Third Port - Invergordon, Scotland

We docked in Invergordon, Scotland on July 20th. We took a bus through beautiful Scotland to Loch Ness. Yes, the famous Loch Ness, home of Nessie, the famous sea monster. Alas, we caught no glimpse of Nessie, but the Loch was still beautiful.

We also saw the ruins of Urquhart Castle, perched on the banks of Loch Ness. It is thought that the castle was built during the 13th century, and largely destroyed in 1692. The ruins that are left are still pretty impressive.

Here's a view of the tower, still mostly intact.

A view of Loch Ness through a windowless window.

A random bagpiper. I don't know if he was part of the castle ambience or just playing on his own, but I enjoyed listening to him.

It was a short trip to Loch Ness and the Urquhart Castle ruins, but we saw some beautiful scenery and checked off an item on our list of famous places to visit!

Second Port - South Queensferry, Scotland

We left La Havre the evening of July 17th. We were at sea all day July 18th, and docked at South Queensferry, Scotland in the early morning of July 19th.

Our ship actually docked in the harbor. Apparently the Crown Princess was too big to bring into shore. So we had to be tendered ashore. That meant we got to ride a lifeboat. I'm glad we didn't have to spend more than 20 minutes in a lifeboat!

In South Queensferry we boarded a bus for our shore excursion to Edinburgh, Scotland. Our first stop was the Royal Yacht Britannia. The Britannia was launched in 1953 and until 1997 it was the royal yacht of the Queen of England and her family. It's now on display in a complex at the end of a shopping mall (which seemed a little odd to Robert and I). It was interesting to wander around and admire the opulence of the Britannia. Here's a picture of the main dining hall. Pretty nice for a boat!
After leaving the Britannia (and her souvenir shop), we went to lunch at the King James Hotel. the food was good, but nothing to get overly excited about!

After lunch we visited Edinburgh Castle. It was a beautiful castle and it was fascinating to see how it seemed to grow out of the rock.
Robert and I were really there!
Here's a view of Edinburgh from the castle grounds.

After leaving the castle, we were taken to Princess Street to do some shopping. That was a disappointment. The street was full of high end clothing stores - not what I was looking for!

We enjoyed our trip to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.

First Port - La Havre, France

After sailing all night, we landed in La Havre, France on July 17th. That was the pattern of most of the days. We would leave a port in the evening and sail all night to the next port. We didn't stay in La Havre though. We had signed up for a shore excursion to the Landing Beaches of Normandy. We had to endure a two hour bus ride, but it was well worth it.

Our first stop was at Musee du DeBarquement. This museum was built at the site where the British built an artificial port, which was an important part of the Allied success. This picture shows remains of the harbor still located right off the beach. This was interesting to me because I, sadly, knew nothing about this artificial port.

Sad to think of the tragedy that took place off these shores 67 years ago.
Our next stop was the American Cemetery, located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach. We entered the cemetery at 2:00 in the afternoon. On the hour, the Star Spangled Banner is played over the loudspeakers, followed by Taps. I can't express how moved I was to hear our National Anthem as I gazed out at the thousands of white crosses.
There are 9387 American military personnel buried in the cemetery, most of them killed during the invasion of Normandy.
There is also a Memorial Wall inscribed with the names of the 1557 servicemen whose bodies were never located.
Looking down to the beach from the cemetery.
After we left the cemetery, we drove to Omaha Beach. We saw this large stone sculpture, with the flags of the United States, France, England, and Canada flying alongside.
We were intrigued by this steel sculpture, Les Braves, done to honor the American servicemen. I would have liked to have seen it at high tide when the water covers the bottom portions of the sculpture.
Looking down Omaha Beach.
Our final stop was at the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, a point of attack by the Army Ranger Assault Group.
I am glad we were able to go visit the Landing Beaches of Normandy. We weren't able to make it there from Italy, and it had been one of the places I wanted to go. My father served in World War II, and his brother was part of the D-Day Invasion, so I had heard stories from that era. I'm glad we have these memorials so we can always remember the sacrifices made by so many military personnel from so many countries.

Crown Princess

On July 16th, Robert and I took a car service down to the ports in Southampton. We were headed to the Mayflower Terminal to board our cruise ship, the Crown Princess. Here she is, in all her glory (although I technically didn't take this picture that day). As you can see, the Crown Princess is a pretty big ship. It can hold a little over 3000 passengers, although I never felt crowded.

