“Do you realize after two years and one month of being in Europe we have just over 24 hours left here?,” Fred said yesterday as we walked back to our hotel after a day wandering the streets of Rome. With so many exciting adventures still ahead it was easy to forget that our time in Europe was really coming to an end. Yes we had officially left Germany over two weeks ago, but it was just hitting us that we would be leaving the continent we called home and explored so much over the past two years in just one day. As we walked past the cafe lined streets and pedestrian areas, two things we loved about living here, we thought back to the past two years and how much we had been fortunate to experience.

Going back a few days… we left Montepulciano and detoured on our way to Rome via the town of Bolsena, located on the picturesque Lago di Bolsena where we walked to the castle on the hill overlooking the town, learned about the local history of the area and the excavated Etruscan towns under the volcanic lake, and enjoyed a delicious lunch before making our way to the Italian capital later that evening.

After arriving in Rome the prior night, on our first day we left Italy and went across the border into the neighboring city-state of Vatican City. With what felt like thousands of our closest tourist friends we made our way through the tight galleries of the Vatican museum and artistic works and found ourselves in the end (still surrounded by hundreds of tourists) staring up at the ceiling and walls of the Sistine chapel and Michaelanglo’s masterpiece that he painted over a period of 30+ years. It truly is amazing to see what detail he put into this work and to think about the amount of time it took to create. No pictures are allowed so you will have to make your own trek to the Vatican to see it on your own one day but it is really a mesmerizing sight. We next made our way into St. Peter’s Basilica where again we stood with our heads looking up at the ceiling and at all of the architecture and mosaics and marveled at the fact that the letters which looked to be the size of our hands that circled the ceiling perimeter were really 2 meters in height. The basilica and St Peters square were really remarkable to look all around us and reflect on the significance and all of the events that had transpired here. After the Vatican and a delicious late lunch, Fred decided it was time for his first haircut of the trip. Accustomed to the European style haircuts he had been ready for something short on the sides, but when asked at the end if he wanted his gel styled ‘normal or crazy‘… well go ahead and guess what Fred picked.

The next day we started off with a trip to the laundromat – happy for an actual washing machine and not just washing clothes in the sink and hanging them in the sun! We even used a dryer to dry our clothes which was more luxurious than when we were in Germany without one (all 2 years of it). After we decided to walk around the city and see many of the well known sites of Rome including the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and Trevi Fountain. We both threw a coin in the fountain in hopes that we would return to Rome one day, as the legend goes (it worked for Christina who made it back after she threw a coin in that same fountain over 15 years ago!).

We spent our final day in Rome walking among the ancient Roman ruins including the Colosseum and Roman Forum. It’s amazing that right in the middle of the city center sits so much history, some of which dares back over two thousand years. And although mostly just ruins, it is incredible to think about how old they are and what used to be there.

And now we sit in the airport, ready to board our flight to Tanzania. Goodbye Italy and goodbye Europe – we have had an experience here that has been great and also challenging at times but there is no doubt in our mind that we will meet again. Now time to turn our sights on a new adventure and next destination… Africa here we come!