I'm finding I miss & don't miss Italy in the smallest things - I already miss speaking Italian & this morning I definitely missed the regular morning capuccinos as I had my mug of Maxwell House. Last night I was ecstatic at having a normal toilet in a normal bathroom (we did encounter a couple of literal holes in the floor in Sardegna). It's also very cold here and I miss the sunny mornings lying on a sunbed in Alghero. As I'm going through my pictures, I miss the many Roman sights and the amazing history we were able to step into.
It's good to be home and keep moving forward - and besides, like I told the Scottish women on the boat trip - we have the Rock Boat to look forward to in January!
I will be sure to keep you all posted with a link to my pictures when I get them all finished & uploaded.
As far as an update from our last post, we spent our last night at the Hotel Nuova Nord in Rome and it is probably the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. It was a shame we only had one night there; I was literally squealing in delight as we walked into the room with hardwood floors, high ceilings, beautiful curtains & bedspreads, comfy beds w/ extra pillows available!, a marble bathroom w/ a BATHTUB!!! It was great :) Our last meal in Rome was at the Terme di Dioclezione restaurant by our hotel, which was eh, but it is in an ancient Roman structure (which I assume was part of the Baths of Diocletian). Then we were going to have dessert on our hotel's rooftop terrace but the weather was bad (raining) so it was closed. We did spend some time in Piazza della Repubblica taking pictures before it started raining harder. All in all, I am satisfied with all we were able to do & see in Rome, most of it new for me which was great - and there will always be more to see & do (for instance, some of the churches outside of the centro that I haven't visited, the Appian Way, the tour of Crypta Balbi, etc.). Rome is delightful & jam-packed with interesting things for those who enjoy history.
The next morning we met up with Jeff Ammons after breakfast to collect some mail and got to say goodbye to him and then we took a taxi to the airport (the taxi driver was a man hired by the hotel who drives a Mercedes and drives like a MADMAN... I was sure we were going to get in an accident). We got there at 9:00 and got to our gate at about 10:45... the Fiumicino airport is always confusing & there are ALWAYS long lines. Our plane taxied for an hour before taking off, because of bad weather, which was fine with me because the reason our flight in Alghero was delayed for 4 hours was because the plane had been struck by lightning on its previous descent (which we were told during our ascent as we're going through rain, clouds, & plenty of turbulence... both Erica & I were praying for our lives to be spared). So we were on the God-awful plane for 10 and a half hours before arriving in Newark, where it took us another hour to get through American customs (I can't imagine them not wanting us back!). The Border Patrol man, after asking what I do for a living, said I must be doing something good. :)
Anyway, I'm back to working on my pictures while listening to the new Hanson EP ("Take the Walk"). More to come when that's finished!! Thanks for reading :)
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