|
|
|
Posted: May 26
(Rome) The past two weeks were very productive, but busy. We finally finished the work of creating a new library database and the web interface for researchers and librarians. I spent the afternoon looking at email messages that had stacked up the last few days and clearing off my desk. By six o’clock I was more than ready for a walk so I headed up the Janiculum hill behind the Curia. There is usually a breeze up there and a great view of the city.
On the way back down the other side the street follows the old walls of the Vatican and slopes down to Piazza San Pietro. From some distance I could hear the strains of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” A bit surprised by the presence of an orchestra on a Friday afternoon, I descended further and then turned the last corner. Not an orchestra, but a marching band; not one band, but a whole group of them. As I got closer the German theme in the uniforms became clearer. One band wore lederhosen and grey wool blazers, another wore military style band uniforms. A police band was also there, dressed in plain blue uniform, but they were balanced by the 17th-century style uniforms of another group, including a broad-brimmed black hat with the brim on one side turned up and a white feather stuck in the brim. My favorite uniform, though, was the group dressed as court jesters in baggy clothes with broad diamond patterns of blue and yellow, topped by tassels on the collar and cap. When their turn came to play, the drummers set up a syncopated, very non-traditional beat and then everyone joined in a tune that seemed to be made up of a medley of pop song bits. Everyone swayed back and forth, tapping their tennis-shoe clad feet to the rhythm. Very different than the other bands which were very good but traditional.
What were they doing here in Rome on a Friday evening? Of course, I know that conventional wisdom says that one can only ask so many “why questions” per month in Rome, and that generally speaking, it is better not to ask. Just go with the flow and accept whatever happens with an unflappable fatalism. Despite my good resolve, I gave into temptation and asked the last musician I saw what they were doing. He was putting his French horn into its case so he could board his bus.
“It’s for the Pope’s birthday,” he explained. Of course, I should have guessed from the clear German character of the uniforms.
“The pope’s birthday took place several weeks earlier,” I pondered; but not even I was foolish enough to ask a second Why Question in a row. Here they were, they played well and made me smile, especially the jesters. After two weeks of wrestling with SQL and HTML what more could one want?
back to previous entries