Back in Rome :)

I managed to meet up with my mom and brother without any trouble in Milan. If anything, I had a harder time getting to the hotel from the train station than they did from the airport! We did Milan in one day...one very long day (10 hours!!): we saw the Last Supper, went to the DaVinci Science Museum, saw the canal district (Milan used to have a lot of canals, much like Venice), window shopped in the ritzy shopping area, climbed the Duomo (beautiful views of the city-and you could walk around on the roof!!), went to the Ferrari store to look around, went to an art gallery, walked through a castle, and ended the day exhausted!! We kept going into another long day by taking an early train to Cinque Terre, unpacking in our apartment, and doing a 6 hour (9K) hike. We took a break in Vernazza to take a swim, and finished the day watching some John Stewart on the TV!! Yesterday we were pretty tired out, so we just found a place next to the sea and hung out for a few hours swimming and reading. Had a delicious dinner in Manarola of stuffed mussels, pesto pasta, and white wine while watching the sunset over the sea. Today, we took another early train and have just arrived in Rome, where we (luckily) have A/C and are relaxing until our reservations at Galleria Borghese so I can show my family why I love Bernini sculpture so much!! I also get to meet up with Colleen tonight, as her family is in town here too. Yay!! See-we're all alive and well on the Spanish Steps :)