#3 Waking up in Italy...Euro 2006(05.23.06)

We landed in Bari, Italy Monday night (May 22, 2006), went through customs, got our passports stamped again (very exciting) and found our friend Alberto who would be our host for the week. He loaded our bags into his Fiat, told us there was no smoking in his car, suggested we use the restroom before we left, and off we went to his home in Lecce, about an hour away.

It was fairly late when we arrived at his apartment. Alberto cooked us some pasta for dinner. As he was setting things out on the table, he asked us, "Gas or no gas?" We were a little confused by the question but both decided "no gas" if at all possible. I quickly learned that he was asking us if we wanted carbonated water or natural water. Apparently they are used to drinking carbonated water and we learned to ask for "no gas" everywhere we went in Italy. Anyway, we got semi settled in, smoked a couple of cigs on the balcony and went to bed. The next morning I opened my eyes, smiled, and ran outside on the balcony. This was the view I woke up to my first day in Italy...


Isn't it just like Under the Tuscan Sun? And this is my reaction to the view I woke up to my first day in Italy...


Yeah, baby!! Italy!! So naturally the first thing I wanted to do was drink some Italian coffee and smoke an American cigarette. So I made some coffee in Alberto's cute little Italian kitchen....


And then I drank it...


I think Emily was on the phone with Paolo and Alberto had gone to work so that's why I had to take pictures of myself, but actually, it was probably the most perfect morning I had on the entire trip. I was just so excited and amazed to be there, and it was the first morning in a long, long hectic, busy, frustrating time that I had just been able to relax and soak in the fact that I was finally on the trip I had worked so hard to get to. Which is why waking up in Italy is #3 on my checklist.

Obviously, the only person who could have made this morning any better would have been Josh, God bless him. Looking back, I am still so amazed by his support of my taking this trip. And believe me, I was thanking my whole family that morning, as I would every single morning until the day I came home.

By the way, I haven't mentioned it yet, but Emily and I both rented "European" cell phones (through Piccell wireless) for our trip and we added international calling to Josh's cell phone before I left so, fortunately, Josh and I were able to call each other anytime we wanted. I highly recommend it for long term overseas travel. Even though our cell phone bill was still fairly steep, Josh and I were able to talk pretty much everyday. I don't know that either of us could have made it otherwise. Thank God for cell phones!!