Today we awoke to an early am wake up call from Diana. Yeah, just like at home. :) We packed and dressed and met them for our final breakfast in Siena at our hotel. Then we were off to the Wednesday Central Market. Let's put it this way, imagine the biggest swap meet you have been to, then at least double it. And everyone and his mother was there. Little old Italian ladies are so cute walking down the street arm in arm, but get them in this market and they can push and shove with the best of them!
While we were there Michelle and Diana picked up a few shirts. Diana bought an apron and some cheese, and Michelle bought a new laundry basket for Zander. It is a pop up kind that has a chicken design on the top. Even Tim thought it was cute. Getting it home will be fun, but we think it will fit in one of our packs. Tim also picked up some olives, which look delicious.
By the end we were all a little exhausted and needed to rest our feet. We left the Central Market in search of food and found a little cafe that sold pizza. We intended to get 4 pieces, but somewhere in the translation we ended up with 6. Which ended up being fine as we needed some food for the train to go along with our olives.
After our market expedition we headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and slowly make our way to the train station. Michelle and Tim's backpacks have already gained considerable weight. We figured out how to board the closest bus and which stop to get off on. When we got onto the bus, which was about the size of the shorter school busses, there were 3-4 people already there. At the first stop we added another 15 people. At the next stop, around 20, then 2-3 at the next two. So by the time we started leaving the city for the train station (which is a steep downhill slope) we were packed in tighter than sardines. Michelle was wedged up against at least 3 older gentleman, who all laughed at her facial expressions every time the bus jolted forward or to a stop. Once we reached the station, one of them looked at her and said "Sazione" with an empathetic expression, to which she replied "Si, Si Si" with a grateful face.
At the station, we booked our tickets for Venice, and found ourselves with about an hour to wait. We enjoyed the time with a bit of people watching, then determined that our train was already in the station, so we could board early and find some good seats. Unfortunetly, this particular train was running late, so we ended up sitting at the track with 20 of our closest friends who were in our compartment until we were almost 25 minutes late. And since our connecting train in Florence leaves 30 minutes after our train is supposed to arrive, we are guaranteed to miss that connection and need to rebook our tickets. We don't know what it is with planes and trains and making our connections but we just can't seem to do it. Grrrrrr!
So, it is official, we missed the connecting train. Both because our original train leaving Siena was late, but then also because the train broke down in Empoli. So we hopped off one train, then boarded the next train through Empoli. The only problem was, so did everyone else on our very full original train. And we all boarded a train that was already packed and about half of the original trains size. So yet again we were sandwiched tighter than sardines with about 100 of our closest friends. :) This time, for a longer period and with our packs on. Thankfully we were able to find a seat for Ed, which made the trip a little less painful.
Once in Florence we were able to visit the red ticket booth where missed trains are rescheduled. We arrived with just enough time to change the ticket, take a quick bathroom break and jump on. The nice thing is, this leg of our trip has reserved seating, so we were not stressed about finding our seats, only about getting our luggage in their very small overhead bins. Once settled we realized that we had three of the four seats in a shared seating area, and one seat was in an adjacent area. We were easily able to ask a young woman to switch seats with us, which she was gracious enough to do.
And we thought we were off and running at that point, having gone through one train delay and come out on the end only one hour behind. And then the real fun began. About an hour into our final train to Venice, there was a rapid announcement in Italian that had all of the people around us groaning and hitting their heads. We asked someone what happened, and they said there would be an hour or more delay, with no details given. We all looked at each other and rolled our eyes, score one more for the Italian train system! But what can we do? So we made the best of it. Michelle pulled out a book and bought a water on board, Ed and Diana began watching a movie on our Ipad and Tim took a nap. So all in all, instead of arriving at 6 pm, we arrived in Venice exhausted and starving at 9:30 pm. We found our hotel (finally) and by 11 we were out to grab a quick bite. Back in the rooms at 11:30 and off to bed. Tomorrow we will all be sleeping in a little. :)
So there you have it, we are safe and sound and in Venice for the next two days. See you tomorrow!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Scenic Siena. . . .
We slept in late on Tuesday (if you can call 8 am late) and had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Most of the hotel breakfasts in our previous trips were instant coffee and a packaged sweet roll. This trip we have been surprised to find milk, cereal, a variety of breads, jams, yogurts and coffee options including fresh made cappuccino. This breakfast was no different, and was a great way to start the day.
After breakfast we hit the road, looking for a leisurely walk to see what the town was all about. Siena is built on a hill, so even with a slower pace, it still involves a lot of uphills and downhills. We tried to find the soft slopes versus the stairs, as you can find some steep staircases here.
We did find a shop that specializes in kids toys, which was a fun one. There are so many things we would have liked to buy, but with limited space to pack it home, you really have to think carefully about what you want to cart around for 8 more days. Tim found a toy lance made of soft padding that he thought would be fun for Zander, and Diana found some things for the grandkids. The shop itself was fun to explore, as the Italians have very different toys than we do in the states. Not many things with lights and batteries, which I guess is a blessing and a curse depending on the child you have. :)
After the toy store we continued walking around town, this time in the direction of one of the old entrances to the city walls called Porta Romana. Seeing something so old, that has gone through different uses was fun. Diana and Michelle kept asking each other questions like "I wonder what that door was used for" and "Why did they have the holes all the way around". Maybe we should have been history majors, because questions like that fascinate us.
From the Porte we walked back to the main square of town and found the restaurant we ate at the night before. We continued to try different dishes, and after looking, we noticedthat we had tried almost everything on the menu. Michelle had a spaghetti with a boar shank sauce, Tim had a spicy pici pasta dish, Diana had the lasagna special again and Ed had the mushroom and spinach ravioli. They were all delicious, and it was soon determined that the ravioli and lasagna were the favorites of the group.
After lunch Ed and Diana went up to their room to rest, and Tim and Michelle went to visit a small bazar that was set up in a little square. Tim bought some sunglasses (to replace an earlier pair he left in Florence somewhere) and he shared a gelato with Michelle. They window shopped down a few streets and found a little ceramics store. It is a tradition now that they buy a tea cup from a town on each of their European vacations. Once inside, they saw the shop was staffed by an adorable little old Italian woman. With her limited English, our limited Italian, and a lot of hand gestures we managed a good conversation, all about the china, our families and our travel plans. Her name was Franca, and she even allowed us to take a picture with her.
