Making Progress

June 18

The theme for today was "making the best of things" and I'm happy to say that we really did.

After having a delightful breakfast at the Elizabeth, NJ Crowne Plaza, (which COMPLETELY compensated us for our loss of an entire day in Venice including lost hotel fees and lost train ticket fees, right?) we decided to get out and spend a day in NYC. Great decision.

In a fairly complicated "planes, trains, and automobiles" scenario (which in our case translated to a shuttle bus, airplane airtrain and New Jersey transit train to Penn Station scenario) we made it to NYC and emerged above ground to a truly beautiful day. We walked and walked and walked and the forewarned girls never complained once.

Relaxing in Central Park - before and after a 30-block march.

We wandered past the Empire State Bldg, to Times Square, to the fashion district (for Syd - who had her photo taken on the fashion walk of fame), the lunch, and then about a 25 block walk to Central Park, which was the highlight of the day for me. We sat in the cool shade and watched the world. bustle by. Heaven.

Then it was time for our 28+ block walk back to Penn Station. Then back to Newark Airport, where we caught the shuttle back to our hotel to gather our luggage and go right back to thé airport - VERY early. No chances today. Plus we had to sort out seat assignments, which were a mess after yesterday's series of snafus.

We actually had a lot of fun at the gate where I had to eat crow and tell Tony he was brilliant to bring a mini powerstrip so we could all plug our devices into one outlet. Outlets were such a premium that we saw one passenger drag a chair into the ladies' room so she could sit and charge our phone. To make things even better, Tony came back with snacks for himself and the girls, a mini bottle of white wine for me and a bottle of Budweiser for Sam (yes, she's 21).

Charging every device at Newark Airport.

We lucked into the one professional and empathetic employee at United Airlines who greatly improved our seat assignments since the dimwits from yesterday had Syd by herself several rows from any of the rest of us.

Right now we are in the air and pretty happy campers to finally be crossing the pond to Italy. The plane is new and is filled with a ridiculous number of tremendously appreciated amenities. Soon dinner will be served and the I will do my utmost to get a few hours of shut eye before landing in Milan at 8:30 local time - which translates to 2:30am EST. In other words - not pretty.

Upon landing, we will train from Malpensa Airport and then another train for the approximately two-hour ride to Florence. Our landlord says we can't take possession of our apartment until about three, but we can drop off our bags, which will be super helpful. We are currently trying to figure out how to squeeze in a day trip to Venice. I would absolutely love it if we could pull it off.

Love to all from 35,000 feet. I am such a happy camper to finally, really, be on our way.