THE
METAMORHOSIS
by
Ernie D. Delfin
THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS WHILE IN
VIENNA-ROME-ASSISI
TRIP
“He who travels educates himself more.”
this writer
After almost a year of anticipation, our 15-day European adventure, without joining
a packaged tour but a personalized plan what to do and see, finally
became a reality this month! The trip fulfilled some of our long time
dreams and overall it was a wonderful
experience. Physically tired but mentally stimulated and historically enriched,
the savings we spent were well worth it. When we, homo sapiens travel, we always
give up the comforts of home, forget our
work or business, leave housework and gardening but we
profit much more by doing nothing, as we gain new perspective of life as we
enjoy different places and sceneries
that we probably just saw in movies and
magazines. For this writer, travelling makes me more
humble but blessed, realizing that in our
grand universe, I am really “nothing” in the ocean of humanity against
the magnificent creations of many greater people who lived before me. Travelling is not only seeing grand edifices built
centuries ago but a great source of education about history and culture of God’s people around
the world.
The first leg of our journey was
Vienna where we were hosted by a close
family friend, Mayenne Banda Cayir, whom we last saw here in California over 30 years ago when her doctor-parents and
her brother Ricky and sister Loi lived before the family went to South
Africa. She and her husband Himmet, who now have two children Deniz and Palmyra, took extra days off from their work at the
United Nations to become our personal
tourist guides around Austria. We did
not only see the best that Vienna can offer
to foreigners but also enjoyed the fine
cooking of Himmet who is a great chef. Thank you for hosting us, Himmet and
Mayenne and family!
For a whole day, we were toured to many different
and interesting offices of the United Nations and enjoyed the exhibits that
were ongoing at the huge U.N. building
that week. This UN building stands tall
in the International Center Village of Vienna, very distinctly different compared to the UN building in New York. We even had some pictures in some offices, like the General Assembly room, that are normally not accessible to tourists but we were brought in as a member of
a family of our host who works there for decades. Every office, we went to, we
were introduced to dozens of employees
of different nationalities, including a scientist from the Ilocoslovakia province
of Ilocos Sur, Felicidad
Bustillos-Jimeno, who was even growing the Ilocano ampalaya vines as
ornamental décor in her private office,
an idea that my wife wants to do in her office too, especially during
the winter months when plants cannot survive
the chilly temperatures!
One weekend, we were also especial
guests of a U.N. Employees social gathering where we met dozens of people from
different countries and cultures , from Angola,
Ethiopia, India, France, Singapore, Turkey, Philippines and the United
States. It was really a United Nations
in one house in the heart of Vienna. There, our host Mayenne and I took the
opportunity to have everyone taste our Healthy Coffee brand of BLEND coffee
which I brought from California. (Note to my Healthy Coffee CEO partner Rick
Aguiluz: These U.N. people liked our coffee are now waiting for you to tell them more about
the Healthy Coffee business opportunity in Vienna next month!)
A couple of interesting experiences
that we were treated to is an open auditorium
OPERA presentation in the city plaza courtesy of the Vienna City mayor,
where thousands of people congregate at
the end of summer nights, complete with different kinds of food around
the plaza till midnight. On another afternoon we went to an
agricultural village Austrian Potato Festival where distinct German-Austrian food, products are for sale amidst the village cultural presentations in a
fiesta-like atmosphere, where all people talks German that my wife and I
do not understand, yet enjoyed the experience. In between all these activities, we walked miles
around Austria seeing all those magnificent centuries old building in the City
Center as well as cathedral and historical buildings that Vienna is known for.
As an interior designer practitioner, my wife has hundreds of pictures taken just in Austria alone. As our host told us, 5 days to see all the great sites of Austria alone are not enough and indeed we agree, but
all good things must end, so we have to pack
for the next leg of our trip, the Eternal City of Roma!
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Something unusual but not funny
happened on our way to Rome. Our 9:30 AM Air Berlin flight to Rome got
delayed till 7:00 PM due to unexpected transportation workers strike in Rome
where no one was working till after 5:00 pm!