Here's another view of the ship.

It was a gloomy overcast day when we boarded the ship. A little rainy and kind of chilly (that would be welcome in Houston right now). As we waited to leave port - which like most of the ports we stopped at, was pretty unattractive - we were treated to this beautiful rainbow.

One of the first things you do on board a cruise ship is meet to have a "what to do in an emergency" briefing. We all went to our designated area, with life jackets in hand, and practiced how to put them on and learned how safe the lifeboats are.

We actually got to use a lifeboat twice. Two of the ports were too shallow for the ship to dock, so we dropped anchor out a ways and took "tenders" into port. The tenders were actually the lifeboats. After seeing water come through one of the sealed windows, I'm glad we didn't actually have to use them in an emergency!

Since this was our 30th wedding anniversary present, we splurged and got a room with a balcony in the back of the ship. Our room was on the Baja Deck (which is the second deck with rooms). We didn't splurge enough to get a big balcony, but that's okay!
We liked being in the back of the ship. It was a great place to take pictures. I loved watching the ship's wake.
A castle turret off the coast.
A lighthouse in the distance. I took this as we were sailing around the desolate northern tip of Scotland.
Another beautiful lighthouse. We were struck by how many lighthouses we saw and how short so many of them were. Maybe tall lighthouses are an American thing.
A bigger wake as we cruised along at a pretty brisk speed (for a cruise ship anyway).
And finally, a beautiful sunset.
The Crown Princess is a beautiful ship, although I didn't take any pictures of the interior of the boat. Go to their website if you're interested! Our room was nice. Not gigantic, but room for everything we needed. The balcony really made it seem bigger. The only other time we went on a cruise, we had a room with a tiny window. This was so much better. Balconies are the way to go!

We had a good time on board. We went to shows - some good, some goofy, but all pretty entertaining. We watched some cruise ship game shows - even participating in a couple of trivia ones (although we didn't win). We ate a lot, although the food wasn't as great as we had hoped. Some stuff was delicious, but some was just good. We still enjoyed it all!

Next post - Our first stop - La Havre, France.

London, England

On July 14th, Robert and I left Milan (woo hoo!) and flew to London. We were able to stay in London for a couple of days before boarding our cruise ship. We didn't do a lot while we were there, but we still had a great time.

We got there too late on the 14th to do much sightseeing. After checking into the very nice Royal Park Hotel, we rode the tube to Notting Hill and wandered around a little while. Then we rode the tube to Leicester Square and tried to buy cheap tickets to a show. We weren't successful for that night, but we did get tickets for Friday night. After wandering around a while and doing some shopping, we headed back to the hotel.

Friday we got up fairly early, but we weren't able to go sightseeing right away. Why, you ask? Well, because I'm an idiot. Somehow I managed to leave my Kindle on the plane the day before. I didn't realize it until Thursday evening, so I had to wait to call. By the time I tracked down the phone number and waited on hold and found out my Kindle was indeed at Heathrow's Lost and Found, it was already almost 10:30 Friday morning. Then we had to take the tube to Heathrow, and since the Heathrow Express wasn't running, it took over an hour each way. So, because of my stupidity, we lost about 3 hours of prime sightseeing time. Robert was much nicer about it than I would have been!

Our first stop (after retrieving my Kindle) was at the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel right on the River Thames.

We rode in gondolas with about 25 other people. Here's a picture of the gondola next to ours. I took the picture as we were at the top of the Eye. I was a little concerned because I hadn't ridden on a ferris wheel in years. But the Eye moves so slowly, you can barely tell it's moving. It was a great way to see the sights.

I had to take a picture of this sign. It's an advertisement for an outdoor pub located next to the London Eye. I had to take the picture because my maiden name is Magner. It's not often I see it in print like that.
Here's a picture of the House of Parliament (with Big Ben at one end).
Here's a picture of Big Ben with Westminster Abbey.
After we got off the London Eye, we walked across the River Thames. I even let Robert take my picture! I actually appear in a number of pictures on this trip. I may not always like how the pictures look, but I decided to be in them anyway. You should all be proud!

