Our adventure begins

We left Minneapolis on Thursday, September 27 for 2 weeks of travel, first Rome then Florence and back to Rome again. But first there was a short hop to Chicago and a nine-hour flight to get through (and as it turned out the occasional vocalized outbursts of 2 perhaps toasted Russians with whom we had exchanged seats--after first accidentally taking theirs--in a scene right out of a British romcom).

The flight was smooth but the plane was filthy, even run-down (yikes) and without the amenities that my most recent overseas flights have provided, such as large bulkhead areas where you can stand and stretch, those areas being reserved for the dapper and somewhat haughty, nearly all male flight attendants, who get away from the irritations of the passengers behind curtains that prohibited communal use. Nor were there personal video devices, which would be have been very useful to two ladies who rarely sleep on planes--take note Alitalia, we will not be using you again if we can help it.

But a relatively smooth and apparently safe enough flight later, we arrived in Rome to face the challenge of i musei Vaticani and St. Peter's Square on little to no sleep (stay tuned for more!)