Day 2

I woke up bright andearly in order to take in some sights this morning. I
joined together with Cantors Tracey
Scher and Rosalie Boxt and Rosalie's husband, Jason. We took a taxi over to the Colosseum at 7 am!

This is the arc of Constantine with the beautiful morning light.

After walking by the Colosseum, of course the first order of business was finding a place to have an espresso con latte. Everyone else had cappuccino as you can see. Molto bene!

After our pick-me-up we wended our way back to the Hotel Michelangelo to greet the rest of the cantors who were gathering together.

We walked past the forum and the circo massimo.

This outdoor market was beautiful. We were running late and I didn't have time to stop to buy any fruit, but I did get to snap this photo. Farmer's markets in the US are nice, but no comparison.

After our walk we met our colleagues and went to rehearse for the day. We spent the morning in rehearsal and took a break after noon to participate in a ceremony rededicating a Yom Hashoah Menorah.

Below is a photo of me at the ceremony with Rabbi Mark Winer.

Rabbi Winer is the president of the Foundation to Advance Interfaith Trust and Harmony. You can learn

more about his work at www.faithinterfaith.com.

After the ceremony, we joined together for lunch and interfaith dialogue with the seminarians studying at the North American College in Rome. I'm sorry to say that I didn't take any pictures because I became so engrossed in the discussion! Following our discussions with the seminarians we had a meeting at the Rome Synagogue with the Chief Rabbi of Rome and then we had a tour of the former ghetto in Rome. All of the buildings that made up the ghetto have been demolished, but there is a lot of history hidden in the cracks. Our guide for this part of the day was a woman from a Roman Jewish family whose family has been here in Rome since the 14th century.

This is a photo of our guide. After our tour we did some more rehearsing and then returned to the hotel to freshen up for dinner on our own.

I had a lovely quiet evening with Cantor Jonathan Grant and his wife Sharyn, two very close friends. We went to a "restaurant" called Da i Due Ciccione (the 2 fat guys) in Trastevere. My brother gave us the recommendation (thanks, Jesse!). The place had five tables, the stove was basically next to our table and it was a homemade, classic Roman meal. Very relaxing after a long day. Below are photos of bruschetta and me with the owner/chef. Time to get some sleep before a big day tomorrow!