After our visit to the china shop, we went on a hunt to find the meat and cheese shop we had seen on our first trip to Siena with Brandon (our nephew) and Duane (Tim's brother). We had a vague idea where it was, but were not too sure. After a bit of searching, we did manage to locate it. Though the same gentleman (the owner) who waited on us last time was not at the shop that day, we had a great experience with the man behind the counter. The last time we were there we had bought some hard cheese to take home. They wrapped it in paper and we were on our way. The only problem was, it was a stinky cheese, so it made all of our clothes smell! This time when we bought cheese, they made sure to shrink wrap it, so we won't be smelly for the rest of this trip! To which everyone around us applauds with joy. :)
When we returned to the hotel a few hours later, Ed and Diana were waiting in the hotel lobby. They were ready to go out on the town again, so we dropped our bags and made our way to visit the Duomo. On the way Tim and Diana went into the meat and cheese shop and Diana bought some cheese too. By the time they were finished, it was getting late, so we opted to do dinner and make it an early night.
Dinner was at the Ristorante Le Campane. This was a fancier place than we had been to the night before, and finding something on the menu was a little tricky. They had an English menu, but their foods were a little exotic for our tastes. Tim and Diana had the risotto, Michelle had something called pasta with Angelfish (she almost doesn't want to know what an Angelfish is, as it looked like a sardine) and Ed had the sea bass. We all thought the meal was just . . . ok.
After dinner we took the short walk to El Campo, the big open square in the heart of Siena and sat under the stars. We ate some of the cheese that Diana had bought and some of the meats from Tim and Michelle. We sauntered back to the hotel and said goodnight. Michelle and Tim spent a bit of time researching trains for the next days trip to Venice, and Michelle had a chance to skype with Susanne and see Zander. While talking with Susanne, she had the camera trained on Zander so that she could see him. And as she was watching, he got up on all fours, rocked himself back and forth and then took his first two crawling motions forward! He has always worked himself backwards in a slow belly scoot, never on his knees and never forward. She was glad to get to see that moment, even if it was from halfway around the world. Isn't technology great! We are sure that he will be off and running by the time we finally get home. :)
Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow we make our way to Venice, so pray for safe travels!
After breakfast we hit the road, looking for a leisurely walk to see what the town was all about. Siena is built on a hill, so even with a slower pace, it still involves a lot of uphills and downhills. We tried to find the soft slopes versus the stairs, as you can find some steep staircases here.
We did find a shop that specializes in kids toys, which was a fun one. There are so many things we would have liked to buy, but with limited space to pack it home, you really have to think carefully about what you want to cart around for 8 more days. Tim found a toy lance made of soft padding that he thought would be fun for Zander, and Diana found some things for the grandkids. The shop itself was fun to explore, as the Italians have very different toys than we do in the states. Not many things with lights and batteries, which I guess is a blessing and a curse depending on the child you have. :)
After the toy store we continued walking around town, this time in the direction of one of the old entrances to the city walls called Porta Romana. Seeing something so old, that has gone through different uses was fun. Diana and Michelle kept asking each other questions like "I wonder what that door was used for" and "Why did they have the holes all the way around". Maybe we should have been history majors, because questions like that fascinate us.
From the Porte we walked back to the main square of town and found the restaurant we ate at the night before. We continued to try different dishes, and after looking, we noticedthat we had tried almost everything on the menu. Michelle had a spaghetti with a boar shank sauce, Tim had a spicy pici pasta dish, Diana had the lasagna special again and Ed had the mushroom and spinach ravioli. They were all delicious, and it was soon determined that the ravioli and lasagna were the favorites of the group.
After lunch Ed and Diana went up to their room to rest, and Tim and Michelle went to visit a small bazar that was set up in a little square. Tim bought some sunglasses (to replace an earlier pair he left in Florence somewhere) and he shared a gelato with Michelle. They window shopped down a few streets and found a little ceramics store. It is a tradition now that they buy a tea cup from a town on each of their European vacations. Once inside, they saw the shop was staffed by an adorable little old Italian woman. With her limited English, our limited Italian, and a lot of hand gestures we managed a good conversation, all about the china, our families and our travel plans. Her name was Franca, and she even allowed us to take a picture with her.
After our visit to the china shop, we went on a hunt to find the meat and cheese shop we had seen on our first trip to Siena with Brandon (our nephew) and Duane (Tim's brother). We had a vague idea where it was, but were not too sure. After a bit of searching, we did manage to locate it. Though the same gentleman (the owner) who waited on us last time was not at the shop that day, we had a great experience with the man behind the counter. The last time we were there we had bought some hard cheese to take home. They wrapped it in paper and we were on our way. The only problem was, it was a stinky cheese, so it made all of our clothes smell! This time when we bought cheese, they made sure to shrink wrap it, so we won't be smelly for the rest of this trip! To which everyone around us applauds with joy. :)
When we returned to the hotel a few hours later, Ed and Diana were waiting in the hotel lobby. They were ready to go out on the town again, so we dropped our bags and made our way to visit the Duomo. On the way Tim and Diana went into the meat and cheese shop and Diana bought some cheese too. By the time they were finished, it was getting late, so we opted to do dinner and make it an early night.
Dinner was at the Ristorante Le Campane. This was a fancier place than we had been to the night before, and finding something on the menu was a little tricky. They had an English menu, but their foods were a little exotic for our tastes. Tim and Diana had the risotto, Michelle had something called pasta with Angelfish (she almost doesn't want to know what an Angelfish is, as it looked like a sardine) and Ed had the sea bass. We all thought the meal was just . . . ok.
After dinner we took the short walk to El Campo, the big open square in the heart of Siena and sat under the stars. We ate some of the cheese that Diana had bought and some of the meats from Tim and Michelle. We sauntered back to the hotel and said goodnight. Michelle and Tim spent a bit of time researching trains for the next days trip to Venice, and Michelle had a chance to skype with Susanne and see Zander. While talking with Susanne, she had the camera trained on Zander so that she could see him. And as she was watching, he got up on all fours, rocked himself back and forth and then took his first two crawling motions forward! He has always worked himself backwards in a slow belly scoot, never on his knees and never forward. She was glad to get to see that moment, even if it was from halfway around the world. Isn't technology great! We are sure that he will be off and running by the time we finally get home. :)
Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow we make our way to Venice, so pray for safe travels!
Ciao Firenze (Florence), off to Siena
Today (Monday) was our last day in Florence, and we are going to give you the abridged version of the events. :) We ate our last amazing breakfast at the hotel and headed over to the Santa Croce church. The church itself is amazing, and they also have a leather school attached to it which trains artisans in how to make leather goods. We thought this would be a good place to pick up a few things, but the prices were a little out of our comfort zone. Like $750 euros for a purse, over $1,000 euros for a jacket. The quality of the leather was amazing, but we just couldn't see paying that much for a luxury item.
