Departing Beit Nativ:
My Italy group consisted of Me, Joey, Seth, Seffi, Adam, Nadav, and Gabe. We had many, many meeting in the months leading to the trip.
We left Beit Nativ at 2:05 AM. The seven of us teamed up with the Judah Italy group of three (Judah, Adam and Ben) to take a shereut (taxi) together to the airport. We arrived in record time, walking into the airport at exactly 2:3 AM. We skipped some lines by saying we were a “group” and made it into the main terminal. I went to a cool little resturant and had some pasta at about 3:30 AM. We all hung out with all the groups. There are 5 groups in Italy right now. Throughout these series of blog posts, I'll be referring to groups by names so I don't need to say each person every time. So, future reference, there is us (my group, or just "us"), the “other boys group” (Jesse, Jonny, Aaron, Max, Asaf and Brian), the “girls group” (Jordana, Ariella, Adina, Debbie and Rachel) the Judah group (Judah, Adam and Ben) and the "other girls group" (Stephanie, Becca, Rhyan, Ariel and Sara). We all hung out for a little while, and eventually made our way to the gate. I lied down on the floor at the gate, slept for about 15 minutes, and at 6 AM, boarded the plane to Italy. I sat next to Gabe, in front of Jesse and had a window seat. I don’t even remember take-off. After the flight attendant checked us in and sat down, I put my chair back, put my head against the window and was out. Italy had just begun.
DAY ONE: ROME
We got off the pane around 9 AM. 1/4 of Nativ was on this plane. We all went directly to the baggage claim. While we were waiting for our bags, Seffi broke up our 8th man for the next 2 weeks: Rick Steve's Guidebook to Italy 200. We all crowded around him (the book) as we began to read through the book. We all collected our bags and read about this "Rome Pass" thing. We wandered the Rome International Airport after, searching for ATM's and a "tourist information" booth (because they spoke English and Rick Steves said to). the TI told us to buy a Roma pass to make things less expensive. The Roma pass only 18 Euro, gets us two free admissions to muesems, and unlimited free rides on the metra and beses throughout rome for 3 days. As we made this decision to buy the Roma pass, I looked over at the other boys group was also reading Rick, but their version was 2010. Grr...
After getting the Roma pass, we said goodbye to the other boys group because they knew where to go and we didn’t. we asked around, and eventually found out the best way to get to the Termini was by raild. We walked towards the Metra station when we were approached by a man who said, “eh, want to go to the termini? Only 8 Euros!” Well, the metra would have beenn 12, so obviously we took the bus. Who did we find already on the bus? The other boys group. It wasn’t long before the bus left, and I drifted into a good nap.
I woke up after about 10 minutes. There was beautiful Italian fields all aaorund me, the sky was blue, and most of our group was awake and talking. Next to me, seffi was reading Ricky Steves. We decided on a few things asa group on the bus. We needed to get toas many mesdems as we could because they were all discounted in Rome (due to the Roma pass) and Ricky says they are awesome. Second, we needed to see the Vatican, and third we needed a tentative plan of what to do in the upcoming 4 days of Rome.
We arrived at the Termini around noon. We bid farewell to the other guys group, and started the treck to find our first hostel, hostel “freestyle.” We had no idea wher it was, only that “it’s close to the termini.” FYI, the Termini is the central train station in Rome with a fancy name (and a cool one at that). Not more than 10 minutes after wandering though rome did gabe and I get separated from the group. I kid you not. We turned a corner, and they were all gone! Well, af first we were like “oh no this is so bad,” but eventually that turned into “wow this is so awesome!” Instead of staying put and hoping the group would retrace their steps to find us, we began to ask around for TI booth. They would tell us where our hostel is, and we could just meet the group there. I asked some police officers where the TI was. He mumbeled something in Italian, and pointed at a circular kiosk in the distance, 2 blocks away. We thanked him and headed that way. It was my first adventure of Rome. Gabe said to me, “man, we shoulda got lost sooner!”
After finding the TI, and the group along the way, we realized that they didn’t know where the hostel was anymore than we did. “Well,” Gabe said, “Josh and I know, becaue we got lost!” We used the TI’s info to find the hostel. We arrived at the hostel, and immediately went out to get our first Italian meal of the trip. The hostel owner told us there was a lot of cheap pizza near the termini. Perfect. We found this great pizza place that sold ¼ of a pie for only 3 euros. The food was amazing! After lunch, we set our sights on the first sight of the day: the Colosseum.
