"...That is my home of love: if I have ranged, Like him that travels I return again..."
-William Shakespeare, Sonnet 109
One last look at our apartment. The middle floor balcony is off our living room; the upper balcony is off the master bedroom. Yes, that's our last load of laundry flapping in the breeze.
Living room. We were lucky that our eat-in kitchen was a separate room - that is not always the case in Italy. Our apartment was quite large by Italian standards.
The foyer. Doctor's office to the left; our door to the right. This was a big hangout spot for the townsfolk
Outside FCO Airport, with both passports. I will use the US one when entering or leaving the US, but will use the Italian one at passport control when leaving (or entering) Italy.
Well, we made it back to the USA, safe and sound. We spent our last three nights in Fiumicino outside of Rome, since we had to drop off the rental car at the airport, as well as to obtain pre-flight Covid tests, which are still required for flights into the US. They have a testing center in Terminal 3 of the airport, and as the current rules state that you can get the test done the day before, we opted to do that, so we wouldn't be scrambling at the last minute to make our flight. We suspected that the wait for the test might be long. We were able to preregister for the test online (by "preregister," I just mean fill in the required forms, not schedule a specific time).
Waiting in line - about an hour to go from this point
It seems that a lot of people do not plan for this testing ahead of time! We were shocked by how many people waited until the last minute for their tests - there were several people who claimed they were going to miss their flight if they couldn't jump the queue. What's that expression about your poor planning not being my emergency? The gentleman in line ahead of us said he'd already missed his flight while he was waiting - although he seemed to take this pretty calmly; I assume he was able to rebook himself fairly easily. There was a guy behind us, however, who asked everyone around him multiple times to let him go ahead, as he claimed his flight was departing in 20 minutes. Super annoying. It's not that we were being unkind by not wanting to let him go ahead, but rather, we didn't want to start a riot behind us, as there were plenty of other people also waiting who had flights to catch, too.
We stayed at the Hilton right next to the airport again - there is an extremely convenient elevated walkway from the hotel property over to the airport - and took the train into Rome proper twice. The Monday before we left Italy was Liberation Day - Festa della Liberazione, a public holiday celebrating the Italian Resistance's overthrow of the Fascists and the Nazi powers in Italy in 1945 (in the North, anyway). We took one last touristy open-top bus tour of Rome, to see the highlights of the city (many of which we've already visited between our 2018 trip and this one). I took several videos from the bus (I discovered this is easier than trying to snap photos). Here and here are links to two of my favorites. This first was taken near the Colosseum and the Forum; the second was taken near the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II - also known as the "Wedding Cake." Afterward, we took ourselves out for a nice lunch nearby.
The following day, after our Covid tests described above, we went back into Rome, as I wanted to pick up an extra suitcase, as well as a few small, last minute gifts. As we were shopping, Paolo got his pocket picked in the store - right in front of the shopkeeper, who immediately recognized what was happening - it seemed he'd dealt with this particular pickpocket before - and we all chased him down into the next shop and got the phone back, thankfully. Later, we encountered this same asshole again on the street, and he actually has the balls to joke around about it and try to pass it all off as a bit of fun. I let him know it wasn't very funny to us - and he stomped off pretty quickly once I took my phone out and started taking his picture.
Jerky McJerkface, failed pickpocket
Our flight home the next morning was more or less uneventful, except that our flight departed a little earlier than scheduled, and thus landed in Philly earlier, too. I think that's the first time that's happened for us, so far as I can recall. I took a short video of our takeoff, to capture a bit of Italy and its western coastline from the air; click here to see it.
Pre-flight champagne. Not that we were feeling particularly celebratory to be leaving Italy.
The toasted BBQ sandwich served as the "light meal" toward the end of the flight was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten on an airplane.
I believe this is Elba, famous for being Napoleon's first place of exile
We were seated in business class (one of the truly "splurge" bits of this adventure, to be sure), and while I can't speak to the main cabin, I can confirm that in our section, we were two of only three passengers wearing masks. Some of the crew wore them, and some did not. I understand that the Covid precautions have become more relaxed here in the US. That will take some getting used to. Italy is also just now beginning to ease many of its Covid measures, but not as quickly as seems to be happening on this side of the Atlantic.
And here we are, unpacked and (mostly) settled in. It took me a couple of days to get over the jet lag; Paolo seems to have had an easier time adapting. It also took me several days to wade through the six months' worth of mail that had accumulated. For now, I am just working through what I consider to be an adjustment period - trying to assimilate myself back into our American lives (we already miss the fresh bread and excellent produce - the bell peppers are so puny here!). We are already thinking about how soon (and for how long) we will return to il bel paese...
I'll just take a moment here to pay tribute to Paolo, most excellent of travel companions (and husbands), without whose love and support my dual citizenship dream might never have become a reality. I am not certain whether I'd have had the courage to pack up and move to another country, to live a very different kind of life, where I don't even speak the language, without him. Thank you, my love ❤️