Mother of All Parliaments

The other week I took advantage of the fact that the UK Parliament is in recess until early October to take a public tour of the old place. The official name of the Victorian pile where they meet is the Palace of Westminster. Once the home of the royal family, officially remains a royal palace. The site was used as a royal residence until Henry VIII moved the royal family out in 1512 following a fire.

After passing through several layers of logical, thorough, polite British security, I entered the complex through Westminster Hall--a room I've wanted to visit for a good part of my life. Westminster Hall is the oldest part of Parliament. Once used as a law court, the hall has held several notable trials, including that of Sir William Wallace (1305), the Gunpowder Plot conspirators (1606) and King Charles I (1649). Today the hall is used for important state occasions and the lying-in-state of famous Britons. The walls were built in 1097, but the thing I really wanted to see was the huge hammerbeam roof from the 1390s. It's one of the best examples of that kind of architecture in world and amazing that it wasn't destroyed in WWII.

It was in the Hall that our tour group met Nigel, a well-informed guide. A retired Metropolitan police officer, he prefaced and punctuated almost every sentence with, "Ladies and gents." Nigel led us first to the west end of Westminster Palace--the royal end, one could say. We saw the Monarch's Entrance, Her Majesty's Robing Room where Elizabeth II gets dolled up to open the Parliament every fall, the Royal Gallery and finally the House of Lords. All of these rooms were decorated in opulent colors: red and gold, mostly. The decor is really over-the-top Victorian. Most opulent of all was the throne where the monarch opens Parliament every year.

As we made our way through the central lobby to the Commons side of the palace, the opulence vanished and one was left with subdued colors, predominantly green, wood paneling and plain stone walls. Nigel brought us into the antechamber outside the Commons where there are statues and bust of former prime ministers. There was a scary statue of Margaret Thatcher: she's pointing at someone or something and looked as though she might speak.

A highlight of the tour was to stand in the House of Commons. I know it's corny, but I couldn't help but think of the important issues discussed there, the lively speeches given and the great people who have served the British people. We stood amongst the government's benches looking over at the opposition side. On departing I even got to touch the dispatch box from which the PM and his ministers speak.

Life Love Legacy: Hadrian: Empire and Conflict

Back in London less than a week, we were still in the grip of Rome. On Saturday John and I ventured out to the British Museum to see its new exhibition about the Roman Emperor Hadrian (76-138 AD). Presented in the beautifully restored Reading Room, the exhibition contains objects from 28 museums worldwide and finds from recent excavations (including this head from a statue of Hadrian unearthed in Turkey in 2007).

The Roman Empire ruled by Hadrian encompassed much of Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. He had a great passion for travel, architecture and Greek culture. (He wore a beard in Greek fashion unlike previous clean shaven Roman rulers.) And this exhibition provides fresh insight into the sharp contradictions of Hadrian’s character and challenges faced during his reign. We were very pleased to see it dealt honestly with Hadrian's relationship with his male lover, Antinous. When Antinous died he was worshiped as a deity by Romans.

The British Museum has great educational programs for children and students, and we saw a good example the day we visited. Visiting children (or anyone) got to help recreate Hadrian's fabulous villa at Tivoli outside Rome. Kids could color templates to make various buildings or they could personalize statues. All these were placed in the reconstructed villa complex.

Naturally we couldn't resist revisiting some of the treasures the Museum possesses like the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon and the Rosetta Stone. It's amazing to realize that this fragment from a larger tablet was the key to unlocking the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphics, but it's difficult to get close to the stone with so many people clamoring around its Plexiglas container.

In the Beautiful Valdichiana

The second part of our vacation started early on Saturday, August 2. I left our hotel before 6 a.m. to fetch John’s sister and brother–in-lawn at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport. The streets of Rome were quite at that hour save for a few merchants already setting up their stalls in the Campo de' Fiori for the daily market. On the way back to central Rome I gave the new arrivals a short driving tour of some of the sites like the Colosseum and the Forum. We made a fast pit stop at our hotel and showed them the market in Campo. Then began our Tuscan sojourn.

We'd rented a brand-new Opel Zafira at Rome's train station and it performed very nicely. It had a diesel engine with a 6-speed manual transmission. There was no problem keeping up with the others on the autostrada at 140 km/h (87 mph), although you didn't get to stay in 6th gear very long before you had to downshift or or brake. It was pretty good about fuel consumption as well. This was important since the price of diesel fuel was about $8 per gallon.

Arriving at the Azienda Agricola Il Pantano (aka Family Reunion) brought back so many memories of our first time here in October 2002. Some of you know that John rented the place to celebrate his 40th birthday--a very memorable week for all involved. On the Pantano Winery they produce the glorious Vino Nobile de Montepulciano and olive oil, among other products. The owners also rent vacation houses around the vineyard to supplement their income. For the most part, Family Reunion hadn’t changed. The collection of three houses was the same (except now there was AC) and the pool was open to us because of the season. The blue Tuscan sky and air of calm had not changed. We had a few hours at the house to get settled, go grocery shopping and have a swim before anyone else arrived. We had an afternoon of calm.

Shortly after 6:00 p.m. the other guests started to arrive. By nightfall the place was buzzing with 21 people who had gathered from 3 countries. John and his sister cooked a meal for the entire crew. Some wine was consumed and plans were discussed over dinner. The week was off to a good start.