So, we just sat down waiting,
eating and reading for the flight, as
our host has gone home! From this “tragedy” however, I devoured a borrowed book
from my host, written by Dorothy
Friesen, an American missionary who has
lived in the Philippines in the l980’s entitled “Critical Choices”: A journey with the Filipino people. I enjoyed it so much that I recommend it to
anyone to learn another perspective how many landless Filipino people struggle
daily and the social inequality that exacerbated the wide gap between the haves
and the have-nots in Philippines society to this day! Against the European background, I was so engrossed
and fascinated with the author’s views that
I intend to communicate with the author
who is supposedly back in the USA now for a possible collaboration or what not.
We arrived in Rome, took a taxi cab
very late at night to the Dominican Sister house (where my sister Letty a
Dominican nun arranged for us to stay as VIP guests, her gift to our 30 plus
wedding anniversary!) I was the only man
in the entire compound, except during our 7:00 AM mass where a Batangueno
priest Fr. Aurelio de la Cruz of the Oblates of St. Joseph, celebrates the mass
for the community of sisters. That is
another unique experience, as I was the
only guy during breakfast and dinner, surrounded by Dominicans nuns from many countries again, 4 of them from the
Philippines, including Sor Pia Alcazar, from
the Batanes Islands, one of the of three
counselors of their Dominican Mother Provincial of the entire Dominican Order. For two days, she personally accompanied us
in our walking adventure in Rome and the
Vatican, bought us to excellent places to buy religious souvenirs and eating places.
She also tutored us to navigate the Metro and bus systems from their Val
Cannuta (Little Vatican) village to Rome
and vice versa. So for the remaining
days in Italy we managed to go around without her as we “graduated” from tourists to a instant local “residents” just
holding our Metro passes to go from one area to another.
For first timers like my wife, Rome and Vatican are a must to see at least once before one dies, especially for persons who are interested in ancient history, Roman history or the Catholic Church history.
I was there the lst time about twenty five years ago but Rome and Vatican still continue to amaze me of their grandeur beyond my imagination. From the height of the Roman Empire to its
demise, one can be overwhelmed by its
magnificence despite the visible ruins (like the Colosseum and the Pantheon) of
this Eternal City of Rome.
Within Rome resides another city, Vatican City, where the seat of power of
the Catholic Church, in the person of
the Pope resides. Two or three days are not enough
to see every thing in Rome or Vatican City alone. As usual, a tourist
chooses which to see among all the thousands of attractions with hundreds of
thousands of people going through the same predicament of decision making. My wife being a first timer, decided what she
wanted to see/visit in Rome, like the Sistine
Chapel, the Basilica, Giovanni Cathedral,
the Colosseum, the Pantheon and a few others.
We allotted one full day to visit
the famous City of Assisi, where St. Francis of Assisi was born, raised
and died. We saw the Church that Francis
built upon the order of his God as well
as St. Francis’ corpse that is said to be miraculous and visited by millions of devotees every
year. That was the highlight of my trip
in Italy after reading much about this
little man, Francesco, who was born of wealthy
merchant parents but gave up all
material inheritance against the wishes of his parents, to be
with the poor, the birds and nature to be with his God, obediently and happily.
Of all the saints’ biographies that I have read, St. Francis life story ranks
very high in my list. The legacy of his
pure and non-materialistic life is now the worldwide Franciscan order and that
of St. Clare who was one of her best friends and ardent follower to the
Franciscan way of life.
Every Catholic who has time and opportunity
(and Euros!) should include this holy place
to visit and be awed and by what St.
Francis has accomplished during his
short life on earth. Assisi is now world famous because of one little man,
Francesco. The city is on a mountain top overlooking the beautiful
panorama of farms below it. It is a place and sight no one will ever forget. (But, if you must go there, please bring a
supply of your camera’s double AA
batteries so you don’t suffer our own
experience, buying 6 AA batteries for 8 Euros or about US$12.00!)
It’s too much to see in just several days allotted
in one country. But as time and dollars
are finite, (dollars are now buying fewer Euros these days), we have to end our Italian adventure, and
proceed to another leg of our trip: London and Paris…
( “MORE REFLECTIONS: SOME DREAMS COME TRUE”… to be continued)
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