Outside the Line of Time

Passageway in Jerusalem

I just returned from journeying eastward. We spent our first week in Israel for a wedding (mazel tov, Idan and Shelly) and then to Rome for a crash course in all things Roman thanks to our favorite art historians, daughter Kellin and her husband Sean.

Roman ingenuity and technological prowess are staggering when explained by experts, and the ancient Roman sense of beauty and proportion are still larger than life. Being guided through such a highly textured and layered city was even more fun when we were joined by my niece Becca and her friend Taylor.

The theme of this adventure for me seems to be, “The Flow of Time is Pretty Much Incomprehensible.” Is it possible to really grasp what it means that Jerusalem is a city that is 6000 years old? Or can anyone really get the span of time between our lives and the pre-Common Era remnants of the Roman era scattered over the Forum and the rest of the city?

It usually takes a few days for fluid language skills to re-emerge after full immersion experiences like these. Please bear with me. I should be back in a more loquacious state in a day or two.

In the meantime I am sharing a few photos. Many of these images juxtapose the old with the new, capturing moments when I found it just as easy to believe in the simultaneous/parallel universe model (the “multiverse”) as the protracted linear time line we have fashioned for our story of human history. Seems to me that either explanation is reasonable. One thing I do know however: I love soaking in all of it—the old, the new, and everything in between.

Candles in the Church of the Holy Sepluchre in Jerusalem

Junk shop in Jaffa

Pavement in Jerusalem

Old City, Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Bauhaus, Tel Aviv style

Tom Friedman installation, Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Bialik Square, Tel Aviv, a blend of Bauhaus, Eclectic and International style architecture

Engraved floor in Jerusalem

The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

Stairs near San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome

Caravaggio in the Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

Madonna dei Pellegrini by Caravaggio (in Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Rome)

Beverly Pepper sculpture at the Ars Pacis in Rome

Book loving Becca

Zaha Hadid’s new MAXXI museum of contemporary art in Rome

Inside MAXXI

MAXXI and beyond

Roman street

When Rome was sacked by the imperial army of Charles V in 1527, a cheeky soldier scratched a message on the frescos at Villa Farnesina making fun of the Pope who went into hiding


Listen up

Huang Yong Ping’s exhibit, “Baton De Serpent,” at MAXXI

Roman facade

Late in the day along the Tiber

Viewing frescos at Villa Farnesina

Roman Forum

Near the Coliseum on the Sunday before Epiphany

MAXXI lobby

A Richard Diebenkorn moment: Reflections on the exterior of MAXXI