Heading Home and Back to Reality

Hello all,

Well, the end of the trip finally came, as much as we didn't want it to. The end was certainly eventful. We had heard about the air traffic controllers' striking in France, so we were a little concerned about our layover in Paris. Little did we know, that was not what we should have been worried about. After some trouble checking in for our flight online, Dan and I decided to head to the airport early, just in case. This turned out to be good instincts.

Apparently, when our flight out of Boston (to get to Rome) was cancelled and we were put on a different airline, Continental accidentally cancelled our entire reservation, including our return flights to the US. Here we were, stuck in Italy, with no cell phones or internet. We were originally supposed to be flying AirFrance, which had an alliance with Continental when we booked our flights. However, that alliance no longer exists, so AirFrance wasn't willing to help us find new flights. After insisting that they help us, they finally called the Continental Star Alliance representative and let me speak with them. She was able to get us booked on new flights, with a different airline, Lufthansa, which had us rerouting to Frankfurt and then heading to Boston from there. To make up for the trouble, she also booked us business class seats on the long flight from Frankfurt to Boston, which meant we enjoyed an amazing flying experience! Here are some pictures from our Business Class adventure:

Dan sitting in his special seat. These seats were ridiculous. It's like every passenger has their own cocoon.

I think they give you enough leg room in these seats...what do you think? lol

We were treated to a 3-course meal of our choice. Dan had "Red Mullet Terrine with Vegetables and Olive Sauce" for his first course (picture below); "Lamb Stew with Bell Peppers and creamy Polenta" for his entree; and "Duet of white and dark Chocolate with Strawberry Sauce" for his dessert.

I had "Summer Lettuce with Belle Pepper Ragout, Olives and grilled Zucchini presented with Herb Dressing" for my first course (picture below); "Zucchini and Eggplant Lasagne with Sun dried Tomatoes" for my entree; and the same chocolate dessert as Dan.

During the flight, attendants were constantly coming around offering us drinks, ranging from Champagne and wine to coffee and tea.

The seats can lay completely flat for comfortable sleeping positions. They also give you nice pillows and blankets.

Then, we were finally home in our own apartment. Sammy was really happy to see us as you can tell by the picture.

Overall, this trip was one of the most amazing experiences. Dan and I were able to see so many great places and enjoy so many different adventures. Thank you again to everyone who helped us plan, finance, and prepare for the trip as well as to those who took care of Sammy for us. We appreciate all of your help and suggestions.

We will be suspending the blog posts until our next traveling excursion, so until then...

Yours truly,

Dan and Kari

Turin

Turin was the last stop on this amazing trip. These are a few of our pictures from Turin. We were only there for an afternoon and evening so we don't have a ton of pictures.

First, we went to the Egyptian Museum, which was under renovations, but was still awesome! As many of you know, I absolutely LOVE Egyptian archaeology so this was a real treat for me.

I believe this was either a statue of Amenhotep II or Thutmose II (can't really remember). The museum has a huge collection of statuary, largely from temples.

A sphinx statue, also from a temple.

An unidentified mummy. Very cool!

The museum is known for discovering the untouched tomb of Kha and Merit, which was on display in the museum. Kha was a wealthy architect who worked on a number of royal temples and tombs. Therefore, his tomb contained a wealthy of funerary objects, many in great condition. The next three pictures are from the tomb.

This is the funerary mask of Merit, his wife. This mask would be placed over the face of the mummy.

This is the sarcophagus of Kha. Wealthy people were usually buried in nested coffins. The outer sarcophagus would be a huge rectangular box that would contain a series of smaller inner coffins.

The last sarcophagus would be an anthropoid coffin, gilded with jewels and gold, and intricately painted. This is the inner sarcophagus of Kha, which held his mummified body.

After the Egyptian Museum, we walked by this castle before heading over to the Royal Palace.

We grabbed some pizza and headed back to our hotel for some pizza, wine, and packing.

