the Colosseum in all it's glory. Notice also the trees - Milan lacks trees in a serious way and it was a pleasure to see the trees in Rome.

In this picture one can see the Old Synagogue and the remains of the Theatre of Marcellus (this might be an opportunity to say that I like using the google blogger but their image upload and the quality of the pictures is not the best, especially when trying to upload landscape pictures... they come out so much nicer on flickr).






I went on to walk from Fonatana di Trevi all the way to St. Peter's Basilica. It was a lovely walk. The only disappointment was that I couldn't get into St. Peter's. They've got security checks there - you have to stand on a line for at least one hour to get in. I haven't been there in almost 20 years and I really wanted to see it again but was not about to stand on that long line in the sun. There are many more tourists these days going around and it has become very difficult to visit well known monuments here and also, as I mentioned in my previous post in NY and elsewhere. One has to reserve a place weeks or even weeks in advance (I wanted to visit the Villa Borghese and couldn't do that either for the same reason...) and even then - to stand on long lines to go in, which is a pity.

The other thought I had while in beautiful Rome was that it's amazing how unimpressive Milan is as a city, especially, compared with other cities and towns in Italy and considering that it's a worldwide design and fashion center. Some of this might be attributed to the fact that it was devastated during the Second World War but one wonders why more care and thought wasn't put into the restoration of this city to make it prettier. The Milanese say that Milan needs to be discovered and that much of what is beautiful in it - can only be seen inside palaces and villas. But I can't help but wonder why this should be so.... I suppose that this is because it's an industrial center where people are less concerned with the outside beauty of things but in Italy I find this a bit strange and it's a pity Milan isn't prettier.

Well, I've got to go out in the rain now to do my shopping. Working hard these days, but all in all, I'm quite happy. Hoping to have my brother come and visit me. Take care, and like always - would love to get your letters. Shabat Shalom.