On our return trip, we spent one day in London. We didn’t do a whole lot because it was reallyreallyreallyfreakingcold and super-windy to boot. But we did go to Starbucks and stroll around the Tower of London/Tower Bridge area as long as we could stand it.

It’s funny, after being in Rome, how “American” London seems. We’ve been there a few times before and don’t really remember feeling that way about it as much. But you see American brands and companies everywhere, and in general people conduct their lives and business in a much more familiar way.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, concludes our whirlwind trip through the times and travels of our journey through to Rome. Thanks for playing.

This is the Vittoriano, a shot I took on New Years Eve when we got lost decided to take a stroll through Rome. We had come back from Pompeii and all the “taxi” services around wanted to charge us €40 for an €8 ride back to our apartment. Yeah right.

So we walked, even though we didn’t know where we were going. Actually, it ended up being kind of fun and we got to see some parts of the city we wouldn’t have otherwise. And everybody was out, being New Years Eve.

Speaking of New Years Eve, evidently the Italians prefer dynamite to fireworks. It was really freaking loud. All night.

Our train back from Pompeii happened to make a stop during which I had a view between 2 buildings. Some genius thought it would be a good idea to throw a stick of dynamite into a trashcan. The train shook from the explosion, and a huge cloud of black smoke started billowing out from between the buildings. Then a little Smart Car peeled out from the alley and went zipping away.

On our walk home, we saw the result of a firework gone bad as we passed a truck that had caught fire. The police were just sort of standing around talking to people several yards away.

Anyway, Rome seems to be pretty void of violent crime, so it’s a fairly safe city to walk around in the middle of the night. And a lot of people do. Trust me, we could hear every one of them through our bedroom window.

We took a day-trip down to Pompeii. It was incredible. I never expected it to be as expansive as it is. For some reason I always pictured it as a really small town. It’s not. You could spend an entire day there and still not see everything.

We were able to find the famous Pompeii Brothel. The beds were still there, as for some reason they felt the need to carve them out of stone. The walls were lined with various artwork depicting different sexual positions. Perhaps it was like a value menu: “I’ll take a #3 Brunette combo, with #6 on the side.”

We were only able to see one of the 3 theatres there: The Amphitheater.

It was a fascinating walk through the city that died in a day. If we are ever able to visit again, I want to go back to Pompeii. I’d like to get a guided tour to learn more about the various ruins. Unfortunately, you have to leave your driver license with the desk to rent the tour speaker thingies, and we didn’t have ours at the time.

Remnants of columns in the arena in front of the Circus Maximus, where chariot races took place: