Escaping from Italy

Sunday the 19th, my supposedly last day in Italy, was spent showing Jaclyn around the city and saying goodbye to friends. Rumor had it that there was more snow coming and airports were getting messed up, but as far as we could tell our flight was still on for the next day. The at 9pm at night, 12 hours before we were supposed to fly to Frankfurt and then New York, Lufthansa posted online that our flight was cancelled, simply as that. Naturally we all flew into a panic, not having cell phones or even reliable Internet. Sara Abad finally got through to Lufthansa only to find out the soonest they could get us out was Wednesday the 23rd, two days before Christmas. This meant I was missing my non-refundable (as my father was quick to point out) flight from New York to Salt Lake and would have to attempt to non-rev home two days before Christmas. I tried to still make sure Jaclyn was enjoying her last night in Italy, yet couldn't help breaking down and crying at the thought of being stuck somewhere for Christmas, not knowing when I was going to get out, not knowing where I could stay, having no food, and only about 12 euros left.

After finally getting through to my parents,  decided I was going to try to fly stand by home from Rome on the same flight as Jaclyn Monday morning. This meant taking the 5 am train to Rome, with two giant bags, navigating the over run airport, and maybe not even getting a seat.  Once I turned off my computer that night I received a flood of emails from my parents telling me not to do it, but the next morning I was on the train to Rome, taking out people left and right with my giant bags but I didn't care, I wanted to be home.

By some Christmas Miracle I made it on the flight, first class too! I still think I owe the universe a huge favor for letting that happen. When the gate agent called my name I almost hugged her! All's well that ends well, I made it to New York, shared a hotel with Jaclyn, and got on my fight home the next morning to Salt Lake City. I never thought I would be so happy to be out of Italy.

Rome with Jaclyn

Making sure I left Italy with a bang, one of my best friends from college, Jaclyn, flew all the way out from Boston to visit and we went to Rome for the weekend. While I had been there before, it was nice to end my trip on such a historically significant note and take in all the cites with a old friend. Our first night we went to a pizza place close to the Forum but on a tiny side street. I warned Jaclyn that no one ate until 8:30, but due to jet lag she got hungry around 7. She was shocked when we were the only ones eating besides the restaurant staff until about 9:00. The pizza was amazing and the house wine was barely four euro a liter.

The next day (Friday) we woke up early and trekked off to the Vatican City. I had made us reservations ahead of time but when we showed up it turns out it was pretty much empty. There was no line any where and the Sistine Chapel was barely 1/4th full. It was so nice to be able to slowly wander and take everything in in silence with out a mass of people trying to look at each painting. We wandered over to St. Paul's cathedral where the choir was practicing for Christmas Mass. It was amazing being inside such a large church with the echo of choir all around us. Friday night we followed a recommendation out to some piazza and had an amazing pasta dinner. As we sat down it started pouring rain so we made our meal last as long as possible and even splurged on some Tiramisu.

Saturday we sought out the ruins, and saw the Coliseum, Pantheon, Forum, and a walking tour that lead us from the Spanish steps, through the main streets to Palatine Hill. Thanks to Rick Steve's we even found the best coffee in Rome. I am a coffee snob and even I thought it was excellent. We caught a late train back to Florence that night, only to arrive and find about two feet of snow on the ground!