I have had a nice time the last two days, just wandering and relaxing.  Yesterday, I went along Via Corso that I’ve traveled many times by bus, but decided to do it on foot yesterday.  I stopped by to see Wanda…pronounced Vanda…the French bulldog I love…but was told she is on vacation.  From what???  Earlier in the week her dad said she was staying home because it was rainy and too dangerous on his motorcycle, but she was going to the gym.  I am sure that is what he said.  Maybe she is.  I do have a picture of her in a bikini from her summer vacation.  Well, I went to an art show first on Via Corso.  It was by Kokocinski.  Google him…he had a very interesting life and I presume he still does as he is not dead.  He worked in a circus I think in Argentina and that is probably where he got a lot of his ideas about clowns and the Italian clown Pucinella.  His art is three dimensional done in paint, papier-mâché, fabric, metal etc.  I really enjoyed the exhibit and his art.  Glad I went as the show closed today.  The. I went to the Doria Pamphilli Palace.  The original family still inhabits the palace and one can tour their apartments, altho they were closed yesterday.  I did tour the palace.  An old Pope gave the palace to his nephew, a Cardinal.  The Italian word for nephew is nepoti and from that word and the family connection we get our word…nepotism.  The Cardinal liked to collect art and the. He left the church and married a very wealthy woman who also liked art and she had a huge collection.  They combined the collections and the family kept collecting.  There are several Carravaggio’s here.  I had just had the Courtesans tour last week and learned that Carravaggio used town folk and prostitutes as his models.  Well one picture in this palace is of a red haired prostitute and in the picture next to it is one of the Holy Family on a rest going to Egypt…and the Virgin Mary is the exact same woman.  Not much wonder that Carravaggio had a rough time of it.  He just wasn’t as reverent as people thought he should be.  This palace is huge and beautiful and has a lovely central garden with a fountain.  You would just never guess what is behind walls as you go down the streets of Rome.  Had lunch and wandered toward the Pantheon and saw several children in Haloween costumes.  They seem to favor witches over here.

Today, I needed to check out a train station that Imwill be using on Thirsday morning.  The bus took me to the Pyramid I have spoken of before, so after finishing the correct station, I went to spend the afternoon at the Protestant Cemetery right by the Pyramid of Cestus (I think that is his name).  The cemetery is where Shelly and Keats are buried.  To me it is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world …at least that I’ve seen.  It is small and with rather dense forestation with beautiful old tombstones.  Today, being All Saints Day, the graves had lovely flowers and there was a huge arrangement at the front with wonderful smelling lilies.  Many of the graves had royal purple cyclamen planted around them and they were quite stunning. Several graves are planted with small pomegranate trees and the blooms have mostly developed small pomegranates.  Many graves also had crysanthemums (learned to spell that in Mr. Stewart’s class) as they are considered the ‘death flower’ in Italy.  Don’t take crysanthemums to living people.  Not proper flower etiquette.  There was one large tomb, with a young man carved on top, open book and a little dog.  The man’s name was Devereaux Plantagenet Cockburn…late of the Royal Scots Greys…2nd Dragoons, of deep and unpretending piety, of rare mental and corporeal endowments, and was beloved by all who knew him.  He died in May of 1850 at the age of 21.    I enjoyed sitting on benches in the sunshine today, reading and sewing and listening to the birds and just contemplating how great it is to be alive and living in Rome for this year.