Hi everyone, We are back in London now after our eventful few Days in Rome... Where do I start? We left work early on Friday to ensure that we were at the airport three hours before our flight, as the new security measures ar Heathrow airport meant long delays in the check in queues. Our flight was delayed by half an hour, which meant that we missed our connection to Rome from Amsterdam. Luckily, this meant that KLM airlines paid for us to stay in a really nice hotel in Amsterdam while they booked us on the first flight in the morning. The hotel room included full board, so we gorged ourselves at the hotel buffet, before having a nice long bath (the first bath since we departed on this trip in January!!). Up nice an early, we arrived in Rome and headed out 'Ancient Rome' - this is the site of the Colosseum and the ruins of the Roman Forum. The Colosseum is huge - and the ruins were amazing. From there, we headed to the Pantheon, which is an amazing dome , before going to Piazza Navona and wandering around the arstists markets there. Then we wandered the backstreets for a while before finding a neat little pizza place for dinner, we sat outside and drank red wine, with the faint sound of accordian music in the background.... very chic! The next day we headed to Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps, and wandered around, before heading back to the hotel for a snooze in the afternoon, before heading out for a delicious dinner at a local restaurant. On Monday, we went nice and early to the Vatican. We climbed the 390 steps to reach the top of the dome at St Peters Basilica, (see the above photo). We also lined up and went to the Vatican museums, where we saw the Sistine Chapel, then we went to a great restaurant to have our last Italian meal before heading to the airport. Our flight was again delayed, which meant when we arrived in Amsterdam, we had 2.5 minutes to clear passport control and run about 1km to the next terminal. There we were with our backpacks on sprinting through the airport. It looked like we were competeing in 'The Amazing Race', and we made it! I couldn't believe it, they were just closing off the gate as we came bounding through the terminal, boarding pass in hand. I was still puffing when we arrived in London an hour later! So that was our weekend. Next weekend we are having a quiet one at home, then the weekend after that is Dean's birthday (Sept 10). I have arranged a mystery getaway, but I can't say what it is, as he will be reading this, so I will update you all after that! Oky dokey, speak to you later, Nadeane & Dean