After months of planning, careful packing, and anticipation, it was finally time to go! The first leg of our journey began on a Saturday afternoon in June at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. We took a non-stop flight from DFW to London aboard one of American Airline’s brand new Boeing 777-300ER planes! Flying time on the first leg of the flight was just under 9 hours. Each seat on this plane was equipped with an entertainment device with hours of new and classic movies, video games, music, and TV shows. Dylan chose to prepare for arrival in Italy by watching the Godfather I and II, while Evan chose to play video games. I recently read that the diameter of just one of the engines on this plane is bigger than the fuselage of a Boeing 737 – that’s huge! The wingspan is nearly twice that of a 737 at just under 200 feet.
View from our first hotel: Hotel Nardizzi Americana
After two hours in Heathrow, a bus drove us out to our next plane, an Airbus A320. It’s been awhile since I’ve ascended a metal staircase onto a plane and it seemed rather unusual to do so on such a large passenger aircraft. There must be some construction going on at Heathrow!
A short 2.5 hours later and we were finally in Rome! Our first order of business was to find an ATM to withdraw some Euros. Next, we flagged a taxi to take us to our first hotel. Our driver made us feel like we were on a race track! High speeds, hugging tight turns, and following very close to the cars in front of us. The good news is that we arrived at the hotel in no time!
It was a quick stop in the hotel and then we rushed to the nearby Villa Borghese. We pre-purchased tickets weeks before the trip so we could visit the Borghese Gallery within the park. It’s home to several beatiful sculptures, many by Bernini. The walls were lined with paintings including works by Raphael, Caravaggio, and a self portrait of Bernini.
I couldn’t help but notice the odd shaped pine trees throughout the villa. It made me think of the symphonic poem, Pines of Rome. I recently looked up the symphony to discover that the first movement is entitled Pines of Villa Borghese! Our kids recognize it from the movie Fantasia 2000. To hear Pines of Villa Borghese, check out the video at the bottom of the page.