And so it begins...

...the voyage home. 3 1/2 hours to Dublin. 7 1/2 hours to JFK. Overnight in NYC then home!

Musei Vaticani

We got up bright and early this morning, rode the super crowded Metro through Rome to Vatican City. It, like all of Rome, was lousy with people. We went on a tour with a very knowledeable guy...who, like the Vatican, was a bit overwhelming. He said that if you were to stand in front of each work of art in the Vatican Museum for one minute it would take three and a half years. There is SO much...art and sculptures and tapestries we could scarcely take it in.

Collin saw a guy that looked like Pele (Collin also thought Rome was a country and all the Italian flags confused him until he realized Rome is part of Italy).

Hunter saw a woman that looked like his Fine Arts teacher, except she had a bigger chin.

Karley said there were paintings everywhere and she and Gloria were blown away by the paintings on the ceilings of some of the halls that actually looked like sculptures.

A good time was had by all.

Colosseo

We arrived in Rome this morning. This is the view as we walk out the door of our apartment building.

Positano

We drove down to Positano today. It was a gorgeous drive (more on that later) and a beautiful day. We really lucked out as the weather has been a bit overcast (or raining) for most of our time here in Italy. However, in Positano it was in the mid-60's and clear. Some of us dipped our feet in the Mediterranean and walked on the rocky beach.

This is just before we arrived in Positano. The town is built into the side of a cliff, you can see the houses and buildings in the background.

However, before our arrival, we were following Steven who was following his GPS to Positano. It took us on roads that were obviously built prior to motorized vehicles. Our poor little borrowed Ford Focus barely made it through. Debbie's constant exclamation was: Steven James Wagstaff! There were times when we had only inches of clearance on either side of the car. Shortly after this photo we suffered a minor scraping on the front passenger fender. As Debbie said, the car was not made to bend in the same way the road bends. It was my favorite part of the trip to Italy, until we actually saw Positano.

And THEN Positano became my favorite part of the trip to Italy so far. We all enjoyed the sun and the time to just walk lazily along the beach.

Ercolano

On Friday we drove from Naples to Ercolano to see the ruins there. Since there are seven of us (Hunter, Collin, Gloria - Karley's friend, Karley, Steven, Ranee and Debbie) we borrowed a friend of Steven's car and drove 2 cars there. AND since Debbie LOVES to drive in unfamiliar places and in strange traffic (HA!). She did a fantastic job and mostly kept up with Steven.

And since Erolano was out of English guides we relied on Steven and Wikipedia to fill us in about what we were looking at. Though I think some of the stories we came up with were much better than the actual truth. Isn't that always the way?

I don't know what they used for paint back in 79 A.D. but it's still pretty vibrant...especially considering all of the ash and lava.

Some of the ruins...terracotta pots.

All in all it was more interesting than I thought it would be, but the boys were a bit disappointed we didn't see any mummies. Darn.

Not quite a convoy

We woke up to this site yesterday morning. A semi-truck on the Guidecca Canal with Venice in the background (behind the boat with a crane on it).

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

...after what seemed like an eternity of flying (3 flights...one from JFK to Dublin - a pretty darn cool airport, one from Dublin to Rome - a pretty old and grungy airport and finally from Rome to Venice - which Ranee and Hunter thought was better than the Rome airport) we finally made it to Venezia! And is it gorgeous! We met Elana and Ann from Florida-by-way-of-NYC at the airport and shared a water taxi to our hotel. It was raining so much we couldn't see out the windows of th'e water taxi. But once we got off the taxi and on land, we were able to see exactly why Venice is so talked about. It's just beautiful. We'll post more photos soon...we hope the rain will stop a bit so we can get some good ones without rain spots on the lens.

Start spreading the news...

Grandpa Bob picked up Debbie, Collin and Hunter in Fruitland and dropped them off at the Boise (not SLC) airport. Then it was off to NYC to hook up with Ranee.

We ended up in a TINY hotel room. The boys had enough of sitting all day in planes and airports so they did what all boys do.... wrestle with blindfolds on.

Seriously the LONGEST stretch Hummer we've ever seen! And it was even Bronco orange!

We went inside the Empire State Building but we didn't go up to the top. We're going to the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center) tomorrow. We hear the people are super nice and you have a nice view of the ESB. Also on tab for tomorrow: ice skating at Bryant Park. It's free, as compared to NOT free at Rockefeller Center. And speaking of Bryant Park, I wonder if Project Runway is taping episodes right now. I'm in the mood for MOOD now! So much for bringing souvenirs home! My extra suitcase might just be filled with fabric!

Steven! Italy!

Steven has uploaded photos to Steven and Karley's Picasa web albums! He's got photos of his super quick and unexpected layover in D.C. and of where he and Karley will be living (Karley will be joining him in Italy when she graduates next year).

Here's a DC pic and link to the DC album:

And here's the front of their house in Italy. And a link to more photos of it.

As you can see there is tons of extra room to accommodate visitors! Karley says they are in need of extra beds and bedroom furniture to furnish all of the extra rooms. So if you have a mattress you want to get rid of or get bored one day and find listings for free bedroom furnishings on Craigslist, get it. We'll see if we can find a way to get the bedroom furnishings down to Karley before they need to pack up their household goods for shipment to Italy.

We miss you Steven!