The quiet gives me plenty of time to complete my long to do list (like this here blog update). Still it is strange to go from being with people 24/7 to none at all. There has been a little excitement in the few hours since they left. Just a bit ago, as I was cooking dinner the fire alarm went off. It was some people a few blocks over who I had never seen before and we chatted a bit before I made my way back to my dinner.
The month of March was so full, I can hardly wrap my mind around it all enough to start the recap...but here it goes:
I finished up some classes and school work while Dennis and Jillian finished up their time in the Lake District. Then Sunday I took an early morning train from Leeds to London. I only knew what hotel they were staying at, so after the train rolled into London I took the tube to the Green Park stop because I knew Park Lane was over there (thanks to staying on said lane at Christmas). Tubing with my huge suitcase was a bit horrific, as mom surely remembers, dragging it up the stairs is quite unpleasant. On my way to Park Lane, I came across an Irish Parade. I suppose it more came across me...nevertheless, as I turned the corner of the Hilton, there Dennis and Jillian were standing outside watching the Parade I had followed. We hadn't planned to meet, just happened perfectly that I stumbled upon them.
The next few days we did plenty of walking taking in some key sites and enjoying St. Patty's day in quite a few pubs.
One of my favorite things was seeing Wicked. I had heard such good things about it so I was really happy when we decided to see it. It definitely lives up to the hype. Our seats weren't the greatest and I bet it would be even more amazing a bit closer.
Pretty soon it was Thursday and I was to meet mom and the gang at their hotel in another part of London.So once again I packed up my monster and took the tube to Kensington. . I got a few random helpers. One was a not so fit man in a suit and though I appreciated his offer, just looking at him I knew he couldn't handle my beastly luggage. Sure enough I had to take a side after he attempted on his own asking me "WHERE are you going??"
About three wrong and four right turns later I made it to the hotel. The troops needed food so we walked up a block to a cute little tea and breakfast spot where I proudly watched them consume their English breakfasts as I munched on my crumpets and tea.
Because they were tired from the flight we did one of those touristy double decker bus tours which was actually quite fun. We saw all the main monuments and even took a water boat ferry thing.
The weather was a bit of a terror, rainy and cold, soaking everyone through and living up to the British way. Mom did much better this trip with the jet lag-staying up until about ten or eleven (rather than five) and we were able to catch up for a while, have a few drinks with papa willie, eat dinner and get my straightener from Dennis.The next day Mom suggested we check out Leeds Castle which is just outside of London.
The grounds were absolutely gorgeous, even more so than the castle itself in my opinion. 
The latest owner of the castle loved birds and she filled the grounds with them, as well as kept a special collection of more exotic birds. 
I definitely recommend checking out Melissa's video of the bird that fell in love with her. He was giving her peanut shells through the cage and doing some interesting dance. Mom and I guessed it was because she and the cockatoo shared the same color scheme. The castle shops and gardens were full of adorable British children running around. One little girl made our day as she marched right up to the nearest birdcage and shouted 'ELLO BIRDS! For the rest of the trip we would randomly shout it out (like mom did on top of the Florence Duomo). 
As soon as we got back into London we jumped in a cab and hightailed it to Harrods, as it was our last chance before we left for Florence at 9:45am the next morning. We had some dim sum, turned one unhappy cowboy into a dancing machine with some new shoes and got me a new pair of jeans before closing time. We went back to the hotel and freshened up before having our last British meal at a pretty nice pub. The food was gourmet traditional English but so far the best I've had. Some bangers and mash, fish and chips and beef roast made us all very happy campers.So come Saturday, we were on the plane to Florence. I have to say it was the scariest take off I've ever experienced. We were actually weaving back and forth before we got off the ground. After we were in the air I was a bit worried to land, having doubts about our pilot. In fact, what was supposed to be a quick jet over to Florence so we could spend the day sight-seeing turned into an ordeal. It was much too windy to land in Florence so we had to arrive about three hours from our destination in a city called Forli (thanks kel). From there we had to wait about an hour for a bus to take us through Bologna (where we would be going only the very next day) and into Florence. Luckily it was a beautiful day and we had positive attitudes while waiting for the bus to arrive. I think they were due to Mom's brilliant snack idea of ice cream. How can you be angry with ice cream?