After the church we crossed the Ponte Vecchio and visited the exterior of the Pitti Palace. There was no time to visit inside. We had lunch at a little cafe in front of the palace, nothing too spectacular. The one thing we are missing on this trip is mayonayse and mustard. We have had our fair share of sandwiches, but they are always so dry without any condiments. And it seems the Italians like it this way. What we woudn't give for a few little mustard packets!
After the Pitti palace we headed back to the hotel to gather our bags and see if we could call the credit card company to have a replacement card sent out. After about an hour on the phone, we were able to speak to a suprovisor who was able to make it happen. They were going to overnight it to our hotel in Venice. Fingers and toes crossed that it actually arrives! While Tim was on the phone working on that, Ed, Diana and Michelle had a lovely conversation with the hotel clerk named Alex. His English was excellent and he was very interested in learning about the partculars of American culture. It was a treat to be able to pick his brain on Italian culture as well.
With our bags we headed out to the San Lorenzo market. It is a huge market with 200+ vendors who have little roadside carts. Every night they pack it down and lock up their goods, some of them leaving their carts right there on the street. Others you can see hauling their carts back to their store front, sometimes blocks away. Tim bought some belts and ties and Diana and Michelle bought some gifts for the family. We had a divided approach. Ed and Michelle initially stayed with the bags so that Tim and Diana could shop, then once they were done Diana and Michelle went off and looked for their things. It kept us from all having to pack around 30+ lb packs in the middle of a crowded market.
After the market we were off on a train to Siena, a small little hill town closer to the western coast of Italy. The train station has changed drastically since the last time Tim and Michelle were there. They have added an entire underground path that takes you out of the train station, and under the main street in front of the train station to the underground bus terminal. Tim and Michelle were so turned around. After asking a local for bus information we headed on a very rocky bus ride to our hotel.
We arrive at the hotel, Albergo Cannon D' Oro and paid 240 Euros for two rooms for two nights, which is a steal. We love Booking.com, a website we use to book our rooms. They give great last minute deals, and have reviews from past guest that you can read before making a reservation. We checked into the rooms - Ed and Diana were on the ground floor, Tim and Michelle were on the 3rd floor. We asked for a recommendation of place to eat from Brian at the front desk and he said he eats at Ristorante Guidoriccio, which is just to the right of the parliament building in El Campo. This was the best recommendation for food we have received so far. It is set in an old wine cellar, which makes the ambiance spectacular. Michelle had the rissoto, Diana had the lasagna special, Ed had the steak, and Tim had the gnocchi bolognase. For dessert, Diana had the lemon cupcakes, Michelle had the panecota (a close cousin to creme brulee), Ed had some assorted Tuscan cookies and Tin had a chocolate cupcake with liquor on top.
Fully stuffed to the gills, we went back to room and tried calling Zander. He was napping, which was a bummer, but I am grateful that we are able to talk to him at all during our trip.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wallets, bikes and . . . ah crap our credit card!
As we checked in last night we learned that there would be a time change the following morning, with us loosing an hour. Yes, not only did we go through our own time change in the states, and struggle through jet lag for 2-3 days, we now have another time change. This caused us to wake up a little later than usual.
We finally got through to find out that someone had double swiped our card, i.e. we paid for a purchase using the card, they took our card back and swiped once to pay for our purchase, then a second time in a second machine to gather the information on our card. They then swiped a second blank card to store our information on, and used that card at various places in Rome to make almost $6,000 worth of purchases. Yeah us! As if we had not already had enough drama, now we needed to deal with this. It was easy to dispute the charges as we were in Florence by the time they were made, but was a pain to have to waste time getting it sorted out.
As we left the hotel, we bumped into an outdoor antique market that had been set up overnight right outside of our door. There were 3 blocks of wall to wall vendors, with a lot of different things for sale. We spent about 2 hours slowly cruising up and down the aisles trying to see if there were any good finds that we would be willing to pack back to the US. If Michelle lived in Florence, she would have bought much of the furniture there. As it was, she was seriously thinking about trying to get a set of 6 Danish looking chairs into her luggage. :)
We meandered our way to the train station and caught a train to Pisa. Once there, we walked to the monument, all the while experiencing off and on showers. So for people who bring 2 unbrellas, 4 rain ponchos and 4 rain jackets, we were woefully unprepared. As in we had none of that. But we did have the ability to stand in doorways until the rain subsided and lucky for us, it was off and on showers. After the tower, we stopped for pizza at a local cafe. While we were there a man came in to use the phone. He had just been pick pocketed, and needed to call the police. It added a little drama to the afternoon, and we were glad, for once, that it was not our drama! We were hoping to hit the beach too, but by the time we finished with the Leaning Tower, we were all exhausted and decided to head home.
Once back in Florence we had kababs again for dinner (what can we say, they are delicious!) did some laundry, made a facetime call to Zander and fell asleep. Tim and Michelle are convinced that the homesickness has been kept at bay because we are still able to see Zander each day through facetime. We can also get pictures and short videos of him from Tim's sister Susanne (thanks Q!).
What would we all do without modern technology! More updates to come on our most recent days, stay tuned!
Daylight savings time strikes again!
As we checked in last night we learned that there would be a time change the following moring, with us loosing an hour. Yes, not only did we go through our own time change in the states, and struggle through jet lag for 2-3 days, we now have another time change. This caused us to wake up a little later than usual.
We also had the very nice surpise of an e-mail the night before from one of the main credit cards we are using while here saying there was some supicious activity on our card. We had tough time trying to get a collect call into our credit card, so we had Tim's sister try to call and determine what the problem was. She was not allowed any information, but was told that it could be an issue that the card company just didn't know we were traveling. Tim was certain that he had called and let them know of our plans.
We finally got through to find out that someone had double swiped our card, i.e. we paid for a purchase using the card, they took our card back and swiped once to pay for our purchase, then a second time in a second machine to gather the information on our card. They then swiped a second blank card to store our information on, and used that card at various places in Rome to make almost $6,000 worth of purchases. Yeah us! As if we had not already had enough drama, now we needed to deal with this. It was easy to dispute the charges as we were in Florence by the time they were made, but was a pain to have to waste time getting it sorted out.
As we left the hotel, we bumped into an outdoor antique market that had been set up overnight right outside of our door. There were 3 blocks of wall to wall vendors, with a lot of different things for sale. We spent about 2 hours slowly cruising up and down the aisles trying to see if there were any good finds that we would be willing to pack back to the US. If Michelle lived in Florence, she would have bought much of the furniture there. As it was, she was seriously thinking about trying to get a set of 6 Danish looking chairs into her luggage. :)
We meandered our way to the train station and caught a train to Pisa. Once there, we walked to the monument, all the while experiencing off and on showers. So for people who bring 2 unbrellas, 4 rain ponchos and 4 rain jackets, we were woefully unprepared. As in we had none of that. But we did have the ability to stand in doorways until the rain subsided and lucky for us, it was off and on showers. After the tower, we stopped for pizza at a local cafe. While we were there a man came in to use the phone. He had just been pick pocketed, and needed to call the police. It added a little drama to the afternoon, and we were glad, for once, that it was not our drama! We were hoping to hit the beach too, but by the time we finished with the Leaning Tower, we were all exhausted and decided to head home.
