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Rome - the eternal city, beautiful, ancient, welcoming and so interesting. I started the day early with a coffee - espresso of course - I am in Rome. Then metro to meet group for Vatican museum, Sistine chapel and St Peters tour. It was more than I remembered from last time - my memory of my last visit was I came out incredibly angry at the riches and wealth when outside the walls beggars were pleading for money. Maybe my ideology has changed in 30 years, or maybe I understand life better but safe to say that today I saw the beauty of Raphael's murals, the craftsmanship in the building and the timeless beauty in Michelangelo's art. So much beauty and history there. I walked where popes and kings have walked and looked on some incredibly beautiful paintings, sculptures and mosaics. I see the point of it all now. I also sneaked a photo in the Sistine Chapel. Not supposed to.
After the tour I headed back to my hotel for a rest. Siesta time. Then walked slowly to the Spanish steps of which I have fond memories. I remember racing Jim to the top 30 years ago and I won, only because he slipped on the marble. He was always faster than me. I strolled the streets of Rome much as I had done in Paris, absorbing the beauty and history.
Funny story about dinner tonight - I headed out and started talking to a lovely young woman about her restaurant. Turns out the chef used to live in Hobart, so after I had my usual prosciutto and melon entree the waitress said the chef wanted to talk to me. So there am I, in a kitchen chatting to a chef about Hobart and food and my cooking in Paris and before I knew it I had a glass of wine in my hand and I'm cooking on the grill. Crazy stuff. He showed me how to grill vegetables as I had ordered these, eggplant which I love, zucchini, radicchio and fennel. So I cooked my own dinner. Learnt a couple of tricks too! The vegetables were delicious, eggplant was really creamy - the only word I can think of to describe it. Anyway I sat down and ate my delicious chicken and vegetables and then the chef sent me out a limoncello, yum. Such a great night, one in a million really. You couldn't pay for something like that.
Side story from today - 31 years ago when I was here with Jim I had a street vendor chase me outside the Vatican to buy a rosary - he finally offered it to me for a kiss, I declined and never bought one. We laughed about that often in later years. Today I bought a rosary outside the Vatican - it seemed appropriate. I'm not catholic and have no use for a rosary but it will always remind me of that day years ago and today.
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Sonia Di Benedetto Wow...what a sublime day. Memories of yesterday blended into those of today. Some days we are truly blessed H.