CUSTOMS :) - We're Home

From Rome, we landed in Paris where our flight to Minneapolis was already boarding so we had no time to spare! Our seats were in the very back of the plane, right in front of the bathrooms. ** Note to self – n.e.v.e.r.   s.i.t.    b.y.    b.a.t.h.r.o.o.m.s.   on a 9 hour flight if you want to get a wink of sleep **

When we arrived in Minneapolis we had to retrieve our luggage and recheck it through customs which would leave very little time to catch our connecting flight to Denver. We were told there were 850 people (literally) that had landed at the same time and had to go through customs. To say that Katie was freaking out 

that we would miss our connecting flight is an understatement. It's funny now. It was not funny then. (ok, it was a little funny then)

There were numerous customs agents working but with that many people you can only imagine how long the lines were and how long it took that many people to go through the customs process. By the time we finally made it through customs we had very little time and still had to get through security. THEN… when we had to recheck our bags again to be loaded on the plane! People were scrambling at this point. 

We headed toward the gate at which point we heard on the intercom, “Braithwait, Peterson, Silva, Porter – Final call for flight to Denver.” Oh geez! Never had that happen before. *ha* 

We had no idea how far away we were from the gate but we started running in that direction. And yes, we made our flight to Denver! With minutes to spare. 

Once in Denver we waited for our ‘wine inventory luggage’ to arrive. My sister, Shelley’s bag was the first to come out on the carousel. Then we waited…and waited…and waited…  You guessed it!! Her bag was the only one that had made it through customs in time to catch the flight. I have no idea how one bag made it and the others didn’t. 

So… Jess and Katie headed to baggage claim… By this time, Katie is about to pop a vein in her neck. (That poor lady that was working in luggage claim is a saint. Can you imagine dealing with tired, unhappy, crabby people every single day?) Needless to say, we did not wait for the bags to arrive on a later flight. The airline delivered Katie’s bag to her house the next day and delivered the other two bags to North Platte the following day.

Inside each bag was a little tag that said customs had opened it to inspect the contents. I bet they had a heck of a time getting them zipped shut again. *giggle*

    

MEMORIES!!! 

HEADING HOME #2

Because we had packed the night before, we didn't feel rushed when the alarm sounded at 4:00 am. We stood outside our Rome apartment on a dark, completely quiet street waiting for the taxi guy to arrive. At just before 4:30 am our driver arrived in a dark van, dressed in a dark suit and tie. Jess's comment was, "Oh! This doesn't look like a scene from "Taken" at all."  ha!!

Before we left though, we snapped this picture of the Colosseum. Our apartment was just across the street from it and it really was gorgeous this time of morning.

We arrived at a very quiet airport and began our check in process. As we were waiting in line the girls were losing their patience a little with the people in front of us because it was taking them so long to check in. Once it was finally our turn, we check in the bags that contain our wine supply and then realize that Italy has a very strict policy about the weight of  carry-on bags. Of course, Jess's bag is the one that is too heavy so she is arranging and rearranging the contents of her bag and her backpack to get the weight to meet the magic number. She is not a happy camper at this point. She weighs it again and the lady behind the counter tells her it's heavier now. "How is that possible?" Jess asks. The lady behind the counter doesn't even respond. More arranging and rearranging takes place on the floor. Shelley Ann and I are thinking this is hilarious but we don't dare laugh because Jess is about to explode. ha! Finally, the weight limit is met.... and then comes the back packs. 
Each of our back packs have to be placed in a 'compartment' to see if they are the correct size to be allowed. We had to smoosh and smash a little, but eventually they met the requirements. WHEW! We made it through the check in process.. ha! (Now we know why the people in front of us had taken so long.) 

  On to security...  Of course my bag is the one that needs to be searched. 
"It looks like you have some jelly or jam in your bag." 
Yes, I do. 
"Well it's too large. You'll have to go back through check in."   
WHAT!?  No, I'm not going back through check in. "You can take it home with you if you'd like," I say with a smile.  
The security lady is not amused. So we throw away the new, unopened jam I had bought as a souvenir. So much for toast with Italian jam in the mornings. :)

Finally, we're officially on our way to catch our plane out of Rome .

HEADING HOME

Our ten days in Italy went by much too quickly and the reality of it coming to an end was a bit sad. We were scheduled to leave Rome at 6:55 a.m. which meant we had to be at the airport ridiculously early which meant we needed to wake up ridiculously early. We decided we’d just stay up all night, get to the airport and sleep on the plane. What could possibly go wrong with this plan?  *ha*

As we began to pack, our suitcases seemed to have shrunk and the contents seemed to have multiplied. We had more fun packing and laughing than one should ever hope for. My sister, Shelley, asked in all seriousness, "Do you think this will close?" It was so funny. 

 

But Shell was determined to get it closed and the battle was on!

