Here are a few notes about the following pages of pictures: The pictures were contributed by all three of the families. Pages 1 through 17 contain pictures of our land trip, the part of our vacation we arranged more or less on our own, prior to embarking on our cruise. Our cruise pictures begin on page 18. Page 39 contains a bunch of links to some special pages. The exchange rate for Euros during our trip was about a dollar thirty something per Euro, so, to make it easier to convert when I mention the cost of something, you can use $1.33. So if something cost us, let's say 29 Euros, that would be about $40. There are two different types of links on the following pages: links for famous people or places will take you to a web site about that person or place on the Internet (usually a Wikipedia page), while other links will usually take you to just another one of our pictures. For example, the link "...Basilica Di Santa Maria Maggiore..." will take you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Santa_Maria_Maggiore, while the link "Some of us had yummy ice cream." will take you to a picture of Grace with her colorful ice cream cone. When you see the first person "I" in a picture's commentary, it refers to me, Rick, who put this web site together. I am responsible for all content and all mistakes. Since we visited so many places and did so much on this trip, there are a lot of pictures on the following pages. Come back as often as you like to see it all. Feel free to jump around from page to page, and click on things you may find that interest you. And finally, I put this web site together, like I have for many other trips Mei-O and I have taken, mostly for ourselves and those who travelled with us. It's fun to look through all the pictures, arrange them, and write comments about each one as I develop the site, but even more fun every time I look at it and recall all the wonderful memories the pictures evoke. If you, the anonymous viewer, get some enjoyment and/or learn something from it, that makes it even more worthwhile.

As we drove into Rome from the airport, I was surprised to see that many of the famous ancient ruins I've heard about all my life were right in the city itself, not outside in a rural setting, as I always imagined. Here's the Colosseum from our minibus as we headed for our hotel.	We were booked for three days at the Best Western Universo hotel in the city center, but when we got there, we had a major 'disagreement' with the desk clerk about the rate (they wanted to charge us 50 Euros extra for two people to a room, rather than just one), and, after about an hour of 'discussion', we decided we'd stay the first night (we had to - it was too late to cancel) and move to the Torino Hotel across the street the next day (which was a lot cheaper and just as nice.)	The hotels sat on a typical narrow Rome side street (the Torino on the left, the Universo on the right), which, as dusk was approaching, was not very busy.	Not everyone was sure what this bathroom fixture (on the left) was. Butt-washers are very popular in Europe. It saves them from taking showers as often as we do. In fact, the Europeans are so used to using these seatless fixtures, many of the public restrooms we used didn't have toilet seats at all!
The breakfast buffet at the Universo Hotel was pretty complete, with scrambled eggs, cereals, ham, cheese, great rolls, croissants and pastries, juices, milk, coffee, yogurt, fruit, and a few other goodies, too. It was listed on the hotel's web site as a 15 Euro (about $20) breakfast.	After breakfast, we checked out of the Universo Hotel and dragged our luggage across the street to the Torino Hotel. Since three rooms weren't ready that early, we left our luggage with them and began our journey of discovery, taking a route Teresa planned which would eventually lead us to the Trevi Fountain.	We soon came across the Basilica Di Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four (some say five) main basilicas in Rome. This early in the morning, there were few tourists there, which provided us with a quiet and peaceful environment for exploration. According to legend, the plan of the church was outlined by a miraculous snowfall on August 5, 358. The legend is commemorated every year on August 5, when white rose petals are dropped from the dome during the festal Mass.	Below the sanctuary is the Crypt of the Nativity , also called the Bethlehem Crypt, which is the burial place for prominent Catholics, including Saint Jerome, the 4th century Doctor of the Church who translated the Bible into Latin, and several popes. A priest was celebrating mass before a small group of worshippers.