Firenze

Well, we made it to Florence today via a train ride shared with a very nice Italian family. This city is unbelievable. Almost every street is one narrow lane, lined with wonderful pastry and coffee shops, nice restaurants with outdoor seating, and cool stores. And of course all of these things are in the shadows of ancient churches and statues carved by renaissance masters. The best thing is that there are almost no cars on the streets. Everyone just walks down the middle of the street and gets back on the sidewalk if a car does come.
Speaking of that, our biggest challenge will come Wednesday when we actually rent a car and drive through Tuscany and down the coast of Italy toward Naples and the Amalfi Coast. We have seen first hand how crazy the drivers are in Italy so who knows if we will live to tell the story.
Tomorrow we go to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David, among other works. I realize I've left out a lot of things, including our trip to the Vatican where we climbed a bajillion steps to the top of St. Peter's cupola for a great view of Rome and a couple of blisters to boot, but it's getting late. It's off to bed now.
We just heard this morning about New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast and we've been thinking about it all day. I hope everthing is okay (relatively) and that everyone's families and friends are safe.

PS Happy late birthday to Suzi and to Jonathan Mattox...sorry we missed them!
PPS Shout out to Stacy!

Bienvenudo a Roma!

Hello everyone. We made it to Rome safe and sound after a very long flight and a quick layover in Zurich which included a sample of Swiss chocolate. We arrived, checked into our hotel, showered, and immediately went out for lunch/dinner (it was about 3:30). Then we went on a walking tour of the city which hit all of the hot spots including the colosseum, the pantheon, the ancient city, Trevi fountain, etc. Then we slept. And slept. For 12 hours.
Today, we basically spent the entire day walking around Rome, seeing more sites, eating more (great) food, shopping, and drinking (strong) espresso. We have probably walked 20 miles already. The highlights of the day were (1) Alexis getting a quarter of a hard boiled egg on part of her pizza, and (2) the owner of our hotel thinking I speak Italian because of my pronunciation of "va bene."
Tomorrow we're going to Vatican City if the crowds aren't insane.
PS. Look at what this computer can do: è, é, à. Even: ù and ç!!!

Heeeeeeere's Lu-dog!

Alexis and I have been in North Carolina for the past week spending as much time as possible with Ryan and Fabiola's new son Luigi, who was born on July 14. So far he has completed quite a number of bodily functions on his Aunt Alexis (including peeing in her face), but somehow managed to look cute in the process.

Hello...Ciao...Geia...Nazdar...Hey Y'all...

Alexis and I have created this blog so that you can keep up with us over the next three weeks without having your email accounts bogged down with our hijinks. This way, you can read about our exploits at your own pace. Or not at all...we won't be offended.

We leave for Europe on August 25 out of Raleigh, after spending a week getting to know our new nephew, Luigi. We arrive in Rome on August 26 and will be in Italy until September 5. From September 5 through the 10th, we'll be in Greece, and from September 10 through the 13th, we'll be in Prague. We arrive back in the States on September 13.

We will try to update this site every few days to let you where we are and what's happening. If you are really bored, you can click on the links provided to see where we are staying in each place. Enjoy...hope to talk to you all (in a more personal format) soon!