Paris is overwhelming. Overwhelming nearly to the point of discouragement. The city itself is vast- sprawling endlessly, it would seem, in every direction. With over 4600 square miles within its borders, it is quite impossible, to hope to take it in. In almost every direction we travel we find distinguished stone buildings in endless succession climbing six or eight stories high with their mansard roofs. Ornate wrought iron adorn the front of most of the buildings adding to the sense of refinement and stability. Among these buildings, are hundreds of palaces and stately mansions from centuries gone by. Paris is home to over one hundred museums and dozens of magnificent historic churches.
Today (Saturday) we began our day with a bus tour of Paris during which our guide pointed out many historic palaces, homes, residences of historical figures, bars and restaurants frequented by 19th and early 20th century artists. Our guide also attempted to explain the historic development of the various parts of Paris as well as its architectural and political heritage – too ambitious an attempt for two
hours (a two semester course might more fitting).
We ended our bus tour at Notre Dame and spent the rest of the morning admiring this architectural wonder with its ornate stonework without and its sublimely beautiful and uplifting interior. This treasure of Gothic architecture with its towering and broad ceiling vaults upheld by seemingly slender column is magnificent as are its main and numerous side altars adorned with frescoes depicting inspirational accounts from sacred scripture.
Following our visit to Notre Dame, we had lunch at the Louvre and spent most of the afternoon admiring this great collection which includes DaVinci’s Mona Lisa and the Venus DeMilo. 5 of us headed off for the catacombs shortly after 4, but found it already closed
at 4:30 so wedoubled back (a 20 minute subway adventure) and rejoined our group for a visit to Montmartre where we enjoyed a long uphill walk to the streets of this hilltop town where street entertainers occupied our time before we headed off to our scheduled dinner.
After dinner we negotiated the subway systen to head back for another night visit to the Eiffel Tower. Tonight´s visit included a trip up the Eiffel Tower where we spent the better part of an hour enjoying the panoramic view of Paris at night before heading back to our hotel for a well-earned night´s rest.

Our return yesterday was bitter sweet—you can imagine!  We (at least I) spent much of the rest of the day after our ride from the airport in a busy fog of unpacking and sorting the dirty clothes and arranging and re-arranging the souveniers we purchased.  I allowed little time for the reflection called for upon arriving at the end of a life changing journey.  This morning was a different story.  The body clock time did not match the local time and we found ourselves up way before the sun and feeling like we had many hours before we had to return to bed again. In those precious pre-dawn hours we explored the receipts, ticket stubs, bus and train schedules and finally the pictures.
Since we are new the world of digital photography we amazed ourselves at the ease with which we were able to load the photos (1730 of them) and view them on the computer.  What a treat!  Suddenly we were there again and seeing the new friends we had found just 20 days ago.  Rediscovering the discoveries we had made and sharing the different details we had each remembered.  I could have gone on all day.  The pleasure of the emotions was a treat for both of us.
The sorted laundry does not wash itself and I began trying to further reintegrate my life into the place I now found myself.  I even ironed Jim’s shirts and pants!  Then Jim called me back to the computer to your incredible website that you have put so much of yourself into.  Once again I was there and seeing things through the eyes of a fellow traveler.  Your written entries are colorful and sincere.  Thank you for sharing yourself with all of us.  You were a gift to all of us on the trip.

Love, Juli

As promised in an earlier post, I am providing recipes for the tuscan dishes we prepared at our cooking school on our first evening in Florence.  To aid in your efforts to replicate these epicurian delights (or to confound you), I have included a video featuring chef Massemo trying to instruct us in the proper procedures to follow in his Florentine kitchen.

