We're home!

We are back at home sweet home! Our trip went quite well, including the connection in Milan, but the traffic from Heathrow to Oxford was horrible! Even this late at night, we sat in two different traffic jams: one at the London ring road and the other at the main Oxford roundabout, which is under construction.

This morning before we left we squeezed in one last whirlwind sightseeing tour, including another quick walk through the Forum, the long-awaited sighting of David's Tarpeian Rock, and three more churches in the Forum area. It was a very fast and very hot two hours, but it was good to see a little more before leaving. At about 1:00, our B&B guy drove us to the airport and it was a really pleasant ride in his nice air-conditioned car. Worth every penny.

Speaking of pennies, we lost a whole lot of them yesterday. David was pickpocketed on the Metro, despite the fact that he checks for his wallet regularly, tries to keep an eye out for suspicious characters, and I was standing right next to him. Sadly, he had gone to the ATM that morning to get 200 euros so we could pay for our B&B, which only accepts cash. We had spent some by then, but we still lost about 150 euros. It was really sad. What was really amazing, though, is that they didn't steal his wallet! They somehow managed to take it out of his front shorts pocket, remove the cash and put the wallet back in his pocket without him noticing! It wasn't until we stopped to buy drinks a couple hours later that David found his wallet was empty of cash. They left all his credit cards in the wallet, taking nothing but the euros. We're very thankful for that, at least.

We were on the Metro quite a bit that day because we went out for an afternoon adventure to the northern suburbs of Rome in search of an ancient church I really wanted to see. It involved long, hot, squished Metro rides and then a long, hot walk through an unattractive area of the city, but it was worth it! There were two churches next to each other, Sant'Agnese and Santa Costanza. Both were old and interesting, but Constanza was the main event for me because it was the mausoleum of Constantine's daughter and the ceiling mosaics are original (4th century). David liked it too because it was round - he digs the round churches. There was a wedding just starting there as we left - we saw many weddings during our time in Rome, which was always a happy sight. After checking out the churches we relaxed with drinks in a snack bar nearby that was shaded with grapevines (with grapes on them!) and had old men playing a kind of outdoor bowling game nearby. It was great.

That was just the afternoon - we spent Wednesday morning in the Vatican Museums, which are fantastic and huge. They are chock-full of classical statues, Egyptian artifacts, Renaissance paintings, etc., and also include the Sistine Chapel (which was spectacular, of course, and neat to see up close and in person) and the Raphael Rooms (which include his famous "School of Athens" painting).

I think that brings us up to date as far as a brief overview - once we get pictures sorted and us rested up a bit, I'll try for a more complete report. And now, to relax. It's good to travel but always good to be home!