Venice and home

Our stay in Venice was wonderful.. wandering through the narrow streets, window shopping and browsing in all kinds of stores. We picked up some wonderful momentos and souvenirs. Murano statuary, jewelry, and a couple of paintings from local artists!

Our last day in Italy started VERY early on the dark streets of Venice. We had a 5:00 water taxi coming to transport us to the airport for a 7:45 flight. The hotel desk man unlocked the door and let us out, but quickly closed the door and relocked it. Leaving us to just stand out on the doorstep! (Let's just say....the streets that early in the morning can be a pretty freaky place. We saw early morning people already out and those who were just ending their evening of partying stumbling their way home!!)

The water taxi was a neat ride. It was a long wooden small cabin cruiser with what looked like white canvas seating (conversation pit style) that included toss pillows in the corners. Ride was fairly smooth since not too many boats were out yet. We would hate to have to manuever those boats through all the narrow canals...stone walls are not too forgiving to wooden hulls!!

Once we got to the airport, breakfast again included a croissant and frothy coffee...ugh! We were so ready for the Folgers and eggs w/bacon! The airport was furnished in a very modern motiff. No little last minute souvenir stores here, our gate was by the Brooks Brothers, and there were lots of other high end stores for your shopping needs!

The first leg of our trip home was to Madrid on Iberia. The flight was rather crowded , but we were still able to catch a couple of naps. We were not impressed with the flight attendants and the service. But we could see the finish line at the end of the day coming.

Once in Madrid, we had a very short layover until our next leg took us to Chicago. This part was grueling! It was about 9 1/2 hours long. People on the plane all at some point were up walking around and visiting with each other throughout the cabin. It was amazing! At one point, we counted 30 people standing in the aisles talking in just our cabin alone. We had to laugh when the pilot came on the speaker and advised that we were going to be experiencing turbulence so everyone needed to take their seats! No turbulence was ever encountered. We figured the attendants needed his help to get people to sit down and be quiet.

FINALLY!! Chicago!! American food! ICE!!, and other ammenities we have missed. Once through customs, we asked if there was any earlier flight to Little Rock. Only one, but it was already 7 deep in standby...but hey! Maybe we'll be lucky! As we are standing there, we see some fellow co-workers returning to LR from a conference. Half of them are on the next flight home. Since we didn't make it on standby, we popped over to TGI Fridays for a bite. Hamburger, fries, chips and salsa with a large ICED tea!! It was heaven!


Now with full bellies, we waited for 5 hours until our flight. We're so tired. Short naps in very uncomfortable chairs. But the time finally arrived to board! Both of us slept all the way to LR.