We went to see Westminster Abbey. We got there at 3:30, just as they were closing the doors to inside tours (due to some event). So we didn't get to see inside. But the outside was very pretty.

After we left Westminster Abbey, we went to the Tower of London. Alas, we didn't get to go inside there either. They would have sold us tickets, but the lady said there really wasn't enough time to do anything. So again we had to be content with outside pictures.

We walked over to see the Tower Bridge, one of the prettiest bridges I've seen.
After eating dinner, we did a little shopping at a fun store called Cath Kidston. Then we headed to the Victoria Palace Theater to see the musical "Billy Elliot". The musical was amazing. The 13-year-old boy who starred in it was an incredible dancer. They actually have four different boys who take turns playing the part because it's so physically demanding for a dancer that young. I really enjoyed the show, and even Robert thought it was pretty good. It was exciting to see a show in a theater in London's famous West End. Even though the seats were made for very skinny short people!
We didn't see as much as we had hoped to see, but that's okay. It was nice to be in a city where the people spoke English! And we got to buy Galaxy candy bars, so all was well!

Next, on to the Crown Princess!

Woo Hoo!

MY SUITCASE HAS ARRIVED!

I am so relieved. It would have been bad if it hadn't turned up again. Now I can truly celebrate being back in Texas!

On another note, Robert and I went to Kroger. It was wonderful! They had all of the familiar brands we like. Everything was in English. They bagged our groceries. With plastic bags that didn't cost us 10 cents (Euro cents). How I've missed that place and all of its conveniences.

It's so nice to be home!

Home Again!

I am home in Texas! I'm so happy to be back.

I would feel more joyful if one of my suitcases wasn't still missing. A suitcase with my camera (and all of my cruise pictures) plus other important stuff. It's kind of taking away from the excitement of being home.

Please, United, find my bag. Then I can be truly happy to be home.

Last Post (for a Couple of Weeks)

I thought I should do one last post while I was here in Italy.

Today the movers came and packed up our stuff. The apartment is still full of furniture, but without our personal possessions, it's looking empty. It's really sinking in that we are leaving.

Thursday we fly to London, where we will spend 2 days trying to see everything we want to see.

Saturday we board the Crown Princess and start our 12 day cruise around the British Isles. I'm so excited!

July 28th I fly home to Houston. For good.

Hip hip hooray!

I've made some friends here in Milan and we've been to some interesting places. But I'm ready to be home. I don't think I'm cut out for living abroad.

I miss the United States. And all of its conveniences.

Arrivederci, Italy. It's been an experience.

The Chicken Pitcher

On Saturday, Robert and I went to the tiny town of Nove, Italy. We went with our friends, Amy and Cliff, the other non-missionary American couple at church. We went to Nove because it's famous for its ceramics. Shopping time!

We found some really nice stuff. A set of colorful dessert plates. A beautiful large mosaic bowl with a matching platter. I don't have pictures of that stuff because it's all bubble wrapped really well, and I don't want to undo it!

But I do have a picture of what else we bought in Nove. Chicken pitchers.

You're either looking at that picture thinking, "How cute. I want one." Or else you're thinking, "What is wrong with her? That thing is hideous!" Up until a month or so ago I was in the latter group. But then I heard the story of the chicken pitcher. It's quite fascinating, so I'm including it:

History of the Chicken Pitcher

The origin of the chicken pitcher dates back to the early Renaissance period in the Republic of Florence. The leading family in the the republic at the time was the Medici family. It’s patriarch was the famous Lorenzo the Magnificent who had one brother, Giuliano. The Medicis were the wealthiest and most powerful family in the republic. Their only serious rival for power was the Pazzi family. The Pazzis were trying to take power by the normal method used at that time...assassination.

The Medici’s wealth was partially based upon their large land holdings, which their peasants in the nearby village worked on. Occasionally, the Medicis would throw large festivals in these villages for the peasants. Giuliano especially liked to do this and would do so on the slightest suggestion.

Knowing this, the Pazzis had someone suggest to Giuliano that he throw a festival in the small village of Gallina, where one had never been held before. Giuliano agreed, and the Pazzis plotted to kill Guiliano and his guards during the night of the festival, as that is when they would be the most vulnerable (due to the vast amounts of wine drank during the party).

