Rome, Italy and the Vatican
6/20/01 - 6/22/01

E-mail excerpts #1 from Rome
I arrived last evening in Rome and caught a train into the city. Lots of people must have been praying for me, because everything went flawless. However, once I got in the city, I had a good deal of trouble locating my hotel. It took me about 30 minutes of walking around, however, I found it finally, and it was a very nice place and very comfortable.

Rome is nothing like Egypt or Israel. I feel totally safe here, whereas in Israel and Egypt, I always felt my life was in imminent danger.

As soon as I got in and got settled, I walked down to the subway and took a night train to the Vatican and spent about an hour outside of the beautifully lit St. Peters Basilica. It was AWESOME!!! After meditating there for a time, I took the metro back to Spagna station and checked out the Spanish Steps and the Awe-Inspiring Trevi Fountain. That place evokes such an incredible feeling in me. I cant quite explain it. It was getting late, so I took the metro back to my Hotel site and called it a night (It was about 1230) or so when I got back to the apartment.

I got up today and had breakfast and headed off to the Vatican to take the Vatican museum tour. It takes a couple of hours. I was not supposed to film everything, but I managed to get some video of the Sistine Chapel (you were politely asked not to take video, but everyone else around me was doing it, so I said, what the heck.) Anyway, a tour guide caught me doing it and spoke to the other people and me angrily, so I left.

From there, I spent about an hour in St. Paul's Basilica and that was INDESCRIBABLE. Since I cant describe it, you will have to wait until I get back to see the video.

Anyway, I visited the Spanish Steps again on the way back, and then went to this Internet Cafe on the way back. My plan is to take a long afternoon nap and then film the other side of Rome (at night) during the evening.

E-mail excerpts #2 from Rome
Rome was wonderful. The Rome Soccer team won the National championship the night I got to the city, and there were huge parties all over the place. It was the first time they had won in over 20 years and only the 3rd time this half-century. I had a great time touring the city. The Trevi Fountain was rumored to be the "fountain in Rome" (from the popular song, "three coins in a Fountain" made popular by Frank Sinatra), although this has been discovered as a fraud. Many people do throw money in though. The truth is, the fountain is a non-specific location in Rome.

The highlights of my trip in Rome were the following :

• The opportunity to visit the new Keats-Shelley Museum at the Spanish Steps. As many of you know, John Keats has long been my favorite poet, upon which I have based many of my own poems. He died in room 23, overlooking the Spanish Steps, and not far from the Trevi Fountain. There is a newly-opened museum there now and I got to stand in the place that he died, read letters in his original penmanship, and even check out some of his rough drafts of his famous poems. There were paintings of him, locks of his hair. . everything Keats! That guy was awesome!! That was a very emotional time for me.
• The first night I got to Rome, I took the metro to the Vatican, and watched the well-lit St. Peters from outside, and spent some time just thinking about my life, and what God is taking me through. The next night, I watched the sun set over the Coliseum and had a similar time. I love sitting alone and talking out loud to God. He ministers to me as the song goes, ". . . and he walks with me, and he talks with me."
• During my trip through the Vatican art galleries, there was one particular painting on the ceiling of one of the minor chapels that really blew me away. I remember staying there for about 30 minutes or so just staring at it and slowly crying. The painting shows a statue of a man before a crucifix. The statue is not standing, but lies on the floor, crushed and broken into a thousand pieces. Scores of people just pass the room by and give it no notice, but God really met me there. God is pretty awesome, no one can stand before His pure holiness; he crushes me (I have placed 3 photos of the painting below).

You may download my Europe 2001 screensavers at Webshots

• Rome, Italy
• Florence, Italy
• Pisa/Lucca/Tuscany, Italy
• Venice, Italy
• Geneva, Switzerland
• Versailles, France
• Paris, France

• Back to Egypt
• Back to Israel