Very long travel day but we sailed through both the Rome airport and LAX. But Wow. It was tough staying up until dark but we did some grocery shopping, had an easy dinner and I made it until 6:45, Kirk a bit later. But 2:30am rolls around and we are both wide awake so we are up drinking coffee and doing boring adult stuff - like 48 hours ago we weren’t roaming the streets of Rome and it’s ancient ruins!
What I will miss (in no particular order)
-The food. Simple, fresh, amazing and let me be clear VERY INEXPENSIVE! We estimate we spent 1/2 of what we thought we would, including the wine. There are strict rules about what can be farmed and where so everything is quite fresh and it is their honor and expectation. We saw very little snacking out and about and their ‘fast food’ was a fresh sandwich made at a local shop. The meat was gorgeous and I ate things I cannot even touch here, like sausage. Yes we did see McDonalds but they were not busy and it seemed there were more tourists in there than locals. And they were not all over town, but on the outskirts if at all. And one of them, not 100.
-The wine. Not just b/c we love wine but b/c the love that goes into the wine, the family traditions and rich history. Learning about Chianti was wonderful. And delicious. Similar rules apply for what and where and how much you can plant of each grape.
-The casual days of roaming the city, hiking, seeing and feeling the history, learning so much.
-Listening to the people, the guides and our hosts talk about the history of their cities, their families etc. The good, the great, the really bad. Feeling part of the life for just a moment. There is a great love for their home and an honor in being 8th generation or even first. No one talks about moving to a better place for politics or home prices or weather. They live and love for their home. Even with all of the problems like unemployment (over 30% in Italy!), the politics and influx of travel to their home towns. And by the way gas prices in Europe are 3 times ours.
-Spending so much relaxing time together. We did it! And came out just as happy as when we went in, maybe more so. We planned the trip like we live, with a bit of go go go and a bit of relaxing, hiking and exploring.
-The marble. OMG it’s just gorgeous and everywhere from the train stations, shops, staircases and ancient buildings.
-And strangely the lack of clothing choices made each day easier. And we both did an outstanding job of packing in just a carryon and backpack. I could have even packed less - one less pair of shoes, jacket and pants, no shorts, less socks, less jewelry and makeup. We did not bring home any souvenirs.
-The trains. We traveled all long distances, after we landed, by train. The system was fairly easy to navigate once we understood it, calm and in most cases very beautiful countryside. Cheap, too! Kirk had this all done before we left and was 100%.
What I will not miss -
-THE SMOKING! Yep, Paris was the worst but it was everywhere. Hard to believe.
-The pillows. For some reason in France and Italy we just didn’t have good pillows or enough of them.
-The showers. In a few places we did not have proper showers. Even in newer, 5 star hotels, it was a long arm hooked up to the tub ad in some it was not long enough for Kirk to stand up and rinse. I think this is more normal than we originally thought.
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