I’m gonna start with Israel Experience Week because so much good stuff has happened that I’m just not sure I can remember what I did in between my last blog post and then. On Sunday, January 10th, we woke up early and all davened together. The three groups (volunteering in Haifa, Gadna, and Archaeological Dig) got on three different buses. I was really quite excited. I sat with Adina and caught up to her in Lost. When we got to Teveriah we went directly to the site and got showed around by our guide Gilad who is an archaeologist at the site. The theatre is pretty cool, part of old Teveriah from Roman times, 2,000 years ago. After a pretty brief look around, we went into the city of Teveriah and explored a bit before heading back to the hostel for (an absolutely delicious!) dinner. Joe, Joey, Gabe and I (room Joe Joe Joe Gabe) spent some time hanging out in our room and then went to bed early.
The next day, we woke up, and davened. I read torah (Vaera, the first reading I ever learned), we went back to the theatre, Judah and I volunteered for some work that Gilad specified needed guys while everyone else brushed the theatre to prep it for birds eye view pictures being taken by a hot air balloon later in the day. It turned out that Judah and I were hauling buckets of dirt for some archaeologist who was clearing out the floor of a room. It was boring and not fun because the guy wasn’t friendly. After about an hour of that, we went to Migdal and saw a recently excavated Beit Knesset from Second Temple times. I hesitate to use the term synagogue because of its modern meaning. The Israelis telling us about it always think Beit Knesset (literally house of congregation) and translate that as synagogue. The problem with that is that it wasn’t a house of worship, that was the Temple in Jerusalem. It was a place for studying torah Ezra and Nehemia style. We dug there for a little and then headed back to the hostel. The boys gathered in our room to watch Zach and Miri and then we went to bed.
In the morning we woke up, davened and went to the theatre. My digging group, Joey, Adina, Seth and I, dug really productively. We were in a hole which was probably the foundations of the building, surrounded by four roman walls (better built that Arab walls). Our task was to level out the floor and pick out pottery that we found. After the dig we went to Nahal Tabor in the Golan (I think) for a hike. It was a very easy hike for about 2 1/2 hours and then the last 30 minute stretch was about a 70 degree incline - brutal. Joe and I freestyled to the tune of Eishet Chayil, it was pretty cool. Once we got home we had dinner (the food at Karei Deshe is really good) and then I watched Notting Hill with Adina, Ally, LeeAnn and Judah
The next day we woke up, davened, packed up and went to the theatre. The group was much less productive than the day before. We spent several hours evening out the hole. When we left the dig we went to gamla which was so cool! Gamla is an ancient town that was destroyed by the romans 1900 years ago, and was never rebuilt so it never became a tel. Our tour guide, Dani, is the guy who first discovered it and dug it up, so he had a lot to say. The hike back to the top was hard as the day before, made harder because it was raining. In the evening we got to the new hotel, which was pretty nice with delicious food. My room was the joes, me joey and joe - such fun. A bunch of boys got together and watched the movie Role Models.
On the last day of the dig we woke up, davened, and had an incredible breakfast at the hotel. We went to theatre and dug for a few hours had pizza for lunch and then it was time for the bus home.
On Friday morning at 2 a.m Jlem time, seven of us – Joey, Joshy, Nadav, Adam, Seth, Gabe Ci and I got into a sheirut along with another group of three who were also going to the airport. The driver asked us if we were in a hurry. We said yes, even though our flight wasn’t until 6:00. We got to Ben Gurion exactly 28 minutes later. Pretty impressive driving. Some of you know how much I was freaking out about going to Italy, and how stressful it was for me. When I got to the airport that feeling of apprehension didn’t go away entirely, but it began to melt away a bit. We made out way through security and all that, bought the requisite Ben Gurion McDonald’s, and went to our gate. At the gate, I started reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. Strangely, I’ve never read anything by him before. When Navah was in Israel, she finished Have a Little Faith, his latest book, which Auntie had given her for Hanukkah, and lent it to me. I found Five People lying around Beit Nativ and figured I should read the one first. I alternated between reading and dozing off until 5:50, when we began boarding. We took our seats on the plane, and passed out. I woke up for breakfast, and then sporadically throughout the flight.
