It was a 3:30 am departure from our Rome hotel through nearly empty streets (a rare sight to behold) that took me, Cas, Jeff, Reema and one of our fellow travelers, a woman named Donna from Oregon, to the airport. It was a pretty easy departure, and the first leg of our journey took us to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. That's where it got interesting. We walked into the airport, followed a few signs for our gates and were stopped by a wall of people, all waiting to ascend a broken escalator to an even bigger, more tightly packed crowd to go through passport control. One of the people in line with us explained that there were strikes among the workers in this area, and that's why it took so long. It felt like several hours, but I suppose it was only one. The problem is, our connection was rapidly approaching as we stood in the sea of humans. Cas and I lucked out (kind of) when we found ourselves behind a woman speaking a language we did not recognize who had not bathed recently.
Not a pleasant olfactory experience, but she sure did part the crowd and push through pretty well. We were sailing in her wake. Jeff and Reema were behind no such person, so they made it through a little slower than we did. And we had only to go through a spot where our passports were scanned by a machine, our faces were photographed and a bored looking Frenchman operated a rubber stamp. Following that, another bored-looking Frenchman asked what we were taking home from our trip. I said dirty laundry. He asked if we bought anything. I said refrigerator magnets and such. He summoned up the energy to move one hand and wave us on.
With the clock ticking and our hopes for a croissant and a cup of coffee while briefly in Paris dashed, we hustled to what was avery far away gate. Jeff and Reema were about 10-15 minutes behind, and when we all assembled, they were seated in a different part of the airplane. Nevertheless, we got back to the airport, where we were greeted by our rides home. Cas' mother was chatting with two of Jeff's kids in the outer part of the terminal while we retrieved our checked bags, and we all hugged, then headed to our respective homes. Success! All that remained was to stay awake long enough to order Fajitas for delivery, eat them and brush our teeth. I slept for nine hours, and I can't anymore. Cas is still sleeping- he's catching up, I think. I have some clothes in the dryer and a few weeks worth of mail to collect from my father today.
At this point, our photo album should be complete: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PR6jn1ZzhDS6cx8q8
And we're done with our big summer blow-out. Arrivederci!
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