Cindy: From Rome, we flew to London for a few days and stayed at Dmitri’s friend Mark’s apartment. Their flat was very nice and we liked being in London but were pretty ready to be home. We spent some time with Dmitri’s relatives. We went to dinner at this place called Drone’s. Apparently it is a very famous restaurant and Madonna just loves it there. The owner, this very famous restauranteur was there eating and I had no idea who he was, someone with three names who looked pretty arrogant to me. The food was good and it was nice to spend time with Dmitri’s family and meet his aunt and uncle for the first time.

We saw Shrek with Dmitri's cousins Anoushka and Natasha and also went to Harrod’s and walked around and went to a grocery store and loaded up on British chocolates. It was only two days—a very short trip in London.

Overall, a great, incredible trip. It took some getting used to getting back to the U.S. and getting back into a routine. But what an experience.

Dmitri: I can hardly believe we did all of that, especially sitting here in an apartment back in Michigan, worrying more about the grading I have to get done than about the departure taxes for some random country, or the safety of the water in the ice cubes.

If we did it again, I'd choose fewer places for more time. And maybe include South America! It's amazing--here we've taken a trip that only a tiny fraction of people ever get to do and we've seen so much. And still we've only seen a little tiny bit of the world. This, of course, is a good problem to have because it's fun to fix.

I hope you've enjoyed our little travel site. It's a bit much for one sit-through (and a long time to make for a web newbie like me), but easier on the feet than the real thing. Cheers.