On the train back to Florence we were in a compartment (the last one on the train) with a couple who had obviously just finished with a long bike ride. They were the serious riders, with the fancy pants and shirts. Their bikes were road bikes, and obviously not cheap. They put their bikes on the bike racks on the train, then went past the handicapped compartment and took a seat in our compartment. During the train ride a gypsy woman came by begging for change. She then hid in the handicapped bathroom. We knew she was there because she had not come back through our cabin yet and the handicapped bathroom door was locked. The next thing we know, as the train is stopped, the woman biker is screaming at the man, and running off of the train. He jumps up, runs off the train, then back on the train, grabs his bike and takes off riding in one direction while she goes running down the platform in the other direction. It turns out, her bike was stolen, and she just realized it at that stop. She thought someone took her bike and was trying to find them. While they are both running down the track searching, the train pulls away. A few stops later, Tim figured out what happened. The gypsy took the woman's bike and went into the handicapped bathroom with it to hide. The woman biker realized her bike was gone, she and the man got off of the train in search of it. The train then pulls away. At the next stop, the gypsy got off of the train with the bike and road in the opposite direction of the train, so no one on the train would see her leave with it. Pretty smart, and made us realize that, yet again, you should never be separated from your belongings and should always be on your guard.
Once back in Florence we had kababs again for dinner (what can we say, they are delicious!) did some laundry, made a facetime call to Zander and fell asleep. Tim and Michelle are convinced that the homesickness has been kept at bay because we are still able to see Zander each day through facetime. We can also get pictures and short videos of him from Tim's sister Susanne (thanks Q!).
What would we all do without modern technology! More updates to come on our most recent days, stay tuned!
Mama Gina's, Mama Gina's and we wish more Mama Gina's
Ok, so we have a bit of catching up to do! Know that we are alive, well, and having so much fun (and so many late nights!) that we have not kept up on the blog as we should have. Sorry for that. Today is a down-time day, so we should be able to catch you up on the adventures of the last three days.
Last we left off we were headed to Mama Gina's for dinner. Ed decided to stay and rest in the room, so we made him some chicken noodle soup from some packets we brought, plugged him into the only English channel we got on the tv (yeah BBC news!) and headed out. We started with some appetizers of bruschetta and pate which were recommended. They were . . . ok. Tim had a steak with cream and green pepper sauce, Michelle had a chicken with cognac and mushroom sauce, and Diana had the chicken Mama Gina. We also had the white (canallini) beans, some wine and 3 different desserts. Yeah, we were a little hungry. We all loved our main meals, the sides and white beans were just ok. After dinner we took a long hike home, zig zagging around town. We want to say that it was because we intended to take a long walk home, but there may have been a little bit of wine involved in the navigation. :)
The next morning we were off to the Academia. Ed decided to stay and rest again, so he missed this museum. The Academia is a little museum, but its prized possession is Michaelangelo's statue of David. You can see pictures of it all of your life, but there is something about seeing the massive sculpture in person that just takes your breath away. Michelle also likes the unfinished sculptures that are also on display from Michaelangelo. You can see the creative process at work here as these figures seem to rise up out of the marble, but never quite escape. Plus, most other sculpters did cermaic models of their work and then copied from there. Michaelangelo (they say) is one of the only ones who worked directly on the marble, no pre-work done. Which is just astounding.
After the Academia we did some shopping, and met a woman in a wine and olive oil shop who was from Chicago. We got to chatting with her, and ended up buying some olive oil, basalmic vinagrette and some local spice mixtures. Afterwards we went and picked up Ed, and slowly made our way to the Ufuzzi gallery. The Ufuzzi is a large horseshoe shapped gallery full of all kinds of paintings and sculptures. Unfortunately, the rooms that Michelle was most interested in (where there are a number of large sculptures) was closed for restoration. But overall it was fun to take the Rick Steves tour version and hear about the history of many of the works.
After the gallery we walked around and did some shopping, ate a late lunch of kababs, and went back to the room. Ed decided to stay home and relax with another bowl of soup, the rest of us headed back to . . . wait for it . . . Mama Gina's! For appetisers we had an avocado and shrimp with thousand island dressing dish, and a dish with raw artichoke with olive oil and slices of paremsean cheese. We have to say, the avocado/shrimp dish was interesting, we could have done without the raw artichokes. :) But, life is an adventure, right, you try new things and the worst thing that happens is that you don't like it. Tim had the steak again, Michelle had the chicken again (what was that we just said about trying new things?), and Diana tried chicken tuscany style with fried zuchinni. This basically meant fried chicken and zuchini fries. We also had fried artichoke as a side with dinner. Dessert was for Michelle, and was a traditional tiramisou. Overall, another wonderful meal!
We walked back from the hotel, this time in more of a straight line than last night, and took a moment at the Arno river for pictures. While there, we met a couple from New York who were having dinner with their friend from Texas. The woman from Texas was there for a semester as a student. It was fun to meet some random people and share a laugh and travel tips in such a beautiful location.
A short walk brought us home and to bed. All in all, a good day!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Photo Bomber strikes again and again
First appearing in Rome a couple of days ago, the Photo Bomber has been striking tourist cameras throughout Florence. The typical motis operandi of the Photo Bomber is to appear like an unsuspecting tourist gasping at the wonders of the city as she strategically maneuvers between the photographer and their subject. The Photo Bomber likes to display a shocked expression as she attempts to fill the viewfinder of the photographer, but with the number of instances authorities believe that this is just a rouse to prevent a confrontation. This reporter has been unable to catch the Photo Bomber in action, but when possible a picture of the subject will be posted to warn others of her presence. Luckily, in this digital age the damage caused by the Photo Bomber is usually quickly erased with a push of the delete button.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Ciao Roma, onto Firenze
Day three saw a slower pace as we did not have any reservations, so we could take our time getting up and going. We did need to go to the termini train station to buy tickets to Florence for the train, so that was on the to do list. We had also written a few postcards and bought some stamps, so we decided to head to the train station, then back to the Vatican so that we could mail the postcards from there. Diana decided she wanted to go with us, so we let Ed sleep in a bit and the three of us were off.
