We’re finally home after 90 days in Italy (at least according to Italy’s math). We had planned on staying 92 days, but were told at the airport in Pensacola before we left that the law now requires that we have our return booked no later than 90 days, or we’d need a VISA. While this would have been disastrous in 2011 and 2014 when we stayed over 100 days, this last minute change wouldn’t impact us much as Padova was our final destination before departing from Marco Polo airport in Venezia. It could have been much worse. Either way, after traveling for about 24 hours, we’d back in Florida. The air conditioner is on and I’m planning on going to the beach tomorrow.
Cinzia packed like a pro (thanks to Anthony taking a small bag with him for us), and we dragged our luggage to the tram station and then to the bus stop – all in a downpour. The bus got us to the airport in an hour and we were checked into our flight to Paris without any problems. The 80 minute flight had us in Paris with enough time to stretch our legs before boarding the 9 hour 50 minute flight to Atlanta. A quick run through Customs and we were airborne once again. I always like the flight from ATL to PNS because the one hour flight, combined with the time change, has you arriving at the same time you departed. OnTime Airport Shuttle was 5 minutes late, but a nice quiet ride got us in our doors at midnight and into our comfy beds.
As we do every trip, Cinzia lays out our booty on the kitchen table. After such a long trip I forget half of the stuff we brought home. Moving left to right Cinzia grabbed her coveted Pocket Coffee (I’m not sure why it’s not widely available in the States other than Ferrara only makes it in the cooler months). She also stocked up on Lavazza coffee for her Bialetti moka pot (several varieties in both caffeinated and decaffeinated). We also added a reusable bag from Coop. She got a beautiful blue leather bag from Firenze. I see a number of tablecloths in the back – she can’t resist a nice tablecloth – nor can she resist the scarves on the right nor the Bialetti moka pot and accessories behind them. We picked up some chestnut and pistachio creams, honeys, and some whole dried red peppers (a must). We also brought back 2¼ kilos of lentils from Umbria. We’ve got a great recipe for lentil soup, and there’s nothing like lentils from Umbria – well there are, but they’re 8x the price in the States. Her ALICE magazine, filled with crostata recipes, and a few kitchen gadgets our apartment was lacking in Padova are next. Some hard torrone and dark chocolate Baci begin the candy collection with a Lindt Cointreau chocolate bar for Cinzia and a box of rose chocolate Baci for me. There’s also a stack of Ritter Sport bars – the rum raisin and hazelnut type – and a package of fruit jelly candies from Bonelle. In the foreground are our 3 handmade copper wine coasters from Maurizio and a handmade lace doily from Rosanna – all from Torre Orsina. Giocchino even gave me one of his sharpening stones which I’ll be sure to make good use of back home in Florida. I’m sure that there’s more stuff somewhere. I remember her buying glass beads in Venezia. Plus she’s got gifts tucked away in another room.
All in all it was a good trip. I don’t think Padova was Cinzia’s cup of tea, so we’ll probably return to cities we’ve stayed at before, like Firenze and Roma, on future trips. Maybe we’ll even try a different month in Torre Orsina to avoid the heat and mosquitoes. We’re getting older, and traveling isn’t getting any easier, but we hope to return to Italy again in three years. After all, Virgilio will be waiting for us.