I left out of the Miami Airport and our flight to Paris was nine hours. Our group was spread out throughout the whole plane, I was seated in-between a girl from my trip and an older French man. The French man was so nice and tried to speak to me, but the language barrier was too hard. He was with his wife...they seemed really sweet. We flew Air France so all the announcements were in both French and English. During the flight I was unable to sleep much so I was stuck watching the dumbest "Big Momma" movie...an interesting choice in my opinion. Haha!
When we finally landed in Paris we got our passports checked and then explored the airport some. The Paris airport doesn't have a lot to do so it wasn't a fun layover...and did I mention it was 7 hours!!! But, that gave us all time to attempt to learn some French and try some French cuisine. Kim and I went to a French restaurant and had a grand ole time trying to talk to our waitress. I ended up just getting fruit since it was over 4 euros, which is about $6.00 and was the cheapest thing on the menu...Kim got some kind of meat we're not exactly sure what it was and the man next to us was eating raw hamburger meat, needless to say I was NOT a fan. :) But, I did enjoy the macaroons, I tried one that was Rose Petal flavored.
Once we made it through the 7 hour layover we had a 2 hour flight to Rome, Italy. For this flight our group was split into two groups and we flew separately. The flight was amazing...the view from our plane was incredible. We flew over the Alps and it was so beautiful. After we landed in Rome we gathered our luggage and to our surprise we did not have to go through customs...they didn't even check my passport! From the airport we took two coaches to Florence. The bus ride was over four hours long and for a while I didn't even feel like I had arrived in a foreign country, it felt more like Atlanta...the traffic was bumper to bumper of smart-cars and people drive like maniacs!
Our drive was in the dark so the only things we could see were McDonalds, Shell Stations, and outlet malls...which was really surprising to me since I thought it was going to be more vineyards and sheep. I guess Italy and the US are a lot a like. Haha!
When we finally made it to Florence we were dropped off about a block from our apartments and had to drag our luggage across cobble stone streets to our apartments. The apartments are so nice, which is not at all what I was anticipating so I'm really happy. We dropped off our bags looked around and then went off in search of dinner. By this time it was after midnight and most of us hadn't eaten since 3:00 or earlier. Most of Florence had already shut down so we went to a 7/11 type store and got fruit and snacks.
It was such a long trip!!!!! But, I'm glad to finally be here.
Location:Florence, Italy
You are a trooper, Katherine. I am glad you made it safely. I think European travel is only for the adventurous. :) Love. Sara
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