This was Diana's first experience with the termini train station, and I think it is safe to say she was a little overwhelmed. From the number of people fast moving to their destinations, to the warnings we gave her about the pick pockets and their usual scams, her eyes were wide open and she never left our side. But we made it through just fine, and were able to buy the tickets from a vending machine they now had set up in the main square. In fact, there were no people selling tickets anymore, just machines. What a change from when we were here 5 years ago!
We quickly headed back to the metro and were off to St. Peters square. We spent a bit of time leisurely going through the church again, with Tim asking if we wanted to go back up to the top of the dome again. Michelle assumed he was kidding, as even her knees screamed NO!
We headed back and collected Ed and were off for a light breakfast and a visit to the Trevi fountain. We also swung by the Pantheon for a short Rick Steves audio tour and then to another cafe for some cappuccino. I tell you, we all might become addicted to those things! Between that and gelato (which we also enjoyed after the cappuccino), we may all decide to just stay here!
After all that eating it was back to the hotel to grab our bags and off to the train station. Though it was a bit nerve wracking to travel with 4 people and all of our bags, we made it through just fine and were able to get onto our train. The problem was that we wanted to get there early so that we could all sit together. But since it seems like everyone in Italy was headed to Florence on this same train, we ended up squeezing ourselves into two different spaces, sitting two by two. Michelle and Ed were in a compartment with two Italians and a nice lady who lived in Italy but was originally from England. As one of the Italians left, we moved Diana into the compartment, and the nice woman from England let us know she would be getting off soon, so we could all be together in another 2-3 stops.
The second half of the trip was spent all together in a compartment, which made it much more relaxing. Once in Florence we made a long hike to our hotel. The hotel is in the city center, but is a good 20 min walk from the train station. Ed and Diana hung in there like true toopers, though they are taking "a few minutes" to rest before going out for dinner. When we made these reservations we reserved two double rooms, and were surprised that the hotel had a 2 bedroom appartment. The thing that surprised us most was that the cost was twice the cost of reserving two separate rooms. So we booked the two separate rooms for the cheaper rate. Once we arrived though, the owners of the appartment changed their minds and are letting us have the appartment for the same rate! So now we have two very big rooms, access to the internet in our room (versus the lobby) and a living room, clothes washer and kitchen. It is a beautiful place, and it is ours for the next three days. Ahhhhh!
After a rest, we are going to try to eat at Mama Gina's, with the hope that it is still as good as it was 5 years ago! Ciao!
This was Diana's first experience with the termini train station, and I think it is safe to say she was a little overwhelmed. From the number of people fast moving to their destinations, to the warnings we gave her about the pick pockets and their usual scams, her eyes were wide open and she never left our side. But we made it through just fine, and were able to buy the tickets from a vending machine they now had set up in the main square. In fact, there were no people selling tickets anymore, just machines. What a change from when we were here 5 years ago!
We quickly headed back to the metro and were off to St. Peters square. We spent a bit of time leisurely going through the church again, with Tim asking if we wanted to go back up to the top of the dome again. Michelle assumed he was kidding, as even her knees screamed NO!
We headed back and collected Ed and were off for a light breakfast and a visit to the Trevi fountain. We also swung by the Pantheon for a short Rick Steves audio tour and then to another cafe for some cappuccino. I tell you, we all might become addicted to those things! Between that and gelato (which we also enjoyed after the cappuccino), we may all decide to just stay here!
After all that eating it was back to the hotel to grab our bags and off to the train station. Though it was a bit nerve wracking to travel with 4 people and all of our bags, we made it through just fine and were able to get onto our train. The problem was that we wanted to get there early so that we could all sit together. But since it seems like everyone in Italy was headed to Florence on this same train, we ended up squeezing ourselves into two different spaces, sitting two by two. Michelle and Ed were in a compartment with two Italians and a nice lady who lived in Italy but was originally from England. As one of the Italians left, we moved Diana into the compartment, and the nice woman from England let us know she would be getting off soon, so we could all be together in another 2-3 stops.
The second half of the trip was spent all together in a compartment, which made it much more relaxing. Once in Florence we made a long hike to our hotel. The hotel is in the city center, but is a good 20 min walk from the train station. Ed and Diana hung in there like true toopers, though they are taking "a few minutes" to rest before going out for dinner. When we made these reservations we reserved two double rooms, and were surprised that the hotel had a 2 bedroom appartment. The thing that surprised us most was that the cost was twice the cost of reserving two separate rooms. So we booked the two separate rooms for the cheaper rate. Once we arrived though, the owners of the appartment changed their minds and are letting us have the appartment for the same rate! So now we have two very big rooms, access to the internet in our room (versus the lobby) and a living room, clothes washer and kitchen. It is a beautiful place, and it is ours for the next three days. Ahhhhh!
After a rest, we are going to try to eat at Mama Gina's, with the hope that it is still as good as it was 5 years ago! Ciao!
Vatican Shmatican
So for our second day in Rome, we decided to hit the Vatican experience, this time with a tour of the gardens and then entrance into the museum and Sistine chapel. We woke bright and early to make our 9:30 tour time, picking up breakfast at a little cafe (included with the cost of our room). It consisted of a cappuccino or tea and a small breakfast pastry. And it was delicious. Even Diana enjoyed a cappuccino, abet with a healthy dose of sugar. We are pretty sure adding sugar to an Italian coffee is a little like adding casup to french fries, but we do it anyway. These Italians like their coffee strong!
We made it with 20 minutes to spare to the Vatican, and jumped into the tour line. If you ever have the chance to get to Rome and you want to visit the Vatican, pay the extra money for a tour. it allows you to avoid the long lines which wrap all the way around the Vatican walls. But the garden tour is not that impressive. Pretty gardens, to be sure, but you can see better for free by going to the Borghuese gardens.
Many parts of the Vatican museum were different than Tim and Michelle remembered, so it was fun to tour the new exhibits, but it also made the amount of time spent on your feet very long. By the end, we could not wait to get to the Sistine chapel to have a place to sit down. Once there we found a place for Ed and Diana to sit, and let them listen to an audio tour by Rick Steves on the itouch. Tim and I then listened to the same tour on the ipad and relaxed a bit once we were able to find seats as well. Going in the middle of March versus the middle of July was wonderful for crowds. It seemed like there were 1/4 the number of people at the Vatican as the last time we went.
