June 17, 2016

Packed and ready to go

Bride and Groom and their 11 party mates are on the way- meanwhile the rest of us continue to play!

Put anything on that dress and you die!

Matt and Grant return last night after all roommates have already fallen asleep. They explored Florence yesterday with one of Grants friends who had been studying art all summer there. They return experts in the history of Florence all for the price of gelato.

Todays plans included a trip to the Vatican for Megan, Matt, Grant and Lilly. The gang grab a cab and head to the Vatican and only wait 2.5 hours to get in. They enjoyed the wealth of the Catholic nation with the Sistine Chapel and the Basillica coming in as the favorites. Afterwards they grabbed pizza and walked their way across Rome.Meanwhile the Tappana’s, Tina, and I bought hop on hop off bus tickets and went to explore the same St Peters. We waited in line for 20 minutes. We ate dinner at an old favorite place of David and mine. Ollie fell asleep on the bus after so while Tina and I jumped off for naps the parents on duty rode some more. 

And Sleep!

Policeman said "No!"

Ollie woke near Trevi Fountain so they got off and enjoyed Ollies favorite Rome attraction.  While at Trevi Jessica shares with her son the story of getting in trouble 15 years ago when her Dad asked her to sit on the Fountain and take a photo. Because others were climbing on it now Jess assumes the rules had changed and puts Ollie on the Fountain for a photo. Ollie reports the Policeman yelled," No don't climb on the wall!!" and scared him. I tend to believe that David was having a great laugh!

Lilly, Nana and our apartment 7 went to a place near the bridal hotel for a lovely dinner including dessert.  The waiter (a hot Italian according to Tina) wrote Ollies name on Nanas plate in chocolate. Afterwards we walked the city, stopped for more gelato and a night view of the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. Ollie was a trooper and stayed awake the whole time. We returned at 10pm to a quick Facetime call with the Chicago 12 in the Admirals club. 

The last of the gang arrive tomorrow as we prepare to embark soon!! Counting down!

Hop on Hop Off

Oliver and Great Nana

Pantheon at night

Megan and Matt explore St Peters

Trevi Fountain tonight!

Tina, Andrew, Megan, Debbie, Jessica, Ollie, and Lilly check out the Coliseum

The Tappana's 

Room mates overlook the Forum

Matt and Grant set out for Florence via train bright and early while the rest of us await our Andrew, Megan and Ollie. Jessica is beyond anxious to see her men and we are guessing our new roommates will be ready to try and get some sleep! Amazing pastries from the little place downstairs were terrific!

Andrew, Ollie, Megan and Lilly arrive and the gang sets out for Lunch. Ollie is amazed at the coliseum and wants to show everyone his cute little bed. He’s not the least bit tired so we all head off for pizza near Lilly. Following nourishment we are back to the apartment for naps. Ollie passes out for two hours and has to be awakened. He is ready to head to coliseum. Off we all go. We walk 6 miles checking out the Coliseum, Palentine Hill, and the Forum. We grab dinner near the apartment and back to bed. Megan and Tina have big plans until they take their shoes off and change their minds. Early night for everyone as we await the return of the Florence travelers.

Whats a Mime?

Gelato Break!

Ollie and Cousin Megan

June 15, 2016

Across the street a very old neighbor

Rome is now officially open for the Daniels wedding party. Grant and Matt arrived via train from Munich and waited for the rest of the gang. Jessica and Tina were next arriving direct from Chicago. They made the mistake of sitting in Terminal 3 waiting for 3 hours for Debbie only to find she arrived in the main Terminal 1. The issue was there was no food in Terminal 3. Debbie arrived via Berlin. The Berlin airport is a sparse old airport where you exit your large airbus plane via steps that had two dead birds on them- German thriftiness at its best.

The apartment is literally across the street from the Coliseum! The view from nearly every window is into a Coliseum window we are so close! We let Matt take the lead and we walk the city. Up and down hills and steps we make our way around Rome. We find the “St Peter in Chains” church that contains the chains of Peter and three Michelangelo sculptures including “Moses”. Fantastic. We end up in a cute little Italian dinner and eat outside on the sidewalk. The walk home under the rising moon and 70-degree weather is fantastic. Once back at the apartment we all proceed to pass out.

