My big European travel day started early, with a 3:00 AM wakeup call, that I missed! Luckily, our guide called the room at 4:00 when the bus was due to leave, and I was already packed and ready to go. The lack of a shower didn't help matters much, but at least I made the bus, and my flight.
It was about a two hour drive from Killarney to Shannon, and while I've seen some small airports in my time Shannon certainly has to be the smallest international gateway I've ever seen!
The hop from Shannon to Charles De Gaul was quick and easy, and despite my lack of sleep and my poor French, I managed to get through the terminals without much fuss. It was a nice change from the hell that is transiting through Chicago O'Hare.
Another first for the day, I saw my name up on the list of people who need to "contact the customer service desk." I was a little worried, but all they wanted to do was make sure my paper ticket was in order, and that I knew which parts to give to the agent upon boarding.
The hop over the Alps from Paris to Rome was beautiful, and of course I didn't have my camera on me. We hit the tarmac in Rome, and then I had to wait a bit for Nick's plane to arrive. Once he showed up it was off across town for us, to our home base, a convent located a bit south of Vatican City.
The view of the the back side of St. Peter's Dome was pretty amazing, and I have a LOT of photographs of that view. We were primed and ready for the next day's sightseeing, but first I had to catch up on my sleep!
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