Nadav was our Navigator. He took out the map that Gabe and I took from the TI. He didn’t quite know how to read Italian maps, but pointed in the “general direction of it.” We figured the Colosseum couldn’t be hard to miss. I opted for the scenic route through the park.We were running all around, talking, taking pictures, and having a really good time. All of a sudden, Seth said, “guys, look there’s the Colosseum!” we all looked in awe at the collessel Roman Colosseum. We walked down and out of the park. There was a pretty big intersection in front of us. It was pretty crazy that the Coloesseum was in the middle of a major intersection and not a majestic field, or a crater, or a volcano, or something else glamorous. Joey said, “wow, people probably drive here everyday!” tha’s pretty strange to think about. We walked around the Colosseum, and say a bunch of people dressed up as Gladatiors. They wanted 30 Euros for one picture! Absurd (45 US dollars). The Colosseum was absolutely MASSIVE!!! It was one of the most spectacular things I’ve eery seen. I can’t really describe it in words, so I’ll post some pics of it when I get the cable in a few days.
After the Coloesseum, it was time to get ready for SHABBAS IN ROME! Seffi had ben talking with the Chabad Rabbi in Rome about being hosted for Shabbas dinner that night. The Rabbi said he only had room for 4 of us, and not all . Seffi, Joey, Nadav and I decided we would take the 4 spots. We all agreeded on it. We went ot the room, and after 5 minutes there, Judah’s group walks in! they had the room next to ours. Crazy., they also were being hosted for dinner. We all got changed, and the of us (us 4 plus Judah, Adam and Ben) made our way to the synagogue.cNadav lead us there, and we arrived just as Mincha was ending. Perfect timing.
We sat down. I was so excited for an amazing Italian Kab Shab. The man who lead Mincha stepped down, and a boy, probably about 15, stepped up. Kah Shab started. We skipped the first 3 prayers, did L’cha Dodi (kind of), and went straight to Ma’ariv. Wow, all in about minutes. I loked over at Joey. He was just as confused as I was. Ma’aric was very similar. The boy chanted, and everyone else listened. It was a Sfardi Shul, obviously, and they sang in a very Sfardic tone. 36 minutes after we arrived, it was over. Shortest Friday night service. Ever.
After it was over, we found the Rabbi and asked where to go for dinenr. He told us the host didn’t end up showing up to services and we need to find it alone. He gave us an address “Via , ”and pointed down the street. “Shabbat shalom” he said. We left, confused, and hoping Nadav could navigate us there. As we wre leaving, another man approached us. “Via?” he asked. “I can tell you how to get there (but he said that in Hebrew)
(Here's the new part):
We responded (also in Hebrew) “OK, thanks.” He gave us detailed but confusing directions from the synagogue to the apartment. We thanked him and left.
We walked (the 4 of us now) onto via Natzionale street. It was a pretty major street with lots of people, stores, music, gelato stores, etc. it was the 3rd major street (according to my previously mentioned criteria for a major street) that I had already seen in Rome. Rome was awesome. All the buildings were magnificent and old. we walked one direction for about 10 minutes, knowing that we needed to eventually needed to make a left. We didn’t see Via. I decided to ask someone for directions. I asked a random women. She didn’t know. I then asked a random man, and he also didn’t know. I asked a third random man, and he pointed in the opposite direction with his cigarette in hand. We thanked him and wandered that way for about 15 minutes before asking someone new. This man was selling nuts on the corner. He pointed down the adjacent side street. We looked, and in the distance we saw a parralel street to Natzionale. It was Via ! Of course, the one thing the guy forgot to include in his directions is that wasn’t off of the major street. We found number . It was an apartment building. The family was on the top floor. Great. We strated the trek, passing 3 hotels, the international American University in Rome, two banks and a retail on the way up. it wasn’t until the th floor that we started to see residential names on doors.
