Wednesday, December 22, 2010

On Our Way Home

**this should have been posted yesterday.  sorry about that.**

Today we received Liam's visa!  Fed-Ex finally made it to us, and just in the nick of time.

Last week when we had to change our plane tickets (for a hefty fee I sadly must add), we didn't know when to change them TO.  Because the issuance and arrival of Liam's visa was unpredictable at best, we wanted to change the ticket to a date where we knew we wouldn't have to change it all over again.  It was tricky-- we needed it further in the future to allow as much time as possible for it to get here (and not to have to change it again, for yet another crazy fee), but soon enough to not use up all of our vacation days.

Tomorrow is that magical day.  The day we set a week ago in hopes to have it by then.  Fortunately we were able to receive it today-- although we weren't really nervous at this point, we found out on Friday it had arrived in Rome.

It's been a good extra week though.  We've had opportunities to visit other cities around Rome (seriously, visiting Italian cities could NEVER get old.  Seriously.) and eating more pizza, pasta and gelatos (in that order and repeat).

As amazing as Rome and Italy is we are looking forward to our time back in the sub-zero temperatures and snowy terrain of Moscow.  We couldn't be more excited about all of our upcoming Christmas festivities.

Hopefully in the near future we'll be able to share a little of our experiences here in Italy.  I hope your holiday this year is a great one.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Still in Italy

 We were supposed to be back in Moscow today.

We've been touring Italy for just about two weeks now.  It's been a fantastic vacation, and it's not ending as soon as we thought.  We can't complain-- I mean, it's Italy.  But our departure date is being pushed back a little.

One of the things we had to do while on vacation, ironically, was apply for and receive a visa for Liam to get back into Russia.  Although we sent in the application immediately when we got here (and hoped it'd arrive by now), it's taking more time than we had imagined.  Surprise surprise.

But like I said, we can't complain.  We are running a little low on our vacation funds, the trip has been incredible. We've been able to cover Rome, visit Florence, take a quick trip to see Pisa, and spend some time in Naples (where my mother's parents lived before immigrating back in the day).  We'll try to post pictures and stories soon!