Italy, Stage 1.... leaving on a Jet Plane

Ok.. so the first thing you need to realize is that I have always, since I was - what? - five, had my own passport. So it was Thursday or Friday and I thought I would ask Mike (mind you, we were leaving on Saturday) if he had a Passport. Mike said he did. And it was in the safe, right next to mine.
So then he asked me if my passport was current... And damn if I didn't have the slightest doubt. I didn't know. I was momentarily terrified. I imagined that it had, in fact, expired. Crap!
But Mike was able to find our passports.
"Yours expires after mine," he said.
So, crisis averted Mike and I went out to dinner with Madhu. It was the last night in America for 10 days and we needed Mexican.
On Saturday morning, we decided that we might pack. But our friends Lisa and Clifford were in town for a wedding, so first we had a huge breakfast. Then, I went skating with the dogs. Then... and only then, did we pack.
Annie was coming at 2 p.m. to take us to the airport.
Around 1 p.m. we left for Vietnamese food. There was nothing left to do anyway and we were sure we weren't getting Vietnamese any time soon.
At the airport, US Military personnel in camoflage were sitting everywhere, getting ready to fly to Germany. We checked in in less than 10 minutes, made it through security and immediately found a nice bar where we drank Scotch and watched Mt. St. Helens begin to erupt.
From Dallas, we flew straight to Gatwick. It's a 10-hour flight. I slept off the Scotch for the first hour. Ate dinner (at around 6 p.m.) and then watched movies until we were almost ready to land.
Everyone should also note that I NEVER watch movies... they are not my thing. But I saw Manchurian Candidate, Day After Tomorrow and Mean Girls (written by Tina Fey). All of them were very, very good. But then, I was trapped in an airline seat at 40,000 feet.
It was after midnight but 7 a.m. in the morning when we landed at Gatwick. I found a nice piece of floor and fell asleep. We boarded our flight for Pisa and I managed to sleep another two hours. I think Mike did, too.
In Pisa, we walked through a line of four people. Had our passports stamped. Gathered our baggage and went to the train platform. It was 5Euro each to travel to Florence and the trip took 1.5 hours.
Mike and I tried to stay awake, but by this itme is was terribly hard.
We rumbled into Florence and there we saw our first McDonald's. I got some cash and then we were off to find a Taxi.
The driver took us straight to the apartment where Joe and Clare were waiting with wine and bread and salami. YUM!
After we ate and drank, we went for a walk. In three seconds I was completely lost. We visited an International Market, in one of the squares they had lots of booths set up with foods and stuff from Germany, France, and elsewhere in the EU.
Mike bought Salami.
Pretty soon, we were walking again. And there, right around the corner, was Neptune. And next to Neptune - David. On that same square, the Piazza de Signore, is Perseus (with Medusa's head inhis hand) of Bronze. And The Rape of the Sabines.
Neptune was the funniest sight as I recognized it from somewhere else I'd visited. There is a copy, you see, in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
But I digress. David as you see him on this Piazza is also a copy.
We made it back home where Beth (Joe and Clare's youngest) and her husband, Eddie, and their kids (Ian, 5, and Aspen, 9 months) were home from their day's activities.
Eddie made Tortolini and salad and green beans.. we drank some more wine and were exhausted.
We were fast asleep by 8:30 p.m. local time. We slept for 12 hours. It was a much needed night of sleep, for sure.