We landed in Rome at around 9:00 a.m. Rome time. We made our way through the airport, took out Euros from ATMs and did lots of little things. On the plane, I began to familiarize myself with Rick Steves’ Guide to Italy, specifically the Rome section. He highly recommends (and I guess now I do too) purchasing the Roma Pass. For 22 Euro (I think), you get two passes, one for sightseeing and one for transportation. Each is good for three days from the first use. The sightseeing one allows free entry to two sights and discounted entry for certain sites after that. The transport one provides free train and bus rides for three days. We took a shuttle to the Termini, the main train station in Rome, and walked to our hostel from there. Along the way, we lost Joshy and Gabe. It was frustrating trying to find them, and frustrating that they got lost and I was worried that this difficulty was indicative of what was to come. We found them quickly enough and went to our first hostel, Freestyle. We met Philippe, the manager of the hostel and he let us leave our stuff in his room while they got our rooms ready. We went back towards the Termini to a pizza place we’d seen earlier and got our first taste of what is sure to be LOTS of Italian pizza, and it did not disappoint. Kari had told me about a pizza place to look for, but I couldn’t find it…the pizza we had was incredible anyway.
After lunch we went back to our hostel and moved into our room. We had a seven-person room, which was lucky as we expected to be split up. It was weird that the room was actually around the block from the hostel office in an apartment building. Weirder still was that the common room of the apartment (which has thee hostel bedrooms attached to it) is also where one hostel employee, Yusuf, lives. Yusuf sleeps on the couch and makes free breakfast and dinner for his guests. He also loves me because I told him that my name was also Yusuf – sorta. We threw our stuff down, and headed out to the Coliseum. When you get near the Coliseum, you KNOW it. It is so massive and just dominates the view. We took lots of pictures overlooking it before we even approached. I know, Navah, you don’t want me to go because it’s $50 and just filled with trash inside. Well, we got in free because of the Roma Passes, and inside was REALLY cool. I’m not sure if it’s because I had just come from an archaeological dig, or because I had seen Gladiator somewhat recently, because I’m a guy or just because a lot can change in five years, but the Coliseum is awesome. Sure, it’s missing the floor, so you can just walk around it in a ring on the inside (and up one floor also), and sure, it was build by Jewish slaves, but this 50,000 seat stadium is a crazy testament to Roman barbarism and brilliance all in one (I’m talking like Rick Steves’. Weird.)
With the Coliseum behind us, we went back to the hostel and discovered that Judah, Adam and Ben were also staying in our apartment. I was spending much of the day making final arrangements for Shabbat dinner. What I finally got worked out with the Chabad rabbi was that he could put up the four of us who are Shomer Shabbat for dinner, but the other three would have to eat at the hostel – they were cool with that so that’s what we did. The four of us went to shul and sat through a crazy service. Everything was said out loud and most of what I think of as Kabbalat Shabbat was left out. I’m not sure if that was local Italian tradition or Sfardi. I was told to seek out the Arbib family, Vito and his son David. The rabbi of the shul told me that he was an Arbib, but I was looking for his brother. He gave me the address, and we found the house – eventually. It was nothing like what I was expecting. The Arbibs own the penthouse of a six floor apartment building. It was the most beautiful home I had ever seen. We figured that it was probably worth significantly more than any of our lives. We met a man, Rahamim Tshuva, who was a friend of the family’s, also there for dinner, but we sat for about 30 minutes before we finally met Mr. and Mrs. Arbib and their 16-year-old son David. Their older son is studying at IDC after a year at HaKotel. Dinner was delicious. The wine at the beginning for Kiddush was even good, and I don’t like wine. Vito told us that he makes all the food himself (it was actually brought to the table by a servant) and that he is Libyan, and that is the style of cuisine. They were very generous and nice, but there were awkward moments when they were all speaking Italian and we just spoke quietly amongst ourselves. David gave a Dvar Torah and we did a little singing. During dessert, Mrs. Arbib insisted that we come back for lunch and there was no way we were turning her down. We asked and she said we could bring our friends as well. We went back home and fell asleep quickly.
On Shabbat morning we woke up and showered and got dressed and left around ten a.m. We went to the National Museum (free for us with the Roma Pass, so I deemed it Shabbat appropriate – in hindsight, maybe I should have gone to Shut, but I didn’t really enjoy the place we went to Friday night and we didn’t know of any other options) and walked through all of the galleries. They have statues of Agustus Caesar and Socrates, one of the statues of The Discus Thrower, great mosaics and frescoes, ancient Roman coins and ornaments – it was awesome.
