Before I talk about Italy, I want to talk a little about my knitting. A few years ago (3 or 4) Kelby asked me to knit a blanket for him. The blanket is made up of 12 squares. All of the squares are the same pattern and even the same yarn. The only difference is the way I combined the colors. The yarn is Crayon 100% cotton boucle from Knit Picks. The colors are called "Red", "Purple", and "Blue". (I hope y'all can remember those complicated color names) The pattern is Retro Throw Pattern Free Knitting Pattern from KnitPicks.com Kelby really loves his blanket and that makes it all worthwhile. Here's the blanket:

Here's Kelby pretending to be asleep under the blanket:

While I was putting the blanket together I kept having to push Gracie off. I decided I needed to knit her a small blanket for the floor. While I was at my parents last their neighbor gave me two bags of yarn. I took 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in purple and purple with other colors, mixed it with a blue and fuzzy blue yarn I already had. I used size 50 needles and got it done pretty quickly. Here's Gracie enjoying her blanket (although she still prefers to be on the couch next to one of us):



Now I'm up to Thursday in Italy. This was a bittersweet day for me. I already knew that my foot was needing a break. However, that was the day we were going to the Colosseum, the Forum, St Paul's church and the catacombs. They kept talking about how much walking would be required that day. I had already said I was going to stay behind that day. So we all got up that morning and I went down to breakfast with everyone else. That was going to be my only meal (besides some snacks that Donna shared with me) that day. While we were eating David told me that he was going to the Colosseum then catch a taxi back to the hotel to meet some of his Italy friends. He asked me if I'd like to go to the Colosseum and ride back with him. I said I would. I'm so thankful that I got to go. First, we met our tour guide, Gooyah. She began telling us things about the outside of the Colosseum. When it was first built they drilled holes and put steel rods in those holes to support the blocks used to build it. It was covered in marble. There was a war (I forgot which one) and there was no steel for making weapons, so the Roman chipped off the marble and removed the steel rods.


It has been reinforced in more modern times. It's just amazing that they would resort to defacing that amazing piece of architecture to get their metal. Next we all went into the Colosseum. In order to get in you have to go through security and have your bags go through the xray machine like at the airport. It's sad, but I'm glad security is so tight. Logan was very amused to see this:

I guess when gladiators fought and it was SRO, those outside just had to watch it on a big screen HGTV!! We finally walked in to this breathtaking structure. We went into a shaded area while she gave us more history. Everyone was sitting on, what I believe, were fallen columns!!!!! She was one of the best tour guides we had!! We got some free time to walk around and look at more. Logan and a big group of others went up some very steep stairs to the 2nd level. They walked around and got a better look and some really amazing pictures. Looking down, it looks like a maze of walls. It turns out that this was the area where the gladiators, animals, and prisoners were kept until they came up to fight. The original floor is gone because it was wooden, so of course, it rotted away.

Logan and our fearless leader, Mike:

We were all supposed to meet outside at a certain time so the rest of the group could move on to the Forum. I waited and waited for Logan. It was time to meet up outside and he was not back with me. I was pretty much falling apart. I finally went to the meeting point and Logan was already there. Mike had made him go out a different way and he wasn't able to let me know. He was as worried about it as I was about him!! After that David and I left to go back to the hotel. I was so worried about leaving Logan and so sad about missing out on so much. Not to mention missing out on time with our new friends!! I left my cell phone with Logan and had him call me a couple of times during the day to let me know he was still with the group and OK. Once I got back to the hotel I spent the rest of the day doing a number of "interesting" things. I knitted and finished reading New Moon. After a while I remembered that I had podcasts on my laptop. Even though I couldn't get internet I could listen. So I knitted and listened. It really helped the time to go faster. That was also the day I had the pleasure of hand washing some underwear and socks for me and Logan because we didn't have access to laundry!!
The next part will be Logan's version of the rest of the day: After I left they walked to the Forum. Political leaders were required to go to the Forum once a week and hear about what was going on in the government. (He's no help!! He enjoyed it, but he doesn't remember as much of the history as I do!! I love history) One picture that Logan took that day was a place called Mamertinum. I looked it up and found out something super-fascinating!! This was the prison where Peter and Paul were held:


That just blows my mind!!
The groups also visited St Paul's church. Here's a picture of the front of it. It is a beautiful building:

While they were at this church there was a baptistry. They couldn't go in, but they were looking at it through a window in the door. Inside the baptistry was some writing, maybe a scripture, it was talking about baptism by immersion. Mike was explaining to the group what it said. They tour guide asked if our group was Christians. Mike said yes, we are. Then she asked what kind. He explained a little bit - that we follow the New Testament example of worship.
Logan's favorite part of the rest of that day was the Catacombs. Unfortunately, because of all the fresco's they weren't allowed to take pictures. Logan says I would have been claustrophobic in there. It was apparently one of the coolest (temperature-wise) places they went. It is an underground burial place. People reserved spots for their families to be placed together. Logan said the tour guide for this part was hysterical!!
We were lucky with all of our tour guides. Obviously, some were better than others, but they all knew their stuff. Most of them stood out in my mind for some reason or another. I just enjoyed learning more history!!!
That night the group ate dinner out and then they were heading back to the hotel. The traffic was so terrible it took them forever to get back! Logan even called me to let me know they were coming. On the way back, Donna, took pictures of the insane driving. There was a mother on a scooter with her two children that cut in front of our huge tour bus!!!! That is how it is in Rome. And pedestrians better make sure it's totally clear before crossing the street!!! Drivers will not stop for you!! David told Logan that he's been hit by cars two different times in Italy. As a matter of fact, he has pretty severe back pain because of it!!
Once everyone got back I just about ate them up. I went down to the lobby and hung out with everybody. At night at this hotel the kids would stay in the lobby til all hours playing Mafia and other card games! They all got closer while we were staying in Rome because they had a place to all get together. It wasn't as convenient anywhere else we stayed.
I guess that's all I can tell about Thursday. Tomorrow I'll talk about our Friday.

Knit On, and More Later,
Shama D