La Fine

Well, we are now home in San Francisco. We spent our last night in Rome visiting (for the first time!) Circus Maximus (Ehhh, ... it's a semi-impressive semi-ovalish dirt mound in which the Romans used to race their chariots -- think Ben Hur), strolling through the beautiful Jewish ghetto one last time, accidentally running into the outdoor set of an in-production Woody Allen film (see picture below ... yes, Woody Allen, despite any skepticism, is in the picture!), and meeting up with our pals Matthew and Thaïs for one last night of insanity out on the streets of the Eternal City. The four of us (Matt, Thaïs, Steph, and I) went out to dinner at a charming trattoria, had gelato at (literally) the best gelateria in the world (Giolitti, Via degli Uffici del Vicario, 40, Rome, Italy), and hung out near the steps of both the Pantheon and the Roman Forum drinking an €8 bottle of chianti. It was pretty amazing. After getting a somewhat early start to our day (3:30am), the four of us camped outside of Rome's Stazione Termini (the city's central train station) in order to catch the first trains out to both to Milan (Matt and Thaïs) and Fiumicino Airport (Steph and I). We were successful in snatching up our respective tickets and off we went at 6:00am in pairs and in opposite directions.

Now, a few words about our travels home. Steph and I rode the commuter train from Stazione Termini to Fiumicino Airport (1 hour), caught our flight from Rome to Chicago (9 hours -- with no in-flight films or any entertainment whatsoever -- "waaah" screams the over-privileged bourgeois boy), caught our connection from Chicago to Cincinnati (1 hour, ... or so), caught our last flight from Cincinnati to San Francisco (4 hours), rode the bus from SFO to 5th and Mission, and (finally) walked through Union Square and up Nob Hill to our impossibly small, but absolutely lovely studio apartment (1:30am). Ahhhh. Home.

We hope that all of you enjoyed following our travels. We had a great time (sans the various cellphone malfunctions) keeping all of you updated.

Well, that's all from us.

S&B