Interlude for Day3

Thousands of miles from home and it’s amazing to watch the connections between people. A little background: DH’s uncle is an interesting character who is, sadly, in the final stages of a terminal cancer. No high school or college diploma, but a master’s degree in mathematics and a few years of teaching graduate math classes (as well as a few equations named after him). While Sweetie and I were briefly lost in the Vatican museum (don’t ask), DH’s parents were watching the kids at a coffee shop while DH searched for us. My FIL always asks where people are traveling from when he hears a foreign accent and met a couple here from Stillwater, OK (which happens to be where uncle G got his master’s and taught). Turns out the husband of this couple was uncle G’s master’s thesis advisor and remembers him quite well. He joked that the only reason they had accepted his final thesis was because every time they made comments on parts they didn’t understand, he added 30 pages to the darn thing!

Then on the Metro ride back from the Vatican, we were entertained by a pair of (Hispanic?) musicians playing an odd guitar, a pan flute, and another similar instrument tied to the neck of the guitarist. They were playing Uncle G's favorite song (Sound of Silence). Now I don't know about you, but there has to be something "more" to this than coincidence. Who expects Simon and Garfunkel on a Rome subway (let alone the odd pair of musicians and instruments)?