Sunday December 4, 2016
Sunny 60°F/16°C in Roma, Lazio, Italia 00128
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? Will Rogers
Buongiorno,
God only knows
what Will Rogers would say if he were still alive to see Donald Trump
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| "Smile, You're on TSA Net!" |
elected President!
Some of my friends vowed to leave the country if Trump became President of
the United States. I get that! After all, the U.S. Presidential election of
2016 was viewed here and in Europe in the same way as the Fall of Rome in 476 AD when the Eternal City fell to the Barbarians
and the Dark Ages began. But, politics
has nothing to do with my upcoming trip to Europe! It has more to do with all
those coins I tossed into Trevi Fountain on my four previous trips to Rome. It’s
a continuation of a personal journey. This time, I hope to retrace the steps my
grandparents took when they emigrated from what is now the Czech Republic and came
to western Pennsylvania where they lived the American Experience, starting on
the ground floor. Actually, my grandfather started well below the ground floor,
mining coal in a small company town south of Pittsburgh.
So, it’s just
coincidence that I will be leaving the country in the Spring of 2017. But, just
in case our new President mistakes the nuclear trigger for the start button on his microwave oven on
some future night and a mushroom cloud envelops Trump Tower, I will be grateful
for the extra distance.
Rome
is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of desires. (Giotto
di Bondone)
That is my
favorite quote about Rome. Bondone said that – in Italian – back in the 14th
century, well before Rome’s Metro was
built, but long after Rome’s aqueduct and sewer systems were installed. Bondone
was from Firenze – Florence,
birthplace of the Renaissance - but he captured what Roma is all about. And if
you ever go for a long walk through the narrow streets of the ancient city, you
will understand the phrase completely.
Roma è la città di echi, la città delle
illusioni e la città del desiderio.
This will be my
fifth trip to Rome. I traveled there for my birthday in 2005, just five weeks
before Pope John Paul II died. In fact, we walked by the hospital where he was
a patient at the time. My then fianceé and I had our two week vacation
planned to include Rome, Pompeii, Florence and Venice. But we were so
captivated by Rome that we spent our entire holiday there. When I returned two
years later for several weeks, Michael took me for my first trip on the TrenItalia high speed train to Bodone’s
home town – Florence. We took another
train to Pisa so I could see how far the famous tower is leaning for myself. In November 2013, I returned for what I
thought would be a two or three week visit, and I wound up renting a flat and
staying in Rome for almost three months.
My initial reports home to family and friends on Facebook quickly became
the initial chapters of my Rome Diary, which
evolved into my blog and are now archived on my website – www.mikebotula.com. I share as well on
Google Plus, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The trip to Rome in 2013 started me on yet
another career – writing. After I returned from my fourth trip, I got busy and
put the finishing touches on my book
about my father’s wartime experiences in the U.S. Navy during WW2 – LST 920: Charlie Botula’s Long, Slow
Target! (Published by Amazon Books and available from Amazon.com and online
from Barnes and Noble as well as Booktopia in Australia and New Zealand).
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| Roman Forum |
Shortly after my
move to Texas, I started thinking about another trip back to Italy, and as soon
as I had finished unpacking and setting up my new apartment, I started
long-range planning for Rome. I renewed my passport and signed up for an
Italian class at Austin Community College’s Continuing Education Center. My
language instructor, Professoressa
Patrizia Casciana, is a native of the Puglia region of Italy. Her
Conversational Italian classes are the next best thing to being there. When I
told her that I would like to continue with her next class but would be
traveling in Italy for a month, she did not bat an eye. No problema, Michaele! Vi
e-mail i compiti a casa. E invii le assegnazioni torna a me. (I will email you the homework. And you email
your assignments back to me). Problem solved. Grazie mille, Patrizia!
In addition to
the itinerary that Laura and Michael are putting together to keep me
entertained during my visit, I am also hoping to make a trip to the Czech
Republic to meet some of
the descendants of the Botula clan that my
grandparents said farewell to back in 1903 when they emigrated from what was
then Austria to settle in western Pennsylvania. A few of my cousins have
already visited with our distant relatives back in the old country and I have
already been in touch with a distant cousin who speaks English who has agreed
to help me if I can make the trip from Rome to the Czech Republic. Alice, who
is now a Facebook Friend and Skype Buddy has also suggested that I learn a bit
of the language – Cesky - to help me navigate during my hoped-for trip to the Czech Republic. Unfortunately,
Austin Community College doesn’t offer Czech in its language curriculum, so I’m
doing the best I can with some on-line language instruction, and a lot of
reading about that part of Europe. Plus, Alice has tipped me off on some
on-line resources and recommended a couple of language books. If you are a fan
of The History Channel, you’ll recall
that The Sudetenland was the part of
the new country of Czechoslovakia that British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain gave away to Adolf Hitler in 1938 to assure Peace in Our Time! We all know how THAT worked out.
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| MikeBo, Laura, Michael-Venice |
Ciao,
MikeBo
[PS: Mike Botula’s wannabe
best-seller LST 920: Charlie Botula’s Long, Slow Target! Is a dynamite item
for holiday gift-giving. Ol’ Santa has snapped up a sleighful of the books and
will be happy to deliver one for placement under your Channukah Bush or in a
Christmas stocking! Order it from Santa or Amazon Books, or Barnes and Noble.]
©
By Mike Botula 2016
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