Our Italian Adventure Ends: Great to be Home!

We are home and tired! But, it is a good weariness, for we enjoyed Italy and look forward to returning some day to more areas, like Rome and Florence. We left Montesilvano on Friday morning, a two hour car trip to the airport, and finally arrived at home on yesterday, twenty-four hours late, due to unforeseen circumstances.

Our return trip included a flight from Ancona, Italy to Munich, Germany, with a layover of only 40 minutes. We had to run through the Munich airport, and then had to go through German Customs! We made the flight, thankfully, only to spend the next four and a half hours on the tarmac in a hot plane, due to an engine problem.

The pilot kept saying that the mechanics were trying to fix the problem so that we could leave. I was not so ready to fly in a plane in which the left engine would not engage.

We ended up remaining in Munich, compliments of Lufthansa and Air Canada, with hotel room, taxi, and dinner and breakfast vouchers, adding twenty-four hours to our return home. We were so tired on Sunday morning that we did something we never do, we had a sumptuous breakfast, costing thirty-three euros!

The bacon and over-easy eggs were cooked to perfection, along with enough bread for two meals, and three sausage links! I wondered if people eat like that every morning! While I would have liked not having to stay in Munich, I am so glad to have had a breakfast I will not long forget. There was a beautiful sculpture of a horse, made entirely out of horseshoes that was stunning to see. From Munich, we went to Toronto, Canada, and then to Atlanta! Long trip home.

Part of what made this Italian adventure so special was the wonderful apartment we rented from an Airbnb super host. It was a clean abode in a peaceful area, so quiet at night, just as we have at home. It had a beautiful yard, with lovely flowers. Italy is different from Portugal and Spain, in terms that it has the same dense housing, but it seems that in Italy, people place houses wherever they can, as noted below from our balcony.

We enjoyed the sea, museums, ruins, and, of course, eating the food. Italy is fascinating, in terms of the diversity of environments to enjoy. There were snow-covered mountains that Douglas hiked, cities with old buildings next to more modern structures, and farm land, mostly downhill, with rolling green spaces.

It is a verdant land, full of every imaginable color of green, my favorite color. It is not a backward nation, but very much modern in their thinking. Italy reveres its past, but is very much a modern nation.

I will miss walking four miles a day along the Adriatic Sea, and the silence of our Airbnb apartment, but not the driving! Like Portugal and Spain, a speed limit is only a suggestion. Aggressive driving is the norm, and I assume that young people are taught to not be shy in their driving. Eating is serious business, and from 2:00 to about 6:00 in the day, businesses and museums close, allowing workers a leisurely lunch. I liked the slower pace of life.

But, there really is no place like home. It is good to sleep on my own pillows and see my own things. We spent the night with family in Atlanta, went to grandchildren’s swimming practices, and then drove the three and a half hours to home! Trip done!

I went today to check my incision and progress from the defibrillator surgery, and although I am still living on Tylenol Extra Strength tablets, the nurse assured me healing is progressing well. The healing will take longer because of a more extensive work done to implant the device, due to tight shoulder muscles. Thank you for your prayers for my health and the trip. We are already planning to go to Washington, DC in October, staying closer to home, seeing some of our own country.

The dreams continue!

Fandango prompt is Pick. Ragtag prompt is Sumptuous. Word of the Day is Backward. Your Daily Word Prompt is Silence.