Home at last...

Hello for the last time....

Mama, Deanna and I are home after a very long day of travel yesterday...it is nice to be back in my own house, not paying by the minute for internet service or wondering how to post photos. For those of you who were wondering, Mama did not end up giving birth, but she did gain almost 20 pounds over the course of the trip. It would have been a big baby :) I'm thankful for a wonderful trip....as I downloaded the pictures this morning I realized again how many amazing things I saw and fun adventures I had...thanks to Gretchen and D for being part if it all.

And, I must say, thanks to you all for reading along with me. There were many days when I came to the computer feeling a little homesick or missing various ones of you, and it was always great to read your comments or e-mails, or just know that you were following along...so truly, thank you.

Pictures in their entirety (a few hundred, sorted by city/location, so you can pick and choose what you might want to see) will be posted at snapfish.com within the next few days....I'll most likely send out an e-mail when they're ready. And to close, here a last few photos...

Our last supper....we ordered the "antipasti completo", which as you can see required another table to hold all of the food....16 plates in all! We had to go back and lay down for a while afterwards before we felt well enough to pack :)

Cheers!

Those popes didn't play around....

Well, actually, some of them really did, but not when it came to building massive monuments to themselves. Today, we did a tour of St. Peter's and the Vatican museums, including the Sistine chapel.

My oh my....St. Peter's is the biggest church in the world, and if not my favorite church that we've seen, easily the most impressive. You don't really realize how big it is until you see from not too far off that the people going in look like ants at the entrances. And then, once inside, there are all these tricks to make you feel like it's not as overwhelmingly big as it really is, so you don't feel so insignificant and tiny. (At least that is what our guide said. Hmm. I also noticed that they have markings on the floor that show how the world's other huge churches would fit neatly inside St. Peter's with room to spare.)

The Sistine Chapel....same experience for me as seeing David. You think you've seen it, because you've seen all those photos, but then you're there, looking up and all around, and you can't believe how beautiful it all is, and that there's nothing else even close to it anywhere. Despite the crowds, and the guards announcing sternly, over and over, for everyone to be quiet and stop taking pictures and video, there is still room for amazement and wonder at what Michelangelo did. Even better, they left a small patch unrestored, so you can see what it looked like before they cleaned it up in 1993 or so....the colors really are brilliant.

We left the tour group, climbed the dome of St. Peter's, and then back down again with shaking legs...we are pushing ourselves pretty hard. After a little pizza and restorative gelato, we're doing OK again, and ready for our last day tomorrow.

I'll write more tomorrow, for the last time!

Buona Notte,
Erin

Rome!

A not-so-ancient piece of statuary...

Listening carefully to the audio guide on the floor of the colosseum arena...

Ok. This photo illustrates many things. It was so hot, hotter than we'd been the whole trip. It was about 12 noon, and we had been wandering through the Roman Forum, trying to follow this guide from our Rick Steves book that was just impossible. There were these blocks of ruins all around, and we decided to take a much needed break in the shade. These ruins really were for public use, so despite how it looks, we were just doing what everyone else did....this kind of stuff was laying around everywhere!

Assisi photos

Look at all the yummy treats! Walking between 4 and 8 miles a day in the heat is the only thing that is ensuring that our pants still fit....

It was really, really hot. I love this picture; I feel that I have exactly captured the mood of the moment....

This is what we mentioned...the McDonalds in Assisi. Please notice the nuns' baskets with burgers and fries....and Ronald in the starring role rather than St. Francis.

Tuscany photos

This is the valley we drove through...lots of winding, dirt roads, but also many beautiful views...

My favorite picture...taken while in the pool.

One of our most successful timer photographs...camera was precariously perched on a book and a towel, and then I jumped in and got in the photo...

More photos...

Hey...here are some more photos, but for some reason the computer here is uploading them out of order....

The pool, and the view, in Pienza... (the postcard place)

Our yummy Tuscan lunch...

Leaning ladies at the leaning tower

One last view from the hike in Cinque Terre....

Photos

Some oldies in Vernazza, walking slowly up and down the main street.

Our kayak adventure....D did a good job taking this with one hand on the camera and the other on the oar.

A lovely view from our hike.

The view from our bedroom window in Vernazza.

Night soccer on the same little harbor beach.