We knocked on the door. A woman opened the door, smiled, and invited us in. the apartment was absolutely beautiful. There were a ton of huge (and probably really expensive) paintings, bookshelves, couches, flowers, and Judaic material. She invited us to sit on the couch (whispering) until her husband got back from shul. He was actually there. Awesome. While sitting on the couch for 45 minutes, we were actually just talking about the spectacular apartment (flat) that we were sitting in. eventually, the husband, Vito, arrived. He invited us in to the dining room they all spoke English well enough to hold a conversation, but the wife spoke the best. They were all very welcoming and nice. Vito also invited one of his friends to dinner, and they had a 16 year old son named David (pronounced the Hebrew way). We made Kiddush, washed, Motzei, and got ready for what looked like an amazing meal to come.
At first, it was a little awkward because of the obvious language barrier between us and them. Vito was a great conversationalist in Italian, but none of us knew any conversational Italian. Eventually, we just talked among ourselves (for the most part) and they talked among themselves. Dinner was fantastic, all 5 courses. Afterwards, we sang Zmiros (songs), during which Vito was obviously impressed that a bunch of Americans knew the same songs he did and sang them well. During dessert, the wife turned to us and said “so you’re coming back tomorrow at one, OK?” Seffi replied, “Is that ok, can we come back?” She said, “Why of course you’re coming back. Be here at one, and bring your other three friends. I don’t know why the Rabbi told you we could only have four, we could have had more.” I guess its expected to have dinner and lunch at the same place when you are hosted in Rome. Fine with me! the food was great and they were all fun to be with. Its also really convient that they live right in the middle of town, and only 15 mins from our hostel. Four hours after we arrived, it was time to go. The wife gave us good instructions on how to get back to the Termini. We thanked them for dinner and left. On the way home, we diverged from the route a little bit to see this cool, illuminated fountain in the distance. We made it back to the hostel, told the other 3 about our lunch plans, and got to sleep. It was a great day one in Rome.
DAY TWO:
We woke up at 8:30 for our free breakfast through the hostel.it was stale cornflakes, warm mild and hard bread. Yum. It got the job done. We got dressed into our Shabbas clothes, not to go back to shul, but to avoid needing to come back to the hostel before lunch. We grabbed our Roma passes and made our way to the Roman National Mueseum. It was about 10 mins away, towards the family’s house sort of. It was filled with a ton of statues, figures, coins, paintings and mosaics. It was super duper cool. That took about an hour. We then went to show the rest of the group our cool fountain that we found the night before. That brought us to about noon. Well, we needed to do something that would kill an hour. How do a bunch of teenagers in downtown Rome kill time? Well, we were wandering down Natzionale street when we found this clothing store. We spent about 35 minutes there playing dress up, and having Adam and Seth take picutes. I tried on many fancy jackets, hats and scarves. I’ll post some pics; they’re pretty funny. Afterwards, we walked down Natzionale street toward the family. We ended up timing it perfectly, knocking on the door at exactly one.
We were greeted by the women, but instead of whispereing to us and inviting us to the couch, she invited us directly to the dining room. We put our jackets down on the couch in the foyar. I saw a bunch of other jackets already on the couch. They all looked oddly familiar for som reason. I quickly received my answer when I heard a “aww… no way!” from the dining room. The other guys group was already sitting at the table. Well, that was an extremely pleasant surprise. We were all in disbelief. The family seemed very surprised that we knew each toerh. We explained that we wer on the same program back in Jeruslame. Imagine those odds: we just so happened to be hoseted bu the same family on Shabbas a fternoon in Rome. It was crazy.
The lunch was a lot of fun. I loved every minute of the two hours we spent having lunch. Aaron explained to us that they weren’t invited back as we were, so they went to shul that morning. After the service, they asked the Rabbi to get hosted. He said no, but the guys were approached by the dad after and invited over. Small world right? After lunch we sang zmiros again, only this time, people out on Natzionale street probably heard us singing. We were so loud. Vito would start a song, and we would instandyly take over. After Y’did Nefesh, a song that we sang particularly loudly and with ruach, there was a great silence in the room. Vito said something in Italian to his friend, and the turned to us. “that was amazing,” he said. “you all deserve some of my whiskey for that! Please!” we all looked around in amazement. That’s like a big deal, especially in Europe, having the host give 13 guests some of his 21 year old, super expensive whiskey. It was imported all the way from somewhere f ar a way that I don’t remember. It would be rude to say no. Vito made it clear the previous night and during lunch that he loves fancy alcohol. It was a huge honor.