Tomorrow Andrew, Megan, Ollie join everyone at the apartment and Lilly checks into the hotel. The activities will be determined by the state of mind of the littlest member.

Steps to St Peters In Chains church

Matt, Grant, Tina, Jessica, Debbie enjoy dinner

Down the street a very old neighborhood- The Forum

The Guests and The Plans

When Becky and Justin decided to have this amazing destination wedding I don’t think they thought they would ever have as many people decide to join them as have! What a blessing and a testament to how loved they are! It’s important we identify all the players here- especially as many have the same names! That should make following the story interesting!!

Becky’s Family/Friends:

Debbie Oliver- Brides Mom

Shirley Schoenlaub (Nana)- Brides Grandmother

Mike Oliver family (Mike, Michelle, Megan, Matt)- Brides Brother, Sister-in-law, niece and nephew

Grant- Friend of Brides nephew Matt

Jessica Tappana family (Jessica, Andrew, Ollie) Brides oldest sister and Maid of Honor, brother in law and 3 year old nephew

Tina Schoenlaub- Bride’s younger sister and Bridesmaid

Brian and Angela Parker Bride’s Uncle and Aunt; Debbie’s Brother

Grayson- Friend of the Bride

Sarah: Friend of the Bride, Bridesmaid

Lilly: Friend of the Bride and Brides mom- Hair Stylist

Justin’s Family

Curtis and Brenda: Grooms Father and Mother

Shaun and Ruth: Grooms Brother and Sister in Law

Elijah: Nephew of the Groom

Andy and Jess Kichura: Friend of the Groom, Groomsman

Shahbaz and Emily : Friend of the Groom, Groomsman

Friends of the Bride and Groom

Niki: Also amazing travel agent for the trip!

Erin

Jeff and Robbin

Its going to be interesting to keep track of all these stories! The first thing to understand is that everyone is arriving into Rome at different times, different days, and different airlines! Matt and Grant are in Europe now in Paris and will be coming to Rome on the 14th. Debbie, Tina and Jessica are also coming on the 14th. Those 5 as well as Andrew, Megan, and Ollie will be staying at an apartment a few blocks away from everyone else- across the street from the Colosseum. 

Current plan is that nearly everyone will meet at the group hotel on May 19 at 10:30 for a ride to the port. 

Welcome to the wedding blog. A few of us will be writing and posting photos so sit back and travel along! We will try to post every day but the wedding day may not get posted until the next as we intend to have a great time late into the night! 

Debbie (Mom)

May 1, 2016

After enjoying our final breakfast and journey down and back up the stairs for it we sat on our balcony in the bright sunshine enjoying the morning. We headed back to town to pick up a few items Becky decided on. Luckily we found a new way back through town, no scenery but fairly flat with no stairs! We said goodbye to the staff at Dana Villas- they treated us like royalty! Eddie carried all three bags up 100 stairs and then over to the taxi stand for us! We would have needed hours otherwise! This small man carrying more than 100 pounds of luggage up 100 stairs- was incredible!

The Santorini airport is an experience in itself. Security is very lax by our standards- when the buzzer beeped the one TSA like agent sent us back through and magically it was fine- every time!?? When someone took water through they just told them on the other side to drink it. Jackets and shoes were no issue- what a breeze but a bit unnerving with Europe on high alert! We went upstairs to the waiting area which was an outside bar overlooking the runway- yes open air over looking the runway. It was a busy day there so after being called to the gate we stood for 1 hour! Finally loading our Easy Jet plane we discover we are on a brand new plane! Very nice- we enjoyed a worry free flight back to London.

We booked a cab online from Gatwick to our hotel because the Gatwick Express train is down. Appears our minicab was a scam as no one was there- filed a claim with paypal to get my money back! So the train and subway were the only options and we ventured forward- tired, frustrated and hungry! We got to the hotel, settled in and went for a lovely dinner at an Italian place David and I had been to two years ago. A quiet fun evening at the hotel resting for an adventure tomorrow in London!