Around the Baggage Carousel

We definitely thought we’d sleep on the overnight flight from L.A. to Paris.

But we were mistaken.

Instead, we arrived at Paris-Charles De Gaulle airport in an exceptionally groggy state with an hour to get through the passport line, collect and re-check our baggage, and catch our connecting flight.

But we were misinformed.

Our bags wouldn’t be coming down the luggage conveyor we were watching so intently. By the time we realized they were booked through and already on the plane for Madrid, we almost didn’t make the flight, arriving breathless at the gate as final boarding calls were announced.

The plane took off, and we could see the Seine below us through breaks in the clouds.

A couple hours later in Madrid, we found ourselves once again staring down a baggage carousel, so we could switch airlines for our last flight.

It was around 11pm when that flight landed in Rome, and we went – one more time – to wait for our bags.

And that is how you tour three European capitals’ baggage claim areas in one day.

September 18, 2017

A Hike in Le Marche

At about the halfway point in our Italy trip, we took a break from museums and city streets and headed to the country.

We went to Le Marche, a region east of Tuscany that stretches to the Adriatic Sea.

One morning, we hiked up a hillside to some ruins of a city that had been abandoned there hundreds of years ago.

Coming over one ridge, we spotted a pair of horses grazing. One had a bell around its neck (like a cowbell – apparently it keeps porcupines away).

They seemed as curious about us as we were about them, both parties making our way cautiously toward each other bit by bit.

We stared at each other awhile until, finally, Phillip and I turned to scramble up the next hill to see the crumbling stone houses there. The horses continued to mosey down their path.

September 4, 2017April 10, 2026

A Glimpse of Venice

Venice is very beautiful, crowded, and easy to get lost in.

And I hope we find our way back here again.

August 31, 2017August 25, 2017

Itineraries Meet Reality

We had to cut David.

I know! I know! I know.

Past Me (i.e. me several months ago, before we got into the trip planning nitty gritty) would be saying the same thing you are right now. “You’re not going to see David?!! You’re going all the way to Italy, all the way to Florence, you’re probably going to walk by the building that Michelangelo’s most famous statue is inside of – but not go in?!!”

I KNOW.

It’s not that I’m not interested in art. Or Renaissance art specifically. (I am.) It’s not that I don’t want to see it. (I do.)

The thing is this: You don’t just pop in to see The David. The sculpture is housed in La Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, along with small collections of other artwork and molds and models for sculptures. I’d actually be interested in seeing all that.

But David is a very popular guy. To the point that, getting inside l’Accademia usually means either (a) waiting in line for a couple hours to buy a ticket on-site or (b) buying a timed ticket online that allows you to skip the line that you cannot make changes to once purchased. You pick the time, buy the ticket, and then it’s set. No changes. No refunds. No mercy.

It’s the same deal at the Uffizi Gallery, which is a large musuem full of some of the most important art of the Renaissance (just not David). Either wait in line or be tied to a time.

We had considered doing both during our morning in Florence. And in a guidebook-itinerary perfect world, that’s totally possible. But, in reality, it became clear that attempting to do both in one morning was not a good plan for us.

So that meant choosing between l’Accademia (David) or Uffizi (tons of art). You might’ve made a different choice. Or might’ve been willing to rush around and cram both in. Or maybe you’re not that into art and would’ve skipped both.

The point is there’s the trip you would plan in a vacuum, based solely on your interests and preferences. And then there’s the real-world itinerary (both planned and unplanned) that is limited by time and money and energy and weather and who you are traveling with and when things are open and whether your feet hurt and what else is happening in the town/the world/your life that day.

In the real world, you make trade-offs, try to be flexible, and do your best to enjoy the story as it unfolds.

Photo credits:

1+5 Petar Milošević • CC BY-SA 4.0

2 Me

3 La Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze

4 © Samuli Lintula / Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

August 28, 2017August 28, 2017

Virtually Visit Italy

If you can’t take a plane to Italy, there are still ways to see the sights from where you are.

Museums and monuments sometimes have “virtual tours” that allow you to see 3D views of a place and (usually) click to navigate through it – like Google Street View but inside.

A group of Russian photographers has taken incredible 360-degree photographs around the world. You can probably get lost in their site, AirPano, for days. I’ve linked to some of the AirPano pages for Italian cities (below).

Skyline Webcams allows you to search for live camera feeds of public places by country or category (city views, landscapes, etc.) I’ve included a few live cams from Italy in the lists below, but there are lots more on their site.