We arrived in Florence and it was late in the afternoon and a dreary rainy day. The line for the cab was nutty but luckily went fast and the girls were again just perfect little travelers. I mean really perfect. Like traveling with buddy. Ugh feel so blessed. Anyway, we all just settled in to our apartment (which is also perfect) and Dada ran out and got some quick things from the grocery so I can make little dinner and we can all just rest. That is exactly what rainy dreary days are for.

Will bought this beauty from the grocery store in Florence. It kicks the percolators butt. It brews the coffee by boiling the water up through the grinds and then the water comes through the top part. It is fast and makes coffee the color of oil (just how i like it). It is essential at the moment (refer to recent posts below). Will is now up and sipping his coffee. Time to get ready for another day of exploring :). Thankful that with all the lack of sleep the girls are both miraculously in brilliant moods. It is truly baffling. Oh, and it turns out Will said he went to bed at 5am (suppose someone has to pay the bills). This means he really only had 1 more hour of sleep than me. Guess we’re in it together (see post below). C O F F E E.

This afternoon we headed out of Rome and boarded a high speed train to Florence. Will booked us business class tickets and for about 120.00 we had 4 comfy seats and relaxed for the 1 1/2 ride. The journey to the train sure was interesting. We were dropped off in front of the station with 3 large bags, 2 carry on, and two kids. See posts below about the gypsies and now flash forward two days and Will is playing a different tune. A woman walked up to me and grabbed my two carry on bags that i was rolling stacked on top of each other while carrying Sabs and having Pookie hold on to my shirt. She said she insisted on helping me and that her and her husband have two young girls also so she knows how hectic it can be to travel. We started chatting a bit and her husband got on the train a few cars before us. I told her no worries i can handle it the rest of the way but she insisted on walking us all the way to our seats. Will is skeptical and keeps looking back now thinking it is some sort of scam and i am about to lose our luggage to this lady who is going to take off and make a run for it. I am laughing in my head b/c I know all that is going through his mind and how quickly the game has changed from his non skeptical attitude to this don’t trust anyone current mindset. Turns out my nice lady was actually just that, a nice lady. She helped me to our train car, smiled and went on her way.

Dada on the other hand had two guys dressed like a porters grab his bags to put them on the train (he was carrying two large duffles on his back and rolling our third piece of luggage, oh and also carrying a laptop case). Will gave him a few dollars and figured he would be on his way. He came back. He asked for more. Will said no, I just gave you and you grabbed my bags, i didnt even want you to help. He didn’t leave. Will gave him some more money. I think about 5.00 or 10.00 (all the dude did was put the bag from the platform into the car). He asked for more. Will said NO, go. He left. His friend came and said he wanted money too. Will said go talk to your other friend. He didn’t leave. Will said NO. He left. All of this was mostly done in hand gestures since they were speaking Italian and we were speaking English. I think Will left Rome twitching. He sat down on the train and declared from here on in no one will touch the bags. He is refusing all help.  I will laugh bout this endlessly inside.

Florence really hasn’t been like this at all. For me, Rome seemed more like Time Square and Florence more like Brooklyn. We had such a fun day in Rome and loved the hotel as well, but I don’t think our family would enjoy an extended stay there. It is way too busy with too many people. Florence on the other hand is a perfect mix. I really love it here.

Anyway. on to some pics from our train ride. PS (It is now 10am and Sabs is awake again from a quick 1/2hr power nap. Will is still sleeping. Sophie has moved on from breakfast to chocolate. Whew and people complain about setting clocks back an hour. This 8hr time change is butt kickin. Im sending Sophie in to wake Will- muhahahahaha. I just said Sophie go in and wake dada, she said, “is the coffee ready?”. Haha! Wise beyond her years).

Sabs is now watching Elmo’s world right next to my ear. Elmo’s voice combined with sleep deprivation should be used for torturing criminals. Sophie is talking about the game she is playing and something about flying away from the family and getting stuck in the ocean. I am in the middle on the bed. The bed is about the queen size. They are pushed so close to me we could all easily be laying in a twin bed. Will needs to be woken up. I gave him just enough time to sleep so that I can complain later in the day that he had more sleep than me and therefore has to handle the doodie diaper, or the crying baby, or whatever the day may bring. Yes i thought this out. Well it is good to know that if I forgo sleep i can catch up on the blog…so there’s that :).

We walked from our hotel to a beautiful park and had our first meal out in Italy. It was Yummo! The girls were so good and charming that the restaurant gave them a free dessert. Pookie let out a burp that sounded like it came from a 300lb man. Everyone at the table behind us turned and looked at Will. He pointed to pooks with a smile and they all busted out laughing. Too much sparkly water will do it to ya. PS (At 7am this the morning both girls were up. Sabs finally went to bed at 3:30am last night (see post below). It is 9am and she is currently zonking out on top of my right arm. Pooks is eating breakfast. Will is still asleep. This sure is an interesting schedule we are on).

I am catching up and still a few days behind but it is 2:38 am and I am sitting on the couch with Sabs, (yes Sabs), watching movies sitting next to me. 2:38 am. We’ve been at it since 1am. She fell asleep at about 9pm, woke up at 12am, tried valiantly to fall back asleep for an hour and then just gave up and started trying to wake her sissy. Sooo we relocated, ate some cheese, and surrendered to the jet lag. She is giggling and showing me all her games and movies. She keeps rewinding and replaying the same song in Coraline. She is not yawning. I am afraid…very afraid. Sophie on the other hand has resumed a fairly normal schedule as of last night and has been snoring away since 9:30pm. Will is still awake sitting across from me working on his laptop. Sabs is singing now. She is going to kill us all.

