Doing what happens in Rome is awesome.

Well, Lucy and I made it, finally! We departed from New York on December 23 and arrived in Dublin early in the morning on Christmas eve where flights had been delayed for about 1 week due to bad weather. Our flight was only delayed about an hour and a half but we took off from runways that were covered in sheets of ice and about 5 inches of snow. We arrived in Rome and had to wait about an hour and a half for our bikes to come out of the oversized luggage door and then proceeded to push them through customs and then finally out of the airport where we were greeted by Gen and Emma who had been waiting there for about 4 hours for us to arrive, what loyalty!

After napping a bit back at our cute little apartment that was just a stones throw from the Vatican, we had some dinner and then went and watched the Pope give midnight mass from St. Peters Square. He was in the Basilica performing the mass and we watched from the square where tons of people had gathered to watch him on the 2 or 3 large projetors that had been set up.

The next day, Christmas, after a good nights sleep, we had a wonderful xmas breakfast, fritatta and breakfast potatoes that Gen made for us. It was accompanied by lots of champagne and a few little presents. We spent the day walking around, hanging in the internet cafe, and finished the day with a wonderful xmas dinner at the closest Chinese restaurant, one of the only things open at the time.

Then yesterday we took a super long walk to the colleseum and then to the pantheon and back, a huge loop around the city. It was beautiful and really great to be able to see the whole city on foot. It was really neat being able to see all the old architecture, narrow cobblestone streets, and historical sights.

Rome has been really great altogether and it feels great to be here with the girls. Lucy and I have been waiting for this for so long, jealous that Gen and Emma were doing it all without us. We're so excited to be here and cannot wait for the next steps.