When we were in Italy, one of the bars served us nacho cheese Doritos with pepper jelly. It was pretty good--that sweet/salty thing. The next day, they served the pepper jelly with plain tortilla chips. Another place served a bowl of potato chips to munch on.

When I saw this, I happened to have some strawberries so I decided to try it. They are in the oven now. I'll have to let you know how they turned out.

While we're on food, I thought I would share this picture. Mindy had told us that our favorite cafe/bar served amazing milkshakes---made with gelato. Butch and I shared the salted caramel banana one. Of course, it was delicious. Mindy was telling us about the one that came with a donut on top. She said that she wanted to get it, but Justin said they didn't need a donut. Sandy got it and sent her this picture. Surely a donut makes something delicious even better!

What I Buy Wednesday

I'm going to start with my purchases from our trip. Then I'm going to share a few things that the rest of the gang bought.

I've already shared this picture, but I wanted to include it along with the rest of my purchases.

The last time we were in Italy, there were no Starbucks. So, I was really excited to get my mug. Butch washed it and served my tea in it--in bed on Tuesday morning. Those cute little pinnochio's are from our tour director. She surprised us with them one day. A close-up of my Venetian mask/Christmas ornament. I marked it: "Family trip to Italy 2023" on the backside of the porcelain (it's probably bisque). And then, I added two more champagne flutes to my collection. I had planned to only buy one, but couldn't pick between these two. Plus, the green one is Murano/Venetian while the red one is Florentine from Florence.

Next up:

Mindy found the cutest little bags of pasta--real pasta--magnets.

Sharon made quite a haul!

I wish I'd seen some of her things in person. A couple of these are gifts. The scarf is so pretty. There's olive oil and other foods--not sure what. I knew she was looking for a new pashmina, but had't seen it. 

Turns out that Matt wore it first!! I can relate. The airports were so cold! I ended up buying a sweatshirt at JFK. In all fairness, Matt and Sharon's flight was delayed until 12:20. They didn't get home until 3:30 a.m.!

Sharon and I both bought the same style of purse. Hers is a beautiful teal. She couldn't resist the floral one--it's so cute!

Stephanie's buys are next:

She loves shoes--don't we all? These are so cute. I love sparkly things and so does she!

Looks like she and Nicky both bought leather wallets. 

This colorful print from Venice.

And then her Murano/Venetian glass. There were so many beautiful things--it was really hard to pick.

Sandy and her girls found all kinds of goodies:

They bought matching bracelets with Murano glass beads.

They managed to find a nice assortment of things. I didn't see these either. That little shoe is so cute. I don't know what it is, but it sure is cute! 

The little Murano glass Christmas tree is adorable!

And then there are the purses. She got this one at the leather market. It's reversible in that she can choose to have it either mostly white or brown. The other side can be the same or each can be different. I love it. It looks like high fashion, doesn't it?

This is another from a store that she discovered in Barcelona. When she saw one in Florence, we had to go in. This purse is really nice too.

These are the Murano wine glasses that they purchased. 

I love how the colors blend into each other. So pretty. I'm sure she'll serve me a drink in them when we visit.

Finally, there's this:

Olly and Morgan got tattoos!!!

I told Morgan that I was so happy that she was carrying on my tradition of scrapbooking! She just happens to be doing it on her body!! She got a kick out of that and so did I!

It's always fun shopping for souvenirs and we all got some good ones. I'm just sorry that we weren't able to work "show and tell" into the schedule! But, we did manage to have our book discussion on the last night. Sandy, Stephanie, Sharon, and I went down to our favorite little cafe to end our evening with a cocktail:

We've had several of these over the last few days. Gordons pink gin with Prosecco and strawberries. The guys came along but vowed to stay out of our discussion. We always read a book for our family vacation. Jordan and Morgan were also reading it, but didn't finish. They opted to go out instead of joining us. The book was The Night Portrait. It was about Leonardo DaVinci's picture "The Girl with Ermine." We learned quite a bit. Ermine is a rodent--sort of like a ferret--kind of ugly. The book went back and forth in time from Leonardo to the Monument Men during WWII who worked at recovering the art that the Nazi's hid away. We enjoyed it and learned a few things. It wasn't fabulous, but good enough. We all pretty much rated it a 7. 

Okay, that's enough about our trip! On to other things...

Travel Tuesday

Well, I had planned to blog, but got sorta busy. And then this happened...

Better grab a cuppa (British for hot tea) or a cup of Joe, it's going to be a long one. You know, on second thought, I'm so tired of thinking about it, I'm going to make it short and sweet.

