Next up….Munich?

Not before we enjoy a little R&R in Santorini, Greece!   We flew from Rome to Athens, where we awaited our connecting flight to Santorini.   Athens airport is a little different from what we are accustomed to.   A bus picks you up from the gate and drops you off at the plane.  We waited patiently for about 2 hours until our gate was ‘open’.   With much excitement, we handed our tickets to the woman, she ripped off our stubs, and we jumped on the bus.  We thought our next plane would be a puddle jumper considering it’s 25 minutes to Santorini, but to our surprise, it wasn’t.  We walked up the stairs to the plane, and my OCD kicked in.  I showed the flight attendant my ticket to confirm we were on the correct plane (I asked her twice).  She concurred.   The plane was packed and something was not right, people were in our seats!  Back to the flight attendant to help figure this mystery out.  She went up the confused people in our seats and asked to see their tickets.  They too had 7E and 7D.  I peeked over her shoulder and noticed a few differences.   One, the tickets were different colors (ours were white and theirs were gray) and two, their destination was MUNICH!  HOLY SHIT, we are on the wrong plane!  Suffice to say, a little panic creeped in.  We immediately got off the plane and found ourselves alone in the middle of the tarmac, surrounded by planes…thinking how in the hell could we have been checked in by two different people and still manage to get on the wrong plane?  Not to mention, if seats 7D and 7E were unoccupied, we were definitely headed to Munich.  Ridiculous.  At this point, I’m freaking out, but thankfully Caragh is a little more cool headed.  Luckily, the air traffic controller outside was very helpful, but really intense.  “Hurry, get in the car!”  This must be how it feels to be in a high intense action movie (where’s Arnold when you need him?).   We are now in a random car, on the tarmac, waiting for our next move.   I’m still freaking out, thinking we are definitely missing our plane to Santorini but also grateful that plane was full because flying to Munich and then back to Athens would have been a bit of a downer.  A bus drives up, our friend opens the car door and shouts (again, very intensely) “Go! Go! Go!”.  We jump out and run to the bus, which takes us back to the gate.  But did we miss our plane?   Nope.  It must be fate.  Our plane was delayed and some Santorini R&R really is in our future!

Here are pics of Caragh and I in the random car on the tarmac and of us getting on the correct plane.  


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Sightseeing: Rome

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I know it's hard to believe, but we have been walking a lot in Rome.   Our first day we hit up ancient Rome, the Colosseum and the Pantheon.  Very enjoyable.  Here's a pic of us inside the Colosseum.   Crazy to think of the history of this place - over 500,000 people and 1 million animals died here. 


Murano

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Although Betsey is ridiculously busy with work and research, she took a day off to show us around the city.   We decided to take a boat to Murano, a smaller island off of Venice.  Murano is known for it’s glass blowing so there are plenty of shops and factories to check out.   Here’s a pic of Betsey and I that afternoon.   Thanks to Betsey for a great time in Venice.


Laundry Day!

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We arrived in Venice and fortunately my cousin Betsey just moved into an amazing two bedroom apartment a week ago.   Her apartment is really fantastic and in a great location.   It was so nice to be around family and get a feel of home.   We were able to eat some much needed home cooked meals, eat cereal (with milk) in the mornings, drink a nice cup of coffee and do our laundry.   Italy hasn’t quite accepted the dryer but atleast they are down with the washer.   Betsey has a great patio with a clothes line which was surprisingly fun.   Check out the pic.


The good life

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Thanks to our friend, Taylor, we have been living it up in Milan.  Taylor is hard at work for fashion week, and we are reaping the benefits!  We are staying with her for a few days in a five star hotel, sharing a bed (which is bigger then our room over at EasyHotel), ordering room service, going to the gym and swimming in the pool.   We seriously owe T for this one!