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I’m home. While my house is bit torn up due to some water issues (broken pipe while I was gone - d’oh!), some things will never change. One of those things is the “Traditional” breakfast at The National Exemplar. I eat this exact breakfast at least a few days per week. It’s nice to have place where I can just order the “usual.” You don’t get that on the road.
I’ll have some wrap-up posts coming but the trip itself is over. It feels good to be home, but I know I’ll be ready to travel again very soon. Such is the curse of a traveler!
I rolled into Chicago on a beautiful day. It was great to see my family after some time away. My little sister Kelly ran the marathon there (her first). She finished in good time - great job Kel!
Luckily our condo in Chicago was right next to the Apple Store so I could grab an iPhone 4. I felt like such a Luddite carrying my 3GS all around the world!
Only a few hours from home, I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for the first time in months.
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My second sea journey was quite a bit different from my first. To get across the Atlantic, I took the Queen Mary 2. Which, at the time she was built, was the largest cruise ship ever produced. While she has lost that title, she’s still the largest ocean liner in the world (though there aren’t many of those in this day and age).
I’ve never actually been on a cruise before so I have nothing to compare the journey to. I will say I thought it was very comfortable, the food was fantastic, and I was never really bored, even though the week was akin to being on a floating nursing home given the average age of the clientele.
I spent most days playing poker all afternoon, reading, working out, and trying to drink my through a $600 ship credit from my travel agent (though really, half of it went to massages at the spa). I also saw Bill Bryson do a talk and even ran into him on the staircase once where I got to compliment his fine beard.
Steaming into New York Harbor after an Atlantic crossing is a great “old school” travel experience. We arrived very early in the morning but I was up at 0430 to see the ship barely clear the Verrazano Bridge. It seemed a very fitting way to re-enter the U.S. given that I left the country months before by standing on the top deck of the Hanjin Dallas while going under the Golden Gate Bridge.
After going by the Statue of Liberty, we did a big turn and settled into our dock in Red Hook. I watched the sun rise over lower Manhattan, grabbed some breakfast on the ship, and then was off to Newark Airport to pick up my rental car so I could be in Chicago the next day to meet my family.
After a quick train ride with a night in Paris, I made it through to London, my last major stop before heading across the Atlantic. I only had a few nights but I did manage to hang out with both Ash from the Vodkatrain tour and Cathy who I studied in Luxembourg with in 1999. I hadn’t seen Cathy for quite a few years so it was extra nice to catch up.
On October 1st I headed to Southampton to catch the Queen Mary 2 sailing to New York City.
I’ve been in Florence for just under two weeks and will head for London tomorrow and on the way to New York on Friday. I didn’t go in a single museum or church my entire time here (I’ve been to most things here at least twice over the years). I was able to enjoy the city with no agenda taking frequent long walks in random directions. I didn’t even take my camera most of the time and simply found good places to sit and read and a different interesting restaurant for lunch and dinner. I got a lot of work done, read “The Road” and “Slaughterhouse-Five”, started “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”, and watched lots of movies and TV on the laptop (fantastic Internet speed in my hotel room for downloading).
You have to put up with masses of people in Florence but I think the benefits that brings outweigh the annoying parts, especially if you know how to get outside the traditional tourist areas. If you so desire, you can see David in the morning, walk 20 minutes and easily find a place to eat that tourists rarely visit for some of the best food in the world, and, in the evening (on Sunday anyway) watch NFL games with a beer and cheeseburger. I think it’s a great mix!
