Italy - Day 1 Travel

Italy!  The toughest part of travel is the actual travelling!  We left Seattle at 6:30pm and 9 hours later landed in London at 11:30am local time.  Most of us hadn't slept as there were lots of inflight movies.  We had some snacks (I had a pizza croissant - starting my pizza binge) and visited the Harry Potter store at Heathrow.  A few hours later we got on another plane for the 2 and 1/2 hours to Rome.  Landed in Rome at 6pm, breezed through customs and grabbed a taxi to head into the city.  Apparently things like lines on the roads and speed signs and such are only just suggestions and merging is not for the faint of heart!  Arrived at our airbnb before 7pm, but Tony's international calling plan didn't work so well, he was unable to call or text our host to let him know we had arrived.  Tony's data did work and we finally got through using the message on the airbnb app.  We checked out the restaurant next door and the menu looked good, so figured we would eat there once we got checked in.  Our host arrived quickly once we got a hold of him and took us up the 6 flights of stairs (the elevator holds only three people - so tony, the kids and the luggage took the elevator).  The apartment was beautiful with a patio overlooking a courtyard, two bedrooms, bathroom and a small kitchen/dining room.  It was perfect for us during our stay!  After we got settled in and our host gave us tips on local things and transport, we headed down to the restaurant.  Unfortunately it was now 8pm on Saturday night - popular eating time, so that and the other close-by restaurant were full.  We ended up across the street at a quick eatery called tasty toast.  It had good grilled sandwiches.  Matthew had the "easy" grilled ham and cheese.  It became his go to meal the next few days!  Went back to the apartment and couldn't get out key to work!  got a hold of the host and he sent someone out who also couldn't get it to work.  Our host paid for us to hang at the restaurant next door where we had some appetizers, chocolate gelatto (fabulous) and lemon sorbet while they awaited a locksmith.  At 10:45 we got back in!  The kids had already fallen asleep at the table, they managed to straggle up to the apartment and go back to sleep.  We were tired enough that we slept fairly well that night!

Birthday Boy headed to Rome

snacks at next door restaurant