Alle Fine! (The end) (of my trip, I mean)

Well, you probably wondered if I would ever get here, huh? Alas, it is a sad day when a trip of a lifetime starts to come to a close. But two weeks later, my ankles, knee, and pocketbook were a little worse for wear. That carpal tunnel in my wrist started to come back with my "charge it! charge it!"--haha, just kidding. I had been saving for over a year, so I did really good.

So we woke up Friday morning, after making the decision to "splurge" a little and take the fast train to Roma from Firenze. Sara took us to the train station after a tearful goodbyes. (Ok, so the photos don't show tears (I'm not a pretty cry-er), but trust me, there were tears. Sara told me not to cry, but I couldn't help it. And neither could she.)

We arrived in Roma 1 hour 40 minutes later. A drive would have taken 4 hours with traffic, and the slow train would have been nearly 2 1/2 more hours. Definitely worth the extra euros! And kind of cool, too! Mama Luciani warned us of gypsies at the train station, but we didn't have to worry about such adventures. Brad is a formidable discourage-er of all things gypsy. And with Alexa Jo. winning the hearts of Italians everywhere we went, we figured we wouldn't be a target. (Just a note, it costs €.80 to use the bathroom at the train station.) We also figured we should just buy our tickets to the airport the next morning so we didn't have to worry about it. We found out later from our "tour guide" Daniela, that our accommodations that the Luciani's had found for us were less than 3 blocks from a closer train station. Live and learn, huh?

So we find a cab that will take us and alllllll our luggage, she wasn't the nicest driver, and every time poor Alexa Jo. would scream, she would jump. (Apparently Alexa didn't win her heart.) We made it to our flat and Daniela was waiting for us. Now, I don't have a picture of Daniela because he basically kidnapped Brad and took him alllll over the city while Cassi, Alexa and I stayed back at the flat. When he returned, we were STARVING! So we commenced our eating and touring of the beautiful city of Rome. Their subway system is the best I've ever ridden on, very easy to navigate and hop on and off of.
We first saw the Colosseum:

Everywhere we went, Alexa would use her sounds to identify a dog or a kitty, or in this case..a horse ([naaaaay])

Then we went to Trevi Fountain. This place was PACKED, so I didn't even get to go throw a penny and make a wish. (Next trip! ;)

Then we were told by Daniela that we HAD to see Spagna. I kept saying it wrong, had no idea what it was, but it was beautiful...and PACKED. People kept going to the same things we wanted to see! It was annoying! haha, just kidding. But, we did have gelato here:

On our way to St Peter's Square, I found a shop named after me....AND we matched!

Here are some pictures from St Peters Basilica and the square:

Our last stop was the Piazza de Popolo. You may recognize it from Angels & Demons, the movie (or the book if you read the one with picture:))
In this plaza, a man tried to give Alexa a rose and he had to have his hand smacked! What a dirty trick! To give a kid a treat and then expect the parents to give you money for it. So naughty!
We walked home, got packed and ready for the train ride to the airport.

WARNING! International flights from the Rome airport is CHAOSand you should allow AT LEAST 3 hours! You stand in at least 20 lines just to get to your gate. Thankfully, I had nice people and the ticketing agent at Delta even told me we were going to be the same age this year. I told him I was in denial and still told everyone that I was "29" - he said, "well, you look it." And winked. He invited me back to Rome (he was American, so it wasn't just Italian hospitality) and he would take me out. So nice!!

The flight home was brutal-long. But not nearly as bad as Brad and Cassi's flight with Alexa. They flew from Rome to Pennsylvania and weather delayed them there and in Chicago for another 24 hours. They were so happy to reach Salt Lake, and grateful to an employee at the Philly airport who got their luggage squared away and gave them some water and blankets to bunk down for the looooooong night. See RyanAir? You don't have to be rude to be a successful airline!!!

I am so grateful to Brad and Cassi and Alexa Jo. for being such awesome travelling companions. We had THE BEST time and I know they loved their short stay in Barcelona. To Sara and Giuseppe..THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I cannot say it enough how much we loved being with you. Next time, in CLIFTON! (cheers[clink]) xoxo

My Trip to Europe - part "due" (pronounced do-A) (That's Italian for "two")

Gosh - I've been a big slacker. I know I am not too good at this blogging thing, and I HAVE been out of town quite a bit with various job conferences and family commitments. But still - I've been home from my trip for almost 6 weeks. This is ridunkolous. :) (I overheard that word the other day and thought it was funny.)

