Back from Roma!

We've returned safely from Rome (in case anyone was worried). John had a good series of meetings with other Fulbright scholars and I was able to look at some churches for my research. We were only there for two nights; for one of those evenings, however, we were privileged to attend a reception at the house of a senior official of the U.S. Embassy. That was Friday night and on Saturday we had lunch with other Fulbrighters and then wandered happily around the city until we took a night train back up to Torino. Dad, you'll appreciate where Fulbright set us up for lunch on Friday, as well: the Casa dell'Aviatore, which was (is?) the officer's club for Italian Airforce.

An example of fifth-century mosaics I was looking at for my reseach. This picture is from a series of Old Testament stories, found in Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome's big five basilicas. If you look closely at this mosaic, you can see that the top part depicts the fall of Jericho.

San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence) Outside the Walls - the atmosphere of this church was very sober, a nice change from Santa Maria Maggiore. If you can zoom in on the pillars, you may be able to see some of the damage caused by Allied bombing in WWII.

Some of our Fulbright buddies at lunch.

Rigatoni Democratici (yes, it means Democratic Rigatoni). Don't know what makes it democratic--maybe it was the Parmesan sauce?

John at the Four Rivers Fountain at the Piazza Navona. We had a video explaining this fountain but it was too long to post it. Che peccato! (What a shame!)

Giolitti's, our favorite gelato place in Rome. It's the only place where John can get his cinnamon gelato, although I went on the wild side and got Bailey's Irish Cream.

Tossing pennies into the Trevi Fountain. (These pennies were provided by Jonathan and Patricia Leech of Santa Barbara, CA.) You're supposed to wish for a return to Rome. We did it last time, too, so I guess it worked!