Elephants in Rome?

 I do a lot of international traveling. I've been to China, Kenya, Spain, Portugal, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands . . . and, of course, Italy.  My favorite city is Rome. And one of my favorite things to do in Rome, besides eat, is walk around. See the sights. The city is both ancient and new, sunny and then lit up at night. It is magical.

I am the official tour guide. Dan is my steady backup. Theo is the reluctant tourist. This morning and afternoon, we decide to walk through the heart of Rome and play I Spy.

If you come to Rome, you will spy . . .

Piazzas or town squares, usually surrounding a monument, a fountain or an obelisk. This morning I spy an obelisk with the Virgin Mary sitting on the top, wearing a crown: 

Shopping streets or plazas or malls. This morning we cut through one of the most elegant malls you'll ever see:

Ancient buildings with Roman columns puckered with tiny holes that  are left over from where the Romans attached marble to the drab brick and mortar columns. Imagine what marble columns would have looked like!

A church with a cupola across from a cocktail bar and another church with a spire and a cross:

The Tiber River separating Rome from Vatican City: 

I think of where I live. There is nothing as old or elegant as this. In Rome everywhere you look, there is something from the past. 

Theo is remarkably well behaved. He is sauntering along, sniffing everything. If he could write or even dictate his meows into a recorder, the history he'd be able to describe . . . imagine . . . a dog from the three years ago passed by here and took a whiz. A squirrel dropped down from the elm tree over there and discovered a nut he'd buried in the ground from the year before. A horse clopped by here and ate an apple while he rested in the shade. 

"Are you having a good time, Theo?" 

Today is a beautiful day in Rome with clouds and sun and a soft breeze that flutters by. Every once in a while, we stoop down and let him lick a Churo, tuna flavored, which is his favorite. 

The gangster cat shrugs. "I can smell an elephant."

An elephant? Is Theo joking?

In 1962 the Italians discovered elephant bones while they were laying cable lines at the Vatican. It seems the Pope Leo X had a pet elephant--a gift from the King of Portugal. The pope loved his elephant and even had him buried near him when he died. 

Julius Caesar gained part of his reputation when he killed an elephant in battle. He often used an elephant to crush his enemies.

Elephants were brought in as part of the shows at the Colosseum.

And elephants were quite common in Rome during the Renaissance period. 

"Theo, you're a wonder."

Or, maybe he's watching a little too much of the History Channel.