Starting out
Charlie & Chris Piper
Snow in Rome! Europe’s worst winter in decades!
What were we thinking?
Was this any way to celebrate a birthday?
Those were some of the thoughts running through our minds as we set our sights on Italy. We were scheduled to participate in the “Venice, Florence and Rome” Rick Steves’ tour to begin on March 2, 2012, perhaps the earliest tour anywhere among Rick Steve’s European destinations.
This was to be a father-son journey to mark Chris’ fortieth birthday. As two history majors – needless to say from two different generations – Italy was Chris’ preference and I heartily concurred. The choice of the earliest tour was the result of a combination of factors: Chris’ work schedule, his spring birthday and . . . an early season tour discount.
The plans were set long before Europe felt the sting of winter – the same winter which failed to materialize in the states. While we waited, both of us brushed up on italiano and poured over Rick Steves’ latest guidebook to Italy.
We rendezvoused in Detroit to make the long and uncomfortable leap across the Atlantic, narrowly slipping ahead of a raging winter storm in the Midwest that would have put a crimp in our plans to arrive a few days before the tour began. Fortunately for us – not so for Linda who had to deal with nearly two feet of heavy snow at home – the weather cooperated with us.
Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris gave us plenty of opportunity to stretch our long-bound legs as we sprinted through one concourse after another, misunderstanding the instructions to collect our bags before passing through Immigration, on our way to our connecting flight to Venice.
We were beginning to feel the long hours and lack of sleep as the Venice lagoon spread out below us during our final approach into Marco Polo Airport. The city looked like a dense floating mat of compact buildings, towers and domes stitched together with waterways great and small, all of it surrounded by water shallow enough that we could easily see the bottom. It was a welcomed and welcoming sight for very sore eyes!