So, I traveled to Italy with my husband and younger college daughter, meeting my older college daughter there after her semester abroad in Madrid. Today is the second day. I decided to start a thread for this because I'm so unbelievably happy with all the changes in my life so far that are making this trip truly one in a lifetime. I also wanted to not hijack the NSV thread because I have so much to be happy about, and this trip will be for two weeks!

Before I departed Chicago, I was 9 weeks postop and 4 weeks after my first band fill. I had dropped 55 pounds from my high weight in February. I was 302 then and 247 now. I was nervous about flying, and my new band being too tight during the flight.

My first happy moment was fitting in the seat without a seatbelt extender and actually having to pull it tighter! I dreamed of that and it happened. Second was the in flight meal. I didn't plan to eat because I was afraid of tightness due to swelling during flight, but I was pretty hungry and decided to try very carefully. It was fine. I ate very slowly and chewed very thoroughly. I also drank tomato juice, Water and tea on the plane and kept my liquids up.

My younger daughter decided she was going to help me by sharing meals with me over the next two weeks so that I didn't overdo it. So our first airport food was shared between connecting flights and it was enough. A little Chinese beef for me and beef and rice for her.

After we landed the next day in Rome and found our luggage, our older daughter met us at Arrivals. She put her arms all the way around me and told me I was "tiny". I haven't seen her in over 5-1/2 months since she took a semester abroad. It was wonderful to see her again.

Off to Rome from the Italian terminal. From there a train to florence. Between the Chicago, Dublin and Rome airports, and then walking about two miles over cobblestones with all of our luggage to our Florence hotel, I walked more than I have in years. I was tired and sore but not the least bit out of breath. I was so happy about not being winded that I decided not to strangle our travel agent who told us it was "a few blocks" away and not worth a taxi.

Then a lovely dinner in our hotel, which I was able to eat about half of. I've never left delicious food on a plate in a foreign country until now. It was incredible.

Today we awoke to realize my phone alarm didn't ring and wake us up like I'd planned, so my family went downstairs to have the continental Breakfast in a hurry while I dressed and had an powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury Protein shake. I'm so glad I brought the to-go packets. Off to the first activity of our trip -- a 3 hour walking tour of Florence.

How can I describe what it feels like to be able to walk for three hours (plus the 30 minutes returning to our hotel because they don't return you to the starting spot) and stand and walk without stopping to sit, when six months before this, walking to the church a block from my house made my back ache and my chest heave so much that I always felt I was a heart attack waiting to happen? Not once did I get winded today. My feet are damned sore but that's from the cobblestones. My back does not ache. My arthritic knee started to complain in the final hour, but not all day.

We stopped at a little restaurant and I had a delightful lunch of roasted cheese and vegetables and a glass of wine with my teen daughters. That was a new experience for all of us! Needless to say, they love Europe!

Then we stopped for gelato at a recommended spot and I did not order the large, or the medium, or the small. I ordered the "tiny", in keeping with my new identity. It was about 1/4 cup of chocolate hazelnut heaven. And it was enough!!

Back to the hotel and into the bath. Deep European tubs -- sinfully decadent! Loving every minute of it.

Resting now before a walk tonight and dinner somewhere. Tomorrow is an eleven hour tour of Tuscany by bus and a winery in there somewhere.

More to come!

.

Edited May 20, 201412 yr by JustWatchMe

Oh, my feet!!! Today we walked around Cittadella. And I do mean around Cittadella. There is a medieval wall around the city making a circle of 1.5 kilometers. We walked the entire top of it as well as straight through town twice. We tried to find my husband's relatives but ended up on a wild goose chase in a taxi. We found a different family with the same surname. They were so sweet and brought all their family out to meet us, even though we were no relation. Old nonnas came out to talk in rapid fire Italian. It was a hoot. My younger daughter had one semester of college Italian so she tried to translate. The taxi driver took us to the totally wrong town the first try. Not a word of English. You can't help but laugh. We haven't eaten in ten hours. Oh yeah, the town takes a siesta of sorts in mid afternoon. Everything closes for a few hours. Tomorrow we go to the Amalfi Coast via Naples. This leg of the journey better involve some sitting on my tush by a swimming pool!!!

I'm so glad you're having such a wonderful trip!!! Please please please will you take and post pics for me of the amalfi coast? I want to go someday but for now I'm living through you;)!!! Thx for the daily recap, so cool!!

Have an awesome day tomm!!

Pistachio liqueur. That is all.

I am literally wearing holes in my shoes. I hope they last another day or two so I can get new shoes for Rome. We are at the Amalfi Coast and it is gorgeous. I bought a blouse in Sorrento tonight, and it actually fit. It was wonderful. The food remains easy and delicious. I am basically sharing all of my meals with my daughters. I haven't weighed myself here, but only because the fitness room did not have a scale that I could find. However my one pair of jeans seems a little loose. Wishful thinking? Tomorrow, Pompeii.

I am living vicariously thru you and am enjoying your posts immensely. Can't wait to hear about Pompeii.

No Internet Friday in our hotel. Over the last couple of days, we spent a lot of time in Sorrento. The girls went down to the water and splashed around a bit. Intended to go to Capri but never made it. We visited Pompeii. Very humbling to see such a civilized society wiped out instantaneously. Our trip now takes us to Rome for the final leg of our travels. More soon, when I can get reliable Internet! I am afraid the pictures will have to wait until I return home to my PC. I can't figure out how to upload them from the phone app.