1. Left Rome at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.

2 Boarded the plane for the 8 hours and 44-minute flight.

3. Sat on the runway for an hour.

4. That meant that we would miss our connection at JFK since we only had 2 hours to get through passport control, customs, claim our bags, and recheck them.

5. Arrived at JFK at 2:15 only to find that our flight had been delayed. Yay! That meant we'd be able to make it.

6. Stood in crazy long lines to get through all the things.

7. Flight continues to be delayed. 

8. Flight is delayed yet again.

9. Flight is canceled at 7:30.

10. We called Mary, my travel agent friend who handles all our travel. She started working on it.

11. No flights until Wednesday night.

12. She finally finds a flight for us in Philadelphia for Monday at 5:55 pm. Of course this requires renting two cars to get all 6 of us there (Stephanie, Nicky, Mindy & Justin).

13. No cars available on Sunday night.

14. No hotel rooms close either. Mary finds 3 rooms in Queens for $500 each for the night!! It's a friggin' Holiday Inn Express!

15. Had to stand in the taxi line for 30 minutes.

16. Took two taxis to the tune of $100+.

17. Arrived at the hotel at 11:30 p.m. This means it's 5:30 a.m. in Rome--we are exhausted, hungry and crabby. 

18. Hotel smells funky. Room is humid.

19. One bright spot the bed was very comfortable--sheets divine (I'm pretty particular about my sheets). 

20. Second bright spot: great night sleep and good breakfast.

21. Uber to car rental where we have two cars rented for the day. Don't know how much that cost.

22. Get in the very long, hot, in the sun, car pick-up line. Some guy tells us that it could take up to 3 hours to get through the line because they only have 2 people cleaning cars and one person delivering them.

23. Butch and Steph go to the office and are told that there are no cars. Butch shows the reservation. From this point on, he's in that Seinfeld scene where Jerry says, "You know how to "take" a reservation, but you don't know how to "hold" a reservation. The most important part is "holding" the reservation!"

24. Agent tells Butch that they can give us a Tahoe that will hold all 6 of us and luggage, but is more expensive.

25. Butch gets it---$800--for less than 6 hours.

26. We start the drive to Philly, do a little geo-caching, stop for lunch, let the "kids" visit the Liberty Bell and the steps made famous by Rocky. Nicky actually runs up the stairs!

27. Butch drops us at the airport while he returns the car.

28. Our flight is delayed.

29. Our flight is delayed again.

30. Our flight is delayed again.

31. Steph, Nicky, Mindy and Justin head to the counter of a flight leaving for Nashville at 7 p.m. to see if there are any seats left.

32. Somehow she manages to get us all on that flight with less than 5 minutes to spare before boarding.

33. All middle seats but we'll take it.

34. Our luggage won't make it, so will have to be picked up on Tuesday.

35. We board and get settled while breathing a sigh of relief. Finally going home.

36. Not quite. We sit on the runway for a half hour. Not sure why. 

37. Finally, we're in the air. 

38. Once we arrive in Nashville, we cannot go to the gate because there is another plane there. 

39. We wait about 15 minutes for that plane to leave.

40. We roll up to the gate, but cannot de-plane.

41. AA is shorthanded and there is no one to put the jetway on the plane.

42. 20 minutes later, we finally are able to leave.

43. All this took so long that our original flight landed and de-planed before we did.

44. By the time we got to baggage, our luggage was already there which meant that our luggage beat us there.

45. At least we don't have to make a special trip to the airport to collect it.

Whew! What an adventure. An adventure we could do without. When the party's over, you just want to get home! The trip seems so far away now. Italy was fabulous!

PS We weren't the only ones with travel problems. Everyone else, Matt & Sharon, Jordan & Robbie, Morgan & Olly also were delayed. Not quite as bad as us, but still. Sandy and family didn't have any problems which is pretty amazing since they were going to Atlanta. That's just about always hell. Lucky for them.

Until the next time...

Friday Funnies

This "Friday Funnies" post is a bit different---but too good not to post!

Who wore it best?

Five Things Thursday

1. No words needed.

2. Matt and I had to pose for a picture in front of this store. 

It was a clothing store. Unexpected to find our German name in Italy!

3. The Coliseum at night!

Stephanie, Nicky, Mindy and Justin didn't go with us. Butch and I have never been at night.

4. Still the shortest! 

5. Elizabeth thought this was so funny!

After a 3-hour Vatican tour, my neck was killing me from the weight of my purse. Butch always takes care of me! He doesn't care how he looks! I love that about him!