Once out of the Sistine chapel we headed over to St. Peter's basillica. Ed was getting a little tired and said he would rather sit on the steps and rest instead of going in. Tim persuaded him to go in for a minute, and once inside his eyes got wide and he was re-energized to see the space. Mainly because it is so HUGE, and vastly overwhelming the first time you see it. Michelle noticed this time that all of the art in the upper portions of all of the domes were actually mosaics. Which is amazing, because there are at least 6 domes that allow light into the space, not to mention the large center dome. This is the one you can climb, and of course that is on Tim's list of things to do on this trip. So he and Michelle find the entrance, and of course instead of paying the fee to take the elevator half way up, we decide to pay the smaller fee to walk it. All 551 steps! And some of those steps, as you get inside of the dome, are quite steep and slanted towards the curve of the dome, so you climb a step and your right hand is guiding you on the sloped part because you cannot stand up straight. The last set of stairs is so steep that instead of a handrail you have a rope that hangs from the ceiling in the center of the staircase. It was a workout, but oh my were the views worth it. We know our knees and hips will be killing us tomorrow, but we would do it again if given the chance.
After the dome climb it was back down and off to find some food and a nice place to sit. We tried to go to one restaurant but found that it was closed for the afternoon. So we tried the one across the street - Hosteria Pizzeria "Da Vito E Dina" - and found the owner, Vito, to be hilarious. It turns out that restaurant had been reviewed by an LA times writer, and Vito had the original article framed and posted on his wall. Being so early for dinner at 6PM, Vito had to turn on the dining room lights and obviously we had the entire room to ourselves. Tim and Diana each had a sausage and mushroom pizza, Michelle had the mushroom ravioli, and Ed had a salad and bruschetta. All of the food was delicious, and not just because we were starving. :)
After such a long day on our feet we headed back to the hotel around 8:30. Tim crashed while Michelle looked for hotel rooms in Florence for the next 3 nights. She also skyped with Susanne and was able to see Zander. At one point she sang one of his favorite songs and he stared into the camera and laughed the whole time. We have to say, modern technology is amazing. It makes traveling so much easier and almost cures the homesickness that delevops from being away from your loved ones so long. Almost that is.
Well, time for bed. Tomorrow is a light day full of the last visits to sites and then catching a regional train to Florence. We are looking forward to a slower pace of life for a little while. Ciao!
We made it with 20 minutes to spare to the Vatican, and jumped into the tour line. If you ever have the chance to get to Rome and you want to visit the Vatican, pay the extra money for a tour. it allows you to avoid the long lines which wrap all the way around the Vatican walls. But the garden tour is not that impressive. Pretty gardens, to be sure, but you can see better for free by going to the Borghuese gardens.
Many parts of the Vatican museum were different than Tim and Michelle remembered, so it was fun to tour the new exhibits, but it also made the amount of time spent on your feet very long. By the end, we could not wait to get to the Sistine chapel to have a place to sit down. Once there we found a place for Ed and Diana to sit, and let them listen to an audio tour by Rick Steves on the itouch. Tim and I then listened to the same tour on the ipad and relaxed a bit once we were able to find seats as well. Going in the middle of March versus the middle of July was wonderful for crowds. It seemed like there were 1/4 the number of people at the Vatican as the last time we went.
Once out of the Sistine chapel we headed over to St. Peter's basillica. Ed was getting a little tired and said he would rather sit on the steps and rest instead of going in. Tim persuaded him to go in for a minute, and once inside his eyes got wide and he was re-energized to see the space. Mainly because it is so HUGE, and vastly overwhelming the first time you see it. Michelle noticed this time that all of the art in the upper portions of all of the domes were actually mosaics. Which is amazing, because there are at least 6 domes that allow light into the space, not to mention the large center dome. This is the one you can climb, and of course that is on Tim's list of things to do on this trip. So he and Michelle find the entrance, and of course instead of paying the fee to take the elevator half way up, we decide to pay the smaller fee to walk it. All 551 steps! And some of those steps, as you get inside of the dome, are quite steep and slanted towards the curve of the dome, so you climb a step and your right hand is guiding you on the sloped part because you cannot stand up straight. The last set of stairs is so steep that instead of a handrail you have a rope that hangs from the ceiling in the center of the staircase. It was a workout, but oh my were the views worth it. We know our knees and hips will be killing us tomorrow, but we would do it again if given the chance.
After the dome climb it was back down and off to find some food and a nice place to sit. We tried to go to one restaurant but found that it was closed for the afternoon. So we tried the one across the street - Hosteria Pizzeria "Da Vito E Dina" - and found the owner, Vito, to be hilarious. It turns out that restaurant had been reviewed by an LA times writer, and Vito had the original article framed and posted on his wall. Being so early for dinner at 6PM, Vito had to turn on the dining room lights and obviously we had the entire room to ourselves. Tim and Diana each had a sausage and mushroom pizza, Michelle had the mushroom ravioli, and Ed had a salad and bruschetta. All of the food was delicious, and not just because we were starving. :)
After such a long day on our feet we headed back to the hotel around 8:30. Tim crashed while Michelle looked for hotel rooms in Florence for the next 3 nights. She also skyped with Susanne and was able to see Zander. At one point she sang one of his favorite songs and he stared into the camera and laughed the whole time. We have to say, modern technology is amazing. It makes traveling so much easier and almost cures the homesickness that delevops from being away from your loved ones so long. Almost that is.
Well, time for bed. Tomorrow is a light day full of the last visits to sites and then catching a regional train to Florence. We are looking forward to a slower pace of life for a little while. Ciao!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Day 1 - Part 2
So we left off the last post with the four of us back together on a plane bound for Rome. The only problem was, the girls and their checked luggage were on the plane, and the boys were on the plane, but though they missed their origianl connecting flight, their bags made it through just fine, arriving at 8 am Rome time. So once we landed and retrieved the gals bags, we headed over the customer service to see where we needed to go to find the boys bags. We were told that only bag owners could go into this secure area, so Michelle and Diana camped out at a cafe and waited. And waited. And waited. About an hour and a half later, the boys managed to find their luggage. It was no easy feat either, and the girls were very relieved to see them finally return from their search.
We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel as it was cheaper to do that with 4 people than to take the train. The taxi driver was a pretty funny man, and he made sure to point out the major tourist sights as we drove past them. The rooms are clean and comfortable, which was a relief to see after such a long day. After a few moments to decompress, we were off again.
Our first stop was to the metro to ride out to the Colloseaum, which was a fun experience for Ed and Diana. A lot of people all rushing around underground from here to there. We made sure to stop and explain the system so that (hopefully) it wasn't so overwhelming. When we stepped out of the metro stop, there it was. Using our Roma pass we went right in, and using our ipad and itouch the four of us were able to listen to a podcast from Rick Steves that guided you around the monument and told the history at the same time. Being a teacher, we think Diana especially enjoyed hearing about the history of the place.
