July 2001 It started with an ad in our local paper The Town Times announcing a trip to Italy. As my husband and I, have always wanted to go to Italy, our decision was easy! We called and received the applications to sign up with the group.

Sept-Dec 2001 A few introductory meetings at our Troup leaders home, we were able to meet our future travelers. Some were from the immediate area, others were from PA and were related to someone in our town. Suprisingly, everyone was in good spirits to continue on with the trip which was scheduled in March, despite the events of September 11th. It made us more determined not to be frightened and continue on with our lives and not let the terrorists win.

Feb. 2002 Our final meeting with our group to go over last minute details...what to pack, weather, rate exchanges, etc.

March 17, 2002 Atlast-Our trip to Italy! With one large suitcase each, we said goodbye to our cats and our were dropped off at the local schoolfield to meet the bus to Newark Airport. We arrived at Newark Airport and had about 3 hours until our flight to Frankfurt. We flew on Lufthansa. Service was pretty good, flight time was about 6 hours 35 minutes. From Frankfurt our connecting flight was to Milan. This flight took about 40 minutes.

March 18, 2002 We're Here! We land at Milan airport. A small airport. To my surprise we walked right through to baggage claim, picked up our bags and walked right out! Our Italian tour guide met us outside our arrival gate and walked us to our bus that we would be spending the next 9 days on. We now drive to our first stop...Verona!oops almost forgot our really "first" experience was at their Autogrill reststop for lunch and bathroom break, similiar to our turnpike reststops. Although my husband and I thought they were gross, some of our group actually enjoyed the food. Being that we would spend large amounts of time of our tour bus, each day a couple was scheduled to bring something to snack on, wouldn't you know it the first day it was our turn. We needed to purchase lunch meat and cheese. Being unfamiliar with how these Autogrills work(sometimes you are required to pay first, then choose), we walked around the little supermarket until we found packaged meats and some hard cheese, this particular stop allowed us to pay at the exit... Buon Appetito!

VERONAOur first "real" taste of Italy. We saw the arena and walked through the small cobblestone streets to see Juliet's balcony. (Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet) Our group had the option of continuing the tour through the home of Juliet or wander the street for an hour until meeting back at the bus. My husband and I decided to go to a cafe and sample our first Italian capuccino. We then found a piazza with an open air market. We met back at the bus and then continued on to Lido de Jesolo.

Hotel Columbo-Lido de Jesolo We arrived at our hotel at dusk. Normally a busy summer time town, it seemed like a ghost town. Also, no attractions near the hotel; cafes or trattoria's. We settled into our rooms as we would be here two nights.