Tuesday, September 29 Rome, Amsterdam, Portland, Medford, Home

The evening before we had made arrangements for a Taxi. We could even put it on our room charge if we wanted. Still cost $20, which I thought was outrageous. But considering it was 4:30 in the morning, I guess that helped. No traffic anywhere, stop signs are optional! Speed optional! Arrived at the terminal really fast. Maybe 10 minutes. We had printed our tickets out at the kiosks the night before so we were ready for security. Glad we were early, no one in security yet, they were all outside checking in luggage and getting boarding passes. We were still a little concerned about our luggage, this time because of the pizza cutters we were bring back. They had made Jerry at the Palermo airport,  open his small bag to show them the pizza cutters. The gal went around the corner to talk to someone, came back and said okay. So we knew this could be an issue. Nope, not this time. But Jerry was selected for a full body scan. He had to stand there about 5 minutes until the person showed up to do it. No problem, and we were in. The flight left at 6:20 am from Rome on KLM airlines, on time. Got into Amsterdam about 8:45.
Lots of time before 10:30 flight. Thought we would get some breakfast, but being careful people we immediately looked for our next gate with Delta airlines. Guess what, another line to get into departures. This one was for passports, to check us out of Europe. So very tired of lines! So we show our ticket and passport, the passport gets stamped and we are inside again. I thought it was odd that several Delta flights had the same gate number E4. That is because there was another set of lines! So sick of lines! I thought maybe to security check our luggage again. Nope, extra  verbal check by Delta."Has anyone given you anything to carry on, has your luggage been with you the whole time, do you have a package given to you to take back to the US". Actually, a good check because no one else had asked this. Not even in the airport in Portland when we left.
Done with that, and they give us a new gate number. Now it is close to boarding time, usually 1/2 hour before flight leaves. No food around. So we board our flight to Portland worried about food.
No problem. They feed us a snack, lunch, another snack, more drinks, more drinks. It was great, got really hydrated.
The arrival at the Portland airport was annoying. It arrived on time, but again we had a shuttle bus to the terminal. Because we could not print our boarding pass out with Alaska over 24 hours in advance,  and at that time we were on a plane, we were shuttled out of the secure area, across to baggage claim. Bummer. Went up to Alaska counter to see if there was an earlier flight to Medford than 4:15, and requested they print our boarding passes. No problem, no earlier flight. Back through security, which at around noon was not very busy. We were TSA prescreened, so that helped. Again we wondered about the pizza cutters, but no problem. Got lunch or maybe the hamburger was technically dinner. My god that Burgerville hamburger was great. Even walked way out of our way for it. Now I just need a juicy thick steak.
Flight to Medford went fine, daughter Kim picked us up at 5:30 and away we went over the hill home to Klamath Falls. Picked up our dog, who obviously missed us, I think. Wonderful trip, would not trade it for the world, next time I'll avoid the tourist sites (popular ones), maybe see the east coast of Italy. Or some quiet island.
Picture below is of Canadian Rockies as we passed over Canada.

Monday, Sept 28 Palermo to Rome

Got checked out of our apartment about 11, decided not to leave luggage with manager. Would be really bad if we could not get back to our luggage, and they were closed certain hours. Went down to the large square in front of a large theater, a few blocks from the hotel to sit and read. This was within 1 block of the bus stop to the airport. We had located that the day before and bought a ticket from a Tobacco shop. The tobacco shops or newsstands seem to always be able to sell tickets for most buses. It was not a standard little ticket but a large 8x11, a little unusual and had a time on it but it worked.
We sat on a wall reading until the sun came around and made the square concrete tile hot. So we looked for benches at small green park about a block away. Sun shinning, and it started to rain a little, then a lot. We found shelter under a awning at a restaurant/cafeteria spot , next to the green square. Did not stop raining, so with luggage in tow, we sat inside and ordered drinks. Then we ordered lunch. Still raining. Stopped about 1pm, just in time for us to walk to the bus stop. We caught the earlier bus, 1/2  earlier than our ticket. But the driver did not seem to care. Traffic was really bad, I am amazed at the drivers patience. I only saw drivers of taxis screaming at each other on Capri, and that was just once! Everywhere else they seem patient, honk their horn a toot or two and that is about it. One intersection was so bad, there were cars still in the middle of the intersection after the light changed. Rather than just sit there they would push into in front of the bus. Two changes of the light before we got across, and if it was me I would not have been pulling in front of a bus! Dumb. But no one got hit so all is good.
Airport was nice size, about the size of Medford or a little larger, two story,  so was easy to find your way around. We had printed our boarding passes out at the Internet Café next to our apartment the day before, so that was done. I insisted we double check our carry-ons were okay. They had different luggage requirements than we do here. Smaller by about one inch. The counter guy said no problem, and it was not.  They did what Alaska does, put it the larger luggage on the cart at the bottom of the steps of the plane, loaded in with the checked luggage. Nice flight with Ryinair, they were like 30 minutes late, for the 5:30 flight, but the flight was good. Got to Rome airport and lots of construction. They took us from the plane to the main terminal by bus.
Saw our luggage on a little train, following us but then it disappeared. Jerks put it into the checked baggage . So we stood and waited for it. Might as well have checked it. Now it is like after 8pm and we are trying to find the Hotel shuttle. We tried to just get a taxi, but we were low on Euros. Wanted to use the Euros up and not bring them home, especialy the change. So I had not gone to the ATM. The first thing that happened is we got in the wrong Taxi lane and$48 was the fee. Turned out it was going to downtown Rome. We wanted to go just to our hotel 5 km away. The next taxi wanted $25 to go that distance. So back to the information desk inside, they found in their book where the hotel shuttles were. We waited for like 45 minutes there. Got two people to call the hotel, the hotel keep saying it was coming. Finally arrived at our Best Western at around 9:30,cost $6 each on our hotel bill.  Walked down to the beach, a block away, and walked the waterfront until we found an open Restaurant. What a long day.
Below is the key to the apartment in Palermo, odd key, odd lock in second photo. Third is the outside door at street level. Last picture is of rays through clouds as we came into the Rome airport.