Review: Walking the Bible

I read this book several years ago, when it first came out in paperback, and was just absolutely charmed by it. In it, Journalist Bruce Feiler, accompanied by Israeli archaeologist Avner Goren, visits the sites in the first five books of the Bible (the Torah). He meets Jews and Muslims, city dwellers and Bedouin, atheists and fundamentalists, children and famous politicians. He writes about food, culture, history, and, of course, God. Over the course of his trip, Feiler, who was raised Jewish but had lost touch with his faith, reconnects with God and discovers what it means to him to be a Jew. 

In addition to being a book about faith, this is also a fascinating book about history and travel. I think anyone with an interest in the Middle East or travel or religion will enjoy this book as much as I did.

Buy Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses on Amazon.

This was also a PBS documentary. I watched one episode but didn't like it as much as the book, and never watched the rest.

5 Memories of Italy

Inspired by reading Passeggiata (review) (and borrowing from the wonderful Lenore), I thought I would share a few memories of my own time in Italy (spent with my friend V while we were on break from a college semester in Denmark).

1. We headed to the Vatican once we got to Rome, wanting to see all the fabulous buildings we'd been studying. What we hadn't realized was that it was a Sunday and, not just any Sunday, but the celebration for Pope John Paul II's anniversary of being pope. St. Peter's Square was packed! It was - hands down - the largest Mass I've ever been to.

2. In Florence, we were walking along the Arno River, just enjoying the view, when an American couple stopped us and asked if we would take their photo. After chatting for a few moments, we discoverd that they knew my friend's family. The gentleman, in fact, was the mayor of the small southern town where V's aunt and uncle lived. Its a very small world.

3. V had never had gelato (Italian ice cream) before, so I insisted we have some as soon as we got to Florence. After that, we had it for lunch every day, it was so good.

4. Also in Florence, we stayed at a tiny little pensione, as the hostel was full. We had a small room with twin beds and a tiny private bathroom. The landlady at the pensione offered to find us more girls to share the room with (to save on money) but we declined and enjoyed the luxury of our bathroom for a few days. It turned out to be fine, though, as the pensione was inexpensive and, since it was closer to the city center than the hostel would have been, it saved us the time and cost of having to travel around the city.

5. At Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) in Venice, we watched an Italian TV commercial being filmed. The star would walk through a gathering of pigeons, sending them all flying as he spoke into the camera. Everytime they did a retake, an assistant would run out and spread some bird seed, to get the pigeons to come back for the next shot.

I'd love to hear about some of your memories of travelling. Please share them in the comments.

Review: Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy

Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy by G. G. Husak is a travel memoir about the many trips to Italy taken by the author and her husband. She chronicles their visits to all the well-known places, including Rome, Florence, and Venice, as well as many smaller towns and out of the way locales. This is not a travel guide - you won't find any names for the hotels and restaurants she visits - but a first-hand account of what its like to visit a country often enough to begin to treat it like a second home.

There is a lot of charm to this book, and it made me want to pack my bags and plan a trip for Italy as soon as possible. I loved the chapters about places I've already been, as they reminded me of some great memories, and I loved the chapters about places I had only heard of, as they gave me a real sense of what it would be like to visit.

My strongest criticism is that this book could have used more editing. The book is arranged so that while many of the chapters focus on a single trip or location, several focus instead on a single topic, like art or music. This is a nice idea, but created a lot of repetition. For example, a description of the standing room audience at the famed La Scala opera house was included in the chapter on Milan and then again in the chapter on music. I just think this kind of repetition dragged the book out a bit.

Although I do think this book could have been even better, I thought Passeggiata was a delightful look at travelling Italy.

Buy Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy on Amazon.