Dip your toes in this!

I would add pictures but the internet is to slow where I am.
They will come later.
So...

Today I went to Italy.

Yes, the country.

Italy is beautiful, the people talk beautifully, and it has been a good, good, good day.

First we left at 1:30 am for the airport.

Had some peanut m&m's with a sandwich and then boarded our flight at 4 am.

Slept A LOT on the flight,

no Dramamine needed on this flight, pure exhaustion did the job.

We arrived in Italy and had a bit of an issue getting out of the airport.  

Literally.

After about 2 hours of gathering luggage, exchanging money, getting the rental car, and finding the rental car...

we headed out for Ostia and the theater there.

It was a beautiful and a very quick drive to Ostia, right outside of Rome.

The survey went quickly, I'm getting a good system worked out.

Then we left for Sperlonga.

An estimated 2 hour drive.

Nope, that did not happen.

It took 2 hours to find the right road to get us out of Ostia.

Then it took another 2 hours to get to Sperlonga.

A total of 4 hours of the most terrifying driving I have ever been witness to.

People who have driven in the Middle East (Dr. F) have certain skills and guts that terrify me.

So, eventually, and after a loss of many fingernails, we made it to Sperlonga a little later than we had initially anticipated.

That is ok, it was worth the wait.

We hiked up to the museum and to the cave where some pretty remarkable massive marble figures were found.
Then we went to our hotel (very nice).

Finally we went to the beach.
The Mediterranean beach to be precise.
And we swam there.
In fact, Kristin and Jess had to drag Holly and I out of the water.
It was so marvelous.

It was a perfect way to end the day.
Then again, things with water usually are the best way to end the day.