OK! First day in Rome! Yee Haw! Evan's cousin can't make it down from Florence - God is SO good! That means I can most likely hang out a little more than expected with Evan and Sasha.

HERE is our Rome adventure: Got up this morning and had a light breakfast. Hard boiled egg white - a couple potatoes and a yeast roll. Then I went back to the cabin, checked everything and brought my large suitcase, carry on bag (pull behind, both) and shoulder bag to deck 14 - wearing my coat. Waited there for almost everyone and we took a group picture. Then Evan, Sasha and I left our luggage there and headed down to deck 5 for our walk thru with Ian at 9a - We had a little waiting - Oh, wait - Evan and Sasha had to eat first, so we did that first. We walked thru with Ian and he seemed pleased with what we'd done. Evan was nervous, but I didn't know that until after he'd signed the papers and left. He said you never know. Then we waited on the dock and made fun of people (I mean, come ON! One guy , a dock worker, had a double line beard...on one side only!! On the other side he was clean shaven!) So, at 11:30a, we caught the bus to Rome airport, It was here that it hit me that I AM IN ITALY! I watched the countryside go by and I cried with joy! I am HERE! I MADE IT! I'm going to talk to Jessica about what country she most wants to visit and then I'm going to work on making sure she gets there before she graduates college. Same for Jamie, but I have a little longer with him. I did feel that Italy looks a LOT like Indiana...mixed a little with Florida. So, we get to the airport and we have to take the train to Termini Central Station which is SUPPOSEDLY 5 minutes from our hotel. The train ride is a lot farther than I expected, but we get to see a LOT of countryside. I'm happy. We get off the train and workers are very friendly getting us onto the lift and up to ground level. Here's the "fun" part! We have an "Atari" map in a "Play Station" world. We get very lost and here I am dragging a large suitcase and a carry on with a knit bag on my shoulder. I'm getting grumpy. I say "We've gone too far." "NO! NO! It's just a little farther." GAH! They drag me thru cobblestone streets - thru narrow openings where I have to carry my stuff because it won't fit pulling it. I get so far behind them they have to stop (and smoke) and wait for me...I get tired and FINALLY...after 5 minutes has turned into an hour, they decide to go back to the train station and get a map, a real map. Before that - ha ha ha ha ha! We are reading the street names to remember them - Filippo Turati turns into Tutti Frutti and Via Mamiani turns into Miami and Via Cattaneo turns into Canteno and we're laughing our butts off...we finally turn the corner and...WHOA! There's the hotel! We're hot! and sweaty! and in dire need of beverage. Now, we're always going to think of Tutti Frutti and Miami as where we figured out where we were supposed to be going!

We dropped our stuff in our rooms and asked for the time sheets to be faxed. NICE guys at the desk!!! and then headed out for beverages. Our first stop made our jaws drop! We were at a bar next to a church (Maria Maggliago?) Beautiful piaza! and watching the people and cars was amazingly cool, but Evan bought a round...2 beers and a wine cooler (Bacardi Breezer) and it was 18 Euros!! OUCH!! We laughed at the Smart car and got my phone fixed finally. One Asian walked by with his pants worn normal but his belt around his butt, a Michael Jackson hat on and he just looked ridiculous!

We then moved on and got temporarily lost because Jan called and insisted on the inventory sheets! He's still pissed because we're taking a couple days in Rome - Too bad! I'm in Italy! and he ok'd the time off!

So, we headed back to the hotel to fax the other sheets he wanted. Well, the first sheets never went thru - we called the office. I had to talk to Harold (HR) and I checked with Roberto on the faxes. Then Evan called Jan with the bad news. Now Jan wanted us to fax to England and Evan wanted me to use my "womanly powers" to convince the desk to fax 33 pages for us...to England. So, I tromped down there and put on my cute face. It worked!

Then, we were STARVING! Not having eaten since breakfast, so we went to this little pizza place around the corner. I got a vegetarian pizza. Evan and Sasha got ham, egg, artichoke and black olive. Oh. My. Gosh. Were they good! They were probably 10" and we all snarfed them down. I got 1/2 liter of white wine, too. 11 Euro...Not bad! (about $15). Then, we came back to the hotel.

Now, it's 9pm. I'm in for the night. Italy's version of Deal or No Deal is on TV. I text messaged Eric to call me when he got home (about another hour).

I am in LOVE with Italy and if I could find a way to convince Eric to move here and we could make it work, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Not Rome, probably - a small town, South...where it's warmer. Definitely something I'd want to look into. Sasha is supposedly planning our day for tomorrow. With the Metro, we'll get to see a lot - hopefully! I'm up at 7:30 or so - breakfast downstairs...I can not WAIT!!!! Now, I read until Eric calls...

AH!! There he is! My LOVE!

40 minute call!!!