Once we were done there, we tried heading over the Palentine Hill and the Forum, but it was too late and everything was closed. So we walked up to dinner near the Piazza Navrona. Of course, before dinner we needed to stop for a little gellato. :) Dinner was a recommendation from the Rick Steves book, since Tim and Michelle had never really had a great meal in their previous trip to Rome. A very good meal of gnocchi for Ed and Michelle, a spicy spaghetti for Tim and an artechoke and linguinni for Diana. We took a slow walk back to the hotel, passing by the Trevi fountain at night (so beautiful!) and called it a day. Tomorrow we are off for a tour to the Vatican, which we are all looking forward to. More to come!
We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel as it was cheaper to do that with 4 people than to take the train. The taxi driver was a pretty funny man, and he made sure to point out the major tourist sights as we drove past them. The rooms are clean and comfortable, which was a relief to see after such a long day. After a few moments to decompress, we were off again.
Our first stop was to the metro to ride out to the Colloseaum, which was a fun experience for Ed and Diana. A lot of people all rushing around underground from here to there. We made sure to stop and explain the system so that (hopefully) it wasn't so overwhelming. When we stepped out of the metro stop, there it was. Using our Roma pass we went right in, and using our ipad and itouch the four of us were able to listen to a podcast from Rick Steves that guided you around the monument and told the history at the same time. Being a teacher, we think Diana especially enjoyed hearing about the history of the place.
Once we were done there, we tried heading over the Palentine Hill and the Forum, but it was too late and everything was closed. So we walked up to dinner near the Piazza Navrona. Of course, before dinner we needed to stop for a little gellato. :) Dinner was a recommendation from the Rick Steves book, since Tim and Michelle had never really had a great meal in their previous trip to Rome. A very good meal of gnocchi for Ed and Michelle, a spicy spaghetti for Tim and an artechoke and linguinni for Diana. We took a slow walk back to the hotel, passing by the Trevi fountain at night (so beautiful!) and called it a day. Tomorrow we are off for a tour to the Vatican, which we are all looking forward to. More to come!
Day 1 - Part 1
On the road again . . .
So here we go again, off on another grand adventure. And today did not fail to provide adventure. But I am getting a little ahead of myself, let's begin at the beginning.
Tim and Michelle headed down with Zander on Monday night, arriving in LA at Tim's parents house around 11:30 pm. Their philosophy on jet lag is that if you just don't sleep the night before your flight, then adjust yourself to the time zone of where you are going and sleep according to those time periods on the plane, you can hit the ground running free from jet lag once you arrive. So true to form, we stayed awake all night and early morning packing and planning with Ed and Diana. Tim's sister Susanne arrived around 5 am for the trip to LAX to catch our 8:30 flight. And here is where all of the real fun began.
Five minutes into the drive to the airport Ed realized that he forgot his glasses at home. Thankfully it was a quick turn around to get back to the house, and a short search quickly revealed them in the bedroom. Then, we were back on the road . . . again.
We arrived at LAX around 6:30 am and said tearful goodbyes. I give you one good guess to see who in our party of four had the "tearful" part. Tim said a few bets have been made (he won't say by whom) on how long Michelle will last before a meltdown. Yeah, it was Michelle, but you can't really count that as a meltdown, she gets at least one freebie.
On the road again . . .
So here we go again, off on another grand adventure. And today did not fail to provide adventure. But I am getting a little ahead of myself, let's begin at the beginning.
Tim and Michelle headed down with Zander on Monday night, arriving in LA at Tim's parents house around 11:30 pm. Their philosophy on jet lag is that if you just don't sleep the night before your flight, then adjust yourself to the time zone of where you are going and sleep according to those time periods on the plane, you can hit the ground running free from jet lag once you arrive. So true to form, we stayed awake all night and early morning packing and planning with Ed and Diana. Tim's sister Susanne arrived around 5 am for the trip to LAX to catch our 8:30 flight. And here is where all of the real fun began.
Five minutes into the drive to the airport Ed realized that he forgot his glasses at home. Thankfully it was a quick turn around to get back to the house, and a short search quickly revealed them in the bedroom. Then, we were back on the road . . . again.
We arrived at LAX around 6:30 am and said tearful goodbyes. I give you one good guess to see who in our party of four had the "tearful" part. Tim said a few bets have been made (he won't say by whom) on how long Michelle will last before a meltdown. Yeah, it was Michelle, but you can't really count that as a meltdown, she gets at least one freebie. :)
We go to check into the kiosk and get our boarding passes next. Tim checks in, passport is scanned an accepted. Michelle checks in, passport is scanned and accepted. Diana goes to check in . . . and can't find her passport. It turns out that when we made copies of them for Susanne to keep in case of an emergency, we forgot to take the passport back out of the scanner. So it is at home, and our flight leaves in 90 minutes. We make a quick call to Susanne to see if she can run back to the house and back out to LAX. She tries her darnedest, but long story short, with the major increase in traffic (remember, it is now around 7:30 am on a Tuesday) she just can't get there in time. So Tim and Ed hop on the plane, and Michelle and Diana are left to wait for the passport and then work with the airline to rebook the tickets. And before all of you start giving the guys grief for leaving their wives, know that it was the wives idea and we pushed them to go. We figured it was easier and cheeper to rebook 2 people versus 4. And off they went, barely making their plane.
The nice thing was, Tim had talked to the booking agents, the TSA workers and the baggage workers about our situation, so once Michelle and Diana got in line to rebook their tickets, they had lots of friends who could commiserate with them and help them get going. Plus, the women just made the decision that they would be happy with whatever happened, and consider this a grand adventure. There was no sense being angry about it, and this was made all the more real by the number of angry people in line who took out their frustration on the ticketing agents. When they reached the front of the line they were told that there were no flights until the next day. Michelle asked her to check any flights that would get them to Rome, no matter the layover location. At the same time, they made sure to say thank you to everyone who had helped earlier in the morning. And wouldn't you know it, the ticketing agent could find us two seats on the next plane (leaving in 3 hours) and we would get to Rome 4 hours behind the guys. When asked how much the transfer cost to the new tickets, they were told it was FREE. We had just watched person after person rebooking missed flights and having to pull out credit cards. And here we were getting the change done for free, even though it was our fault that we missed the flight. The agent had mercy on us and put down that we missed our flight due to "long lines" and which came with a waived fee. Praise the Lord!
The ladies bags were checked, and they hopped on the 11:30 flight to New York. When they exited, they made their way over to terminal 1 from terminal 2, and ran right into Tim! It turns out the original flight was late in leaving, causing Ed and Tim to miss the connecting flight to Rome. So they guys were rebooked on the same flight as Diana and Michelle. Not only that, Tim managed to find out that we were rebooked and worked with the ticketing agents in NY to have us all sit together.
So ends the first part of our first day. More to come later this evening. Trust us, it keeps getting better!
