... went to the Vatican. She was amazed and disturbed by the opulence of the art, but stunned by the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's Pieta anyway. She thought of Jesus, whose story and likeness was overshadowed by the other characters featured in the galleries, and how he would react to the whole thing, and the sex scandal currently plaguing the Roman Catholic church.
... walked through the Coloseum, got rained on, and checked that off her list. She thought of the brutality of the persecution by the Roman empire to followers of Jesus that took place there.
... sat on the Spanish steps, thought of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, and my mom, who said her friend was almost kidnapped there on their trip how many decades ago. Then she walked on to the Villa Borghese area, got a view of Rome from the hill, sat on a bench and ate biscuits.
... almost wanted to shout at all the tourists who swarm the Trevi fountain, because they ruin her photos, before she realized that she is a tourist also. Sigh.
... ate good pizza from a hole in the wall down the street from the hotel. She was charmed by the girl who helped her by being super patient with her inquiries (pointing fingers at the food and saying, what's that? what's that?).
... was happy to move on to Florence when the time came, but wouldn't mind coming back to Rome to try and eat better, see Pieta again, and maybe ride around in a scooter.
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