2:00pm (Ontario Time) - So as I type this, Megan and I are sitting in the airport, waiting for our flight. It'll be in two hours. There's no internet here apparently, so I won't be able to post this until we next get internet. So I guess I'll just keep adding on to this post until I can put it up.
5:56pm (OT) 11:56pm (Italy Time) - We're flying now! T'was awesome, according to Megan. I see clouds and blue. Won't be landing until 7am something, Italy time, so we're going to sleep the whole flight! Goodnight!
4:15am (OT) 10:15pm (IT) - We're in Rome! We just got on a train going to Florence (Firenze for those who know the Italian names). It'll take us about an hour and a half to get there. So I'll write about what's already happened. We tried to sleep on the plane, but failed. The airplane food was pretty good, considering what we've heard about it. We crossed over the Alps before heading over Italy, and they were beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't have a window seat so we had to admire from afar. Once reaching Rome, we had to go through literally five layers of clouds before we saw land. We landed at 7:30ish, and then got on a bus to take us from the airport into the city of Rome, so we could get on this train. The bus took a roundabout route - we've already seen some gorgeous buildings (which we frantically tried to identify on a map as we drove by, but failed), as well some many old ruins, like old walls, aquaducts and a random giant mystery building. We were both surprised by the trees, they're so strange! Italy has some sort of evergreen tree that grows up really straight before having branches up near the top, sort of shaped like a mushroom cloud. There are also weird fern-like trees. I could look them up, but I don't have internet right now (as I type this, at least). We were also surprised by the amount of smart cars! So many smart cars! And the motorcyclists just drive pretty much where ever they want - up between cars, along the side of the road, everywhere. So long story short, neither of us have slept since yesterday (we sort of skipped over the nighttime during the flight), so we're exhausted, but excited!
11:30am(OT) 5:30pm(IT) - Well, we've retired to our hostel for the night, where we're probably going to end up staying on the internet (the first we've had access to) untill we fall asleep. We've been busy since I wrote that last paragraph. The train ride was nice and short, and we saw some very pretty vineyards, orchards (olive maybe?) and little hilltop villages. Once arriving in Florence we had to find our hostel and got a little lost, luckily some nice couple helped us. The hostel we're staying at is pretty nice. We've got a four person room to ourselves for the two nights, and breakfast is included. The hostel guy gave us a map and showed us all the things we could see - all nicely within walking distance. So we walked around for a few hours. We saw The Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore, which is a giant cathedral just sitting in the middle of the city. We took tons of pictures of the outside and hope to check out the inside either tomorrow or the next day. Unfortunately, my tablet doesn't take regular camera cards, only mini ones, so I can't put up any of my pictures! Anyway, we also accidentally stumbled upon a couple different churches, as well as the Piazza San Lorenzo, which was the palace of Lorenzo De Medici. We checked out a couple of little stores, as well. Our first Italian meal was pizza, of course, but fancy pizza! Mine had artichokes on it, and Megan had one with sausage. Then we retired to the hostel to rest our aching feet, and I finally got a chance to post all of this!
Love and miss you all!
(Edited and extra photos added May 2019)