! ! ! What a fantastic trip ! ! !

Well it wasn't until we were leaving the Amalfi coast that we realized we hadn't seen very much of it. Supposedly we should have taken a bus into Amalfi and Positano. Oh well. Live and learn. Sorrento was lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed our hotel as well. Pompeii was worth seeing again. There was no way to see it all on a two hour tour.

Today was not much more than a travel day. We left Sorrento and railed it to Rome. Having an hour to kill in the Naples train station gave us time to observe a team of six panhandlers work the crowds. One would approach a tourist and the others would lurk nearby. If the tourist gave money, a couple of the others would then follow him, probably to grab the wallet from the pocket they just saw used. From our train seats, we also saw a team working one of the platforms, and a pickpocket jumped off the train and handed off a wallet to an accomplice on the platform, who vanished like lightning. It's an art form, I tell ya.

We had a late lunch/early dinner in a little restaurant near our hotel in Rome, run by an Egyptian. Then back to the room. We're all tired today, so just being lazy tonight. Watched some Cake Boss and Spongebob Squarepants in Italian on TV.

Tomorrow Breakfast and then mass. We'll walk around and see some sights on our own. Our next scheduled tour is Monday at the Vatican.

@@gowalking, Pompeii was so interesting to visit. A man could throw his wife out in the street for two things. Infidelity (hers, not his, of course) or getting into the household wine. Brothels abound. The buildings and streets have sculpted, ahem, phallic symbols on them to literally "point" the way to the nearest brothel. Since sailors from many countries would stop at the port and didn't speak the language, the brothel walls had paintings of the "menu choices" on them. A sailor could simply point to the picture he wanted and then go into a room with a girl for that service.

One part of town had a circular theater with excellent acoustics. In the corridor or alley leading up to it was a wall with scratch marks in it. Pompeiian graffiti! People standing in line waiting to get in would get bored and etch on the wall. They drew horses, gladiators, and of course, male genitalia. The male member was considered a lucky symbol of fertility and power.

The plaster casts of the people who died affect you the most. Even a dog was captured in its death pose. The people did not die from the lava. They suffocated from the gas in the air, and then were buried in ash over time. Between the first quake and the second one, all of the boats made it out of port. But that was not nearly enough to rescue the population of the city.

Vesuvius is much farther away than you would think.

The baths were amazing. Double floors for insulation, lead pipes for Water transport. The streets have actual grated sewers just like we do today.

I could spend a week there and probably not see it all.

Almost forgot to mention that Pompeii was taken over by the Romans in 79 BC and the volcano erupted in 69 AD. I think that's what our guide said. Sorry if I'm getting the dates slightly wrong, but basically it happened two thousand years ago.

Edited May 24, 201412 yr by JustWatchMe

I got my first compliment from my WLS skeptic husband today, ten weeks post op. He commented that I am in better shape than our Pompeii tour guide. She got out of breath walking up a flight of stairs and I didn't.

Best part? I don't care.

Thanks for the details of Pompeii. I can't wait to do my own European tour.

Roma! We walked to church, and then to the Colosseum. I prayed for my feet. Mass was long, and in Latin. Beautiful music. The weather here is sunny and warm, and starting to get humid. I cannot imagine the stifling heat in full summer. They were sold out of the English audio tour, so we just wandered in the Colosseum and Forum on our own. It was amazing. I was struck by how this thousands of years old structure is right next to a major roadway. (Go ahead, Google map it. Right. Next. To. It.) It stood for thousands of years, and here we come in the last hundred years and introduce constant gasoline and diesel fumes to these enormous walls. We don't deserve this planet.

Another magnifico lunch with my daily glass of wine. It made the walk back to the hotel easier! My shoes are still holding out, but today we walked on the craziest stones ever. Huge flat stones, small round stones, medium jagged stones. I will post photos when I get home. Ouch.

Stairs, stairs, and more stairs. There are a lot of stairs in the Colosseum. At least I did not have to run up or down them while being chased by a lion.

I accidentally on purpose packed nothing stronger than Tylenol in my bag for this trip. My knees and feet have regretted that a few times, but so far I'm bouncing back every day. Hard to believe. I feel like I've been on Survivor!

When I get home, I will definitely walk more, and outside rather than on the treadmill. If this vacation taught me anything, it's that I am physically capable of much more than I thought.

Well, we will sleep soundly tonight and then take a tour of the Vatican museum tomorrow.

Caio for naio!

Buona Notte! And when you're back in the States you'll have to check out the band Pink Martini for their fabulous version of "Una Notte A Napoli." They really ham it up and it's so much fun -- you will love it. Oh, wait, maybe I can attach here: starts off slow then off they go.....

@@Bandista, I'll check it out at home. For some reason I'm not getting the audio on that link from my phone. Thanks!!!

We went to the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica, and the Trevi Fountain. Feet are dog tired, ha ha.

I was very impressed by the map room in the Vatican museum. The accuracy of maps made hundreds of years ago was upwards of eighty percent as known today.

Tomorrow nothing planned yet except maybe the Spanish Steps. It's our last day here. I'll be sad to leave.