Ciao!

After a very full day in Rome, we dragged back into our hotel hot and sweaty around 11:00 p.m. The final packing, showering, and preparing for the next day's departure commenced and I didn't get to bed until 12:30 a.m.

Tower Bridge in London

The alarm came went off at 4:30, and we were on the bus to the airport by 5:30 a.m. Our plane did not fly out until 10:00, but the time was spent standing in assorted lines and going to different terminals. We grabbed some breakfast snacks and ate them and then it was time to board the plane.

This was a 7 hour flight and we were served two meals. The first one was chicken and rice, and the second one was a turkey sandwich. I watched several movies and hoped to get some sleep. I may have slept on and off for about 2 hours.

Lunch in Montmartre, Paris

We arrived in Newark, New Jersey and had to go through customs, pick up our baggage, and recheck it in at a different terminal. We had been complaining about a four hour layover, but in the end we were glad that we had the time since we had so many lines to stand in and terminals to walk to. There were a lot of delayed flights and gates kept changing including ours. Our connecting flight was on time for the most part, and we were back on a plane for the nearly 6 hour flight into San Diego.

Our plane landed around 9:00 p.m. which was 6:00 a.m. in Rome. By the time we greeted our families, picked up our luggage, and headed home it was after 10:00 p.m. When I got home, I showed all of my souvenirs and shared a few stories with my family (except Zach who is now in Scotland for a month). Eventually, I went to bed around 11:30 p.m. It had been 29 hours, and I thought I'd sleep for a long time, but at 5:30 a.m. I was wide awake.

Colosseum in Rome

Over the past few days, I've gotten more sleep and am settling back into a schedule, but the memories and joy of my trip remain especially when I use my leather purse, wear my Murano glass earrings, or look at the other items I purchased. Tonight, I think I'll share some Limoncello with my family and start planning my return trip!

For those who wish to see my photos which now have captions, you can view them at these links:

London Photos

Paris Photos

Italy Photos