In the fall of 1478, Giuliano and his entourage including guards, cooks, and craftsmen went to Gallina (which no longer exists today) to throw the festival. The Pazzis hired assassins to sneak into town late at night to kill Giuliano. They would have succeeded except they tried to cross a yard filled with chickens to get to him. The chickens started cackling in a great frenzy and woke up Giuliano and his guards. The assassins were so startled they froze. They were caught and executed.

Giuliano was so thrilled that chickens had warned him that he threw another festival the following night. He ordered his artisans to create ceramic copies of chickens to be used as wine pitchers. These he gave to the peasants and their friends for good luck in warding off assassins. It is now an Italain tradition to give a chicken pitcher to friends and family to protect them from trespassers and danger.

After hearing the history of the chicken pitcher, it suddenly became an item I wanted to have! Amy wanted some too, so that's why we headed off to Nove. And we came home with a chicken pitcher...or two...or three...

It was a fun trip!

"America for Me"

During our non-translated Relief Society Meeting today, my American friend, Amy, was reading one of Gordon B. Hinckley's books. In it he quoted the poem, "America for Me", by Henry Van Dyke. The first two stanzas sum up how I feel as I near the end of my year in Italy.

"Tis fine to see the Old World and travel up and down

Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,

To admire the crumbly castles and the statues and kings

But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!

My heart is turning home again and there I long to be,

In the land of youth and freedom, beyond the ocean bars,

Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

Thank you, Henry Van Dyke, for expressing my sentiments so eloquently!

Home again, and home again, America for me!

Braggin' on Scott

Today was Scott's last day of school at the American School of Milan! Yes, I know he got out really late, but he didn't start school until September 1st. And he had more random days off then I would have thought possible. So it all worked out. In recognition of his completing a year of school in a foreign country, I'm doing a bragging post about him. Do not feel obligated to read it!

The first picture is church not school related. Scott and I successfully completed a year of seminary together! Woo hoo! Two Sundays ago he received his completion certificate. I imagine he'll be the only one in our ward with a seminary certificate in Italian!

I have to say how much I appreciate Scott's willingness to get up and have seminary with me every morning. I'm sure it wasn't always exciting to have a one on one class with his Mom, but he never complained. And we both survived the experience!

Last Tuesday, we went to the 9th, 10th, and 11th grade Awards Ceremony at the school. Here's Scott with the three awards he received. (He didn't wear the fedora to the ceremony, but he did insist on putting it on at home for the picture.)
The first award was for Academic Excellence. This was given to all students with a GPA of over 3.6 (on a 4.0 scale).
Before I talk about his next two awards, bear in mind that the junior class is small. There are only 43 kids in his whole class! But it's still pretty cool that he won these awards.

He received the award for Outstanding 11th Grade Student in Chemistry. We weren't really surprised he got this award. His teacher had told me that Scott seemed to understand the class much better than the other kids and he was always helping kids out.
The third award he received did surprise us all - Outstanding 11th Grade Student in English. He's always done well in English, but we were surprised he was picked for the award. Before his teacher announced who won, she said that the student always liked to debate and challenge ideas. Robert and I knew she was talking about Scott! And we were right!
To top off his pretty successful year in Milan, Scott found out yesterday that he got a 2280 (out of 2400) on the SAT! He got a perfect 800 in Math and a perfect 800 in Reading! We were all pretty excited about that.

Scott has done great this past year. He was probably our best kid to bring to Italy. He easily adapted to life and school here and made some good friends along the way.

Oh, and his true personality has come out over here too. In the yearbook, Scott was picked as "Most Argumentative"! Some things never change!

Marking that Calendar!

I'm marking the dates on my calendar!

June 24 - Scott gets out of school.

June 28 - Scott flies back to Houston.

July 14 - Robert and I fly to London

July 16 - Robert and I board the Crown Princess to begin our 12 day cruise around the British Isles. I'm so excited for that trip and all of the amazing shore excursions we have picked!

July 28 - Robert and I complete our cruise and fly back to Milan.

August 3 - The movers come and pack and load up the stuff be shipped back to Houston.

August 5 - We fly to Houston! Woo hoo!!

I wish it was July 14th so all of the good stuff could start happening.

