We made it!

Hello all,

So we have miraculously made it to Rome will all of our bags. Our original flight plan was from Logan to Newark, where we had a five hour layover scheduled before flying directly to Rome, however our five hour layover became a three hour layover, which turned into a one hour layover, which eventually became a negative two hour layover, thanks to continued delays on our first flight's departure time. At about 5:50 pm we were told that we would not make our connection, but that there was a 6:20 flight on Iberia Airlines that we could take to Madrid, where we would connect to Rome, but that the flight was already boarding... at a different terminal. So we sprinted from terminal A to terminal E, where we were met by a massive security line and only one open x-ray machine, thanks to a security personnel staff meeting that was going on at the time. Fortunately there were some very understanding travelers and security guards, who allowed us to cut the line and we were barely able to make our flight to Madrid. To be honest, I didn't think there was any chance that our checked bag would make it as well, considering the very last minute change of plans, but, to our pleasant surprise, there it was at the Rome airport.

Our plan to sleep during the redeye flight and be cured of any possible jetlag by the time we arrived was thwarted by the obvious fact that it is impossible to get any real sleep on an airplane, and we were pretty destroyed by sleep deprivation by the time we finally got off the airport shuttle train in Rome. We wandered around semi-aimlessly for a while once we got off the train, trying to figure out where we were and how to walk to our hotel, but we did eventually get there, and the hotel is actually quite nice, despite being in a more "interesting" neighborhood.

We were determined not to sleep the whole day once we got here, so we just took a quick nap and headed out on foot to see of the nearby sites. Suffice it to say that we were immediately blown away. There is a massive, stunningly beautiful old church just two blocks from out hotel, called the Santa Maria Maggiore, which was absolutely packed with incredible paintings, sculptures, stained glass, and religious exhibits.



I was surprised to find that some of the most stunning work in the building was actually located on the ceilings:


Beautiful stained glass in the Santa Maria Maggiore:


I know Kari has lots more pictures she wants to post, so that's all I'll put up for now.

After the Santa Maria Maggiore, we wandered off to some of the other local attractions, including the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (which was closed when we passed by, but looked beautiful from the street), the Palazzo del Quirinale (where both the King of Italy, and the Pope had resided in the past), and last, but certainly not least, the breathtaking Trevi Fountain (Kari will post pictures, and I think we will return tomorrow morning when it's less crowded). On our leisurely walk back to our hotel we made sure to pick up a couple bottles of Italian wine and a corkscrew which we will enjoy tonight. We just got back from a long and delicious dinner at a pizzeria around the corner from our hotel, and trying to stay up for a while before conceding to our jetlagged exhaustion.

It has been an amazing day, and Kari and I are constantly reminded of how culturally different everything here is, compared to both what we are used to, and even to what we were expecting.

More pictures to follow in a post from Kari.

We made it, and we are tired, but absolutely thrilled to be here!

-Dan