Its Monday morning and Im back at my own chunk of a computer at home now. Compared to the laptop, it feels huge, but Im home. Was so happy to walk in the door and see the kitty. He snuggled up to me and has been by my side ever since.
Could write a million stories about the rest of my time on this trip. It was beautiful and full of laughs and hard work and walking and schlepping and frustration and lack of self-confidence (that I really must revisit) and and
Im already feeling a bit of the let-down.
Most of the group is playing hookie for at least most of the day today. I should say, most of the group that made it back. One of us fell out just before the journey home.
On the last night in Barcelona, Crazy Tony took us to an amazing place (Los Caracoles) for paella. Mary must have eaten a bad mussel or something. She was so sick before we left for the airport that she knew she couldnt make it through the three long flights home. Strange that we all ate from the same giant skillet of paella, and only Mary got deathly ill. Guess it takes only one bad one, eh? I felt awful about leaving her at the hotel, but shes a very seasoned traveler. And I did offer to stay. I seriously could have handled one more day! And at least she got stuck at one of the nicest hotels wed ever stayed in. Wow. Woulda been just hell to be stuck at the icky one we had in Antwerp.
Crazy Tony seemed to know the entire staff at Los Caracoles. He is such a character. I think he offended three fourths of the other diners, but I couldnt stop laughing! All of the waiters would come over and talk to Tony in Italian and welcome him back, and wed all lift our glasses full of sangria and just laugh and cheer! Ole! The group at the next table very openly smoked a joint after dinner
That was the best night of the trip. I wanted more, but I guess everyone else was exhausted after dinner. Barcelona is definitely a place Id love to explore in much finer detail.
Luckliy, we didnt experience a lot of anti-American sentiment. Honestly, none directed at us at all. Profiles were very low, except for that last excursion. But in Spain, there were anti-war signs everywhere. In every single nook and cranny, on every single building it seemed. Posters on lamp posts and words spray painted on walls. And of course, we were only in France for a stop over (we flew from Barcelona to Paris to catch an AA flight to Chicago), but there were protesters outside of the AA entrance at Charles de Gaulle (thankfully didnt have to walk through that) and the entrance to the AA gates was guarded by no less than 20 armed guards, making human blockades and only letting certain people through. No kidding. Never seen that before.
Im sure this will intensify many times over very soon, but I was relieved to sort of be able to quietly move from place to place without incident.
The flights back were fine .until the very last leg (wouldntcha know!). Our plane was delayed in Chicago, and the flight was full and seemingly spilling over. We all loaded on, only to have to all get back off because of some electrical problem. After about ½ hour, we all loaded back on. I was feeling like a big lump of goo by that point. Then the turbulence. Oh the turbulence. The kind that makes everyone scream and freak out. I didnt even have it in me to even move. Just hang on. The pilot had to come on and tell us everything was fine. Turbulence exhausts me.
I was pretty much shaken back to reality.
Ive got to see if I can get into the dentist for a consultation. I dont want him to do anything today. Just not ready for that trauma right now. No. Not ready at all.
So I better go for now. Im going to check work messages and maybe hook up the laptop to check work e-mails and organize myself again.
Oh yeah. And shower.
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