Fast Tube by Casper

After a wonderful week in France, Monaco, Italy, and the Vatican, I was even more full of energy and enthusiasm on our last afternoon in Rome so I made plans to celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.  If the absolute perfection of this scheme is not immediately apparent, the let me explain my rationale:
First, this celebration at 9:30 was the earliest Easter service which we could find and would best suit our need to depart from our hotel for the airport at 3:25 Sunday morning.
Furthermore, the Easter vigil mass is the most moving and beautiful celebration of the entire Church year. The service begins in total darkness outside the church with the blessing of the new Paschal candle which is lit to represent the light of Christ driving out the darkness of sin and death. The light from that single candle is passed among the faithful who all process in to the otherwise dark church spreading the light of Christ and dispelling the darkness. This vigil celebration also includes eight readings from the old testament and the epistles instead of the ordinary two before proceeding to the Gospel reading. The gloria is sung as bells are rung before the Gospel is read and the homily given. The highlight of the vigil mass is receiving new members in to the church. All beautiful and moving.
Imagine celebrating this in the First Basilica of christendom- the prime church among all the churches of christianity and you might well imagine how the plan gained an irrepressible hold over me.
Processing in behind the cardinal and 500 candidates and catechumens was awe inspiring. Listening to eight readings was edifying even if they were read (slowly) in Italian. The 6-9 minute long responsorial songs led by the choir between each reading was also beautiful and moved me (which is good because after nearly 2 1/2 hours, I was having difficulty moving myself).  Next came the Gospel followed by the cardinal’s homily which, though not overly brief, was beautiful (according to the Italian sitting behind me who had the advantage of comprehending it).
Prior to the baptisms which were to follow came the traditional “Litany of the Saints” which is a lovely Gregorian chant in which the cantor introduces a saint and the congregation chants in reply “pray for us”. It is customary to begin with Mary, the apostles, and the major saints of the Church and continue with the patron saints of those being baptized. With 500 candidates and catechumens, it was already 12:15 or so before the cardinal actually began the baptisms,
The cardinal baptized each new Christian individually and the cantor led the congregation in a short refrain between each. I am sure that you have already done the math, but that crowd of 500 in their white robes leading the procession into the basilica who had awed me by their numbers, edified me by their desire, and uplifted me in the greatest of christendom’s churches on the greatest of her celebrations were now working against me.  I looked around in the vain and completely selfish hope that ushers, deacons, or acolytes were dragging out a firehouse to turn upon the candidates and facilitate a more efficient baptism of this large group (I suppose that though it would be ‘flowing water’ and thus technically meet the requirement for the matter of baptism, it would be difficult to consecrate this water source).   I began to time and perform necessary estimations and calculations in my head: a minimum of 250 baptisms at 40 seconds each plus 500 confirmations at a minimum of 40 seconds each–it would be at least 9:00 a.m. Rome time before we began the liturgy of the Eucharist!!
Let me advise future pilgrims to Rome at Easter to book an afternoon flight if they wish to participate in this great celebration at the Lateran Cathedral as it will last for somewhere above 12 hours and leave you no time for getting back to your hotel to pack up before a 3:25 check-out.

Fast Tube by Casper

We arrived in Rome on Thursday evening in time for a late dinner and a group rendezvous in the rooftop lounge where we enjoyed some wine and reviewed the details of our plans for Friday. Friday’s activities began at 7:00 with a quick breakfast followed by a half kilometer walk to the bus stop where we boarded a metro bus to the Vatican. A fifteen minute walk around the walls and across st. Peter’s square where we spent a few minutes in the warm embrace of the “arms of the Church” in the form of the stunning colonnade designed by Bernini. We continued on to the entrance to the Vatican Museums where we met our local guide, Max. The collection of the Vatican museum is so vast that if one spent 40 seconds appreciating each piece in its collection, they would need 10 years. Fortunately, Max was not only an encyclopedia of art history, but very well organized and familiar with the collection. He managed to select the appropriate pieces of art ranging from small statuary to immense wall tapestries and educate us on the use of various techniques and symbolic representations along our way. Max masterfully led us through six initial giant halls (one was 2 football fields long) before taking us to the room of the segnatura to view Rafael’s “Dispute” and “The School of Athens”. Moving though another 30 some rooms, we arrived in the Sistine chapel to view the world’s greatest art treasure-Michelangelo’s ceiling.
We next went to St. Peter’s Basilica which is breathtaking in splendor, scale, and sacred spirit. We visited the gift shop, stopped for lunch and headed via metro bus to the Colosseum where we enjoyed another wonderful tour. From the Colosseum, we moved on to the forum, then the Pantheon. We took a short rest before meandering through the streets of Rome and admiring the many obelisks and stepping inside several of the many churches on our way to the Spanish Steps. We took the subway to a restaurant near Saint Mary Major Basilica. After dinner, our group split up with most going to view the Trevori Fountain while Peg & I together with Jim & Juli Simpson and Sharon & Mike Godfrey and Christiana went back to the Coliseum where we stood within 150 feet of the Pope among tens of thousands of the faithful to celebrate the stations of the cross and listen to the Pope afterward. It was one of the high point of a most incredible day.
By the time we reached our hotel after 17 hours of walking’ we were of course exhausted.

Assisi, rising high on the slope of Mount Subasio has steep stone streets flanked on both sides by magnificent buildings dating back to antiquity. Assisi doesn’t have the quaint aura of Cinque Terre but has a similar indomitable sense. The art and architecture in some sense rivals that of Florence though not on the same scale. Unfortunately the incredible humanistic art and architecture of Florence is defaced from one end of the city to the other from the curbs of the streets to the top of Brunellischi’s dome. In Assisi it is clear from the complete absence of any defacement that residents and visitors alike appreciate the great heritage of Assisi’s art and architecture. This is perhaps because everything in Assisi draws its life and meaning from Saint Francis and the God-Savior to whom he so completely gave his life.
The awe-inspiring basilicas, churches, palazzos, abbeys, and buildings of Assisi are far less inspiring than the saint by whom the city’s renown is assured. To appreciate Assisi, one must first appreciate the saint.

