Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Last week Jeff and I celebrated Thanksgiving with several other American families. One of Jeff's co-workers invited everyone from work and their families over for Thanksgiving dinner.

It was nice meeting Jeff's co-workers and their spouses. It was also nice being with a large group for dinner. My family in North Carolina always invites everyone over for Thanksgiving dinner also, so I am used to having Thanksgiving with 15 or more people. There were probably about 20 or more people at our dinner in Sicily. Hey, the more the merrier! We even had an Italian family stop by who were friends with the hosts. (Italians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, by the way. It's totally an American holiday.)

That is one of the things that is nice about living overseas on a military installation. During holidays, birthdays, and other celebrations, people tend to come together. We are each other's family while we are all living so far away from home.

The Final Countdown

I can't believe that we are in the final days before the baby arrives. I'm 36 weeks pregnant(and counting). It really seems like just yesterday that we were staring at the home pregnancy test in disbelief!

As far as we can see, we are ready...or at least as ready as you can be for the arrival of a new baby. We have assembled the crib, bought (washed and folded) all the baby clothes, set up the baby monitors, and bought/received everything else we think we need for the baby. We even have a diaper station set up downstairs in case we aren't upstairs in his room when the diaper explodes! (Ha, ha!)

So now we just wait and enjoy the final days before our little one arrives. Although we are savoring these final days, I think we are too excited for him to arrive to really think about anything else. Besides, as my doctor put it, "Baby will come when baby is good and ready." With that in mind, he could be here tomorrow or a month from now....we'll see! And, of course, we'll keep you posted!

Revised Surveys

About a week ago I posted a request to help a friend of mine with a book that she is writing. My friend is writing a book on the topic of singleness versus marriage. She is asking for some willing women to take the following surveys for research purposes for her book.

Since then we have revised the process. If you are willing and able, just click on the links below to take two very short surveys. The surveys are geared towards women who are married or who have been previously married, with or without children. This information will help the writer gather information solely for research purposes for her book. All surveys are completely anonymous; no names are required or recorded. Thank you in advance for your help! (*Note: After you take the first survey, come back to my blog again to take the second survey! Thanks!)

Click Here to take survey">Survey 1

Click Here to take survey">Survey 2

The rest of the story: Part IV

And now, the rest of the story....

Our last day in Rome, we visited the Pantheon. The Pantheon is one of Rome's best-preserved ancient monuments and it has been standing for over 2000 years. It was fascinating and had a neat opening in the dome. Sunlight pours in through the opening and moves around as the day progresses. After visiting the Pantheon, we decided to take our last day in Rome to walk around at leisure and see whatever we ran across. We walked by the Trevi Fountain again. We shopped. We had some lunch and soaked in the culture.

The next day we travelled to Florence. To get to Florence we took a train from the main train station in Rome. The train ride was nice and only took about an hour and a half. It was a nice transition from city life to seeing the countryside as we headed to Florence.

Once we got to Florence, we called our hotel to see if they had a shuttle. Once again we were in luck! We didn't realize it until we got there, but our hotel was on the outskirts of Florence (about a 25 minute drive from the center of town). Our hotel had a shuttle that ran several times a day to the center of town. After travelling and getting to our hotel, we had dinner in our hotel and called it a night.

Our first day in Florence, we went to the Accademia. This is where you find the famous 14-foot-tall statue of David. There were paintings, sculptures, and even an exhibit on musical instruments that were several centuries old. Seeing David however, was the best part. It was a truly amazing statue which looked flawless. Jeff read from the commentary on this statue by Michelangelo that the artist stated that "the statue was already there and he just chipped away the unnecessary pieces of marble." (paraphrased quote)

We spent the rest of the day going to a couple of churches, looking at some souvenir stores, and dining on yummy paninis and gelato.

Our next day in Florence was my favorite. We went to the famous Uffizi Gallery. This is a museum that has many works by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, etc. I was excited to see the famous painting "The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli. We also ran across a painting of Adam and Eve that appears in the opening credits of "Desperate Housewives." It's interesting to realize how many famous paintings we actually knew as they are often used in our commercialized society. There was so much to see that it took about 3 hours to go through this gallery. After the gallery, we found this little cafe where we stopped for lunch. It was the most amazing food we had while we were in Florence. We dined on pasta, pizza, and bruschetta. It was the perfect finish to a long day of sight-seeing.

On our way home, we stopped by Florence's Duomo (large church) and the surrounding sights. We especially liked the bronze doors on the nearby Baptistery. Again, this was an amazing sight as you realize how long ago these buildings were constructed.

The next morning we packed up and started our journey home. Again, it was a day of planes, trains, and automobiles. We travelled from Florence to Rome first, then from Rome to Catania, Sicily. We had an amazing time on our trip, but it was so nice to get home as well. Hopefully you enjoyed reading about our adventures in Rome and Florence!

More Views of Rome: Part III

Our second full day in Rome we decided to go to Vatican City. Jeff had been there before and graciously agreed to go again for my sake. So after a breakfast of coffee and croissants (our daily breakfast on this trip), we headed out. After consulting our guide book and maps, we found the metro stop we needed to go to the Vatican. (It's the Ottaviano stop in case you were dying to know!)

After talking to some women from Wales that we met at our hotel, we decided to go to the museum part of the Vatican first as it closes daily around 2pm. The Vatican has several museums which house many famous and beautiful works such as Michelangelo's frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The other main sight on our agenda, St. Peter's Basilica, was open until 6pm. Therefore our plan was to visit the museums first, have lunch, and then go to the Basilica.

As mentioned above, we met several nice people on our trip. We met two women from Wales, a family from Ireland and England, and a nice couple from Pennsylvania in our hotel. I think hearing the English language being spoken strikes up conversations between fellow travellers. We also met a very nice couple from Australia while waiting in the 45-minute (or longer) line for the Vatican museums.

