We spent a week in Cincinnati one night

And by that we mean Kentucky. When we left Houston, we didn't really leave at all. We sat on the tarmac for two hours, already knowing we missed Rome. We did however, make it to the oh so beautiful Cincinnati airport, which we have now learned is actually Ft. Mitchell Kentucky. Confused? Delta was kind enough to give us a "kit" for the night, because the airport is no longer open past midnight and therefore we could not get our luggage. Laughing? Hold on...So Anne and I opted for the "it's really nice" Drawbridge hotel/motel/conference center/wedding destination/josting center/dog show arena/Medieval fortress. So here we are to blog about it because we just couldn't have made this up. We slept in our Delta Skyteam t-shirts after going to Walmart with Fred the shuttle driver to get matching clean underwear (which concerns us as Fred was very available for this run and went in to shop with us, but not for underwear like ours (thank God!). So this morning, we put back on our same attire with gold bond powder on it to make it "fresh" and slathered on our man deodorant from our "courtesy kit" (which by the way, if you miss your flight to Debuque or Rome, the kit is the same.) and decided to catch you all up to speed. We risked our lives walking to the Kinko's on the Buttermilk Pike. They decided that pedestrians should have to cross the busy freeway, every other block to access the "safe" sidewalks. In true form, we bucked the rules in one location and we are certain to have a good case of poison Ivy by the time we blog again. So back to the Drawbridge. We were asked by Fund for Teachers to document our trip and to please hold the bags they gave us for PR reasons. We thought our stop in "Cintucky" was too good to pass up. After all, the Drawbridge is a fine example of Medieval architecture. Think Renaissance Festival, meets motel 6 that is twenty years past remodeling schedule. Oh, as for Rome, we leave tonight on the 7:30flight, identical to yesterdays that we missed due to "weather" delays. So we shall arrive at 10:45am on the 1st instead of the 31st. Meanwhile, we do hope you enjoy the pictures of us on day one of our trip (scroll below). Stay tuned.... (Lisa)

Bon Ciao!

Since neither my sister in law, Barbara, nor I know how to say the equivalent of Bon Voyage in Italian she just made this up- Bon Ciao to us! We leave tomorrow and will be in the air for about 12 hours so don't expect to hear from us for a day or two. The next we blog will be from Bella Roma. Thanks to everyone for all the restaurant recommendations. We all know what is important on a trip don't we? And, oh yeh, we're going to see Michelangelo’s David too.

Rome or Bust!

T minus 1 and counting. Or something like that...

So you should know right off, before we ever leave the states that Anne and I are both very type A. I know this comes as a shock to both of you. It pains me to admit that Anne has correctly dubbed me as A+ and she as A-, which may genuinely be a shock to those of you that know us both (or at least I am hoping so). So in the true spirit of an A+, I used a swingin' website recommended by Fodor's as a concierge for our train tickets. Yes, I suppose we could have just gotten the tickets there once we arrived but that would not be very "A" behavior so just go with me here. I bought our fast train passes for Rome to Florence and then from Florence to Venice and get this, they deliver them right to our hotel in Rome. Again I am picturing Fabio (not the guy driving the limo, a new hunkier Fabio with good hair) swooping in to the Mimosa looking for the smokin', American art teachers in need of train tickets. Isn't that nifty? So of course I am so pleased with my A+ discovery that I search options for calling home. No surprises that it is the international calling card that tops the list, but there is an exciting twist on buying these. I was able to purchase our pin codes on-line via zaptel (another recommendation by Fodor's) and they just emailed me our "cards" with pins. The rate is so low this way that we got a zillion minutes for $35 bucks. If you get giggly calls in the night from chicks with bad Italian impersonations, repeatedly using English entwined with the occasional "Arrevaderci" and "ciao", its us and we are having a great time!!! Stay tuned!!

Only three days until Arrevaderci time!!

By the way, you'll see us use "Arrevaderci" and "Ciao" alot because its the only two words we know with confidence. We thought early on we would learn some of the language then that thing we do in the daytime...ya know, teaching, sort of got in the way of our big ambitions to be multilingual. Like the old college days, we are planning a last minute cram session on the flight there, which is also likely to go south as it contradicts with our plans for in flight sleeping aids and eye masks so we aren't jet lagged. So...thank goodness the Italians are pretty nice to us and have a great grasp of the English language, nor do they become immediately insulted when we murder their beautiful language. If this were a trip to France, I fear we would be in big trouble. We just got confirmation that Hotel Mimosa will be sending a limo to the airport to pick us up when we arrive in Rome. I guess they got word of the two babe-alicious, super-star, art teachers coming from America. Or maybe it was the 45euro deposit we sent for limo pick up...although we like the flaming stars theory much better. Either way, confirming that Fabio will be curbside waving a sign with our names on it, is making us feel like this is really going to happen. STay tuned for the adventure as it unfolds....

Bad time to apply for a passport renewal

But I got it in the nick of time. As you've probably heard on the news, passports are now required when traveling by air anywhere outside the US except to the US territories. Even though I applied 10 weeks in advance of our departure date, it still took several phone calls and a lot of positive vibes out to the universe to get my passport in time. But I did! Thanks to all you vibe senders. If you are planning to go anywhere that requires a passport this year, don't wait, renew now!

Anne and Lisa get a grant

Whoo Hoo! We're going to Italy on a Fund For Teachers grant! We leave May 30th. Check out the Fund For Teachers site under "Links",