Verona

After our afternoon at Lago di Garda we doubled back to Verona for the night and the following day. Our hotel was a couple km outside of the historic city, but we parked just outside the city walls and headed across the pedestrian bridge into the historic city:

Next we headed into the main square at the center of the city, which contained crowded sidewalks, restaurants, open markets, fountains, and a huge open-air opera arena.



Next we headed down to the one tourist attraction in the city that Kari really wanted to see, the House of Juliet, where, reportedly, the woman who was the inspiration for Shakespeare once lived.

You walk through a dark covered entryway to get to the house, and people have covered every reachable inch of the walls of the walkway with "letters to Juliet"


"Juliet's" balcony:

There's a statue of Juliet in front of the house, and apparently a tradition has developed where it's considered good luck to touch a certain part of the statue's anatomy as you pass. It's pretty obvious just by looking at the color and shine of the statue.

A cute little girl having her picture taken before Kari went up to pose:


Next we headed over to the duomo, which was, unfortunately, just closing for the day by the time we got there

We also walked past this gorgeous church and square (I can't remember what they were called, though):



On our way back to the car we walked along the river that divides Verona in half and got to enjoy this incredible view:

We're in Turin now after the long drive from Verona, and are sadly heading home tomorrow afternoon. We have a quick flight to Paris and then just an hour and a half layover, so we're assuming our time in the Paris airport is going to be rushed regardless, but we've also heard on the news that the French air traffic controllers are striking, which means anything could happen as we try to get back. If you ask me, though, a delay that meant we had to spend the night in an airline-paid-for hotel in Paris really wouldn't be a tragedy.

-Dan

Lago de Garda: Definitely one of our favorites!

Lago de Garda was seriously the BEST suggestion! We loved the lake and really wished we had more time to spend there. We desperately wanted a relaxing day on the beach/lake, but we are incredibly happy that we had the opportunity to see it all. If any of you ever go to Italy, make sure you spend at least a full day here!

Driving to the lake. The mountains were so green.

On the way we were stuck in traffic for construction work and couldn't stop laughing at the way construction workers dress in Italy. It's not uncommon for them to wear a mixture of short shorts, slippers, and no shirt.

Our first view of the lake!


Castello Scaligero:

Up in one of the towers of the castle.

The views from the towers were amazing!



We found this cute little family of painted turtles in a pond within the castle. One of the babies swam right up to us. :)

Then, we had lunch out on the water.

We saw a boat, which of course, reminded me of Lake Havasu and my parents. :)

Our Venice Experience

Here's a photo summary of our trip to Venice...hope you all enjoy!

Starting with the beginning:

Dan and I riding on the vaporetto (water bus). We are heading down the Grand Canal to get to our hotel.

Speaking of the Grand Canal, here it is!

View from the window of our hotel room. So crazy that there is water everywhere!

Piazza San Marco. The square was always really crowded, but that adds to the experience.

This is the campanile (bell tower) right outside of St. Mark's Basilica.

St. Mark's Basilica, with the dome and the Doge's Palace.

Some details from St. Mark's Basilica.

Dan standing in the Piazzetta San Marco, looking out onto the water.

There were so many gondolas everywhere. The canals really are their roads; there were traffic jams all over the place.

Me standing on top of a random bridge with tons of gondolas riding the canal underneath me.

The Rialto Bridge, which is the white marble bridge.

Dan standing on the Rialto Bridge, overlooking the Grand Canal.

We saw these enormous meringues and they made us think of Dan's dad, Mitch. I'm sure he would love to eat one of these!

Then we saw this farmer's market on a boat and it made us think of Dan's mom.

The Ponte Accademia, which is the wooden bridge.

Just wandering around and getting lost.

Dan and I stopped in a little shop to buy some lemoncello and wine. As we were walking out with our bottles of alcohol, the man working stopped me and gave me this little gift. As I told you before, Venice was definitely the city of nice old men!