Back to Florence

With little struggle, we have arrived in Florence. I always have a hard time putting an exact time on how long it took for us to get to this place from Portland, but it is easy compared to some places in the world. We had some pretty funny moments along the way. One of them was in the New York airport. We had a few directional signs that were proving to be a little difficult to follow. Having a Delta flight that was operated by Alitalia didn't help, in fact it is probably where the confusion came from. We started by looking at our tickets and since it was a Delta flight number, headed in the direction of what our ticket said, which was a shuttle ride to Terminal Building 4, and could not find our flight to Rome on any of the reader boards, so we started asking around, and we eventually went to the Alitalia desk, which was in the main terminal, and they told us that we needed to get new tickets. Originally, our seats were arranged somewhat close in proximity, but after we got the new tickets, they were all over the place. Then they told us that we actually needed to go to Terminal 1, not 4. so off we went to Terminal 1, It felt like we got off a boat at Ellis Island for the next 45 minutes as we stood in a rather long line that reminded me of a cattle stockade. When we got through security, we went to our gate, and it was just in time for boarding. Then we flew... through the air... like a bird, and partook in the miracle of human flight. I did not sleep on any of the flights, but I was blessed to be able to watch some movies; The new Sherlock Holmes and The Great Escape... a classic in my book. Steve McQueen displays great perseverance. We went and got our bags from the baggage claim at the Rome airport, and then over to the train station in the airport that takes us into the main train station in Rome. There was an Italian that decided to pick me out of the line to search my bags as a sort of customs inspection. He was standing in between a few other people who had their luggage spread out on the floor. I was carrying Dennis' and my bag, so when I went over to him I put my bag close to where he wanted it. Dennis, Karen, and Micah came up behind me to watch and wait as he did his thing. The guy looked at them and realized that they were with me and by taking me out of the line, he was going to have 3 additional spectators as he rifled through my things. He just decided to see if I was who my passport said I was, and then sent me on my way. We ended up taking a shuttle to the train station, which was right by the coliseum, so we had a nice little sight seeing tour on the way there. We bought our tickets for the slow train, and jumped on. We got into Florence around 4pm. Dennis had been trying to call the lady that we are renting the apartment from all day, and his phone had not yet been re-activated by the Phone company. So we hung out for a little while, until we could get a call to her. We stashed our things somewhere safe, and decided to walk around for a bit till she could meet us. We eventually got in, and for the rest of the day we got settled, and fought the desire to fall asleep. It felt like I had giant curtains as eyelids that just wanted to roll shut. But I held out till 9pm, and fell asleep within the hour.. if I remember correctly.

This Morning, I woke up to Dennis strolling into my room with Skype open on his computer. Doug Valenzuela got to say good morning to me which was just a real nice surprise.. Today was one more day tiredness while we put the finishing touches on jet-lag. I didn't have a problem, as I slept till 10:00, but Micah was having trouble. We went to get some groceries we needed, walked around the open air market, and just spent some time together. Tomorrow I am excited to see what is in store for me.