After we finished at the museum we killed some time just walking around until we ended up at the Arbibs’ again. Imagine our surprise when we walked into the dining room and saw the other guys group (Aaron, Max, Jonny, Asaf, Brian and Jesse) seated around the table. We had fun talking with them and singing zmirot, which Vito loved (Especially the more Sfardi sounding tune for Dror Yikra). He was so happy with our singing that he gave us all a little bit of his 21-year-old whiskey – it was pretty cool, especially the way it annihilates your sinuses. We did Mincha with the Arbibs, and then it was time to check out their bathrooms and hit the road.
After lunch, we walked over to a sports bar on Via Nazzionale and some of the boys went in to see if they would show the Vikings/Cowboys game on Sunday night (7 p.m. here, 1 p.m. in America). They told us they would. After that was settled, we walked toward the Roman Forum, intending to follow Ricky Stee’s (my pet name for Rick Steves, because it reminds me of my favorite place to eat, the Frankie Si cafeteria at Heb U) walking tour there. I read some cool facts on the way over, and Rick really set the stage, writing about where Marc Antony offered Caesar the crown and where great orators would address the people of Rome.
We spent a few hours walking all around the Forum, but we couldn’t get in because it closes at 3:30 p.m. That was a let-down, but we saw most of it. From there we walked around Palatine Hill and Capitol Hill and saw lots of beautiful buildings. Once we finished that, we walked home, and had the great free dinner that was waiting for us at the hostel. Yusuf had made penne vodka and it was great. After dinner, Joshy, Joey, Gabe and Nadav went out to buy beer, but they came home with a 5-liter jug of white wine instead, intending to split it between the four of them. It was a pretty hysterical moment because of the sheer size of the jug. They finished it and then we headed out. A few people had wanted to go on a pub crawl, but instead we went to the Spanish Steps and hung out with the girls (Adina, Rachel, Ariella, Debbie and Jordana).
(In this next paragraph, names are changed, with Italian flair, due to privacy considerations) We hung out there for a bit, and then went to the McDonald’s nearby, apparently one of the largest, and by far the classiest in the world. Rachel and I were splitting a McFlury and then we turned around and saw Giuseppe throwing up. A lot. After a few minutes, we got him to stop and Joey took him outside while Debbie, Jordana and I cleaned up. While in the bathroom washing my hands after cleaning, I spotted one sink filled with regurgitated pasta. I knew then that this was going to be a difficult night. I found Napoleon sitting out front with Debbie and he confessed to me that it was he who had thrown up in the sink. Meanwhile, Giuseppe was sitting outside with Joey, still throwing up. Joey was trying to get him to drink water, but he was refusing and when he did drink, he threw it up about five minutes later. The other boys group showed up at that point and started taking videos and pictures of the whole thing. Paolo, Benedetto and Fabio went home, because the Metro allegedly stops running at 11 and we wanted to make sure that they had a way home. Giuseppe told us, in perhaps his only clear thinking moment of the night, that he would pay for a cab. Joey, Napoleon, Giuseppe and I got into a cab, but had to quickly get back out because Giuseppe wasn’t done throwing up. We sat at the curbside for another half an hour or so before we finally were able to get in a taxi. We made it home, and as soon as we walked into Yusuf’s room, Giuseppe bent over and started retching. He was running on empty though, so we gave him a garbage can for good luck and put him to bed, same deal with Napoleon. It was a very crazy night, but fun to look back on now.
On Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast and then went back towards the forum on out way to the Jewish Ghetto. We went in – for free because it’s the same admission as our free Coliseum admission – and saw the Arch of Titus up close. One interesting fact that you may not have known is that apparently the vast majority of costumed gladiators who charge for pictures with them outside of the Coliseum are Jewish. One of them, spotting my kipa, grabbed us and pulled us aside. He pointed to us and said “You Jewish! I Jewish too!” He pulled out a Jewish Star necklace and showed it around. He then said “You want picture with gladiator? For you, picture free.” And then, “I have a message for all the goyim f*** you!” He made us take pictures with our middle fingers extended, cursing non-Jews. It was pretty weird. After that experience, we made our way over to the Jewish Ghetto and walked past the Great Synagogue, in search of the Kosher Deli that cousin Ronit had told me about. We found it and had lunch. It was no Kosher Nosh, but it was ok.