A Little Nervous

I just made an appointment for my first Italian haircut and color. That makes me a little nervous. But, I've now got about an inch of gray showing at the roots, so I can't wait any longer. I only waited this long because I knew if I did I wouldn't have to get it done until I went back to Texas in August. Some of my friends here use this place, and their hair looks good, so I'm hopeful. It's always hard to go somewhere new, though. I've been going to Kathy, my hair person back home, for 10 years! She knows my hair! Plus there's the fact that the colorist doesn't speak English and we'll have to rely on translation from the woman who will be cutting my hair. Which is another thing - I've never had one person color my hair and another one cut it. Back home, Kathy does it all. This seems weird to me.

I guess this is all part of my Italian adventure! I just hope it doesn't make me cry every time I look in the mirror!

Men's Fashion

I've seen some interesting men's fashion since we've been here in Milan. Mustard yellow pants. Salmon pink pants. Red pants. Colors that American men don't wear (for good reason).

With the onset of warm weather, I've seen a new men's fashion trend - capri pants. I have to say, men shouldn't wear capris. They just shouldn't.

I hope all of these men's fashions stay right here in Milan and never make it to Texas! At least rest assured that Robert and Scott won't be coming home with strange colored pants or capris!

Canasta

As I've mentioned before, there is a group of American women here whose husbands are all on the same project. We get together at a coffee shop once a week to visit and sometimes commiserate about life in Italy. (As an aside, I usually get water or Coke Light there, but I once had the thickest cup of hot chocolate EVER! My spoon was standing straight up! It was impossible to drink but would have tasted great over ice cream!)

A couple of months ago, some of us got together and played the card game canasta. The last time I played canasta was at my grandma's house when I was a teenager. It was a game that my cousins and I loved to play. Only one of the group had played recently, so the rest of us learned (or relearned) together.

I quickly remembered why I loved canasta when I was younger! It's a fun card game, with some very strange rules. It seems complicated when you're first learning how to play, but it's pretty easy to pick up.

Now we try to play at least once a week. I really enjoy those afternoons. They are some of the high points of my weeks. Fun with the ladies! Something I really need!

It's not Tuesday Evening Book Club, but it's a good substitute until August!

A Little Teary Eyed

It's Memorial Day in the United States. But it's not Memorial Day in Italy.

So I went on YouTube to listen to some patriotic songs. I wanted to be reminded of our great country and the men and women who have died and will continue to die to protect our freedoms.

Lee Greenwood singing "I'm Proud to Be an American".

James Cagney as George M. Cohan singing "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "Over There".

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The Star Spangled Banner".

I confess, I got teary eyed listening to those beautiful patriotic songs.

I love the United States. I miss living there. I'm grateful I'll be back there in two months.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Appliance Juggling

I used to take things for granted. Like my ability to run any appliance in my home whenever I wanted to.

Not any more!

Living in an apartment in San Donato Milanese, Italy has cured me of that. During the winter, we basically had three major appliances - the washer/dryer combo, the oven, and the dishwasher. We quickly discovered that we could run only one major appliance at a time. If we tried to run two at the same time, we would blow the circuit. This would plunge our whole apartment into darkness until someone (usually Scott) could be sent to the electricity room outside the apartment building to flip the breaker. Fun times.

Once we figured the system out, it was pretty easy to juggle appliances when it was cold outside. The radiators didn't interfere with anything else, so it was easy enough to plan my day around my three major appliances. I tried to do my laundry during the morning and early afternoon. Not always an easy task since a cycle could last almost 3 hours, but with just three of us it was usually doable. I would bake (if I wanted to) in the early evening. And I would run the dishwasher when we went to bed.

But now it's getting hot here (high 80s). Air conditioning weather. We have 4 individual units in our apartment - one in the living room and one in each of the 3 bedrooms. We have discovered that (fortunately) we can run at least two A/C units at the same time. We haven't tried more than that. But we can't run any of the other big three when we're running the A/C.

So I have to juggle and plan.

Early morning, after Robert and Scott leave, I'll do some laundry. Or I'll run the dishwasher if I need to. I can't run it at night anymore, because I can't sleep when I get hot, so I need the A/C on in my bedroom. I find myself doing laundry every other day so I can keep the loads small and get it done before about 2:00. By that time it's getting pretty warm in the apartment. We aren't as lucky as some of the other Americans we know here - we don't have good cross ventilation in our apartment. Opening the windows just lets the warm air in, it doesn't create any sort of breeze.

