So, we're hijacking the adventures of two small boys to bring you the adventures of their suddenly-not-so-boring parents. We're in Rome at the moment, at the start of a 12-day, ten-year anniversary vacation in Italy. So far so good, we made it to Rome mostly on time after some rather trying airport escapades.
Our flights were from Kansas City to Dallas, Dallas to New York, NY to Rome, with some cushy layover time. Should have been easy. What happened instead is that American Airlines decided we really didn't need any free time outside of their airplanes. We sat in the plane at KCI, then got off the plane and onto a different one. By the time we made it to Dallas, we had just enough time to walk to our next gate and get on THAT plane. Then we sat around for about an hour and a half, finally took off, and arrived at JFK ten minutes before our Rome flight was supposed to depart. We (quite literally) ran from one gate to another, got on the Rome flight, and then sat on THAT plane for 2 hours before they finally took off. All told, I believe we spent 16 1/2 hours sitting on our butts in planes yesterday. I'm actually looking forward to the 10-hour flight back, because it'll technically be shorter.
Anyway, made it to Rome, figured out the train, got to our B&B and got settled in...wow, sometime earlier today. Feels like more time than that. Our hostess here is quite friendly, speaks great English, and had lots of good suggestions around town. We managed to get out and have a pizza lunch, see the Church of St. Peter in Chains and Michelangelo's Moses scultpure, then take a stroll down to the Roman ruins for a view of the Colosseum (after some delectable chocolate profiteroles. We should have taken a picture, but nothing chocolate lasts very long around Jill). We braved the Metro to head north to the Spanish Steps, then strolled up to the Piazza del Popolo to see the obelisk that Augustus brought back from Rome after conquering Egypt in 30BC. After that we walked down the Via Del Corso, one of the swanky shopping avenues in Rome. We stopped in to take a peek at a mass in the Cathedral Santi Ambrosio (the Romans freaking KNOW how to do churches, let me tell you) then went behind it for a look at the Mausoleum of Augustus (Augustus was previously known as Octavian, was the first emperor of Rome and was grand-nephew of Julius Caesar).
Finally, we found the Trevi Fountain, had some gelato and called it a night. It was a long walk back to the B&B, but overall a very good day and good first start to the trip (the plane stuff doesn't count).
Enjoy a few pictures:
The interior of the Church of St. Peter in Chains
Michelangelo's Moses sculpture - front and center
Jill and a view down the Spanish Steps
The obelisk Augustus returned from Egypt in 30BC (it's old)
The sour face is from crema di limone - lemon gelato
3 comments:
Quite an adventure getting started and now underway. We will try to email you some pix of your boys - Royals game last night (with fireworks). Liam especially liked the waterfalls (fountains). Today we took a visit to the Wamego cemetary to set out flowers for the Laughlin side of the family. This included some discussion of graveyards (cemetary), rocks (grave stones), burial, etc.
Wow!! Your day sounds exciting. I have a call in to the Discovery Channel-- surely there is a timeslsot on Wednesday nights you guys could fill to share your adventures. Keep the travelogue (with photos) coming. We've read it several times already and are ready to read it again. We will be looking forward to learning all the details of day two and seeing more photos. Love, Dad
Wow, my back aches just reading that!!! How much fun, though!?!
Jill, I just remembered you guys were there ("Hey, haven't seen Jill online in a while...I wonder where she could be?"), and thought to check your blog. YAY, you're posting!!!!
*off to catch up on your trip*
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