A little side story about the London to Florence travels-while waiting to board the plane we were sitting across from the most annoying American you could ever meet. Not that his physical appearance has to do with his personality, but it helps get an image....he was tall and lanky, had that one cliche bald spot right at the top of his head of hair, bulky tennis shoes (trainers). He was friendly and loud, as is expected of Americans, but he literally spoke to EVERYONE. We desperately tried to avoid eye contact after witnessing him harass most of the plane, trying to be mister joke man while everyone just kinda smiled awkwardly. At one point he chatted at grandpa as Mom, Melissa and I just kinda tried to walk away from the situation. The pictures below are evidence that we had to remove ourselves from the group in order to dodge the bullet. If you look very closely at the first near the bus flaps in the left hand corner you will see him perched down in order to tell a story to some poor girl just minding her own business by her bags.
The group
...and us
SO after three hours, we finally reached Florence!! Yay. We checked in and then went out to find dinner. Along the way we spotted the gorgeous Duomo and beautiful alley ways. Everyone was out and about. We were quite hungry and couldn't wait to do dinner Italian style (late) so we got the whole place to ourselves for about an hour. The meal was fantastic and we toasted to Melissa, as it would be her birthday the next day. On the way home from dinner we saw people heading in the Church and decided to see what was going on. Inside was a really cool service, with a huge bonfire and people crowded around. I'm not sure what it was supposed to represent but it was powerful.
The next morning was Easter so we took the train to Bologna to have easter lunch with Kelly and her family.
Kelly graciously cooked for us all. Yummy pasta and sausages and tiramisu. It was wonderful to have a home cooked meal and see spend some time with the D'Innocenti gang.
After dinner we took a nice walk through the city center to the train station, stopping in the church to look around before we got kicked out.
We had a drink in the hotel bar when we got back with our favorite waiter who called mom Moviestar Mama and grandpa SuperPapa.
Got a good nights rest in order to tackle climbing the Florence Duomo. It was a long wait in the rain just to get into the building and then quite a trek up steep, crowded stairs but it was definitely worth it as the view was beautiful and the painting inside was incredible. A bit graphic but amazing.
The top of the Duomo :)
View from the top
Here's a picture of some gelato...we didn't eat some from this place but sampled many others.
This is us with our hotel bartender :) So cute.
I was incredibly amused by this sign in the taxi. Made me want to have a dance party outside when we stopped.Below are some pictures from our day in Pompeii. It was really cool and much bigger than I expected. Makes life feel short when you're walking around such an ancient city that surprisingly was so similar to our lives now.
Mom fixing us some dinner in the kitchen.
Old laundry room, they actually used urine to clean clothes sometimes....ewww.
This mangy mutts were everywhere just chillin with people walking all around them.
Biggest lemons EVER!
Pizza from its birthplace. Napoli. Gotta love it.
Hanging out in the next last hotel bar :)
Of course Mom and I opened the minifridge to be welcomed by Sorrento's most famous liquor...we did a little mixing of our own and created the perfect summer drink. Can't wait to have it with her this summer and remember being in Italy only a few months previous.
Downtown Sorrento
More Limoncello, Cin Cin
Mom insisted on a picture with the jake
Best Gelato place we experienced the whole trip
I want this Vespa!
View driving down into Sorrento.
On the boat to CAPRI!
Absolutely gorgeous blue-green water. In my fantasy life I will own a house on Capri.
The massive hike up to the shops.
My House
Town center, the picture doesn't do it justice.
Mom in her element.
The next day, we had our flight back to London with a 8 hour layover in Rome. We wanted to see as much as possible in those 8 hours so we did the typical American run from place to place. We managed to see the Vatican, the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain.
The Vatican
Mom with a Roman Gladiator!
They kept teasing us with these signs...went through room after room expecting the next to be the Sistine Chapel.
Mom in front of a statue of Saint Helena.
We couldn't help but do this every couple of steps....there was so many beautiful things everywhere you turned.
My feet were dying. Shame on me for wearing flats.
The fountain was swarmed, not annoyingly so though. It gave an exciting vibe and it was fun to sit and watch all the tourists snap away.
Here's a photo of our last Italian meal :( before we were off to rainy London.So sorry it took ages to post this...took a month to relive the month.