Shelley Ann - 1       Suitcase - 0    

Our final night in Rome was spent sitting around the apartment talking about the day, drinking wine and playing a drinking game Jess had taught us. Keep in mind that I drink very little so one glass of wine and I’m a bit loopy. The night continued with lots and lots and lots of laughs and lots and lots of wine. As we prepared to pack for home we slightly miscalculated how much wine we were bringing back to the U.S. so we had to drink 6 bottles that night.(true) Maybe it was the 20 bottles of wine we had delivered to our apartment that threw off the calculations! Needless to say we changed our minds about staying up all night and decided to get a couple hours sleep before the taxi guy showed up.

 

to be continued.........

St. Peter’s Basilica

This church is HUGE. It is one of those places that's difficult to find the words that will adequately describe it. The door of the church alone was massive.

It is a church first and tourist attraction second but the mere size of it made me think of it more like a museum of sorts. Even though there were a lot of people it didn’t feel crowded though - plenty of room to wander around and take in all the sights.

There are several small side chapels throughout the church where services were taking place but the main alter was incredible; such ornate architecture.

Amazing architecture, extensive history, glorious art displayed inside  - something for everyone. Allow yourself plenty of time to really appreciate it.

If you‘ve read the book Angels and Demons or The DaVinci Code, St. Peter’s  will have  a very familiar feel for you. With the sunlight coming in and hitting the wall, I envisioned this being the exact place the authors sat as they wrote the manuscripts.

VATICAN MUSEUMS

We had purchased tickets for the Vatican on-line so we didn't have to wait in line. Of all the pre-planning we did, this was one of the best pre-purchases of the trip! There was a very long line of people and we were allowed to walk right up front, saving us a ton of time. I even got a "kudos on the tickets mom" from our oldest daughter. :) 

We didn't have nearly enough time to really experience the Vatican. The displays and the rooms were incredibly beautiful but at times there were so many people that we weren't allowed the time or the space to truly take in the beauty of it all. We felt a bit pressed for time but still enjoyed it very much. Again, hindsight is 20/20 but if I had to do it over, we would definitely allow more time for this visit. 

  
Obviously this is one of the most visited places in Rome so there were enormous amounts of people in certain areas which caused frequent bottlenecks of tourists. That, along with the fact we had to keep an eye on each other in fear of getting lost in the crowds, made it difficult to really appreciate all that was around us at times. It's the kind of place that you'd like to savour a bit more, but really not possible with the huge number of tourists passing through. At one point a security guard kept hollering, "Keep moving! Don't stop!". Took away from the experience a little bit. *ha*

 The  immensity of the Vatican and the collections of art left me a bit in awe. So many of the world's cultural and religious artifacts and collections right in front of my eyes. It was a bit surreal to acknowledge what I was seeing; Roman history, Egyptian tablets, paintings, sculptures, maps and artist's creations beyond imagination.

The ceilings were seriously spectacular.

SPANISH STEPS

In hindsight, I wish we'd had a guide book with us on our Italy trip. There were such impressive buildings and architecture at every turn and it was beautiful to look at but we didn't always know exactly what we were looking at; not to mention the history behind it.

Katie requested visiting The Spanish Steps in Rome and I have to be honest, I had never heard of it until she mentioned it. As I'm going back through pictures, I'm now taking the time to look more at the history of where we've been. :)

This is our view from the top of the steps.

This area had a lot of tourists and also a lot of street merchants trying to sell you anything and everything. They were actually quite annoying and borderline rude. They would get in your face and wouldn't take no for an answer. 

 

We were about 8 days in to our trip and had walked some serious miles by this time and I had lost my patience with the street vendors. When Jess was trying to take this picture of Shell, Katie and myself, I was 'shooing' them out of the way. 

 

HARLEY DAVIDSON - Rome

My sister, Shell, is a Harley gal. While we were in Rome her only request was to find a Harley shop to get her husband and son Harley t-shirts from Rome, so we asked several Italians if they knew of a shop nearby. First off, because of the language barrier no one understood what we were asking. We used gestures and tried to get someone to understand 'motorcycle' but no one we spoke to had knowledge of Harley Davidson. (I'm sure we looked and sounded ridiculous to the Italians.)
Once we returned to our apartment, Katie began a search on-line to find a Harley shop. She found one! With address in hand, that was the next day's priority.

Once again, Katie and Jess were in charge of directions thankfully and Shell and I just followed along behind. *ha*
We walked uphill and then walked uphill a bit more and then turned a few corners and walked up hill a little more. I literally do not know how the girls knew where to go but 12 miles later we found a Harley Davidson shop!! Whooo Hooo!

 We had finally found it and were looking forward to seeing what all the showroom had to offer. When Shell asked about t-shirts the guy behind the counter pointed to a stack of t-shirts on the floor! Yep, no kidding. All the t-shirts were just laying in piles on the floor. Not exactly what we had expected. So... we got down on our hands and knees and started going through the piles to find the sizes we needed. *When in Rome.....*
Shell did find what she wanted and the guys now have Harley shirts from Rome Italy. And they darn well better like them. We walked 12 miles to find those. 

Rome continued

My sister, Shelley, and I in the Roman Colosseum.

So fascinating how these walls and arches are made! How in the world did they build these arches to withstand the test of time?!