Blog #23 - Heading Home

Getting home turned out to be a two-day adventure because we had to first get down to Rome from Tuscany on Saturday, Oct 9th and then catch our flight out the next morning to Canada.  We decided to drive down the coastal highway instead of taking the Autostrada down the centre of Italy from Sienna to Rome.  The coastal highway was slower, but we had all day to get from Barberino to our hotel, which was located just off the great Ring Road that circles Rome, similar to the beltway that circles Washington DC.

Sandy in Citivecchia on the coast of the Mediterranean.

We made two stops along the way.  The first stop was by the roadside so I could cut up some cheese and wild boar salami and the second stop was in the city of Civitavecchia (pop. 51,000), which is a major port for ferries travelling to Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Tunis and Barcelona.  We had a gelato, took a photo and then drove on to Rome where we went through the usual frustrations of trying to find our hotel and stopping numerous times to ask directions - next time we'll get a GPS!  We thought we might try to go to a shopping centre, but after driving around for an hour and not having any luck locating it, we gave up and went back to the hotel.

The Victor Emmanuel Monument at the Italian Capitol.  Victor Emmanuel
was the first king of Italy when it was united as a nation for the first time in 1861.

After a little rest, we decided that since it was our last night in Italy, we should go downtown and see Rome for the last time.  The concierge at the hotel advised us not to take the subway for safety reasons, so we hopped in a taxi and he dropped us off exactly where we wanted to be.  We thought we could catch a special night tour, but when we went to buy the tickets, we learned that the tours finished at the end of September.  So instead we bought tickets for a special movie about the history of Rome that was like a Disney ride where we sat in a special car that had motion and special effects.

A Roman soldier in the Piazza Venezzia near the Capitol in Rome.

Done for the day, the soldier heads back to his camp.

While we were waiting for the movie to start, Sandy went shopping and I wandered around and took a few photos.  Sandy came back from her short shopping trip with the pair of Italian boots that she had been trying to find for the whole trip - success at last!  She was very happy.  After the movie we found a restaurant and had one last pizza/pasta dinner and then walked over to the Trevi Fountain.  They say if you throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, then you will return to Rome some day.  Since we threw coins in the fountain when we were in Rome two weeks before, I guess the adage is true.  Of course we had to throw more coins in the fountain so that we could come back to Italy on another trip in a few years.

A man roasting chestnuts on the street.  The chestnuts were not
very tasty I discovered, but you never know unless you try one.

At the restaurant for our final Italian dinner.

The Trevi Fountain where we threw in coins to make sure we come back to Rome.

We then walked over to see the Pantheon, the temple to all the Roman gods built by the Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD.  We didn't have time to see the Pantheon when we were in Rome at the start of our trip and it was now nighttime so all we could do was see the outside.  It is an amazing building and we will definitely see it on our next Italian adventure.  We then caught a taxi back to our hotel and had a nice chat with the taxi driver.  However, I did get into two disagreements with him when we told him stories of some of our adventures in Italy and on our trip to Greece in 2008.  The first disagreement was over the tallest mountain in Europe.  The taxi drive said it was Monte Bianco, where we went on our Alpine adventure and I said it was a mountain in Russia in the Ural Mountain Range.  The second disagreement was over the largest island in the Mediterranean.  The taxi drive said it was Sicily and I said it was Crete.  Sandy thought we were going to come to fisticuffs over the disagreements, but I'm sure it was just the Italian character of discussing things passionately and found the discussion to be great fun.  And who was right?  Lorne 1; Taxi Drive 1.  Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus at 5642 metres vs. Monte Bianco in the Alps at 4808 meters.  Sicily is 25,460 Sq. Km. and Crete is 8,312 Sq. Km. (fifth largest).  However, the Taxi Driver did not consider Russia to be part of Europe, so he probably thinks he was right about both topics.

A night photo of the Pantheon.

The next morning we woke up and headed to the airport, but found that we had one last driving frustration, which was to find the rental car drop-off location.  We finally located it and felt great relief to turn in our Doblo without any issues.  It was at this point that I decided to call our breadtruck "St. Doblo" because it did such a good job about getting us safely around Italy.  We got to the check-in counter with all our luggage two hours before our plane was to depart, but there was nobody in line and two couples dealing with ticket agents.  They were having very animated discussions, which made us worry a little.  Then one woman grabbed her suitcase and stormed off in a huff.  When we went up to the agent, I asked if they had overbooked the flight and if there were any seats left.  The agent replied, "that depends" and took our electronic ticket printout.  After a while, which included a few phone calls, she printed out two boarding passes for Sandy and me for First Class seats!  They were overbooked and had sent the other woman to catch a flight with US Air (which meant she had to go through the US), but there were no longer any seats left on that plane, so they had to give us the last two empty seats on our flight, which happened to be in First Class.

First Class seats for the flight to Canada!

But our troubles weren't over yet we were soon to discover as we entered the long queue for security.  It took us an hour to get through and when we finally made it up to the x-ray machines, they took one look at Sandy's walking poles and told us we had to go back to check them as luggage.  We could not carry them onto the airplane as we had done when coming from Canada.  So I ran back to the check-in counter and found it was closed.  I asked an agent at another Alitalia check-in counter to check the poles and he said it was too late.  They were not accepting any more check-in luggage!  So what could I do with the poles?  I had no choice but to throw them out, which made Sandy very sad.  Well, you win some (two free upgrades to First Class - value $4,000) and you lose some (walking poles - value $100).

First Class meal - primo piatta.

First Class meal - secondo piatta.

First Class meal - dessert.

The flight back to Canada was very relaxing in First Class - it really is the only way to fly (especially with free upgrades).  When we were in Toronto waiting for our flight to Ottawa, Sandy's brother Phil sent us a message to ask if we needed a pick-up at the airport.  We had nothing arranged, so we replied back that yes we did.  Phil was there to greet us, but instead of taking us to our house in Orleans, he took us first over to his house to have Thanksgiving dinner with Sandy's Mom and Mireille.  It certainly was a nice touch to the end of our Italian adventure!

Thanksgiving Dinner (7:00 PM local, 1:00 AM Rome time for us).
Beer, wine, lack of sleep - I slept quite well that night.