Sorry, we dont really have internet here

07/07/2005, 18:05 PM

Wow! what a wild past few days. I would have updated this right away but we have to go to a internet café to get online. Ok, so let me catch you up on what has happened that last few days. We arrive in Rome, breeze thru customs. The guy at customs didn't even look where he stamped our passport, he barely even looked at us. Luggage. No problem finding that, it was our cats that were the problem. They told us to go to a special area for oversize luggage and pets.....yet they weren't there. Turns out that after we left our luggage are to go there, our cats arrived and were sitting there for 20 minutes before anyone let us know. Yikes! They were ok though. We then we on to meet our driver who took us to town to get our car.

Now if you have heard anything about driving in Italy, it was probably right. But, it was also probably wrong. Yes they drive fast, but they obey the sides of the road. If you are slower than others, you stay to the right and then pass on the left. We were in shock! Nobody in America does this, but we only saw Americans disobeying this in Italy. It was nice to be able to pass without worrying that someone up ahead on the left was going to slow. At first, driving was weird. The speed limits said things like 90, or 120. What?? Luckily that is KM/Hr not Miles/hour. The drive was beautiful. Hills of green with towns all the way down the sides. I will put some pictures online when I get enough to put on a disk and bring to the internet café. It was so breathe taking. Perugia, although beautiful is very hard to navigate. But after about 30 minutes of driving around, we found our flat.

It was a lot bigger than we had thought. And it is so nice. I have a great view from my bedroom window. We live on the 2nd and 3rd floor and my bedroom on the 3rd floor looks out over the whole town. And I get to wake up to that everyday! We have since had to put screens on the windows, what a pain, so that our cats cant jump out. But sleeping with the windows open and waking up to the bells of the town is like a dream. Its hard to believe we finally made it after 2 years of planning. We wake up around 8am, and go walk around town til about 130pm when everything closes til 330/4pm for lunch and rest. After a nap, we then go out to the internet cafes and check email. Then we wander around some more then go to a restaurant and eat. Food is much cheaper here, and also tons better. Not to mention healthier. So I have nothing to complain about when it comes to the local food. And what you hear about the wine, its all true. Most restaurants give you a bottle of table wine with each meal. A bottle usually cost about 3 euros. Very very cheap. In America, a wine that size and that quality would cost around 100 dollars. It is very warm here during the day, but after about 4pm, it starts to cool off and is so comfortable and breezy. It feels so natural to be here.

The one thing I dislike right now though are the hills. Every street is hilly. The street we live on, you have to walk up hill to get to our flat. Not to mention they are putting down new road, so you cant drive up it. So when we buy things, we have to carry the heavy bags up hill to our flat. This is definitely one way to lose weight. LOL. Well, I am off to go have some pizza at a local pizzeria down the street. Ill eat a piece for you. Ciao