Alright! Update time!

We arrived in Frankfurt this morning after an all night flight from Atlanta...oh, but it doesn't start there! Before even successfully leaving the country the adventure looked us in the eyes and said, "Not so fast!" We gathered in the never-ending line to check our bags and an HOUR later we were on our way through another never-ending line at the Security Check-Point. Once past this, now, MILESTONE of our trip we boarded those lovely trains that mean you don't have to walk to the very last concourse in the airport. As we laughed about the ridiculous nature of the checkpoints, took silly pictures of the "beginning of our journey," and excitedly planned our events once we arrived, the train came to a stop and we exited like the nice lady said to at Concourse E (as in Echo). But for some reason, once we got off there was no where to go. People were standing still and watching the signs above the trains that read "Do Not Exit Concourse." Somthing was UP. Majorly. Eventually we realized we weren't going anywhere any time soon so we took seats in the middle of the mini-train station and waited...and waited. Finally a voice came over the intercom announcing that a lady named Olive needed to come to the nearest payphone and dial 911 for a very important message. Whoa. Then they hit. Security I mean. Swarming in their royal blue, crisply creased uniforms. I felt better already...until we heard what was REALLY going on. A mysterious package with wires wrapped around it was found in our concourse and they were working as quickly as possible to resolve it, but they would need to set up additional security screening stations before allowing passengers to board. Wowzers. So it went on...for another 20 minutes or so before finally boarding and taking off an hour late for our 8 hour flight (which I slept through--surprise, surprise) to Frankfurt. The good news was that it ate up our layover, so all I had time for was one run through my Taylor Swift playlist and a brief nap stretched out on the chairs at our gate. Keepin' it classy. While on this flight, thanks to Lufthansa's lovely ListenRelax radio, I discovered a fantastic new artist and her song "When You've Got Trouble." Here's a link so you can share in this experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM4tDPSPtp0 You'll love it.
A long, though relatively uneventful day here in Florence as we found our apartments, rode in taxis down CRAZY Italian streets, and navigated the Via De's (all of the street names here begin with this) of Florence to our dinner meeting at a local Pizzeria. The most exciting thing all day was trying to find our way BACK to our apartment which seemed to have relocated. We tried FIVE different doors before realizing we were on the wrong street...blast. I was FREAKIN' out just as we saw it gleefully sitting right where we left it. Unbelievable.
Safe and sound and about to call it a night. Gotta kill this jetlag!