Mass on Pentecost Sunday at the Pantheon ends with a shower of red rose petals fluttering down from the oculus, the open “eye” in the center of the massive dome, thrown by the basketful by intrepid firemen hanging from ropes. Seating for Mass is by reservation only and a huge Read More
EB Lande
Rome: Saints and Sinners
Is there a theme here? Rome — Corporate headquarters for Christianity Inc., RC. All things WILL pass. Whatever you are doing here — eating succulent lamb chops, poking through tiny, jewel-like shops, admiring the ochre and pink buildings, being wowed by marble choreography, deciphering frescoes, trying to figure out Read More
The September 11 Museum, NYC.
Architect Daniel Libeskind, praised for “his ability to weave memory into physical space (Jewish Museum, Berlin)” has created an underground memorial museum to the lives lost on 9/11 that takes up the entire footprint of the original north and south towers and the plaza between them, seven floors below ground. Read More
Egypt: Exodus
Did the Exodus happen? Ancient Egypt’s massive temple and tomb building projects required a huge number of people slaving in the heat, building for someone else’s afterlife. Were there ever Israelite slaves in Egypt? Did they escape Ramses II by the hundreds of thousands through the Sea of Reeds, Read More
Egypt: Is it Safe?
Is it safe? This is a question we were either asked or asked ourselves for weeks before we left. Actually, we were asked much more directly – are you nuts? Why are you going? My dear friend, Judy, who lived in Egypt off and on several years ago, was so Read More
Egypt. “Insha’allah”
If you called the airline (assuming they would answer) to find out if your 9:00 AM flight tomorrow morning was leaving on time, and they answered, “Yes, God Willing,” you might not get on the plane. The Western mind, no matter how religious you might be, wants to know that Read More
Egypt: People and Places
Luxor is filled with Chinese tourists – a novelty for Egypt. These Chinese New Year tourists in Karnak Temple, walking around a sacred scarab seven times while making a silent wish, are dressed in stand-out fashion in a land where women are robed, albeit colorfully. How big are their suitcases? Read More
Egypt: “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Ode to Ozymandias: The giant toppled statue of Ramses II in his mortuary temple, the Ramesseum, is the inspiration for Shelley’s poem. On the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor, outside the Valley of the Kings, we stop at this empty site. It is atmospheric and Read More
Egypt: Old and Older…
The astounding temple of Ramses II raised from drowning in the lake behind the high dam in the 1960s by UNESCO. Its removal and resurrection are as much a story as its origins. These colossi appeared in the curve of the Nile to announce to any African traders that the Read More
Egypt: On the road. Cairo. Aswan. The eternal Nile.
We leave Cairo and fly to Aswan where we stay in the lovely Old Cataract Hotel, one of the old British colonial treasures.Aswan is the last stop on the traditional Nile tours as here the cataracts begin (large boulders flung by giants into the river, making it impassable by anything Read More