I’m not sure what church this even is but it is the last one we will be visiting:

Dada: Hey let’s pop in here and check it out.

Sophie: Uh, no dada. no.

Dada: Why not.

Sophie: I dont have a good feeling about this. It looks scary. I really don’t want to go in.

Dada: Come on we are just going to walk through quick and check it out.

(drags us all in there)

Sophie: Why is everyone whispering. What is he saying (man closing eyes praying to front of church).

Momma: I dont know. You are just supposed to be quiet in here.

Sophie: Can we go now? This is terrifying.

Dada: Hey Sophie! Check this out…

Sophie: DADA! I knew this was going to be in here! I knew they would have something like this! Why would you take me in here? Is it nice to chop off peoples heads? Is that nice to take me into a place where they chop off someone’s head. Why is he holding a man’s head. I knew from the scary music. I just knew it. Let’s go!

Dada: Meh, she has point. Let’s go.

Momma: (thankful most people prob spoke only italian inside church)

And so that is the only pic you will see of a church. First, and last. Girl has a point.

We started our day at the Spanish steps and wandered around from there. Before we left for Italy, I was telling Will to be careful with his wallet, etc. because I remember when I visited a long time ago they warned me about the Gypsy people who are notorious for stealing and scamming tourists. He laughed at me and made fun of how long ago that was and brushed it off. He also thought it was hilarious that i called them Gypsies. I said no i think it is a real thing. Then when we arrived at the hotel the first night and were chatting with the manager about the economy in Italy he started going off about the Gypsy people too and i just looked at Will b/c apparently it wasn’t “sooooo long” ago. He still maintained the racist argument and some blah blah about how he doesnt want to support a world that is going to judge and categorize people etc.

Fast forward to the next morning arriving at the Spanish steps. Within 5 minutes a guy comes over and hands the girls and I roses…then spews some beautiful family nonsense. Then proceeds to ask Will to pay him for the roses. Sucka. Will went to give him $5.00. He said no  i want more. Will was like seriously…and gave him 10.00. LOL. lesson learned. Gypsy numero uno. He made off with 10.00 and Will maintained his non racial profiling stance.

Fast forward another 5 minutes…in the middle of the Spanish steps (prob hundred or more ppl hanging out) and 3 guys come running through carrying bundles wrapped in sheets looking like stolen loaves of bread out of the movie Aladdin. Chasing after them are Italian police officers holding what looks like a ping pong paddle. No one is startled. No one is flinching. They all run through the crowd and life carries on. Except my dear husband who does not say a word to me but I observe him move my bag from his side shoulder to the front of his chest and grip it like a third child…for the rest of the day.

Oh how i laughed, not laughed, roared with laughter inside intermittently the entire day. I gave him the benefit all day and just kept my mouth shut, but I’m me, and well that can’t last very long so as soon as we got back to the hotel i just mimicked him and clutched a bag like he did (possibly singing some song about gypsies). Ah how i will cherish this memory, and in case i forget, i will reread this for entertainment.

So on to some pics of the Spanish steps. These pics would have been lovely if Sabi didnt steal Sophie’s candy from her hand seconds before Will snapped the pic. That didn’t go over well. Some photographer caught it all on camera and they were laughing (lovingly) about the situation, which clearly pissed Sophie off more. This situation took 10 minutes or so to recover from but we recovered. The faces below say it all. PS (neither of them even like the candy).

They realize they both don’t like Italian fruity hard candy and so they can be best buds again…

Well it may be close to midnight but we made it to Rome and when we landed the airport had a playground waiting at baggage claim so the girls were off and running straight away! Our bags all arrived in tact and a driver was waiting for us at the airport with a comfy SUV, candy and water.

Will found a beautiful hotel about 25 minutes from the airport and just outside of the center or the city so it was quiet and located on a tree lined street. We got there close to midnight and the manager poured us some complimentary drinks and then went and made us a cheese plate with toasted bread (plain, lightly toasted and dark to be exact), nuts, and chips. He also brought the girls some sparkly water. We hung out downstairs and chatted/stuffed our faces for a bit and then headed up to our room.

In our room the hotel put a crib, kids table, toys, and coloring pencils for the girls. It was absolutely perfect. I cant even remember what time we fell asleep…maybe 4am?

The next morning (or afternoon i should say since we woke up around noon), we missed the breakfast and the manager figured we slept super late so he saved a bunch of little pastries for us and then went out of his way and made us eggs and cafe when we woke up. Ahhh, italian coffee. The girls dined at their little kiddie table with chairs.

After breakfast we headed down to venture out for the day and another hotel worker came over and gave the girls little finger puppets and candy. We also met the resident cat.

Whew!!! We made it and we actually had loads of fun along the way! So super proud of these two little monkeys. I can’t believe how incredible they were the entire travel. They did not cry or fuss at all on a 9 1/2 hour flight. They only slept about 2 hours of it and hopped off the plane with excitement. The plane was a bit crammed and two grown men started fighting mid flight over seat space. People had to break it up before there was all out brawl on the plane. Too bad they didnt take cues on behavior from our 1 1/2 and 4 yr old (never thought id say that). So proud. When we landed in Madrid we had 7 hours to kill and one heck of a tired family. Will found a hotel in the airport that was a lifesaver. We booked a room for 6 hour, turned out all the lights and zonked for 4 hours straight. Zzzzzz. Woke up, changed clothes and headed off to our next 2 1/2 hour flight to Rome :).