Finally A Post....The First of Many on the Trip of a Lifetime!

Trip of a Lifetime:

When: August 28, 2009 though September 14, 2009

Where: Rome, Italy and a 13 day cruise on the Celebrity Equinox leaving from Rome to:

Naples, Italy

Athens, Greece

Rhodes, Greece

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

Haifa, Israel

Ashdod (Jerusalem), Israel

Alexandria, Egypt (2 day stay--we ended up travelling the 3 hrs into Cairo and Giza)

Why: Our 30th wedding anniversary (September 1st), a celebration of our survival of the past year thanks to Tropical Storm Fay, and because we needed it! :-)

How: A true miracle! We are immensely blessed!

Impression: This trip was phenomenal and a true once-in-a-lifetime experience. We LOVED every MINUTE of everyday. It was spectacular. We count our blessings for the ability to have gone!

DAYS ONE & TWO: Friday, August 28th thru Saturday, August 29, 2009

We headed to the Tallahassee Airport about 11:00am and arrived around noon, thanks to our chauffeur (aka Stefanie). We checked-in and went through security without a hitch (unusual since I am usually pulled aside and hand-patted, swiped with the detection wand, and have my bag searched). I almost didn't know what to do with myself it all went so smoothly. Little did I know what was to come...

Dave and I left Tallahassee around 2:00pm and headed to Atlanta. Our flight was smooth and we were EXCITED!!

Atlanta--the flight that arrived before us was almost an hour late...we were beginning to bite our fingernails. If there was any more of a delay, we'd probably miss our international flight out of Detroit. Panic started to set in as we sat an additional 20 minutes on the tarmac. We began strategizing! We were not going to miss our flight to Rome if we had anything to do with it!

Detroit--our flight from Atlanta arrived about 30 minutes before our flight to Rome was scheduled to leave. You have never seen two people run faster across the airport to the other side ...but we made it directly into the boarding line...sweating, panting, and praying we both wouldn't die of a heart attack right then and there! We soon learned that our pre-assigned seats were not even in the system (although they were on our itinerary). We ended up on the back row in the corner by the lavatories, and around two moms and two babies. We knew this was going to be a very long flight. BUT! It ended up just fine! The babies were champs, the trips by the other passengers to the lavatories were not bad, and we got a few short catnaps in. We left Detroit at about 7:45pm and arrived in ROME, ITALY at about 10:30am their time (4:30am EST).

Once we arrived in Rome, we collected our luggage (and sighed a sigh of relief that even our bags made the connection despite being so late!) and headed out to find our ride to the hotel.

The weather in Rome was similar to Georgia--hot and humid. Once we arrived to our hotel we got into our room, checked out the view from our balcony (that's St. Peter's Basilica in the distance):

Once we settled for a few minutes, we decided since our time was so short in Rome, that we would at least go visit the ancient Coliseum. We took the hotel shuttle to downtown and then decided to brave the subway! Despite our minimal (or rather non-existent) ability to speak Italian, we found our way to the Coliseum--hint: the subway stop was the "Colosseo" so that really helped! :-)

When we stepped outside of the subway, I expected to see the Coliseum from the exit in the distance, but instead was literally "hit" with it's grandeur and beauty right in front of me. I was so overwhelmed, that the tears just started to come (thanks to a lack of sleep, too). This is what we saw when we emerged from the subway:

And looking back...this was Dave at the entrance/exit of the subway:

Once I started breathing again, we crossed the street and took a tour of this incredibly beautiful remaining remnant of the Roman Empire. This structure is glorious and breathtaking. I can only imagine how beautiful it was in its prime. It used to be covered in white travertine marble and apparently glittered. However, back when the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica were built, the marble was removed (along with all the statues) and put in the Vatican. Even as a ruin, this structure is absolutely stunning and there is not a picture on earth that does it justice. It's HUGE! Here are a few more pictures of this beauty:

The bottom interior was where they kept the lions and other animals during games. One day saw the slaughter of over 450 lions!

The view from the top floors of the Coliseum. The Arch of Constantine is on the left, and the structure is surrounded by ruins.

An ancient stairway--it's hard to tell, but it was unbelievably steep. They have gates across them both at the top and bottom to keep people off of them.

We found someone to take a picture of us. This area was oozing with tourists!

We found a cafe across from the Coliseum and next to the subway. We shared pasta and pizza! Heaven!

Across from the Coliseum is the Arch of Constantine. It has the most beautiful carvings!

We spent the rest of the day touring many of the surrounding ruins. We headed back to the hotel before dark and turned in early. Despite the hard bed, we slept like rocks--nothing like sleep deprivation to help you fall asleep. Adjusting to the time change really didn't end up being too difficult this way....

We absolutely LOVED Rome! It's a beautiful city with a wonderful blend of old and new. The people are friendly too...

More coming....no guarantees when, but eventually...