We spent the morning at the Castle in Milan then caught a train for Rome.  Did some laundry, ate dinner downstairs and went to bed.  Getting all this Italian culture is tiring!  On Tuesday, Diane and I went to get tickets to see the Pope on Wednesday.  She wanted to see if she could get a ticket to see the Scavi under the altar at St Peters, so we went back to the Scavi office.  We go see this on June 5th, so I’ll report then.  On the way back, we see a small cemetery and go check it out.  It is a beautiful little garden like cemetery for German nuns and priests.  There is a lovely little church attached to the cemetery.  There are big slabs on the ground that serve as a tombstone.  Noticed on one that each nun had her religious name such as Sister Mary Francesca and under that was her birth name such as Bernadette Geisen.  Diane catches the Hop A Bus to tour Rome and I go to the Cat Sanctuary to see my cat that I support.  Raptus has nothing to do with me…or any other people…even her caretakers she sees daily.  But she does have a boyfriend named Skye.  

On Wednesday, we went to see the Pope and got good seats, but when he drove by he was facing the other way, so only got to see his back.  It was a very nice morning, altho we had been expecting rain.  I left as he was giving his blessing as I needed to catch a bus for Mexican food and my Quilt Group.  While eating, the sky opened and the rains came down and hail too!  It was pea sized hail.  Only 6 of us showed up for quilting and we decided to meet one more time before summer break to get fabric to make baby blankets for the new born preemies at the children’s hospital.  We will each make one before we meet again in September.  Will appliqué my center and a lady in the group said she would have me come to her home to sew the borders on with her machine.  The rain stopped before I had to leave to come home.  

On Thursday, we went to a church to meet Diane’s friend, Brother Mark.  He is a Franciscan friar from Brooklyn, originally.  We took him to lunch at a restaurant he recommended.  It is right down the street from the convent where i used  to stay in Rome.  It was so good!  We had a three hour lunch and talked to Brother Mark about all kinds of topics…his decision to become a Brother, his family…Mother Italian, father American serviceman in WWII.  The Pope, Mormonism, his job in his order…he is a financial advisor and consultant.  He is very smart and very interesting.   Now for our meal….we started with bruschetta, tomato with melted mozzarella and basil sprig. Then another appetizer of lean porchetta.  A plate of pasta with pepper and black truffles…this was divine!  Can’t wait to have it again.  Then, lamb chops that were grilled to perfection.  Followed by a white chocolate goo in a pastry cup with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and strawberries.  Diane had lemoncello and Andy and Brother Mark had a grappa.  This is kind of like 200 proof moonshine!  We had cappuccino and espresso to finish.  Then we walked back for a tour of the Church attached to Brother Marks convent.  It is attached to part of the Roman Forum and the church was built in the 500’s.  The back of the altar has a fabulous mosaic with Christ in the center, an Apostle one each side and then a saint on each side.  Below is the band of 12 lambs and the central lamb, signifying Jesus and the 12 disciples.  The mosaic is very modern looking in design and color…altho is was made in the year 525.  Yes…525,  after the tour of the church, we went to see a Nativity scene.  This one is huge and it was made in Naples hundreds of years ago.  It shows the town and all of the inhabitants going about their daily life with Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the shepherds and wiseman as a part of the town’s makeup.  The Nativity scene isn’t the central grouping, but shows them to be a part of the town’s life…part of the humanity of the town’s inhabitants.  This tableau was made for the King of Italy and he gave it to this church.  Outside, there is a lovely cloister garden with a fountain with goldfish.  The fountain is not old..it was purchased from a cement plant near the airport, but it is covered with gnarly moss and it looks ancient.  After our tour, we came home and sat around til bedtime…still too full from lunch to eat dinner.  

Today, Friday, we are going on a tour of the Coloseum  Underground.  It has recently opened and took weeks to get a reservation.  Will report on it later.    For those of you in Texas with all the flooding, go to Home Depot and get mosquito dunks.  They can be put in standing water in your yard or wherever…even fish ponds.  It kills mosquitoes and the larvae.  The City of Dallas is giving mosquito Dunks free to residents.  This is a Public Service Announcement!