Once inside the entrance to the Vatican museums, we plotted out what we wanted to see. There is so much to see that it is not possible to see it all. Here's what we did see: gorgeous paintings, interesting sculptures, amazing tapestries, ancient mummies and other Egyptian artifacts, old maps, modern art, and beautiful gardens. I know that I could not remember all the names, but you will get the idea from the pictures. Standing in the Sistine Chapel (attached to the museums) that housed the famous paintings by Michelangelo was amazing. Seeing the picture of God and Adam (the famous fingers-almost-touching painting) was really neat. (Note: However it was hard to see as it is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. You really have to crane your neck to see it!)

After leaving the Sistine Chapel, we decided to take a break for some nourishment. The Vatican museums took three hours to see, so we were definitely famished. We found a small restaurant along the way to the Basilica. After a quick pizza, we headed towards St. Peter's Basilica. The line to get inside the Basilica was another long line, but it seemed to move quickly. The inside of the Basilica was truly amazing. It was so ornate. Being that it is a church, there was a church service being held in one part of the chapel. Many churches do not allow you to take pictures (or talk loudly for that manner), but we were allowed to take pictures. It was really beautiful as there were great works of art here also including Michelangelo's sculpture Pieta (Mary holding Jesus).

We spent a lot of time in the Basilica as it was hard to take it all so quickly. Once we did leave, we decided to make our way back to the hotel, as we were both feeling tired. Our typical day usually started around 9am and ended around 6-7pm. That's about all this pregnant woman could handle each day! We looked at a few stores along the way home and picked up some paninis for dinner. Another successful day in Rome was complete!

Sight-Seeing in Rome: Part II

Our first full day in Rome began with a continental breakfast at our hotel. Keep in mind that an Italian continental breakfast is not the same as an American continental breakfast. However, I enjoyed the breakfast as it consisted of croissants, pain du chocolat (one of my favorite pastries from France, which is basically bread with a little bit of chocolate inside), apples, cereal, cold cuts (I think it was ham??? and cheese) and coffee. You can get American coffee sometimes(but don't count on it), but for the most part your choice is an espresso or a cappuccino. Jeff and have actually grown fond of Italian coffee. He orders an espresso (called a caffe)and I get a cappuccino. We had quite a few of these while travelling to keep our energy up.

Our first sight-seeing venture was to see the Colosseum. Once you get off the metro and walk outside the metro station, you are hit with an awesome beauty. The Colosseum is right there in front of you. After dodging vendors who are trying to sell you some tacky souvenir or who are trying to get you to take their "special English tour", you can make your way to the Colosseum. It really is breath-taking as you realize the history behind the ruins.

We stood in line for about 30-45 minutes before we got inside. Once inside the Colosseum, we walked around the ancient ruins in awe. It is amazing to believe that this structure was built around AD 80.

After spending the morning at the Colosseum, we decided to do something completely "touristy" for lunch. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Rome for lunch. It was the BEST cheeseburger that either of us has had since leaving the states. It was delicious! Since Jeff had been to the HRC in London and I had been to the one in Paris, we felt we had to make our way to the one in Rome.

After a nice respite, we made our way to the famous Trevi Fountain. This fountain is featured in the famous movie "La Dolce Vita" in which the main characters wade in the fountain. Although it is illegal to wade in the fountain today, you can throw a coin in the fountain. Jeff got some video footage of me throwing a coin over my shoulder, which is the custom. Hey, when in Rome! The fountain was beautiful, but oh so crowded. You have to wrestle your way through the crowd to get somewhat close. We also saw the Spanish Steps along the way to the fountain. These steps are popular as many people sit on them and rest. This is a prime spot to people watch. At the bottom of these steps is a small fountain as well as a piazza filled with cafes and designer stores. We spent the rest of the day wandering around this area before we made our way back to the hotel. Our first day in Rome was a blast!

Our Trip: Part I

There is so much to share about our trip, that I decided to break it into a couple of segments. This is part one:

Our trip started by flying out of Catania Sicily to Rome. The flight went smoothly and we arrived in Rome after only being in the air for one hour. That's the kind of flight I like!

When we arrived at the Fiumicino airport in Rome, we were excited to start our adventure. This airport in located in the outskirts of Rome. You have to take a train to the main train/subway station in Rome called Stazione Termini. This station is located in the center of the city. After collecting our luggage without a hitch, we started looking for the train terminal.

From talking to friends and reading a guide book, we were able to easily find the train terminal to purchase our tickets for the train ride to Termini. You can either buy the tickets yourself at an automated machine or purchase them from a counter. (Important side note: We definitely recommend getting a guide book by Lonely Planet, Rick Steve's, etc. It was a lifesaver!)

The train you take to Termini is called the Leonardo Express (Really...I didn't make that up!) and leaves the airport every 30 minutes to the Termini station. We jumped on this train (which was very crowded) and arrived quickly in the center of Rome.

Once we got to Termini, we looked for the subway system that would eventually get us to our hotel. Termini was a bustling station with lots of stores, cafes, and lots and lots of people. We figured out which metro stop we needed for our hotel and jumped on the metro. For the main part, our day of traveling went pretty well. We were a little tired from lugging our suitcases around, but we made it.

We arrived at our subway stop which also was a bus station. We called our hotel to see if they had a shuttle to pick us up. After a slight miscommunication of where to go to be picked up, we made it to the pick up point and was finally picked up by the 6:15pm shuttle. Once we got to our hotel, we were exhausted. After a meal at the hotel restaurant for dinner, we called it a day. We decided that we could have made our own rendition of the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." The next day we would begin our sight-seeing adventure by visiting the Colosseum and other ancient Roman ruins!