Oh, and by the way, remember how I have been talking about how hot it is here? Well on the news, they have been reporting so many deaths from the heat wave---12 straight days of 42C--which converts to 107F. We've been just going by our phones which seems to be hovering around 100-102. We come home soaked. I did not plan enough underwear. Wearing two pairs a day meant I had to wash some!! I did bring extra tops, so I'm good there. I always plan two wears for each pair of pants--that's been working fine. 

The heat is not interfering with our trip--with the exception of today. Rather than walk the mile and a half back from the "Cat Sanctuary," we took an Uber. At first, I was outvoted, but then when we got in the air-conditioned car, I was happy we weren't walking! 

What I Buy Wednesday

We're in Florence. Did I mention it's really hot? 100+ every day. It was hot, but not humid so it was fine as long as you could find shade. Well, yesterday, the humidity started. OMGosh! It's soooo hot. We're all sweating and soaked. Our hair is wet and our make-up melts off. Our tour guide gave us rechargeable fans on the very first day. Believe me, we are using them! 

The heat isn't stopping us--we're having so much fun! We had a 3-hour walking tour today that was 2 hours too long. But since we are a group of 16, we could not just leave. It would have been an insult to the guide. So we toughed it out!

After the tour and a visit to a gold and leather shop (where Jordan bought two leather jackets (remember, she lives in LA--I guess it gets chilly in winter) and Robbie bought a reversible leather belt--a couple of the guys bought those), we girls went to the Gucci museum. 

This room was filled with Gucci purses through the years. 

Morgan and I had every intention of buying a Gucci bag. When we finished in the museum, we went into the shop. The difference between that shop and a regular Gucci store is that what they sell can only be bought there. Whereas, Gucci stores around the world all carry the same things. 

We were very excited to have this rare opportunity in Florence. Gucci is based here  and a purse would make a great souvenir. We girls love our purses! 

I didn't really see anything that I totally loved. Since I'll only use crossbodies, that narrows the field. Morgan fell in love with an iconic style. She asked about the price. It was $13,000!!! She was so disappointed because she had given herself a pretty generous budget. I told her that since these items were so rare, it's possible that they really "jack up" the prices. I told her that what she planned to spend was more than enough to get a Gucci! So, she wanted to go to the regular Gucci store. I was going to go with her, but she wanted to do it right then and the rest of us girls wanted to get lunch. She took off by herself. I never made it to the Gucci store as I had looked when I was in New York last month and didn't really see anything that would work for me. 

Instead, Sandy, Sharon, and I headed to the leather market. You can't go to Florence without going to the leather market! Butch, Matt, Stephanie and Nicky met us there. Of course, we found purses and a few other things. I did the bargaining for all of us. 

I need another pashmina like I need a hole in the head! But I couldn't resist this unusual one. I loved the irises which are some sort of symbol of Florence. The Venetian mask is my souvenir Christmas ornament. I wanted to get it in Venice, but I had my heart set on a red one. I saw some, but none of them were what I really had in mind. I love this one. At least the tag says that it is a Venetian mask even if I didn't actually get it in Venice. And, finally, I bought myself a red leather purse. You cannot imagine the variety and beautiful colors of the purses. Believe it or not, I do not have a red purse so I landed on that--it was so hard to choose. Sharon bought the exact one in teal--also beautiful. Sandy got a gorgeous brown, black, and white--sort of reversible handbag. Hers looks like something you would see on the runway somewhere. Really pretty. If it were a crossbody, I wouldn't have been able to resist either.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for gelato. I always get the pistachio. The one today was the best I've ever had. It was sort of salted--perfect for this heat.

When we got back to the hotel, I got a text from Morgan:

I was like, "I wanna' see!" In my mind, I was thinking, "Holy cow! What did she buy? That's a big bag!" She sent a few more pictures:

She brought it over to our room for me to see it in person.

It's so cute! She ended up going over her budget because she wanted the matching wallet!!

It came with a lock to lock the purse and two cute little keys with holders for both the lock and keys. So darn cute! Then when she told me that---that store is the original Gucci and where all the designing takes place, I was mad that I didn't go there after all! I'm pretty sure Butch is happy that I didn't go! I was really happy for Morgan. I can still remember how I felt when Butch bought me my first in the 80's. 

All in all, it was a really fun shopping day.

Tomorrow we set out for Rome. I think it's supposed to be a little cooler there. At least I hope so!!