Grief Trip: Travels of Healing: I could live in Rome...

I think one of the coolest parts of this blog post, is that I am writing it on a train ride to Venice.

We left Orlando on St. Patrick's Day to head towards Europe. Our final destination? Rome, Italy. It would just take a while to get us there.

Out first flight was out of Orlando, FL and to Boston. We scored cheap first class tickets and were super excited. Our FIRST first-class! Overall, first class was a disappointment when traveling domestically. Definitely fancier on international flights.

When we arrived in Boston, we had a 5 hour layover, so I HAD to have some New England seafood. Legal Seafood has two restaurants in Logan Airport, so after we checked into our flight and checked our bags, we headed to the location in Terminal B.

I was so please to get my hands on some steamer clams. Can't hardly find them in Orlando. They were delicious! But I think they earned me a "pat-down" at security!

Apparently I alerted with the security and they had to swipe my hands for analysis. THEN, it alarmed, and I was escorted to the "private room" for inspection. Overall, the feel-up was not as exciting as I had hoped, but I was cleared to travel.

Our next flight was with Aer Lingus to Dublin. I tried to upgrade my flight to a higher class, but it would have cost me an ADDITIONAL $2500 per ticket. OUCH! I wasn't spending that money for a 5 hour flight!

I was regretting the entire flight choice as I tried too squeeze my plus-size self into the smallest airplane seats to date. I usually don't have a problem with seats, but this was RIDICULOUS! Chris couldn't move. Even Sierra was uncomfortably cramped. Luckily, Chris and I were able to spread out so there were seats empty around us. The hard, plastic, unlovable armrest did not give us any leeway.

We arrived in Dublin and then we had an hour before we boarded our flight to Rome. This Aer Lingus flight was quite better with armrests that moved up and a very nice, thin, stranger sitting with Cici and myself.

We arrived in Rome at 11:00 a.m. their time. So it took us almost 24 hours to get to Rome. I need to stop being a cheapskate and get the quicker, more expensive tickets...

When we arrived in Rome, we were able to hop a train (hop is figurative with this much luggage) to Termini Station. Our hotel was a short distance away, and after going in a couple circles, we finally found it.

Domus Liberius is a bed and breakfast near the Santa Maria Maggoria, a big basilica in the northern part of the city. We had two nice rooms on the fourth floor of a townhome on the piazza. The view was great!

We took a nice nap and then headed out for our first Italian meal!!!! So exciting!

The thing about food in Rome, is, that even the bad meals are good. We went to a restaurant each night, and I can't really complain about the food anywhere. Some places were better than others. Some waiters were better than others. Overall, everything was delicious and I never got sick of the food.

The next few days were spent seeing the sights.

Coliseum? Check!

Roman Forum? We walked past it...

Vatican Museum? Check!

St. Peter's Basilica? Check! My favorite!

Pantheon? Searched and couldn't find it...

Trevi Fountain? Check!

Spanish Steps? Check!

We could have spent more time in Rome, but at the same time, we saw lots and lots of old buildings, ruins, and churches. Everything was beautiful and a bit overwhelming.

As a happy coincidence, my cousin Bill happened to be in Rome on business. He really lives in Boston, but travels throughout Europe for much of the year. We were able to meet up for dinner with him and share some gelato. I loved the fact that we met up while over here! I hoped for France or Belgium perhaps crossing paths, but it was even better that he found us in our first stop.