25 March 09

After a lovely final day in Frankfurt, I woke up this morning with both sadness and anticipation. The anticipation was kicked up a knotch when w stepped outside into the freezing cold. If that wasn’t good enough, it started snowing as we waited for the train – I think Europe was kicking me out!

After the train ride and a quick hop on the S-Bahn, Michelle and me bid Stewart adieu and rode up the escalator to the airport. It took forever to find the American Airlines ticket gate (the kiosks are set up rather oddly at that airport), but we asked at one of the information booths and eventually made it. After getting asked a bunch of random questions regarding my bag and batteries (?), I got my ticket and we headed down to the exit station. I bid Michelle and very fond farewell, finally got a second stamp in my passport, stepped through security quick and waited at the gate.

I took the liberty of buying myself some mini version of the cookies we had my first night in Frankfurt, just to give myself one last yummy taste of Europe. I thought I would be much more sad as I sat and waited, but all I was really dreading was 11 hours on a plane with my knee. I was trying to prepare myself for the pain...and the boredom.

It was finally time to board and I gathered my stuff to go. When I got to my seat, I found I was sitting next to a really big dude; not fat, just super tall and thickly built. Needless to say, I was less than excited – and for good reason. The whole time he kept spreading his legs out so his left leg was past the edge of my seat, totally encroaching on my leg room. I kept having to fake shift in my seat, so I would knock his leg back over to his side. Then there was his coat, which kept finding it’s way under my seat instead of his. While there was much more leg room in this plane than the plane on the way to Barcelona, I had a metal box taking up half of my space, so I was not letting him take any more space. I mean, I felt bad for him because he was a big guy and obviously uncomfortable, but he should have requested an exit row...I mean, really. I must say, however, I was glad I was sitting next to him and not in front of him, as he kept putting his arms on top of the head rest of the seat in front of him and laying his head on his arms. The guy in front kept squirming, trying to get him to stop leaning on his seat, but he finally gave up on being nice and slammed his back into seat - my neighbor finally got the hint...though after about half the flight, he tried again.

As for myself, I really was much more comfortable than on the flight out. I could stretch my legs out fully, so my knee didn’t hurt too bad. They also had much better entertainment. Each seat had it’s own video monitor, and they had about one dozen free movies you could watch, as well as TV shows and games. I watched “Yes Man,” “Bolt,” “Valkyrie,” “Bedtime Stories” and an episode of “The Big Bang Theory.” I also played some Tetris, solitaire, poker and sudoku. The trip seemed to go much faster. As fast as it went, however, there really isn’t any way to make a now 12-hour plane ride go “fast.” Every time I finished a movie, I looked at my watch and thought, “Holy crap. We still have that much time left?!” Painful.

I did get to see some cool stuff. My favorite part of the flight was flying over the ocean near Greenland and Canada. I could the oceanic ice, and it was seriously cool. I saw masses of pure white chunks, huge land-mass-sized chunks, and then some thin pieces near the border where you could see the ocean through the ice. I’ve never been that far north before and seen ice like that – it was really, really neat.

Finally, I looked at my watch and saw it was time for us to start landing. Unfortunately, we didn’t seem to be losing any altitude. Just then, the captain came on and told us the Detroit airport was backed up because it had closed for a couple of hours due to thunderstorms. So we were stuck circling Detroit for another hour. We finally landed and deboarded after THIRTEEN HOURS on that plane. Ouch.

After going through the passport check and customs (who, by the way, could not believe I didn’t have any checked bags), I went to see if I had missed my connection. We were two hours late, so I thought I must have missed it, but I hadn’t! Everything was running really late because of the storms, so I made it with time to spare. Hallelujah! I went to the gate and found chaos. There were three flight worth of people backed up and waiting for their planes to leave from that gate. I stood off to the side where most people for my flight were, when I heard a few ladies behind me discussing their “long” flights – 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours... I turned around and said, “Well, I just got off a 13-hour flight from Germany. I win!” They all laughed and were like, “Glad I’m not you!” Amen. :)

We finally boarded, and I was lucky to sit next to a woman who was traveling with her little Sheltie, Macayla. She was heading to an agility competition in Charlotte. Macayla was such a sweetie and so well behaved. She curled up under the seat and snoozed the entire way. I totally wanted to crawl under the seat and snuggle up with her. I knew I was only a few hours away from Chaucer, and it made me miss him more than ever! In talking to the lady, she told me about her other dogs and their crazy names. My favorite was her dog who had the registered name, Going Postal, and the call name, Newman. I just about died when she told me. So clever!

