90210 meets Hawaii 5-0

After a momentous morning of seeing the Colosseum, The Palatine Hill which is Ancient Rome's version of Beverly Hills 90210, the Forum, the Pyramid of Gaius Cestus, the non-Catholic Cemetery and St. Paul Outside the Wall my crew was exhausted and their feet throbbing.  It was agreed after a 45 minute break back at the hotel we would head off for Casa Santa Maria.  Well the heavens opened with a deluge of rain so the gang said, "lets take the bus".  Now I hate the Bus and always walk.  Roman buses are horribly packed or should I say stacked with people, hot, stale air and dangerous with pickpockets.  Well we took the 64 bus down the Via Nationale.  A woman kept poking me telling me to giver her more room which was physically impossible.  All the sudden I hear Gina shouting and glance over to see her hitting man and threatening him!  She thought he took her phone from her purse. What happened was a pickpocket stole her phone while she was holding her purse tight (yes, they are that good).  The gentleman she was hitting was a undercover police officer who saw what happened and pick pocketed the pick pocket to get the phone back, Gina only saw him stealing the phone from the theft.  She then pick pocketed the Police officers wallet and told him she would not give him his wallet back until he gave her the phone back.  He pulls out his shield and another officer forward of my position shouts out, "He is Police".  Well at that point the undercover cop slams these two hoodlums into the glass door of the bus.  The bus stops in front of the Carabinieri (military Police) station, the door opens the cop has these hoodlums by the scruff of their necks and tosses them out into the waiting arms of 4 undercover cops on the street who cuff em!!  We all march into the station house, Gina gets her phone back and it turns out these pick pockets had taken a watch off a mans arm and he never knew it!  All in a days Parrillo Tour! (though I doubt their tours are as exciting as mine)

Here is the tired but happy gang at the beginning of the day at the Colosseum, little did we know this visit would foreshow our own Gladiatorial Games on the 64 Bus; Ginacus vs. Polisticus.

Ginacus, Rosemary, Carol, Jimmy

 OK, Mom is really getting into ancient Rome.  She decides to yuk it up with the Emperor!

Carol yukking it up with Claudius

 Here is a nicely well preserved floor tile commemorating the Gladiatorial Games.

Gladiator Floor mosaic

 A nice shot of the Forum with the Arch of Titus in the background.

Arch of Titus

 Here we are at the summit of the the Palatine on the balcony of the Imperial Palace which overlooks the Circus Maximus, from this angle you can see the Dome of St. Peter's framed by mother and son.

One of Mother's calmer moments

 This is the temple of Antoninus and Faustina.  Built in honor of the deified Faustina the wife of the
Emperor Antoninus Pius and dedicated in 141AD.  It was originally dedicated to Faustina but when the Emperor died 20 years later it was rededicated and his name was added.  In the 8th Century it was turned into a Church and remains fairly well preserved from Imperial Rome.  It is currently undergoing conservation efforts to preserve it.

Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

 Well, Erin was right!  This is what folks look like after a whirlwind tour of Rome with me as their guide!  Here is the gang agreeing with the exhausted angel....but we still have St. Paul Outside the Walls do go to yet!  When the priests heard what they had seen in two days they were amazed.

The Protestant Reformation against tours in the Non-Catholic Cemetery

 So Rosemary is completely ga-ga over McDonald's in Rome and wants Acker to know they serve McMeatballs and Spaghetti along with a McTiramisu...or so she claims.  I have not had the heart to tell her I visited the first McDonald's in Rome 25 years ago and they had priests, nuns, bishops and Cardinals frescoed on the walls, it was  a riot.  I still have the picture somewhere.

RMA making a point for Acker!

 Here we all are at the Casa Santa Maria after the mugging praying for the Success of the Diocesan Eucharistic Congress in the Chapel dedicated to St. Katherine Drexel and St. Kateri.

Mass

 Here are the fabulous 5 Trenton Priests in Rome for a group photo opt after Mass.

Mass

 And here is the winning Gladiator, Gina-cus Maximus with her police report.  She did get her world phone back!