Ciao! from Italy

After a long day people watching in the Atl airport, our flight left on time Sunday and was uneventful, which is always a good thing. We arrived a little early on Monday morning, got our car and we were off. We drove through the country side on our way to Turin and took a little side trip into the Swiss Alps. It was so beautiful! We got out and walked around several little places off the beaten path. Jonathan had left home on Sunday with what we thought was sinus problems but by the time we landed, he was coughing and feeling rough. So the drive most of the day was ok with him as he just slept. On Monday afternoon we arrived at our hotel with the help of "Tilly", John's garmin. Monday was an Italian holiday so most everything was closed including restaurants. We finally got a piece of pizza at a litttle bakery - it might have been there a few days too long already. We were tired and went straight to bed.

On Tuesday our day was mostly filled with a meeting downtown Turin with our Italian translator and some other locals. We were presented the first book of the POSB Acts in Italian. Then the contract was renewed and signed for future printings. Would you believe that the contract expired on September 9, 2008, the very day our meeting took place! What a God thing!

On Wednesday we took off for the Italian Riviera on our way to Genoa. Here we are flying down the highway (John just loves the absence of speed limits). The seacoast is beautiful with the mountains on the other side. So anyway we are flying down the highway, as I said, in our Ferrari - no, make that a Smart Car for 4. We were really glad it was a Smart Car when we filled the tank!

Then we got up this morning on our way to Florence, and it was a really a hectic driving day. On the way, we visited the leaning tower of Pisa. What a site! Then we began looking for our hotel that didn't seem to exist. We were told that there was no such street address. Here we are in the 5 o'clock traffic in a crazy place where motorcycles and scooters rule the road going in circles trying to find a hotel that wasn't there. After calls to the US to Orbitz and finding out that we had actually gone to the hotel and were told we were at the wrong address, it was now after 7 and we are trying to find somewhere to lay our head. The first place we checked was only 600 euros a night (over $900!!). We didn't think we could even lay our head down at that price. Finally we found a place, and John told me not to ask the price and I didn't. It is very nice. We are making memories and having one adventure after another. Oh, by the way, Jonathan is feeling much better now. He actually found some kids from Atlanta tonight to talk to. Tomorrow is another day! More later.