Whoo hoo, we made it! It's been a very long day, but we have finally made it to Italy! We are still both a little bit off our usual schedules. I rolled over in bed this morning to see Matt staring at me. For those of you that know Matt, you'll understand that I can count the number of times this has happened since we've been married on one hand! We were both awake by 5:30am, partially due to excitement over finally getting to leave for Italy, and partially because our internal clocks are totally out of whack.

As we were getting ready this morning, we had a very close call...well I guess technically I should that 'I' had a very close call. I was blow drying my hair with my hairdryer from home, using the electric converter that I had bought for the trip. I didn't really think much of the plasticy smells that it started emitting. Matt just came into the room in time to see the converter light up in flames! We were both kind of stunned for a minute, but quickly put the fire out (with no damage to the hotel room, thank god!). We then had to madly fan out the room by jumping up and down so as not to set the hotel's fire alarm off at 6am. Yikes! Word to the wise...don't purchase the Sharper Image Converter Kit!

We had no problem finding our way out of London to the Stansted Airport. The transportation system in London is so efficient and intuitive that we kind of felt like we were riding the monorail and Disneyworld! Our flight was through RyanAir, and I am proud to say cost us just 79p + tax! The flight was packed with Italians, and Matt and I had to scramble to get seats next to one another. Luckily, we got a windown seat and were able to enjoy looking out over the landscape as we flew. We flew over France, Frankfurt, Zurich, and Lucerne. The highlight was getting to fly over the Alps into Italy. They looked incredible from the air, tall snowy peaks jutting up into the clouds. Our flight from London to Milan was just 1hr35, and when we landed outside of Milan it was 28degrees (much better than the cool, cloudy days we had in London.) It was also funny to notice the sharp contrast between the Italians on this flight and the British passengers on our flight into London. Of course, the British are quite reserved and stodgy. When we landed this time, the Italians clapped and cheered for the pilot, and some started singing. We knew we were in an exciting place.

We arrived into the city of Milan around dinner time and quickly checked into our hotel. First impressions of Milan - industrial, feeling a bit out of our element and unsafe, but very Italian with lots of Mopeds and real Italians around (go figure?). We had our first Italian meal and a small restaurant near our hotel. I don't think it was exactly the best that Italy has to offer, but it was pretty good. On the agenda for tomorrow....viewing the 'Last Supper', visiting Milan's Duomo (Cathedral), then catching a train to the Cinque Terre! I don't think we'll have internet there, so I'll probably post some blogs from our time there once we get to Venice on Friday.

I've been trying to upload some pictures, but I think our hotel's wireless has some kind of a block on uploading. I'll keep trying....Hope you're all doing well.

Ciao