Homeward Bound

I can hear the planes overhead that will take me to Rome and then home tomorrow morning. I booked a hotel near the airport since I have a 7 am flight and this room is a good place to remind me that I am not a real member of the leisure class, but merely a happy interloper. I arrived late morning and was told that the center of Florence was 3 km (about 2 miles), so I decided I needed a nice long walk. Window shopped and had a salad for lunch, with a glass of prosecco of course, but I am already transitioning back to my real life. I’m hoping I faced the last big challenge of my trip, figuring out the Florence bus system with no route map to get me back here.



I’m ready to come home, ready to see my friends, ready to get back to work, ready to traipse around my neighborhood with the utmost confidence in where I’m going. This has all been a marvelous dream, but I’m ready to see what happens next back where I live. I think I’m a little homesick. I’ve got good timing.

I’ve really enjoyed blogging. I think it has saved me from loneliness knowing that I’ve been sharing this with you and getting to tell you about it. I know I promised not to get too self-reflective, but do indulge me a couple more paragraphs while I have your attention.

Something remarkable throughout Europe is that most of the towns and cities have very few traffic lights, especially in proportion to the number of intersections, but they are still very pedestrian-friendly places. There are marked crosswalks and all you must do is step into one to stop traffic. You are allowed to cross peacefully, no honking, no yelling. This takes some getting used to -- scooter after scooter whizzing by and all those little miniature cars – something about the smaller the vehicle, the faster they seem to be going. However, you just have to take a deep breath, say a little prayer, and go, because the fact is, if you don’t step off the curb, you’ll be waiting there forever.

So I leave you with theses three morsels of advice. Eat good food, try new things, and step into traffic.

Dinner tonight – pizza in my room!