So, on to my trip. I think I left with "Oh yeah, we hate RyanAir" - I really would prefer if no one ever rode that sham of an airline again. But, now I know that if someone (the RyanAir check-in attendant) with a Spanish accent says "fifty" they probably are really saying "fifteen". A minor difference when you are talking about peas or even pennies. But, when the conversation is about kilograms and meeting the airline's luggage weight requirements--things could quickly become problematic. She thought we understood, we thought she understood, we thought WE understood, it was a big mess that she only half helped us out of by reducing our huge overage charge from nearly 400 Euros. We could either pay it, or we couldn't fly - they wouldn't even return our luggage to us (to throw stuff away and have it re-weighed) unless we paid it. They held our luggage HOSTAGE! TERRORISTS!!

Anyway - we flew to Pisa and thus began a wonderful week in the gorgeous land of Tuscany. I will never, ever tire of this view and the million others like it:

(I think if you click on it, you can see it better. I think?)

So, in Pisa, we got to see the Leaning Tower. *Note to all those who decide to travel to Europe. As Americans, we may not be accustomed to walking most of the time. We walk for exercise, a romantic stroll, etc - rarely do we walk to get to work or to the market, etc. So when a European states that it is a [fill in the blank] minute walk, you are safe to double it. And that's if you are bookin' it. Here is a picture of our clan - me, Cassi, Brad, and Alexa Jo. She is still calling me "Bfff" at this time, we're trying to get her to call me Aunt Moff. Baby steps.

Of course, I had to have my picture doing this:

and it was really heavy - I almost didn't make it. Ha ha.

Sara and Giuseppe were our AMAZING hosts in Florence. This is Sara, her mother, me, and Giuseppe.Sara came to our home as an exchange student in high school back when we were seniors and we have stayed in touch this entire time. We have commented on how easy it is to converse with each other in spite of sporadic correspondence. I think that is the mark of true friendship and I love that she is a part of my family. She FINALLY (haha - that's for you, Sara) married Giuseppe 3 years ago July and they have a beautiful daughter, Vittoria who will soon be 2. She and Alexa Jo. became fast friends. This is is their first meeting:

While in Florence we went to the cities of Siena and Monteriggioni. These are both medieval towns that are so well preserved and just gorgeous. We visited several museums (I even got a picture of "the David" - yes, that's illegal, and one reason I have not posted it yet. I'm waiting for the statue of limitations to finish. HAHA - get it? STATUE of limitations! Hahaha - I kill me!)
and parks (Boboli Gardens is a must see - absolutely beautiful!) and ate like kings! Kings I tell you, Kings!

Sara is a wonderful cook. And Giuseppe could compete in the U.S. for his grilling skills. The meat there is making my mouth water even 6 weeks later. We LOVED the gelato and decided our favorite place was right off the bridge "Ponte alle Grazie". I found some wonderful souvenirs there and off the "Ponte Vecchio" or Old Bridge. Does gaining weight count as a "souvenir"? I say yes.

Sara ordered pizza for us one night, and I had no idea that it meant a pizza EACH. I looked at mine, looked at everyone else in amazement. By the way - when you order pepperoni pizza in Italy - it will only have ONE piece of pepperoni on it. Or if you get one with pepperoni and olives..yep, you guessed it, one piece of each. Anyway - the pizza is sooooooo delicious and you can see why they call it "amore" when it hits your eye ;) I'm in love!

We were walking down one of the bazillion streets (see picture -it's a big city) when I heard an accordion --a sound that will always remind me of Italy. I tracked this sound down and asked the man if I could get a picture of him (see below). Then Brad paid him a Euro. That was nice. :)

I had the best time in Florence! Brad got to drive, and he did AMAZING! They make 5 lanes out of 3 - genius, I tell ya! Thanks to Sara and Giuseppe for their generosity and their patience. We couldn't have asked for a better trip and better hosts. We are truly blessed.This man looked like he needed it more than the men who were standing in front of the Colloseum in Rome. They were charging at least 5 Euro, their reasoning? Because there are 3 of them. Ugh! Capitalists! jk We took a free picture in front of the Colloseum. But that is for Part 3...stay tuned.