During lunch, Vito treated Brian, a Cohen, like a king for that reason. He had brian make the 2nd Kiddush and lead the Birkat Hamazon. Jealous. After lunch, Vito said, “we have a minyan, how about Minche?” we davened Minche and then just wandered around his huge apartment for about 45 minutes. We ended up leaving around 4.
After lunch, we walked with the other group to an Irish pub to see if they would play the Vikings game the next night. they said they would, and we agreed to meet up then went straight to the Pantheon, a big circular church in the middle of Rome. It was closed for mass. Near there, Ricky said there was the best gelato store in all of Rome. We checked it out, and it looked awesome. We wount back to the hostel after to get ready for the night. At :30, we had some great dinner prepared by the hostel. It was authentiuc pasta in tomato vodka sauce. Mmmm.
After dinner, we left for the Spanish steps to meet up with the girls group. We hung with them for a bit and admired the veiew before ewalking to the largest McDonalds in the world. we met up with the other guys group there too. We made sure to get back early that night, around midnight, to rest up in preparation for a big next day. It was a great 2nd day in Rome.
DAY THREE:
We transferred hostels by then, and now we were in the Mosasic hostel. This hostel was a little nicer than the freestyle. We left at 10 and headed to another museum. It was cool. After, we decided to go to the Jewish Ghetto to get some kosher food. It took about an hour to walk there. On the way we walked through a different park and near a couple of other huge, majestic buildings. When we were close to the Jewish Ghetto, we noticed a ton of police officers, barriers and newsvans.s we asked one of the police officers what was goingon. He said the Pope was speaking at the great synagogue of Rome that night. we wandered downt the street with all the Kosher resturants, loking for a deli. Eventually we found one. It was decent, not quite worth the hour walk but worth the story and the expericnce. After, we made our way back downt o the Pantheon. It was open this time. the Pantheon is very cool. After, Adam and Gabe left to go back to the hostel. We all met up at the Irish pub and watched the game. We were joined by the other guys group and the girls group. After the game, some of us walked to the Trevi fountain and enjoyed some Gelato. The rest of us walked around, seeing the Trevi fountain and the 4 rivers fountain. Around 11:30, we boarded the metra and went home. Day three: very successful.
DAY FOUR:
We left early from the hostel. We boarded the metra and took it 6 stops to the edge of Roman City limits. We left Rome and entered Vatican City. Seth, Adam and Gabe wanted to go through quicker than us four, so they broke off and headed off in another directions. Us four walked around the Vatican, seeing the Sisteen Chapel and St. Peters Cathedrial, the biggest church in the world. it was MASSIVEE!!!! I’ll post pics for sure. We then made it into this huge square, and Adam couldn’t find us. He got frustrated and left with Seth and Gabe. Us four just wanted to explore, so we lef the Vatican and started to wander around the outskirts of Rome. We had a map but didn’t use it. after about an hour of wandering, we realized that it was time to actually figure out where to go. We traveled the absolute wrong direction. We reached this cool lookout point overlooking the entire city of Rome. We saw Titus’s arch and the Forum. That was near our hostel (kind of), and far off in the distance, we saw the Termini. We decided to just go in that general direction. The only problem is that between us and the city was this forest. We wandered into it. we eventually made it to a fence.
Was this fence going to stop us from getting home? Not a chance. Nadav was the first one over, Seffi and Joey quickly followed suit, and so did I. we found an older couple walking along a path. We asked them how to get out of this place. They told us this was the Rome Botanical Gardens, and they laughed when they figured out we unintentionally broke in there. They pointed us in the right direction. We snuck out the front gate. It was great. We found some random pizza place for lunch, where they actually spoke zero English. We somehow made due, and enjoyed some fantastic pizza.
After leaving, it wasn’t long before we figured out where we were. We were near the Pantheon, and therefore near Gelato de las Palmas. We had to get some Gelato from there, obviously. We did, then hopped a bus back to the Termini.
That night, we went out to the girls part of town. It took a metra and two buses to get there. Geez. We fmet up with them, went to a cool bakery, and eventually ended up going back home and went to sleep. It was a fantastic day, and capped a great first four days in Italy.
