Sunday May 30, 2004

We're on our way home! I'm writing this on the plane from Rome to Toronto. If I had to guess, I'd almost think we're over Greenland. (All I see is what looks like ice and snow.)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We got up at 7:00AM this morning. We were packed and dressed by 8:00. We struck out to find wine for my parents and oil for Dale and Jenn. The grocery store didn't open until 8:30, so we found a cafe and had one last go at cappuccino and croissant, eating at the bar. We then went for a walk to find a specialty store. Being Sunday, all were closed. We made our way back to the grocery store and picked up a bottle of red for my parents, some oil for Jenn, and a liter of wine in a tetra pack as a souvenir for us. We also found the first decently priced fruit since France, so we picked up a few pieces for the trip home.

We picked up our packs at the hotel and said our goodbyes. We got to the train station and managed to pick up the 9:22 to the airport. It was a pleasant ride to the airport. We passed aquaducts and a few other ruins as well as the usuals: wild poppies, palm trees and olive groves. When we arrived at the airport, we found where to check our bags. Things started to go a bit down hill here. There was an entire marching band ahead of us. We stood in line for over an hour while we waited for the employees to process us. There was a rather rude woman who asked us some security questions to help us through customs. I say rude, because when I asked her to slow down and repeat what she had just said, she actually sped up and spoke with a thicker accent!

At any rate, once our luggage was checked, we headed towards customs and our gate. We were again lined up in customs where we waited for about 45 minutes. They asked us a few simple questions and asked to see our passports. Once we were finally through that, we found our gate. We had about an hour to spare, so we grabbed a bite to eat and waited exhaustedly to board the plane. We each had a panini and I had a last espresso. It was good, but nothing like what we had in the cities.

We boarded the jet late. Our seats were much better this time, I had a window seat. One problem though, was that we were literally surrounded by Italian grandmothers starting out on a tour. They spoke no English and were quite rude. The one behind Sarah's seat kept jostling the seat and speaking loudly the entire time.

The jet eventually took off and made its way to Venice where we dropped off some travelers before being escorted off the jet while it was being cleaned. This took longer than it ought to have, but we were eventually allowed to return to the jet where we took the last ten hour leg of our adventure.

I have to admit, the flight started off very well. We flew over a massive mountain range unlike anything that I had seen before. We closed the window over the ocean, as it's rather boring.

The next seven hours were rather painful. Sarah tried to sleep and watched the two in-flight movies. (A Meg Ryan flick about boxing and a movie that we'd seen on the way to France.) She then tried to sleep. I tried to sleep and read. All of this was made rather difficult by the loud Italian grandmothers. We did eventually get through the flight, and we arrived in Toronto feeling glad to be home. Going through customs was uneventful. The customs officer found it amusing that we brought back canoli and a tetra pack of wine. It was quite reassuring to be back in a country that spoke English first. We missed home.

Mom greeted us as we walked through the final doors, Dad was waiting for us outside. We talked most of the ride home. Sarah slept for part of it. We finally got to our house at about midnight. After patting Kali for some time, we flopped on our bed and fell instantly to sleep. We were home.

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