Our last day.  Slept in while they went to the Vatican.  Went up to the Colosseum to buy a bigger 'Now and Then' book, just in time to see the Cat Lady!  She came by and called and used a whistle to bring all of the Forum and Colosseum cats to lunch.

Then she fed them spaghetti!  And some cat food.  So many cats came!  First the cats came, then the people came to take pictures of the cats!  People gave donations. The man who sold me the book invited me out to ‘spaghetti dinner’.

Pyramid of Caius Cestius

Then went down to the Pyramid, that is so incongruous - this huge white 1st century B.C. Pyramid built in the Roman wall (a rich magistrate’s tomb).  Then went to buy some leather sneaker shoes I had spied the day before.

Random Thoughts: The public toilets are everywhere, and so clean!  A bigposter of a soap opera everywhere on the subways has a man about to hit a woman in it.  Saw a lady in the toilet with a bruise next to the side of her mouth. Lots of musicians on the trains here.  Playing the concertina and the violin.  Many beggars too.

Got back for lunch - more caprese salad - everyone was asleep. Siesta time!  Amazing how quickly you assimilate into the cultural traditions!

Dinner at another great restaurant .  We all got dressed up and shopped for a few hours beforehand.  Got a purse and scarf (Thanks, Joanne!).  Joanne and Dad had brought me some lovely gold Etruscan earrings with gold and a 'Roma' t-shirt.  This restaurant was magnificent. Had puntarelle salad with anchovy sauce!, seafood antipasto salads (shrimp with apple, octopus that was so tender it melted in your mouth, calamari), veal piccata.  Great wine.  Pasta.  So many courses!  Dad had a succulent beef filet with burgundy that melted in your mouth.  The octopus was the best I ever had.  Their favorite thing about the trip was being with us - our favorite things were stuff we did and saw.

View of the Colosseum from the Palatino Hill

Packed.. got up early - a long, long plane ride home...Saw Heaven Can Wait- more James Mason! - A great flick.  The pollution over NYC is scary..

Many things left to see in Rome if I go back - that’s always good to leave a few things.  Didn’t make it to the Appian Way and the Catacombs or to San Pietro in Vincoli to see Michelangelo’s Moses. Next Time!  Finished the second book in the Pullman trilogy, The Subtle Knife on the way back to Houston.

A magnificent journey.

Stained Glass in the Vatican Museum

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