Flight from Philly to Brussels to Catania (Italy)

Wow, with our flying record it's pretty amazing that our flights all got off the ground, and relatively on time. There were no actual delays and the weather was perfect for flying. The flight from Philadelphia to Brussels was 7 hours and 50 minutes. We saw the city of New York as we flew over after dark, it was gorgeous. We tried to see Boston, but somehow we missed it. The flight went up to Canada and turned toward Belgium, so we saw a lot of nice coastline. We saw the sunrise over the ocean too. Once in Belgium Gary bought a Belgium waffle which reminded me of a honey bun. It was delicious! We got on the flight and noticed that everyone, I mean everyone, had smaller luggage then ours. Not only did theirs most likely not meet the extreme weight of ours, 46 pounds, but they were much smaller in general. More like a child's suitcase, cute really. On the flight to Catania I sat next to a really nice guy who was tutoring us in Italian. It was a nice gesture, but I was too tired to absorb much. We waited about 30 minutes for our luggage, still better than our last adventure, and then we were off. Loaded into a taxi/van with 4 others and carted off to Ortigia Sicily. My roommate Suzy and I were dropped off first. The apartment is very spacious. Spread out over 2 floors, it has an eat-in kitchen, laundry room, living room with non-functional tv, 2 bedrooms and a large bathroom. The second bedroom is rather small and is really just a place to sit and read/study. I have a desk on my half of the big bedroom, a bed that sinks in about 6 inches when I lay down, and two small non- matching night stands. My dresser and wardrobe are out in the hall. A small price to pay for having the only desk! :)

That covers the first day (very, very long day). More pictures and blogs to come.