In the following days in between spending time by the pool, we made excursions to hill town after beautiful hill town in Tuscany and Umbria: Assisi, Orvieto, Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano, Torrita di Siena, Sinalunga, Foiano della Chiana, Lucignano, Monte San Savino, San Quirico d'Orcia, and the like. We even made a 60-mile trek over the mountains to the seaside at Grosseto. All this was accomplished under the watchful eye of “Gretchen,” our friendly GPS device. We also got invaluable advice from guidebooks and www.commandatore.com. Others in the group spent their days visiting the same towns as us or journeying to the larger cities like Pisa, Siena and Florence. John and I had decided before the trip that we would avoid the larger attractions on this visit.

By the time the following Saturday rolled around we were, as it said in my previous post, a Tuscan kind of tired. I mean, how much good wine, good food, sunshine and fellowship can one person take? It was time to head back to Rome for one night and then to London.

We arrived in Rome around four on Saturday afternoon, in plenty of time to return the car. I navigated the crazy Roman streets pretty well and soon we were parked in front of our hotel on the noisy Piazza Venezia. I left John to check in and get our bags upstairs to return the car to the train station. While we started to have a few misgivings as we entered the hotel, things really started getting bad when John opened the door to Room 210. It was tiny, steamy and smelled like a mix of cigarette smoke and disinfectant. The hotel advertised itself as fully air-conditioned, modern and with no smoking rooms. This room clearly was not one that was advertised. John decided to wait outside, in the relative cool of the afternoon sun. I knew something was amiss when I phoned John from the station to say I was on my way back to the hotel. "How's the room?," I asked. "I'll see you when you get here," was his response. Getting an indirect response from John is never a good sign.

When I arrived, I saw the state of the room and knew this was not where we wanted to spend our last night in Italy. I calmly called the Hotel Campo de' Fiori, secured a room (at a discount), marched down to the lobby, bags in hand, and denounced the room as unacceptable. The front desk agent was unmoved, but he did ask us to write in a complaint registry why we were unhappy. So I wrote my name, the date, Room 210 and complained that there was no AC as advertised, the room was dirty and the toilet plumbing really sub-par. As I looked at some of the earlier complaints on the same page, they were almost all about Room 210 and its myriad of problems! Obviously this is a room they try to pass off on the one-nighters. So I warn all readers of this blog: do not stay at the Hotel Piazza Venezia in Rome. Surely you'll be disappointed!

Returning to the Hotel Campo de' Fiori, we were greeted by Emanuel at the front desk. The room was cool and comforting. We decided to hit the Campo for a light drink and followed by dinner. The Campo has come to symbolize Rome to us in so many ways. It is warm, friendly and full of good food and wine.

On Sunday we managed to jam six bottles of wine into our luggage (we'd had gone from 2 pieces to 3) along with our clothes (including new underwear). We got to the airport in plenty of time to shop, get to the gate and relax. Did I say shop? Yes, I did. We had managed little or no shopping for 2 weeks except for some wine. Well, what did we buy in the airport? Italian wine, naturally, and some virgin olive oil. We took off and arrived two hours late; I don't think we will fly Alitalia again if it can be helped. London was cool and damp. Never has rain been so welcome!

Click here if you wish to see our photos from Tuscany and Umbria.

(Writing credit: John and Peter)

Rome Part II

You haven’t heard much on this site for a few days. It has been difficult putting into words our two weeks in Italy.

The balance of our time in Rome was wonderful--HOT--but wonderful. We could spend much more time there and never tire of it. Every street offered a history, architecture or archeology lesson. All of Rome is built on something older so one discovers interesting tidbits everywhere.

This trip to Rome will be memorable partially because of the interesting people we met:

• A young Irish couple from Limerick with whom we sat up talking and socializing until the wee hours;
• The French woman eating alone at a table next to us with whom we struck up a conversation knowing how lonely eating by oneself can be;
• The Danish couple who had made a boodle in business and now occupied their time with their philanthropic foundation that helps less-fortunate Danes.
• Emanuel, a desk clerk at our hotel who was always so helpful when we were stressed out;
• The Australian with ADA and his Italian boyfriend who was constantly trying to get him "off stage."
  

I will also think of the gallons of delicious mineral water we guzzled in an attempt to fight the heat and dehydration. Every day the sun shone and the high temperature was in the mid- to upper-90s Fahrenheit. The cold bubbly water was a natural antidote.

On our last full day in Rome, we took our rental car on a trip to the sea side. We stopped in Ostia, ancient Rome's port. Apart from the sprawling ruins at Ostia Antica, the seaside city could have been almost anywhere in the world. We continued our drive down the coast to Anzio where the Allies landed in January 1944 during WWII in an attempt to circumvent the German lines. The area is dotted with war memorials, military cemeteries and centuries of history to put it all in perspective.

Click here if you want to see our photos of Rome. I'm still working on describing all the shots, but it will give you an idea of our week in the Eternal City.

(Creative credit: John and Peter)

A Tuscan Kind of Tired

Just a quick entry to let you know we're still kicking. John and I have just returned from a week on a vineyard near Montepulciano in southern Tuscany, and are spending one last night in Rome. There's much to discuss, but it will have to wait until I have some time to sit and think and not pay for Internet time by the minute.

I'll leave you with an aerial view of the place.