Italy - Tour of Duty

Well during our Italy trip, Cheryl and our friends from Alabama decided that we needed to have pictures of the men in blue through out Italy.  Now I believe this started two years ago when Cheryl and I were in Malta and I decide to take a picture of every country's flag that I could locate.  Okay, so during our visit to Italy it became a obligation to photograph as many men/women in blue as possible.  Now you will notice some our in green for military enforcement. Hm..you wonder.  What is even more amazing was I had no problem locating these individuals it was like they were following me around.  Do I look like a international spy? 

Here is to the officers who protected us during our tour of Italy:

Okay this guy was questionable

 

Now, that's a gun

 

Stay out of the Water!

Yes, He is a bit out dated.

The Police Station



Vatican Police



Vatican Guard

 

Out of my way!

 

Well needless to say we found plenty of officers to take a picture of and had a little bit of fun doing it.  Cheryl and the our girls from Alabama would come up to me and say "Oh, look take a picture of that policeman." 

Just the facts.

Italy: The Trip Home

Well for the last two days, Cheryl and I have been recovering from our trip home from Italy.  Needless to say the flight home did not disappoint us as we have come to expect unforeseen events in our travels.  Now don't get confused, we don't like the events necessarily but after our last couple of adventures well we have come to expect trouble.

Our flight from Rome departed at noon on Thursday, May 26th.  So once we had elbowed and fought our way onto the plane we were able to settle down and relax for the long flight to New York.  Some 9 hours later we arrived at JFK International Airport and had a 2 1/2 hour lay over.  Okay so far so good. 

Well at JFK we had to claim our luggage and go through customs and then recheck our luggage.  Approximately, 30-45 mins ordeal.  Still left plenty of time to move to terminal three go through security and grab a bite to eat before proceeding to our final leg of the journey.  The Security Checkpoint took another 45 minutes but we survived the ordeal again and grabbed a bit to eat and then proceeded to the gate with only 15 minutes to spare before boarding. 

Wrong!  First, the plane was late by half an hour.  Okay, we can accept half hour late and it was time to board.  Text Taylor and let him know that the plane is delayed a bit but we should still arrive around 11:00 PM.  Boarded the plane, the plane backed out and we stopped and waited and waited and waited.  Flight attendants indicated that there were bad storms but as soon as they could determine a different route and avoid we would take off.  Actually, moved out onto the taxiway after an hour wait and then parked the plane for another hour and half and sat. 

Now we are not happy and we are not the only ones unhappy.  Okay by law now, the plane taxied back to the gate and they open the door of the plane and indicated that we would be able to get off.  However, if you get off you may not be able to get back on due to security or lack thereof.  Second, if you chose to depart the plane you had to take your carry on luggage with you also due to security issues.  Well after some assurance that passengers could depart from the plane and be able to get back on half the plane de-boarded with the strict warning that they need to stay close by because if a window opened up we would head out immediately. 

Approximately another hour passed by.  Cheryl and I chose to stay on the plane.  I didn't want to take any chances with missing this flight at all.  The crew announced that the weather was breaking and that we would head right out and take off.  Re-boarded plane, backed away from gate and moved out onto the taxiway.  Once there we waited and waited and waited.

At this point we had text Taylor and asked him to take our vehicle to the airport and park it and then lock the keys in it and text us the location.  We had no idea if we would still be in New York by morning or not.  Finally, the pilot came on and announced that we were 10th in line to take off.  Hm...I think I heard that over two hours ago.

Finally after approximately 7 hours of waiting the plane finally departed.  The next 5 hours of flight seemed to take for ever.  I never did think that we would finally make our home destination.  Passengers were cranking to say the least. 

Finally we began our final approach to the airport and turned to Cheryl and told her we need to put our electronic equipment away and prepare for landing.  We did so.  I'm watching the GPS Flight Tracking and note that we have dropped to 10,000 feet in elevation and think that the Flight Crew will make their finally announcement and check of the cabin for landing. 

Hm..no announcement until we have reach 5000 feet.  Hm.. the flight attendants are just starting to make a final check.  I turned to Cheryl and told her they are way behind the eight ball on this task when the lead flight attendant comes back on the radio and firmly instructs all attendants to get to their jump seats and I sensed that the plane is about to touch down. 

Yes, folks the first time I have ever seen this but we had passengers and flight attendants standing in the aisles as our plane landed.  Luckily, no one was injured.  I'd say our chief flight attendant was a bit groggy also.

So our adventure ends at 5:00 AM on Friday morning the 27th instead of 10:30 PM on the 26th but we are home safe and sound ready for a long weekend.  Well we will take the weekend to recoup. 

Italy Day Thirteen: Areverdercci Italy

Caught the train to Rome mid morning and said goodbye to Napals.  Probably not our most favorite location to visit but worth at least one visit. 

The Spanish Steps

Arrived in Rome mid afternoon, and had some lunch.  Afterwards, we walked up to the Spanish Steps Piazza.  This was the only site in the last two visits that we had not seen.  Our visit was short due to a sprinkling of rain; but at least we can say that we have been to the Spanish Steps. 

On the walk back to the hotel we came across a fountain that we had walked to on our last visit in Rome a little over a year ago.  During that walk our quest was to find the Spanish Steps.  Well we were within one block of the Spanish Steps last time and never knew it.  If we had only kept on the path for a bit longer we would have run right into them. 

Once back to the hotel it was time to adjust our luggage for the flight home.  We have to re-pack to meet wieght requirements and protect our valuables.  Tomorrow morning bright and early our private driver will pick us up at the hotel and it's off to the Rome Airport and this time Terminal 5 for real.  It is a Delta Ineternationl Flight to JFK.  Not like last time when we should have been in Termainal 3 for Air France even though it was listed as Delta. 


Our trip has come to an end and we have had a great time over the last two weeks here in Italy.  We have seen some spectaular sites and people.  Now all we can say is Areverdercci to Italy.