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462

Rome.
April 12-   

of beauty.

Little left of the afternoon after unpacking, etc. Jan Stewart called for me at the hotel & we walked for hours drinking in all the delights. Visited also the most famous railway station in the world - which Mussolini had put up. It is a beauty of modern, functional structure, using concrete & tile (white) which I compared with the use Matisse made of white tile to reflect light in his design of the church. Passed the Capuchin Chapel on Via Veneto and stopped at Doney's for cocktails (trés chic, next door to Excelsior Hotel) One feels like walking endlessly here.


April 13'  Rome.

Visited at 8 A.M. Randall Williams Louis friend, at the F.O.H. Bldg of American Embassy. Charming man of fifty or so, grey hair, Roman features, gentle expression & voice. Gave him news of Louis & his work in Rangoon which he was interested to



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Rome
April 13-   

hear. Also left him Louis' check for 100- to cash for me. It was kind of him to take me on faith, so to speak, because, although I had my passport with me - I neglected to show it to him. After all, I might have been an adventuress of sorts, using Louis' name. I thought of it afterwards, because it struck me, Williams did not make mention of a social invitation which I would more or less have expected. Perhaps, it seemed to me, he was a bit doubtful. However, the cash was ready for me when I returned & I left a note of explanation & thanks for him.

Took a cab to St. Peter's (San Pietro) the opulence & power of the church strikes one overwhelmingly. At that moment, I seem to have lost something of my taste for Baroque Art. Even Michel-Angelo's Pieta seems lost amidst all the gilded splendor and, somehow, a little too sweet. Afterwards, walking along the square to the Vatican Museum. Then - the famous Sistine Chapel with Michel-Angelo's 'Creation'! After knowing it & the copies I