So here we go again, off on another grand adventure. And today did not fail to provide adventure. But I am getting a little ahead of myself, let's begin at the beginning.
Tim and Michelle headed down with Zander on Monday night, arriving in LA at Tim's parents house around 11:30 pm. Their philosophy on jet lag is that if you just don't sleep the night before your flight, then adjust yourself to the time zone of where you are going and sleep according to those time periods on the plane, you can hit the ground running free from jet lag once you arrive. So true to form, we stayed awake all night and early morning packing and planning with Ed and Diana. Tim's sister Susanne arrived around 5 am for the trip to LAX to catch our 8:30 flight. And here is where all of the real fun began.
Five minutes into the drive to the airport Ed realized that he forgot his glasses at home. Thankfully it was a quick turn around to get back to the house, and a short search quickly revealed them in the bedroom. Then, we were back on the road . . . again.
We arrived at LAX around 6:30 am and said tearful goodbyes. I give you one good guess to see who in our party of four had the "tearful" part. Tim said a few bets have been made (he won't say by whom) on how long Michelle will last before a meltdown. Yeah, it was Michelle, but you can't really count that as a meltdown, she gets at least one freebie.
On the road again . . .
So here we go again, off on another grand adventure. And today did not fail to provide adventure. But I am getting a little ahead of myself, let's begin at the beginning.
Tim and Michelle headed down with Zander on Monday night, arriving in LA at Tim's parents house around 11:30 pm. Their philosophy on jet lag is that if you just don't sleep the night before your flight, then adjust yourself to the time zone of where you are going and sleep according to those time periods on the plane, you can hit the ground running free from jet lag once you arrive. So true to form, we stayed awake all night and early morning packing and planning with Ed and Diana. Tim's sister Susanne arrived around 5 am for the trip to LAX to catch our 8:30 flight. And here is where all of the real fun began.
Five minutes into the drive to the airport Ed realized that he forgot his glasses at home. Thankfully it was a quick turn around to get back to the house, and a short search quickly revealed them in the bedroom. Then, we were back on the road . . . again.
We arrived at LAX around 6:30 am and said tearful goodbyes. I give you one good guess to see who in our party of four had the "tearful" part. Tim said a few bets have been made (he won't say by whom) on how long Michelle will last before a meltdown. Yeah, it was Michelle, but you can't really count that as a meltdown, she gets at least one freebie. :)
We go to check into the kiosk and get our boarding passes next. Tim checks in, passport is scanned an accepted. Michelle checks in, passport is scanned and accepted. Diana goes to check in . . . and can't find her passport. It turns out that when we made copies of them for Susanne to keep in case of an emergency, we forgot to take the passport back out of the scanner. So it is at home, and our flight leaves in 90 minutes. We make a quick call to Susanne to see if she can run back to the house and back out to LAX. She tries her darnedest, but long story short, with the major increase in traffic (remember, it is now around 7:30 am on a Tuesday) she just can't get there in time. So Tim and Ed hop on the plane, and Michelle and Diana are left to wait for the passport and then work with the airline to rebook the tickets. And before all of you start giving the guys grief for leaving their wives, know that it was the wives idea and we pushed them to go. We figured it was easier and cheeper to rebook 2 people versus 4. And off they went, barely making their plane.
The nice thing was, Tim had talked to the booking agents, the TSA workers and the baggage workers about our situation, so once Michelle and Diana got in line to rebook their tickets, they had lots of friends who could commiserate with them and help them get going. Plus, the women just made the decision that they would be happy with whatever happened, and consider this a grand adventure. There was no sense being angry about it, and this was made all the more real by the number of angry people in line who took out their frustration on the ticketing agents. When they reached the front of the line they were told that there were no flights until the next day. Michelle asked her to check any flights that would get them to Rome, no matter the layover location. At the same time, they made sure to say thank you to everyone who had helped earlier in the morning. And wouldn't you know it, the ticketing agent could find us two seats on the next plane (leaving in 3 hours) and we would get to Rome 4 hours behind the guys. When asked how much the transfer cost to the new tickets, they were told it was FREE. We had just watched person after person rebooking missed flights and having to pull out credit cards. And here we were getting the change done for free, even though it was our fault that we missed the flight. The agent had mercy on us and put down that we missed our flight due to "long lines" and which came with a waived fee. Praise the Lord!
The ladies bags were checked, and they hopped on the 11:30 flight to New York. When they exited, they made their way over to terminal 1 from terminal 2, and ran right into Tim! It turns out the original flight was late in leaving, causing Ed and Tim to miss the connecting flight to Rome. So they guys were rebooked on the same flight as Diana and Michelle. Not only that, Tim managed to find out that we were rebooked and worked with the ticketing agents in NY to have us all sit together.
So ends the first part of our first day. More to come later this evening. Trust us, it keeps getting better!
Monday, March 19, 2012
And we're off, into the great blue yonder . . .
The countdown is now in the hours, with the last of the packing being thrown together and the house being cleaned (because you know you all hate coming home after vacation to a dirty house!) . We leave here tonight (Monday) to head down to LA, where we will be dropped off at the airport by our wonderful sister Susanne. She is also the crazy lady who will be taking care of Zander for 2 weeks. Yes, you heard that right, we are not taking the wee man. Which, of course, is the hardest thing. Michelle is trying not to even think of what it will be like to see the car pull away with him in it when we are dropped off at the airport. Yup, trying really hard not to think about it.
We will be with Tim's parents for two weeks in Italy. Michelle and Tim will be visiting many of the same places they have been on previous trips, but this time with an eye towards being tour guides and spending more time in some of the places they loved. It will also be fun to re-experience the cities with people who have never seen the sites. In all, we will be spending time in Rome, Florence, Siena, Venice and Milan. We wanted to get up to the Cinque Terre again, but they experienced severe mudslides in October and are still (literally) digging themselves out from under all of the mud.
So with that, we depart. Love to you all and we will see you in Rome!
We will be with Tim's parents for two weeks in Italy. Michelle and Tim will be visiting many of the same places they have been on previous trips, but this time with an eye towards being tour guides and spending more time in some of the places they loved. It will also be fun to re-experience the cities with people who have never seen the sites. In all, we will be spending time in Rome, Florence, Siena, Venice and Milan. We wanted to get up to the Cinque Terre again, but they experienced severe mudslides in October and are still (literally) digging themselves out from under all of the mud.
So with that, we depart. Love to you all and we will see you in Rome!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Here we go again...
The plans have been made the tickets purchased the Traveling Hardleys are heading to Italy again. This time we have new traveling companions with Tim's parents joining in on the fun. The countdown has started the trip begins in nine days...
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