Group 1 of the tour gathered in front of the Vatican (click on photos to enlarge). The last day of the tour was spent in Rome seeing all the touristy things they did not get a chance to see in depth on the first leg of the journey, and so that the singers who missed the first two days due to being stranded in the U.S. and Ireland, would get a chance to see it at all. First stop was the Vatican and the first group of kids toured around while the others had the scheduled tour of the inside, the third group of singers by this time had already departed for Milan for a shopping excursion before they left from there to head back home. Mark got the first group posed out front while the others toured. (Matt in the back row third from the right; Ali middle row sixth from the left...sunglasses on!) 
While touring about, Greg got hit with a bird missile, Ali could not resist posing while Matt snapped the shot.
This is not a particularly good photo shot as the wind was blowing and Mark looks like he has a mohawk...on the other hand, the thought of Mark with a mohawk is pretty funny...and, unfortunately the only one we have of the two of them at the Colosseum. This was one of the highlights of their trip as they both really loved seeing this firsthand. 
In the photo at the left is Group 2, those who were stranded at the beginning of the tour to Italy and who are wearing their blue shirts to differentiate who was going where on the tours that last day: Maria is on the left in row two with her sunglasses on; and her mother, Barb, also a chaperone on the trip, is on the right with her Rome book. Since there aren't a lot of photos of Matt and Maria as the groups had all been formed by the time she got there, I had to include at least one. Maria goes to our church and both she and her older sister Meggie have been in the ICC choir with Matt. She is also a student at Guerin Catholic High (she is a grade ahead of Matt) and Matt and she will be in choir together next year at Guerin. Maria loves to golf, as does Matt, and sing, as does Matt, and loves all things about being a Catholic, as does Matt, so they have a lot in common and are great friends. 
Matthew H., Matt, and Greg surrounded by the Roman Forum and views of all the ruins. After Greece, this seemed small as far as ruins go, but nonetheless impressive for what it stood for and Mark and Matt enjoyed seeing it firsthand.
The Rome airport was a nightmare. They arrived 3 hours before takeoff and had problems with luggage, boarding pass and ticketing problems, and with further complications of computer troubles, end up taking off 3 hours later than scheduled. The kids were all very tired, as you can see in the photo, I don't remember Matt ever looking this tired before...too tired to play cards with Maria even! 
When they are finally in the air, Matt takes his traditional "last photo shot" out the window of the plane as they ascend. They had a great time, from beginning to end..."even in the airports, Mom, there were fun things to do and we were just all of us together having fun." Can't get much better than that!