It takes a long time to travel from Charlottesville, VA to Bologna, Italy. And between the extended travel time and the 5 hour time difference, it results in some very weary travelers. We flew out of Charlottesville around 3pm on Monday, left IAD at 6:45pm and landed in Rome at 9am Italy time (4am home time). Then, 2 trains later, we arrived at our apartment around 3pm Tuesday. But we’re in ITALY!

The kids handled the travel and lack of sleep exceptionally well, despite several mishaps. After our second train (Rome Termini to Bologna) we realized that Penelope’s glasses were missing. We spent an hour at the train station trying to report the glasses in case they were found on the train. Hot tip: don’t throw away your paper ticket because it contains the secret code you need to do/report anything involving that train trip. Sadly we have not recovered the glasses, but are keeping our fingers crossed they are found before we leave Bologna.

When we finally made it to our apartment, everyone needed a rest. Phineas was quick to get on Wifi and get his computer set up. Penelope was eager to check her text messages from friends. I spent a few minutes reading my book, and Jake promptly feel asleep on the couch. Around 5pm I realized that if we didn’t go get dinner everyone was going to pass out and wake up in the middle of the night hungry. So we rallied and went to a cute trattoria next door to our building. Despite it not being a particularly notable restaurant, Phineas remarked that it was the best lasagna he’d ever had. Penelope discovered a newfound love of pumpkin tortellini.

I’d like to say that we all slept well that first night after basically 24 hours of no sleep. Alas, both kids woke up continuously throughout the night. The first time Phineas woke up, after falling asleep at 8pm, it was only 9:30pm. He was convinced it was 9:30am despite it being dark outside. I had to show him my phone clock to prove that it wasn’t time to get up yet. Fingers and toes crossed that everyone gets a full night sleep our second night in Italy.