Viva Italia!

Dennis and Wendi travelled to Milan, someplace we've never been. There aren't many tourists, everyone on the street looks like they belong on a fashion runway, and they have the most beautiful duomo! You can climb to the top and walk all over the roof.

Then we went to Cinque Terra, after hearing glowing reports from Tom and others...we certainly weren't disappointed. This is our new favorite place. We hiked to all five towns, and finished off (just in time, as it was getting dark) in Vernazza, where we ate at a little restaurant at the top of this cliff. We got a little worried because Dennis had to start teaching in Rome on Tuesday and there was a railway strike Monday so we couldn't get out. The wonderful woman we rented a room from piled us in the car and drove us to the next major town so we could catch a 1:24 am train to Rome (which was, of course, delayed, and didn't leave until 2:30 am.) We were sunburned and exhausted, but we made it!

Once the students arrived in Rome, things got busy fast! Dennis and Nancy were teaching classes and taking students to ruins, fountains, and churches. It's hard to keep up with those two! Once the students finally got a day off, you'd think they'd collapse, but no, they followed their crazy professors to Pompeii (WOW!) and Naples. Pompeii is an ancient Roman city that was buried under 30 feet of ash until the mid 18th century. They've been excavating for 250 years, and they're about 2/3rds of the way done.

Monday was Wendi's birthday and after spending the day at the Vatican Museum, everyone surprised her with an ice cream cake (ummmm....dessert before dinner).

As much fun as we're having, we miss the kids (though they're not missing us, apparently! We got an exciting update from Kate about the fun everyone had in Wyoming. We're jealous). We've been horrible about keeping in touch because Internet has been spotty (our hotelier in Rome limited access to 15 minutes during your entire stay...unless you are a cute female college student, of course).