After lunch, we wanted to go to the Great Synagogue, but it turns out that that was actually when the Pope was speaking so we couldn’t get in. We went back towards the Pantheon to get gelato from gelateria Della Palma, heavily recommended by both Navah and Rick Steves. It hadn’t yet been three hours so Nadav, Joey, Seth and I figured we would wait it out. We all went to the Pantheon and then the Trevi fountain. The Pantheon is very ugly from the outside and very pretty on the inside, very large, with a very wide dome. The Trevi is more impressive, with water cascading around a depiction of Neptune. Aftet the Trevi we split up with the four of us plus Joshy going to the Four Rivers fountain and Adam and Gabe going back to the hostel. The Four Rivers was less cool that the Trevi but still pretty awesome. The four rivers are the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile and the Ria de la Plata, representing the four known continents at the time of construction. Each is depicted in human form which is pretty cool.
After our fountain tour, it had just about been three hours, so we went back to Della Palma. I got Kit-Kat and milk chocolate (not very creative, I know). From there we went to our new hostel, Mosaic, just down the block from our old one. While Freestyle had a homey feel, Mosaic feels much more structured, but it also has better accommodations. We napped a little and then went over to the sports bar for dinner and the football game. We had pizza dinner while we waited for the game to start (great pizza) and Brian and Asaf showed up from the other guys group. After we’d watched the game a little, the girls showed up and I moved to a booth with Adina, Rachel and Ariella. We had fun talking and paying a little attention to the game (Vikings/Cowboys doesn’t interest me too much, as long as the Cowboys lose), and it was nice to hang out with them. From the bar, Joey, Joshy, Seth, Gabe and I joined the girls and walked to the Trevi Fountain again to see it lit up at night and eat Gelato there. I went slightly more adventurous that time and got nutella and mango (the mango was out of this world). We all stood by the Trevi for a bit and then Adina, Rachel and Jordana went home. The rest of us went back to the Spanish Steps and walked/ran to the top, which provided a beautiful vista of Rome laid out before us. A great way to end the night.
Today we woke up and boarded the Metro for Vatican City. Once inside the Museums (8 Euro instead of 15 with a student ID), we split up into two groups – I walked with Joey, Joshy and Nadav. We went though the whole museum, and saw a lot of cool Egyptian and Mesopotamian artifacts, as well as Roman and Greek statues. After those exhibits, you enter the maze of rooms, many of which are painted, I believe, by Rafael, which ultimately leads to the Capella Sistina, the Sistine Chapel. The paintings on the ceilings and walls were unbelievable, really impressive. The final several rooms before the Sistine Chapel are filled with Christian modern art. It was weird, because I generally love modern art and there were definitely some good pieces, but on the whole I only like Christian art when it is old, because I appreciate it for its age. The Sistine Chapel really is magnificent though, and its beauty grows the more you stare into the ceiling.
Following a tip from Ricky Stee, we left from an exit in the corner which is only for tour groups and let us right out to just outside of St. Peter’s Basilica, which we entered straightaway. Talk about impressive. The sheer size of antique churches is usually what impresses me the most and this puts all other churches to shame. According to Rick, the floor plan of the Basilica covers 4 acres, and fits 95,000 worshippers. The place was just beautiful and baroque and BIG. Once we finished walking through the Basilica, we went out to St. Peter’s Square and looked around there too. Also really, really cool and pretty – a breathtaking display of architecture.
The group of three had skipped the Basilica and raced through the Museum and were already on their way home so we started walking in what seemed to be the right direction. It wasn’t. We wandered for about an hour, finally leaving the road and following a wooded path down in what looked to be the right direction. We hopped a fence and ran into a couple who told us that we were in the Rome Botanical Gardens. Realizing that we shouldn’t have broken into the gardens, we got out quickly and kept moving. We eventually got to a pizzeria named Miraggio where we had probably the best pizza on our trip so far. We were so far away from the touristy areas of Rome that the people at the pizzeria spoke no English and I needed to used my Italian (thank God for Spanish cognates) to order and pay. After lunch, we made our way back to areas we knew, and I insisted on another stop at Gelateria Della Palma. This time I really went crazy and got mango, chocolate caramel and (because the guy said they go well together) mascarpone. It was so delicious. From there we got on a bus back to the Termini and headed back to the hostel. Tonight we plan on hanging out with the girls, grabbing dinner and walking around, and tomorrow we have a train to Sorrento for the next leg of our journey. Should be fun.
Talk to you soon,
Seffi
P.S. I'll add pictures later
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