Italy

We finally made it. For real. Only 44 hours of traveling but we made it to Poppi, the town where Joel's conference is. The flight was very very trying. Bennett fell asleep as we were boarding and slept two hours. That was nice but it was a 9.5 hour flight. So then he was awake and antsy. Oh it was horrible. I felt so motion sick from the turbulance that I couldn't do much but sleep so poor Joel had to do it all. Finally when we had about four hours left in the flight (about 9 pm Minneosta time) we had had enough so I put Bennett in a best hug and told him he was going to sleep. He definitely wasn't happy about it and cried and moaned for a while, but he didn't scream so I kept him restrained. After 20 minutes or so he fell asleep... And then proceeded to periodically cry in his sleep so Joel didn't get any rest. Then after we landed I felt horrible and threw up. So everyone had a great flight. 

After we landed, we went to get our one checked bag. Joel and I discussed earlier and we were fairly certain there was no way in hell that it'd arrive in Rome. Imagine our surprise when it in fact did NOT show up. At least I was smart and packed all of Joel's conference clothing, half of Bennett's diapers and clothing dr Bennett and I in our carry on, just in case a situation like this were to arise. Our checked bag had Bennett's diaper wipes, all his baby foods, and all our liquids like sunscreen, conditioner and deodorant. So that's super annoying. They're supposed to send it to our hotel when they can track it down. I have little faith in the Alitalia people we were dealing with. 

Bennett's first train ride:

Afterwards we took a train from the airport to the Rome Termini and took a train from there to Florence. The first leg was about a half hour and second leg about 1.5 hours. The second train was  tough for Joel, since I fell asleep (the ONLY way I can get through motion sickness is to sleep, so...) but Bennett made friends with the mother and daughter we were sitting next to in the train. I remember reading an American person's comments on traveling to Italy with a baby and how Italians love babies. I thought she was just being a conceited, thinking everyone loves her bratty child, but it's actually true! At Rome Termini Bennett was crying and an old man just walked up to him and started talking to him. At the Florence station I needed to change Bennett's diaper and he started putting up a fuss as soon as I laid him down. One of the restroom attendants immediately came over and started cooing and playing with him. On the train an older male train attendant walked by and rubbed Bennett's arm. Then both the mom and teenage daughter kept waving and saying "ciao!" to Bennett. Towards the end of the ride Bennett really started melting down so the teenage daughter took him into her lap and showed him how to play Candy Crush on her phone. People constantly walk by him smiling and cooing, tryin to make him smile. It's really amazing. Italian people do love babies!

Once we got to Florence we had about an hour before we needed to catch our shuttle to Poppi so we decided to make the best of it and see the Duomo. It wasn't far from the station and Bennett and I went inside as Joel watched the stroller. I pointed out the stained glass, sculptures, frescos and mosaic floor to Bennett. He was really good and looked at everything. Then I had my first gelato. It was melon and raspberry flavored. Bennett didn't want anything to do with the gelato but ended up eating the end of the empty cone. Florence was really beautiful so it's a shame we didn't get to spend more time there. 

Florence:

The duomo:

Inside the duomo:

The inside of the dome:

Gelato:

We then went back to the train station to catch our shuttle. It was a private shuttle for Joel's conference participants and the drive was only 1.5 hours. No big deal, right? Wrong. Apparently Poppi is beautifully settled 1.5 hours away via winding roads and switchbacks. So much breaking and accelerating. I felt terrible, once again and just closed my eyes and prayed I'd make it. Beautiful countryside otherwise, for everyone else to enjoy. Bennett slept the whole time which was perfect. 

Once we made it to Poppi, we checked into our hotel, walked around a bit and grabbed dinner. We had lasagna, beef with mushrooms and some local soup the looked disgusting but tasted delicious! It was all really fantastic. Bennett loved the beef and soup, in particular, and did a happy dance after he tried each one. Joel had a glass of locally made chianti, which he said was one of the best he's ever had. I'm not a wine drinker and particularly dislike reds, but have to say, it was really good. No burning aftertaste. 

View from our hotel:

Restaurant we had dinner:

The town of Poppi is really cute. We are across the river from the city center but there are still some shops and restaurants around. It's a really picturesqe place. We're also a bit higher in elevation than Florence so it's cooler which is wonderful. It felt it was like a beautiful 60 degree spring day out, no humidity and minimal bugs. We have a room with a balcony and it seems the AC isn't working so we have the doors open and shade down so that no one can see in. The town is lush with greenery and there are the most amazing roses in bloom everywhere. It really is lovely and comfortable. Definitely a place I feel comfortable in without Joel, while he is in his conference from 8-7 daily. We'll have long days but we'll did things to do- and if our bag can show up then I'll have sunscreen for Bennett so that he can go swimming. 

Now it's 9:15 and both of the boys are asleep. Bennett is sleeping in bed with us and was really wound up, but I told him it was night night time and he laid down and closed his eyes. While we've had trying times with him so far this trip, mostly revolving around him not wanting to sit still, he's been amazing. He only slept 4 hours on our way to Rome, which was during his normal 10 hours of night time sleep time. Didn't put up a fuss when we woke him and was more than happy to run around while we sorted out the baggage situation. Then he slept 20 minutes from the airport to the termini and again didn't put up too much of a fuss when we woke him up. To be clear, we never wake him up, but we try to lay him in his stroller so that he can continue sleeping but he never sleeps. There's just too much to see. Then he slept 1.5 hours to Poppi and just fell asleep. Less than6 hours when he should've slept 12, and he was still smiling and full of energy. Can't complain!