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lillibetI woke up even before our alarm went off at 5:00am, because I couldn't breathe. A cough I'd attributed to dust--Jason's allergies were also acting up in the flat--had turned into a lovely, chesty cough. Oh well, if I had to catch a cold on this trip, the last day was certainly the right time for it.
At 6:30am, Jason ran up to the Piazza Barberini and brought a cab back to pick up the luggage and me. At that hour on a Sunday morning there was virtually no one on the streets and we zoomed up to Fiumicino, arriving there just at seven. Our flight wasn't until ten, but with the recent troubles, I wanted to leave lots of extra time. There was some initial confusion, since our flight wasn't listed on the board, but it turned out we were in the wrong terminal and the right one was just down the corridor. We checked in and got exit row seats and then went through security and passport control with no problems.
We looked through the duty free shops and found a couple more things to fit in our luggage. I found a gorgeous cameo in a teardrop shape with a white swan carved against the blue background, but at over three million lira (about $1500) I decided it wasn't that gorgeous.
We had done such a good job at managing our cash that we had to change another five pounds to buy ourselves a quick breakfast of pannini. By the time we finished that and went to our gate, we only waited a couple of minutes before boarding began. We found our seats and gave thanks for the extra leg room of the exit row and settled in. Our takeoff was delayed by about thirty minutes, but we made up time in the air and weren't that late getting into Heathrow. When we saw the breakfast they provided, we were very glad we'd taken care of that in the terminal. I wouldn't fly Alitalia for the food.
Once at Heathrow, we were somewhat daunted by the line for non-EU passport holders, so I stood there and smiled at the bored women at the EU desk until one of them asked me if I worked in the UK and when we said yes, they waved us over and we were on our way quickly. Our bags came through and as we sailed through customs, which has always been deserted on previous trips, we noticed that they did have a couple of officials there, going through two people's bags. Glad it wasn't us, we got through the terminal and into the Underground.
The tube was its efficient self and got us back to Manor House in a little over an hour--which I spent writing--and we walked in the door of our flat at 2:15pm. I spent the rest of the day catching up with mail and getting a proper bath for the first time in weeks and talking to folks back home. We ordered Chinese food for dinner and watched a little Stargate before I collapsed into bed around 9:00pm.
Since then I've had a pretty quiet life, mostly trying to rest and get over this cold. It was worse on Monday as it began to move out of my chest and into my head--more annoying, but less worrisome--but I was starting to be better yesterday, am better still today, and hope for a full recovery by the morrow. I've been drinking lots of tea and miso soup and Jason's been taking good care of me. He's been rushing around--he went down to a meeting of the UK members of the C++ committee on Monday morning, had an insurance physical in the afternoon, and spent Tuesday up in Cambridge. He was worried he was coming down with my cold on Monday night, but seems to have dodged the bullet and is feeling fine.
It was a wonderful trip, despite the devastating news from home. We saw so many marvelous places and pieces and ate so much excellent food and had very few mishaps. We may not make it back in the next year, but this was certainly not our last trip to Italy--there's so much more to see!
At 6:30am, Jason ran up to the Piazza Barberini and brought a cab back to pick up the luggage and me. At that hour on a Sunday morning there was virtually no one on the streets and we zoomed up to Fiumicino, arriving there just at seven. Our flight wasn't until ten, but with the recent troubles, I wanted to leave lots of extra time. There was some initial confusion, since our flight wasn't listed on the board, but it turned out we were in the wrong terminal and the right one was just down the corridor. We checked in and got exit row seats and then went through security and passport control with no problems.
We looked through the duty free shops and found a couple more things to fit in our luggage. I found a gorgeous cameo in a teardrop shape with a white swan carved against the blue background, but at over three million lira (about $1500) I decided it wasn't that gorgeous.
We had done such a good job at managing our cash that we had to change another five pounds to buy ourselves a quick breakfast of pannini. By the time we finished that and went to our gate, we only waited a couple of minutes before boarding began. We found our seats and gave thanks for the extra leg room of the exit row and settled in. Our takeoff was delayed by about thirty minutes, but we made up time in the air and weren't that late getting into Heathrow. When we saw the breakfast they provided, we were very glad we'd taken care of that in the terminal. I wouldn't fly Alitalia for the food.
Once at Heathrow, we were somewhat daunted by the line for non-EU passport holders, so I stood there and smiled at the bored women at the EU desk until one of them asked me if I worked in the UK and when we said yes, they waved us over and we were on our way quickly. Our bags came through and as we sailed through customs, which has always been deserted on previous trips, we noticed that they did have a couple of officials there, going through two people's bags. Glad it wasn't us, we got through the terminal and into the Underground.
The tube was its efficient self and got us back to Manor House in a little over an hour--which I spent writing--and we walked in the door of our flat at 2:15pm. I spent the rest of the day catching up with mail and getting a proper bath for the first time in weeks and talking to folks back home. We ordered Chinese food for dinner and watched a little Stargate before I collapsed into bed around 9:00pm.
Since then I've had a pretty quiet life, mostly trying to rest and get over this cold. It was worse on Monday as it began to move out of my chest and into my head--more annoying, but less worrisome--but I was starting to be better yesterday, am better still today, and hope for a full recovery by the morrow. I've been drinking lots of tea and miso soup and Jason's been taking good care of me. He's been rushing around--he went down to a meeting of the UK members of the C++ committee on Monday morning, had an insurance physical in the afternoon, and spent Tuesday up in Cambridge. He was worried he was coming down with my cold on Monday night, but seems to have dodged the bullet and is feeling fine.
It was a wonderful trip, despite the devastating news from home. We saw so many marvelous places and pieces and ate so much excellent food and had very few mishaps. We may not make it back in the next year, but this was certainly not our last trip to Italy--there's so much more to see!