But if I want to bake cookies or something for dinner, that throws a monkey wrench in all my plans! I usually don't get around to baking until later in the afternoon, which is not the best time to be turning off the A/C. But that's what I have to do. I finish up my baking as quickly as possible so I can turn the A/C back on.

And it's not just me. Most of the other American woman I've talked to have the same problem we do. One lady can't even run her blow dryer if something else is on! The problem is that the apartment owners have four different options when it comes to electrical breakers. One offers unlimited electrical use - what we have in the U.S. Then there are three levels they can choose from, each allowing varying amounts of electricity into the house. The lower the level you choose, the cheaper your rate. Many people, including our landlord (who pays the bill although the cost is passed on to Robert's company) choose the 2nd level. And most Italians are fine with that. Of course, many of them don't have dryers, or air conditioners, or even dishwashers.

But I don't live like that. I have all of those appliances, because to me they are part of every day normal life. And I don't like having to juggle my appliance usage.

Iit's a pain in the patootie!

Rome, Italy

On May 9th and 10th, we went to Rome, Italy. We took the fast train (actually, we drove our car to the Metro in San Donato, took the subway into the main train station in Milan, and then took the fast train to Rome). After settling into our hotel, we went exploring.

The first thing we encountered on our "things to see in Rome" list was the Pantheon. I don't know what I expected the Pantheon to be, but this wasn't it! It was built in 132 AD as a temple to all of the gods of ancient Rome. Over time, it's use has changed, and it's now a Catholic church.

The interior was very beautiful. This is an example of one of the frescos we saw.
Next it was on to Trevi Fountain. The fountain was completed in 1762. I wanted to take a picture of the whole fountain, but because of the crowds I couldn't stand far enough away to have a clear view of it. Scott and I both threw a coin into the fountain, as is tradition. Interesting fact: about 3000 euros a day are collected from the fountain. The money is used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy.
After the Trevi Fountain, it was off to the Hard Rock Cafe. We had to get Scott his 3rd European Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt! And enjoy their food and unlimited refills on soft drinks (the only place I know of in Italy that does this).

From the Hard Rock Cafe, it was easier to take the back way to the Spanish Steps. This meant we didn't have to climb the 138 steps, but we did climb a hill to get to the top. Of course, Scott had to run down the steps and then run back up so he could say he had climbed the Spanish Steps. Robert and I made do with walking down the 138 steps. That was good enough for us!
The next morning, we headed off to the Colosseum (I think I finally know how to spell that word without spell check). The Colosseum was completed in 80 AD. It could seat 50,000 spectators, and was used for gladiator fights, executions, and mock sea battles, among other things. As you can see from the picture, it's not in the greatest shape. It's been damaged not only by earthquakes, but by people stealing the stone over the centuries. But, it's still pretty impressive.

Here's me standing on a small section of the original marble flooring that still remains.

Here's a picture of the interior of the Colosseum. Unlike the Arena in Verona, the Colosseum isn't usable anymore. There is not any interior seating, and the center floor is missing.

After leaving the Colosseum, we went over to Vatican City. As we waited in line to get in to St. Peter's Basilica, we saw one of the Papal Swiss Guards. They have the most unique uniforms I've ever seen!

The Basilica of St. Peter was enormous! I don't think I have ever been in a larger church. I've read it can hold 60,000 people! That's a lot of people in a church. I didn't take any pictures inside. It was dark, and my camera doesn't like the dark.

From St. Peter's we walked to the Vatican Museum. Unfortunately for me, the museum was very crowded. Very, very crowded. So I didn't really enjoy the museum. My goal soon became getting through the museum so I could see the Sistine Chapel, which was at the end. Of course.

This isn't the Sistine Chapel, but it was a very beautiful dome we saw along the way. We were amazed at how bright and crisp the colors still are.

I don't have any pictures of the Sistine Chapel, as photos weren't allowed. But, believe me, it was amazing. Michelangelo painted over 3700 square feet of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. And he didn't just paint that ceiling white! He painted frescos that are still wondrous to look at.

After leaving the Vatican Museum, we headed back to our hotel, picked up our luggage, and headed to the train station for the trip back to Milan.

It was a short trip to Rome. I know there was a lot we missed, but we saw what we wanted to see, and that's what matters.