Buona Sera!

Well, we MADE IT. After 12 hours on two planes with a 7 hour layover in between and only two 30 minute naps on the first flight, I have been up for closing in on 31 hours now. I am surprisingly not tired...probably because I am in Rome and really super excited. However I am quite sure that after I write this I will pass out.

So we left what feels like this morning but was actually yesterday afternoon from DFW on Lufthansa to Frankfurt. The plan was to sleep as much as possible so that when we landed in Frankfurt at 9 am I could pretend like I had slept all night and could avoid jet lag as much as possible. That didn't quite happen. The main reason being that the youngest person on our flight was in the seat right next to us, and yes, he did cry (screech?), the whole flight. I felt bad because the mom and grandma were doing everything to console him and even the flight attendant from first class came back to try to do something, but to no avail. My only saving grace was that I had gotten some earplugs that worked surprisingly well, which was why I got any sleep at all, even if only short naps.


We got in to Frankfurt and headed to the train station and headed downtown. We walked around for a bit through a bunch of shops, restaurants and a really pretty park before deciding to eat at this outdoor cafe that looked pretty cool. Plus the weather was awesome and it was in the sun. So we had some schnitzel, fried potatoes and fried Pork sausage (I love German food), and it was DELISH. After that we headed back to catch our flight to Rome. This is about the time we both started to crash and Jason slept while I read over my Italian lessons in the airport. For those who don't know I took a short few weeks Italian lessons course for travelers. It was really helpful and since we have been here I can recognize about every 20th word someone says. =-) As useless as that might sound, I get really excited and tell Jason everything I hear. I am pretty sure he thinks it is annoying, but oh well! At least I know enough to be polite and read some signs etc.

Anyway, so we fly to Rome and as we begin our descent, I seriously began tearing up. I am pretty sure it was partly to do with my lack of sleep, but I also get excited about things really easily so the combination of the two resulted in me almost weeping watching us get closer to Rome. As I was watching it, the little girl sitting behind me says 'But Mom, it is just so beautiful!' like she has never seen anything to compare. Amen little girl! I almost lost it.

Anyway, we got here safe and sound and finally found the shuttle to take us to our hotel. The driver did shut the door on me - yes literally on me - because he didn't see me, but who cares? I'm in Italy! I have been planning for months and months and I am finally here. Tomorrow we are going to see the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and all that historical jazz. Jason has seen it all before so I hope he doesn't get bored, but it is all new to me! I will write more later. Until then...Arrivederci!