In Italy - FINALLY!

Sorry it has taken so long to update this blog...we've had a lot happen, and no chance to get on the computer until now. So here's what's happened thus far...

Tuesday evening:
We climbed on the plane in Des Moines at 7:10 and took off a few minutes later. Very excited and anxious to get to Italy! Weather for the whole trip was very good, and beautiful clouds to watch on the way. We got to Chicago on time, and were really hungry since we hadn't eaten yet, so Leah watched our bags while I went to find food. The only place I could find that was open was a McDonalds, so we had a sandwich and some chicken nuggets for supper. Yum.

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning:
We were on the plane for a little more than seven hours on the flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. We slept a little, but not much. The plane was very comfortable for sitting, but not for sleeping. Unfortunately, I didn't learn that the head rest was adjustable until we were sitting the tarmac after we landed and were getting ready to exit the plane. Nice. That would have helped my sleep. I'll remember that for the return flight.
The time change really messes with your head. We hadn't been on the plane long when the flight attendant came by and put down the shade, and made a comment about the sun coming up soon. Which it did. When we landed in Frankfurt, it was around 1 pm local time.
The plane was very nice. We flew with Lufthansa, which is a German airline. I didn't know what to expect, but all the reviews on the Internet were very favorable, so I gave it a shot. Fortunately, we were very pleased. The plane was very clean and comfortable. It was nice and fresh feeling, and the attendants were exceptionally helpful. There was a 20 minute glitch with the in-seat entertainment system for everyone, but after they rebooted the system, it seemed to work fine.
Overall, two thumbs up on the flight.

Wednesday afternoon/evening:
We were starting to get a little travel weary at this point, but were still doing well. While in the Frankfurt airport we made some observations: 1. Germans, at least, like to smoke. There were little glass smoking booths (they looked like fully enclosed bus stops) that were about every 100 feet (approx. 30 meters for you European folk) and at least one person in each of them. 2. Even though there are smoking booths, the smoke still escapes. 3. Our internet worked in Frankfurt. That's a good sign. We didn't realize how helpful that would be in the next few hours.
We took our last flight from Frankfurt to Rome which took about 2 hours. It was about 5:30 local time when we landed. We hadn't heard from the director of the program about transportation, so we decided that we should keep moving and rent a car, because we didn't know how to use the bus system. Had we known what we know now, we might have chosen a different option, but of course, hindsight is 20/20.

It is getting late, and we are still getting used to the time change, so we need to get to sleep. Good night for now, and I will update you on the rest of our trip to Novafeltria tomorrow. Trust me, it's worth checking back.
Dave