Wow — what a trip! We finally made it back last night to Austin. It was exactly 20 hours of traveling from where we were in Italy (Santa Margherita) to Paris, to Dallas, and then to Austin. We had a great time! Brandon did very good for a 14-month-old. :) We started in Rome, then to Florence, Sienna, then Pisa, and then Santa Margherita (a beach town). While in Florence, I had the chance to head over to the Ferrari factory and museum in Maranello.

I will probably break the images up over several posts so that you don’t get overwhelmed :) Here’s the first batch:

The gardens at the Vatican. We were able to get into some areas blocked off to regular tourists. More on that (with images) later.

The Pantheon. This building is the only one in Italy that has kept its original structure/etc as completely as it has. There’s a circular hole at the top which lets sunlight/rain/etc in. Here, I am using it for a bit of angelic effect (although I am not as bald as this picture would have you believe! :) )

One of the many beautiful churches we visited.

The view from our room in Santa Margherita! Awesome!

It doesn’t just clean. It actually shampoos *while* it shampoos! Double the cleansing action!

A very ominous storm brewing. This was a day or two before we left, and this actually resulted in a water spout!