Blog #3 - Happy Birthday Dad

The day has finally arrived for our departure on our Italian Adventure.  It's hard to tell when the day actually started for me because I didn't go to bed last night.  Being a little disorganized, I had many things to clean up at work so I didn't get home until 3:00 AM.  Then I started packing and before I knew it, the sun was up and so was Sandy, looking a lot fresher than me.  Well, at least I should have a better chance of sleeping on the flight over to Rome now.


We finished up our packing and then Andrew and Brigit came over to drive us to the airport.  They will leave on Friday to fly to Germany to visit with Birgit's family and friends and then plan to rent a car and drive south to the Lake Como area of Northern Italy.  We will them meet them in Courmayeur at Monte Bianco where we will go on an excursion to the Colle del Gigante.

Today is a special day, not just because we are embarking on our adventure, but also because it is my Dad's 81st birthday.  So on the way to the airport, we stopped at Alta Vista Manor for a short visit and to wish him a happy birthday.  Here is a picture of Dad with his two favourite sons (or so we claimed at the time).

After a short visit with Dad we headed off to the airport where Birgit and Andrew dropped us off and we said our farewells. 

We'll see you in the Italian Alps in a week

Our big concern as we approached the check-in counter was whether or not we had to check Sandy's walking poles, which we had packed in a poster tube.  With the heightened security at airports we didn't know if a security guard would consider the poles to be a potential weapon.  Since we are only allowed one checked piece of luggage as part of our airfare, it would have cost an additional $50 to check the poles.  Fortunately, nobody said anything as we passed the tube through the scanner.  The poles will come in very handy for Sandy when we hike into the Cinque Terre and walk around the Tuscan countryside.  Here are some pictures of Sandy with the poles and with the tube in which we packed the poles.

Sandy with her walking poles at the Toronto Airport

The poster tube in which we packed the walking poles

It's now 3:30 PM and we're just waiting at the gate at the Toronto Airport for our plane to Rome to start boarding in about one hour.  They have free wireless Internet connections at both the Ottawa and the Toronto airports, which is very convenient for us bloggers waiting for our flights. 

We will land at Rome at 07:20 local time tomorrow morning (01:20 Ottawa time) where we have arranged for a pickup service to meet us after we clear customs and to drive us directly to our hotel, Casa di Serena B&B.  We plan to meet our friends Steve and Diane for a guided tour of the Vatican at noon, so maybe we will be able to catch 40 winks when we get to the B&B.  I have been trading text messages with Steve for the past three days, but as soon as we get on the plane to Rome, that will be the end of my cell phone and text messaging capability because my Blackberry won't work in Europe.  I sure hope we can find each other at the designated meeting point under the tall square obelisk in front of St. Peter's Basilica. I don't know when I'll be able to provide the next update, but stay tuned for more adventures.