Yes. This is the coolest thing I've ever done. After the disaster that was Jacksonville, I had the most amazing God moment ever. I'm boarding the plane to Rome in Atlanta, a little nervous because I was flying solo internationally. (It was bound to happen at some point, might as well have been now). I was supposed to wait for the rest of the group to fly in 2 hours after me in the Rome airport. Kinda intimidating. No hablo italian. No hablo espanol either... just sayin'.
Doesn't matter. None of it mattered. I was seated next to the only other person on the trip to fly Delta. Seriously. Out of 200+ people on this flight, I'm seated next to the only person I could have known. God is so good. So very very good. And not only that, he's stinking cool (Tyler, and God). (I was also nervous about the potentially lame people on this trip! Fret not! Tyler is cool and we've bonded.)
The flight was good. I watched the Invention of Lying. Which was not so good. Do not even waste that dollar at RedBox to rent it. The 3 funny parts do not make up for the rest of the long, drawn out, boring movie. Weird side note-- my hands and feet were SO swollen after the flight. They've gone down a lot, I mean, they're no longer cankles, but still slightly large. Maybe I should wear pants today. Oh-- another thing-- if I'm having trouble deciding what to wear-- me thinks I packed too much. Over.board.
Once we got to our facilities, settled in, awkwardly ordered a slice of pizza from a hole-in-the-wall down the street, power napped, and had an orientation to St Johns, we took a walking tour...
Castel Sant'Angelo
Pont Sant'Angelo with the Bernini angels that are really stunning. Too bad they're just copies, the real ones have been moved indoor to a church down the street. I guess that's understandable...
Piazza Navona, where we ate the most delicious dinner ever.
Caffe Bernini. I just hope I won't eat like that all the time... definitely would have problems with carrying around an Italian food baby.
On our walk home...
St Peters at dusk. Pretty rockin', huh? I thought so too.
More pictures on facebook. Check it.
My morning run this AM was... interesting. It was a solo adventure to the Borghese gardens... which is a lot like Central Park. Kinda confusing if you don't know your way around. I wasn't really looking to get lost either, so I kept it a short 30 minute run.
Trail run.
Goethe. German philosopher who wrote on color theory. And apparently loved Italy, who also loved him back.
Now that's just purdy.
More to come soon.
Bear and Tygre fight. Wait, stop, pose for picture. Ok, go.
I'm pretty sure that this trip would've been miserable without them. Did we just become best friends???
More pictures to come... me and my boys.
We spent three days wandering the city, "getting lost" and taking pictures... it was incredible.
I realize I overuse 'incredible,' 'beautiful' and other such words. Either I need to find some new adjectives soon or Italy needs to start sucking. Your choice.
Funny story. We decided to take some food for the road. Thought it would be frugal and smart. Tyler and Josh packed some Nutella, honey, and bread. I (of course) wanted apples and bananas, like a good girl. One problem. SOMEone (who shall remain nameless... not me!) didn't close the lid to the honey jar. Which then opened. Which then leaked. All. Over. Venice. This is the honey trail we left from the water taxi to our hotel. We found in on one of our adventures out. We left Venice just that much sweeter. :)
Our last night in Venice we sat out on the chairs in San Marco Square with our feet in the water (sometimes, if your lucky, high tide floods the square). We sat there and listened to the orchestra play, people watched, and threw snack mix at people making out. Best night ever? Definitely.
Have I mentioned how much I love them? A lot. A lot, a lot, a lot.
Naples in one word? Disgusting. Great life experience? Absolutely. Now, I'm not quite a certified world traveler (getting there though), but this place is nar-sty. The pictures really don't do it justice. I'm just an optimist and took shots of beautiful things. Actually, when we had our tour of Old Naples, it was quite beautiful and amazing (you just have to look past the graffiti EVERYWHERE, smelly people, sketchy people, beggars, mangey dogs running around all feral-like... oh I could go on). Some girls saw a woman get mugged in front of our hotel one day... in the middle of the day! She was holding cash in her hand... come on, use some common sense. Naples is the armpit of Italy.
I really liked Pompeii and think if you get the chance, you should go. Check out the FB page to see more shots. These are just a couple of tasty licks.
Museum fatigue has set in. A serious illness brought on once entering a museum. Symptoms include boredom, apathy, and whining. Dr. Brown insists it's a real condition. No matter how energetic you are before going to a museum, once you set foot inside you instantly become tired. And then upon leaving, energy levels rise. A scientific conundrum. 
Yay fun! There's an awesome pic of me doing the Crasian (crazy + Asian) tourist peace sign... I'll have to upload it soon. Love to all!
Castel Sant'Angelo
Pont Sant'Angelo with the Bernini angels that are really stunning. Too bad they're just copies, the real ones have been moved indoor to a church down the street. I guess that's understandable...
Piazza Navona, where we ate the most delicious dinner ever. Caffe Bernini. I just hope I won't eat like that all the time... definitely would have problems with carrying around an Italian food baby.
On our walk home...
St Peters at dusk. Pretty rockin', huh? I thought so too.
Trail run.
Goethe. German philosopher who wrote on color theory. And apparently loved Italy, who also loved him back.
Now that's just purdy.
