We returned home Wednesday. I'll fill in the details of our last week in Europe, then post a few pictures.

We flew from Bergamo (outside Milan) to London (Luton Airport) on Ryan Air. It was a simple trip. A short cab ride to the airport. It's smaller, so it wasn't hard to get through security and check in, but Ryan Air is more of a cattle call airline than even Southwest. People were herded onto buses to go to the plane, open seating. We were lucky to sit together.

A shuttle bus from the airport to the train station, then a train into London. From there, a cab to our hosts' flat. Tom and Linda Emmerson are friends from Iowa State who have been "part-time" residents of London for decades. They know the city well and were fabulous hosts. Having been there so soon after the bombings, security was evident everywhere, especially the entrances to the tube stations. Other than that, though, the only evidence we had of any problem was the fact that we had to walk from Leicester Square to Piccadilly Circus because the Piccadilly Line was closed (just reopened Thursday).

Tuesday we flew from London (Heathrow Airport) to Dublin for the evneing, to catch our flight the next morning. On Wednesday, we flew Dublin to NY, NY to DC, DC to Indy. Anthony and Megan picked us up at the airport and we were home about 10 p.m. A long day to end a long trip. It's great to go, but it's always great to come home, too.

OK, here are some pictures.

As I wrote back in July, Nicole ordered a birthday cake for Kim's birthday. What's particularly funny about this picture is that the cake, decorated by Italians, misspelled "auguri" (well wishes - a traditional birthday salutation).

Smart Cars are popular in Italy both for their economic gas mileage and their ease of parking in the city. This Smart Car was decorated in Starsky & Hutch theme - complete with a California license plate in front (can't see in the photo).

While sitting on the beach, all kinds of people come by wanting to sell things. This woman was very impressive in the way she carried her basket. I read a piece in the paper about Tuscany cracking down on sales of knock-offs. People sell purses, watches, etc., for a fraction of the designer label. Most of the unlicensed sales people on the streets of Florence were immigrants. Italy, like most of Europe, is having real issues dealing with the heavy influx of people from north Africa and eastern Europe.

There were 32 students in Italy with us, but only 15 took my classes. Here is a picture of the combined classes. It's funny that of the 9 students in the advanced class, 8 were from Ball State. Of the 7 students in the beginning class, only 2 were from BSU. A good bunch. I was very fortunate. I did not have any problems with any of them. The same could not be said by my colleagues. One of the students not in my class had a notorious reputation with both faculty and students.

As mentioned earlier, we had to make a trip to Venice. For some strange, unexplainable reason, Nicole feels compelled to feed the pigeons in St. Mark's Square every time we go.

The head of the household of our host family is Stane Skrlj. He loves his telescope. I told him he has three children - two daughters and a telecope. He has incredible pictures of the moon, sun spots, constellations, etc. He keeps extensive notes of his observations. One night while we were there we got to see Jupiter and four moons!

Here I am making a fool of myself with half of me in Italy and half of me in Slovenia. My right hand (left of frame) is in Gorizia, a town in Italy, while my right hand is in Novo Gorica, a town in Slovenia.

In my three trips to Slovenia, I've always noticed how meticulously people cut and stack wood. The woodpiles are amazing. This one was not nearly as big as many we saw while driving but it was conveniently located for a picture.

This is our "proof we were in London" photo. Tom has used this very phone booth (with Big Ben and Parliament behind) with other guests. I wonder how many people have taken this photo, or one very similar.

With Nicole's theatre interest, I just had to take her picture in front of the Globe. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to take in a production. Oddly, there was not a Shakespeare play at the Globe. We did make it to the theatre museum at least.

Not sure if I'll add more pictures later. Let me know if there's anything in particular you want to see.