We MUST return to Italy for a week or two if only to spend it all in Cinque Terra! We were on our bus and headed on a 2 1/2 hour trip to La Spezia to take a train to Riomaggiore, the first of five towns comprising Cinque Terra (five lands). You may immediately wonder why our bus didn’t take us directly to Riomaggiori? Because Riomaggiore and the rest of Cinque Terre are inaccessible by bus. The five villages of Riomaggiore (southmost), Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterossa are built into the steep and rocky coastline in the. region of southern Italy. There are numerous picturesque walkways connecting these village, but most are suitable only for pedestrian traffic. Fortunately, there is a rail line cut through this rocky terrain which connects the five villages with each other and with the rest of Italy through La Spezia in the south and Levanto to the North.
Words alone cannot do justice to the experience of Cinque Terre which is a visual feast with stunning natural beauty of the steep hillsides tumbling into the cool blue waters of the Mediterranean sea. This natural beauty is complemented by the indefatigable architecture of the stonemasons and carpenters who built the colorful buildings which stand on the forbidding slopes and rise fearlessly before the formidable sea. Add to this the tenderly cultivated gardens and farms stepping up the hillside for hundreds of meters which mix with the considerable beauty of the native vegetation and you have feast for the eyes by which you might be endlessly filled.
That would be enough-But the Italians have wine and food to augment the feast!
We began in Riomaggiore in which we found a scant 2 or 3 service vehicles competing with foot traffic to ascend the steep incline of the narrow and winding stone thoroughfare. Riomaggiore is the antithesis of everything envisioned by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The streets rise steeply at 25 degrees or more

We have been walking a lot- about 10 miles yesterday through Florence, Italy. Florence was founded in the first century BC by Julius Caesar for his retired soldiers. The status of these residents together with the location, natural beauty, and convenience of location allowed for the city to flourish from early on. In the 15th century Florence became a very wealthy trade century producing beautiful and textiles which were exported to all of Europe. With the booming trade and export business in Florence, banking also flourished (the bankers financed the trade and grew rich from its success). One of the richest and most influential banking families were the Medici, who became great patrons of the arts (including artists like Michelangelo) and in a large way helped to foster the Renaissance which was born in Florence.
The Renaissance was the ‘rediscovery’ of classic art and architecture. The art of this time period is characterized by its careful study of the human anatomy and the discovery and use of perspective in presenting a subject. We went to the ‘academia’ today which is an art school established near the end of the renaissance and which now is home to Michelangelo’s ‘David’. I wish you could see it. The detail and ‘life’ with which Michelangelo imbued this giant piece of marble is breath taking.  Find the ‘David’ on the internet and notice the veins in his arms or the face or his fingernails-Michelangelo captures every detail. You may not notice it in an internet picture, but David’s head and hands are a little large with respect to the rest of the body–this is because the statue was originally to be set high above the viewer and in order for David to appear in perspective from far below he had to enlarge portions of the statue. Michelangelo made amazing use of perspective. We will see another incredible work in which Michelangelo uses his understanding of perspective when we are at the Sistine chapel on Friday.
We also went up in to Brunneschelli’s dome on Tuesday. This is undoubtedly the greatest example of Renaissance architecture.
Fast Tube by Casper

It is altogether approprite that the first thig we did Tuesday after arriving in Florence was to check in to our hotel. But second in propriety only to that necessary task was trekking deep in to the old city to learn the art of Tuscan cooking in our.”Cucinara Fiorentino” (Florentine Kitchen) experience. We were greeted by Chef Massemo who got us into aprons and quickly to work on our evening meal.
We took flour and eggs and made our own pasta dough which we painstakingly rolled out into extremely thin strips about 4″ X 10″ before cutting them in to ribbons before cooking the and adding the to our sauce made from scratch with fresh ingredients. Meanwhile, a ground pork and ground beef mixture was being seasoned with finely chopped garlic, basil, and. . The beef and pork mixtures were then formed in to loaves 3 or 4 inches in diameter and about 10 inches long with two hardboiled eggs embedded at their centers. Cakes which included fresh squeezed orange juice and grated orange rind.
It is difficlt to decide whether the meal was more enjoyable in the preparation or in the consuming–both were incomparable experiences.
Look for our “Cooking with Massemo” video as well as our “Florentine Food for Falcon” recipes both coming soon to this website.

It is a sunny 63 at the Buonamico (‘good friend’) winery and olive oil factory in Montecarlo, Italy in the beautiful Tuscan region. We just spent the last several hours touring the vineyard/winery and being treated to a luncheon of cheeses, breads, prosciutto, olives, and sweetcake while sampling the various wines produced here. While here, I have received almost dozen e-mails either with news of the tragic earthquake outside of Rome or of concern for the safety of our group or about the weather.
With regard to the earthquake about 100 kilometers east of Rome, the damage and death are reported to be extensive with help coming from all around the region to assist in rescue and recovery. We join our prayers with yours in petitioning for the safe rescue of those still trapped and for the outpouring of God’s consoling grace on the families and loved ones of those who were lost.
We will be in Florence until Thursday when we will travel to Rome, so we are all safe and sound and thankful for your concern.
Please know that as we enjoy our wine and Tuscan cuisine and walk about in our short sleeve shirts in the most leisurely of conditions seeking occasional refuge from the constant sunshine, that you too are in our prayers. We are happy to know that you have been blessed with a generous deposit of fresh snow (6 inches we hear) and hope you enjoy it as much as we are enjoying our own weather.