Life on the Runn...

Other than happy, well cared for cats and a furball-free house (thank you, Becky), a stack of mail was waiting of us when we got home last weekend.  I quickly rummaged through the pile, tossing most of the mail into the recycling bin (Really, how many newspapers can people who don't subscribe to a newspaper get?!).  There was one piece of mail that was unexpected and exciting.  My diploma arrived!  I expected that it would take longer; I seem to remember my last one taking quite some time.  That bad boy went right up on the wall.

Despite my fear that we may never get home, we are back. Our flight from Rome was delayed, so we missed our connecting flight in Montreal and spent Saturday night in Canada instead of in our own bed. We left Canada very early Sunday and weathered the extreme turbulence before landing. I look forward to posting pictures and specifics from our Italian adventure. In the mean time, I will be working on adjusting to the time difference.

I will have lots and lots to share regarding this amazing vacation once we return, but I wanted to offer a quick preview of our trip thus far. It is HOT, so we are eating lots of gelato, and I am loving that! We are adjusting to the 7 hour time difference, and I think I may never eat pizza again after this trip since we are having lots of it for our lunches. I am in love with real Italian minestrone soup, and Brian sure is loving his daily doses of pasta. We are now in our fourth of seven cities (that we will stay in). We visited Venice, Riomaggiore (an ocean town)and Florence and are now in Montelcino, which is much less crowded and cooler. We also made brief stops in Pisa and Siena. Each city was unique and had its draws-gondola rides in Venice, the sea in Riomaggiore, the Leaning Tower in Pisa,all of the scenery and art in Florence and the square in Siena. I look forward to posting pictures soon, and I hope all is well in the States!