It is hard to believe that we have been back home for 3 weeks and I still haven't had a moment to post more about our Italian adventure. Blame it on the end of the semester and the approaching holidays - it seems like I have been working around the clock either writing and grading exams or making a little headway on getting ready for Christmas. Final exams finally ended yesterday - hurray!

      Annie tells me it actually snowed in Rome this week!! A very rare occurrence indeed, so I'm pleased that Thanksgiving week we only had to deal with occasional light showers. Having the cobblestones of the piazza in front of St. Peter's at the Vatican glistening from a recent shower didn't detract in the least from the majesty of the surroundings. ( I also couldn't help but think of Tom Hanks and the excitement of Angels and Demons!). We all visited St. Peter's, then the rest of the family climbed the few hundred steps up to the top of the basilica for exceptional views of both the inside of the cathedral and outside, overlooking Rome. My knee wasn't up to the climb so I explored the fountains of the plaza. (I also almost had a fist-fight when, after I waited patiently for the dozen people ahead of me in the Vatican bathroom line, an Italian woman came in and tried to move right to the head of the line! I was having no part of that. She couldn't understand me and I couldn't understand her, but I guess my body language convinced her that I was not giving in. In general it seemed that Italy does not understand or participate in queuing up for anything!)

      Other days we visited other not-to be missed sights - the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish steps and shopping district. One afternoon Annie and I went to the Rome Zoo. It wasn't quite as exciting as the Prague Zoo's bat caves and free-swinging chair lift, but we had a great time and particularly enjoyed "Potato time" on the monkey island, where each monkey claimed its two potatoes from the keeper, then scurried off to enjoy them.

On Thursday Annie and 5 of her roommates made us a very nice Thanksgiving dinner in their apartment. They couldn't find all the usual ingredients (no turkey or cranberries and Mom had to bring the makings for the green been casserole in her suitcase), but the chicken and fixings were great and the company even better! All of the various animals - lions, tigers, antelopes, elephants and more- seemed to be lined up at their enclosure fences or doors, watching expectantly for the arrival of the keeper and their delivery of their food treats, but we weren't patient enough to wait with them.

We ate far too much pasta, pizza, Italian bread and gelato, but it just didn't seem to be the right time to diet! : )m.

All too soon the week was over and we had to say "Arrivaderci Roma!" and hug Annie goodbye for a few weeks. We got up at 4:30 a.m. to catch our early connection to Paris and then on to Chicago. I had no better luck sleeping on the plane, so the drive from Chicago to Iowa seemed extra long. But it was nice to collapse in my own bed and give thanks once more for an extra-special Thanksgiving.