The flight was pretty quick (then again, after 13 hours, anything would have seemed quick). When we landed, I was jumping out of my skin to get off that plane and see my boys. Of course, our concourse was all the way at the end of the airport. With the flight to Charlotte, my knee had started killing me, so it took quite a while for me to hobble down to the airport exit. I finally got outside and, after having walked right by our car, I heard Davey’s sweet voice behind me. We had a big hug and kiss, then I walked back to the car to smother my little boy with kisses. I tried to film Chaucer’s reaction on seeing me, but it was too dark. Just take my word for it that he was sooooooooooo happy to see me! I got in, he smothered me with kisses, then curled up on my lap and fell alseep like everything was once again right with the world. *sigh* How I missed him.

We stopped at Cook Out for food, then rushed home. I got inside, threw on my PJs and passed out. I was trying to say my prayers, but I kept falling asleep after every fifth word or so, so I just said “sorry” and gave up. I have never fallen asleep that fast. I was out. It was about 12:30 when I finally got to bed, which was 6:30 for me. I slept until 12:45 the next afternoon. You would think I would feel better after twelve hours of sleep, but I totally feel like I got hit by a bus. The next day, Dave played hookey from school and we went to Charlotte. We went to the Mint Museums, which were really nice, and ate at Smokey Bones. We had wanted to catch a movie or something, but I just couldn’t make it. I got ten hours of sleep that night, and eleven hours the next night. Finally, Sunday morning, after another nine hours of sleep, I woke up feeling quite refreshed. I’m thinking I’ll be totally normal by Tuesday. *fingers crossed*

Oh – I almost forgot – I have the best hubby! He knew I would be bushwhacked by the trip, so he got me the “Twilight” DVD and a pack of golden Oreos. I love him.


Now that I’m home, everything has changed. America is so boring. Where are the bakeries, pastry shops and gelaterias? Where are the old cathedrals and churches and houses? Where are the piazzas and squares? Where is the public transportation and why doesn’t anyone walk outside? It is such a different culture here. Everything is closed off. Everyone has closed curtains, closed doors, yards with fences, special community entrances. Everything says “keep out.” In Europe, the curtains and doors are open, fences don’t exist and everyone gathers in the piazzas to sit and talk – together. Travel is so cheap, you could visit your relatives every weekend if they live in the same country, and every month if they live in Europe. Everything is built to bring people together. (Well, at least in the places we visited – I guess I shouldn’t speak for all of Europe.) I just love that. I mean, America isn’t horrible – it just isn’t as...inviting.

But I supposed I’ll just have to do what I can to make my America as European as possible...until I can go back. :D

So, to wrap up my amazing adventure, here’s a brief list of some of my favorites:
Favorite Pastry: Cinnamon Bun thing, Reichelsheim
Favorite Meal: Taglioni Bolognese at Al Bacco, Venice
Favorite Gelato: Tie between my first scoops at RivaReno and the tartufo in Rome
Favorite Sight in Barcelona: Sagrada Familia and Barceloneta Beach
Favorite Sight in Athens: Temple of Hephaestus and Temple of Olympian Zeus
Favorite Sight in Milan: Teatro alla Scala and Cimitero Monumentale
Favorite Sight in Venice: Basilica di San Marco and Burano Island
Favorite Sight in Rome: Colosseum
Favorite Sight in Frankfurt: Rhine River and Reichelsheim houses
Favorite Cathedral: Basilica di San Marco, Venice
Favorite Rooftop View: Temple de Sagrat Cor, Barcelona
Favorite Overall Sight: Temple of Hephaestus, Athens
Favorite City: To visit, Venice – to live, Milan
Favorite Country: Italy
The One Place I Must Go Back To: Milan, so I can go to the opera at La Scala

And that's it. That's my incredible European journey. I will have one more picture for you later. I wanted to post a pic of all of my souveniers, but my camera is currently in Illinois being fixed. When I get it back, I'll take a snapshot so you can see my super cute purse and such. :) But that will be it. I really wish I could keep writing about it forever and ever, so I could relive it every day. Lucky for you, I know it would eventually get boring to everyone else, so I'll refrain. Just don't be surprised if little Europe references pop up in a lot of my posts - I can't help it! It really was the trip of a lifetime. *sigh*

And now, back to reality.