It turned out to be a terrific trip. So many things can go so wrong so far from home for 3 weeks, but all went pretty much as planned. And of course this trip had been planned for almost 3 years. We are grateful and feel very fortunate that all went so well.
Cory's biggest concern while we were away was that he couldn't get our coffee maker programmed properly so that he'd have coffee when he woke up.
Our flights were booked as a result of the cancellation of our trip to Russia, to see Cory represent Canada at Special Olympics World Winter Games. So we were limited to certain flights with Air Canada and Lufthansa. It meant a long day of travel to get our trip started - Vancouver to Toronto to London Heathrow to Munich to Rome. We had 2 hours between flights at Toronto, Heathrow, and Munich, which we figured would be enough. And then the world decided to start travelling again.
Our flight out of Vancouver departed pretty much on time. It was a 9am scheduled departure, and we were at YVR by 6am. But then as we taxied for departure, the captain announced that there was a problem with the aircraft's radar system. There would be a 10-15 minute delay. Followed by another announcement 10 minutes later that we would be returning to the terminal. By the time we left, our flight was now 90 minutes late, leaving us with 30 minutes to transfer in Toronto.
And naturally, the departure gate for London was about as far away from the Vancouver arrival gate as possible. Felt like we were walking back to Pickering, where we lived in 1978-1979. But we made it. And then an announcement that we had 2 passengers who did not show up, but their baggage was on board. So there would be a delay while the ground crew looks for the baggage and removes it.
Shouldn't be a problem we thought, we have two hours in London to make our connection. We'd even have time for brekkie, arrival time 635am.
But what we hadn't planned for was the need to go through security at Heathrow. What possibly could we have added to our carry-on during the flight, having never left the secure area at Vancouver, Toronto, and Heathrow??? No time for brekkie now!
We are now on board Lufthansa's flight from Heathrow to Munich. And yet again, this flight is missing passengers with their luggage on board. Another delay. Off we go, arriving at Gate E1 at Munich. We disembark, walk back to the Munich terminal, go through security one more time - with all those liquids and laptops and belts and wallets and phones and coins and sweaters and and and - only to realize we are returning to Gate E1 to get back onto the same plane.
And this time, it's an uneventful flight and we arrive in Rome, around 3pm, as planned. It's a new world of travel, and while the delays caused some minor concerns about missing connections, we feel fortunate to be in Italy in 2022.
So onto the Leonardo Express to take us to our hotel near Roma Termini train station, where we would board an overnight train to Sicily the next night.
We are not big fans of big cities (well Vancouver and Venice are exceptions, maybe it's the "V") so we planned to spend just over 24 hours in Rome. Cory's mum had always wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, and Cory had generously given us tickets to early-morning admission (before the Vatican Museums open) with breakfast in the courtyard.
The view the next morning from our hotel room:
One of the entrances of the Vatican Museums...
And the courtyard restaurant where we would have breakfast later....
But we were disappointed by how much trash - mostly beverage containers - were scattered everywhere around Rome, even right in front of the Vatican entrance. What kind of person casually throws away their plastic or aluminum containers anywhere, let alone in one of the world's greatest cities????
Outside the Vatican entrance at 7am...
Our Vatican Museum guided tour took us through several galleries with paintings, frescoes, sculptures, and tapestries everywhere...
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