Italy

Italy ’98

SFO -> EWR

EWR -> MXP

MXP -> VCE

VCE -> Cortina

Cortina d'Ampezzo

Hotel Royal

breakfast

stadia

around town

Carnival

Mangia!

Tavernetta

Faloria

Refugio d' Faloria

Freccia Nel Cielo

Lagazuoi

Monte Cristallo

Socrepes

Socrepes skiing

Venezia

I didn't see much of MXP, but I was able to make a panorama of it. The thumbnail doesn't do it justice.

The blood stops pounding through my veins as I relax from that last sprint. This is turning out to be the most aerobic trip I've had in quite a while. I realize I never actually got to visit the café at MXP. (Drinking airport caffè lattes is somewhat of a tradition with me. Remember the café I visited in Madrid-Barajas airport?) So many airports, so much espresso, so little time. Heh, heh.

This leg is just a short hop. Only enough time for us to be 'beveraged' (a verb used by People's Express airline in the early eighties) and given a hard candy. I'm sipping my San Pelligrino Arancha (orange) as we dip down to VCE, known to the locals as Marco Polo AeroPuerto.

To the captive audience we relate our adventures with customs and the police. We discuss what we'll have to do to replace the documents, or if we even have to. Will Alitalia let Fel board a plane to EWR without a passport? Will U. S. Customs let Fel into EWR - can't they look up her passport picture or something - or will they deport her back to Italy? Who need we call? How much money was stolen? Stolen or misplaced? Will someone find it and call us in a day? Should Fel check her answering machine in San Francisco in case someone calls the number that is listed for the address on her documents? Or call the consulate? Or is it an embassy? In Venice, Milan, or New York?

With these and other questions in mind we begin the descent to VCE. The air portion of our trip is nearly over, and with it a bit of modern adventure. What'll happen once we're on the ground?

I never expected to be able to write this much about a simple plane ride, but it's turned into quite a start. I'm exhausted as we retrieve our bags from the carousel and work our way through arrival control and customs; this time passports are requested. Fel's piece of paper gets her through without any delay. So far, so good.

Immediately outside customs we're met by our tour coördinator and herded to an awaiting bus.