Home!

Home!

Yes, we arrived home safely. We awakened at 3 A. M. to start our journey home and arrived at our front doorstep at 5:30 P. M. 

All smiles at "go " time. Then we walked to the dock to get the  water taxi. The water was placid, the early morning was warm and beautiful.....Venice at rest. We took one last look at the terrace balcony where we had breakfast that morning. Then we sped off into the night. 

We had completed an adventure of a lifetime.

In retrospect, we had literally eaten our way through this continent to the next starting with the premier lounge at O'Hare and all the meals afforded on the first class flight till we made it to the next business lounge and business meal before landing in Naples and the reverse on the way home. 

The lounge here is the one in Venice before leaving Italy. The take off was flawless and beautiful for pictures. 

Then came breakfast on the plane which was both a chance for a sandwich or a healthy granola mixture with milk and whatever beverage you choose. Since I didn't know which one I wanted , you guessed it!

Got some good scenes of the German terrain before landing in Frankfurt. Once we landed, we got our passports stamped and moved to the United terminal. There we waited through breakfast again and lunch in the business lounge until we boarded for home. 

Yep, with an hour after take off the food began churning out again, warmed peanuts, drinks, hot towels . The menu is as shown.  And don't kid yourself .... The chicken sandwich was more like a pastry with chicken and a spread to die for with whatever you wanted to drink.   Spoiled , I think so . 

Then many hours later .......on the horizon was " my kind of town".....We landed and went through all the gyrations to get out of the airport maze and to our front door. 

The clothes washing marathon has begun and adjusting our time schedule to sleep has been a challenge. But no complaints as we remember our walks  and tours from early morning to late afternoon. We recall our visits to the sights and the sounds of cities and countrysides. Everything was Fantastico!

Hope to get some formats on shutterfly and video later as we slowly get ourselves adjusted and unpacked. 

On hindsight one of the greatest things  that maximized our trip 100 percent was there was NO rain. 

Catch up with you all soon....

Grazie per i ricordi, Italia! ( thanks for the memories ) 

Venice

Bonjourno,

This evening at 6 it was a Gondola ride on the water way. We had the accordion player and "o solo mio" singer. We did fine drifting down the calm waters of the canals . However they soon became like expressways ..... Overcrowded. The gondoliers control the boat with one little but long wooden oar and when things get tight or they get to close to a building they pick up their foot and kick the side of the boat to move them away. It really is an amazing scene as you will see in the pictures below. 

Then the big time begins .... After you journey through the canals you have to go into the main canal ...    The big one ... The wide one .... which has  5 other gondolas near you in parallel , 10 water taxis buzzing through.....and a huge Norweigan Cruise ship coming round the mountain. Just like Rome..... Everybody any where they can find a place among all these boats generating some type of wave action. I think they want you to pick out your favorite Italian saint and start praying. Obviously we made it back to our little slip to disembark. 

 

Off to the lounge for some Bellini's and snacks. Then to our rooms to " freshen" and get ready for the final dinner..... The one that ends all diets. We greeted and thanked the guide for her expertise , we drank wine and champagne, exchanged highlights with the people at our table ( over the noisy din) got our group picture and then got up and spent another 25 minutes saying goodbye. 

We are in our room finishing this as our wake up call is 3 A. M.and  the bags will be picked up at our room and we will take a water taxi back to the mainland . They will help us all the way through to security and then launch us on our own. After tickets, passports and the like we will find the business lounge after we find the gate. Then we will proceed from Venice to Frankfurt where we have about a 3 hour layover. We've got to check out the lounge again. Then we will finally board the big bus home. See you at home! 

Get summer in gear back home as we are spoiled with Mid -80's and low humidity. The best ... The best!