Italy - Day 2

This morning we woke early and had a quaint breakfast at the hotel. We then stolled down the street and around the corner to the COLISEUM!!! The Gladiator is one of my favorite movies, so the breathtaking view of this structure easily became my favorite of the trip....so far! Americans have no idea what time can change. Old buildings in America range from 200-400 years old...the Coliseum was around before Jesue began to walk on the earth!!! We were walking inside a building that was possibly over 2500 years old!! The bricks were so old they were literally crumbling. You'll notice from the pictures that the Coliseum floor is gone, in fact, most of the floors in every level of the Coliseum were gone or replaced. The weight of over 2000 years had complete disentegrated every floor! The underground tunnels and walkways under where the floor was was crazy. You really need need to visit to really know what I'm talking about!
Anyway... leaving the Coliseum we walked by the Arch of Constantine and the Arch of Titus. We then walked through the ruins of the Roman Forum....2 or 3 acres of ruin-filled grounds where once stood the very epicenter of the largest empire in all of history!! I wished that I could read Italian so that I could have know what all the buildings were, nevertheless, we were still amazed at what used to stand here.
We then went to the underground prison where it is said that Peter and Paul were both imprisoned.
We spent the rest of the day walking the streets of downtown Rome shopping and simply being amazed at the history that was everywhere.
We decided to ask again about restaurants and were guided to another tiny side street just down the street from the Italian president's mansion. This tiny little restaurant was family owned and run and was incredible!!! We returned to the hotel completely exhausted and sore from head to toe!! Hope and peace!

ITALY - Day 1

Today - Nov. 15... I went to work this morning until 1pm. I don't remember anything about work though because my mind was completely on our flight to Italy tonight!! I love the Nashville airport...you never know who you'll meet. While we were stopping for a quick bite of Baja Burrito, we ran into Mat Kearney, so I introduced myself...that was it! ---SIDE NOTE--- throughout this blogging process, I'm going to be listing reasons why I ALWAYS fly Southwest. Here's #1... Our flight to Chicago was supposed to leave at 6:35pm...2 or 3 delays later and we finally arrive in Chicago just in time to run to our gate to make our flight. #2... Our flight to London was a little delayed, but we boarded and should be able to "make up the time in the air" (whatever that means??). 2 HOURS LATER, we are STILL IN THE PLANE AT THE GATE!!!! They have announced that since it was late at night, the staff was small and our plane "wasn't a priority". So after taking two hours to load our luggage, we were in the air for our 8 hour flight to London. It was bumpy, but it was my first flight that long and it wasn't that bad. We landed in London obviously late, so we found ourselves moving rather quickly through the airport once again in order to make our next flight to Rome. We rushed the gate only to find reason #3... our flight once again was delayed 45 minutes because...I have know idea!! Just to let you know, we have now been traveling for over 15 hours with maybe an hour or two of terrible sleep. Finally arriving in Rome, we grab our bags and head to the train station. We hop on the train and begin our Italy experience! Once we reached the destination, we hopped off and found our bus that would take us close to the hotel. Since neither Jayme and I are fluent in Italian, we mistakenly got off the bus about 4 stops too soon. So picture this, two American tourists struggling to dray our bags across the uneven sidewalks down a dark Roman road seeking a street name that we couldn't read! 20 or so minutes later, we reached the hotel and after hauling our bags up two flights of stairs, we finally reach our room and CRASH on the bed!! Thank you Lord for allowing us to arrive!! We quickly unload and go back out to ask the hotel manager for a great restaurant nearby...I had they most incredible cream raviolli!! And that was the beginning....but only the beginning! Hope and peace!

Calm before the storm....

I'm going to quickly update you on the last few months before the blogging truly begins. Since the summer I've been on the road quite a bit. I toured with Twila Paris through August, went out with Toby Mac and Steven Curtis Chapman for a few dates in early September, and then had the privilege of being on tour with Steven Curtis, Sanctus Real and Bethany Dillon from late September until early November. During that time, my wife and I found out that we are going to have a baby in May!!! The idea of being on the road full time while my wife and baby were at home wasn't too exciting, so I began looking around town for another job. I found one, or maybe one found me. I'm now working full time as an assistant at one of the world's largest talent agencies. I started at the beginning of November and am loving it. My wife and I just got back from a 10-day trip to Italy...and that is where I'm going to leave you. I'm going to begin blogging about the trip, so get ready for a storm of new blogs and pictures!! Hope and peace!