Day 10 was basically a transit day back to Rome. I got up kind of late at about 7:20 or so because I figured the longer I was awake the more time I would have to kill. I intentionally had not packed the night before so I would have to kill even more time. I was correct that today was an Italian holiday and a lot of the traffic was missing and the gas station I wanted to use was closed. I found this out with a scouting walk after I finished packing. I also found a hardware store where I bought a replacement lock before checking out of the hotel. It was incredibly windy out and stayed so till I was firmly entrenched in the airport.
It was really still too early but I was not sure what time checkout was and I was ready to be done with Palermo by this point anyway. So I made the short detour to the gas station and filled up before the surprisingly short ride to the airport. Even taking my time it was a half an hour or so. Returning the rental car was easy and the wait for the shuttle to the terminal was not long. This meant I had time to kill before I could check in. This flight was with AlItalia and I hoped my bag would make it unscathed. I ended up finishing my book on the wait to check in.
After check in I got lunch which was a slice of pizza and a Danish beer made by Royal. It was 7.7% alcohol by volume and not bad really. After lunch I went through the very easy security and waited still qite a while at the gate for the flight. At least AlItalia has assigned seats. That being said like any other flight to Rome I have taken it was delayed by nearly two hours. I was not really amused as an already long stay at the airport took even longer.
Boarding and exiting the plane both occurred outside rather than through an actual gate with a bus ride to boot. The flight itself was short and mostly uneventful except for a couple bumps. The passenger next to me was a middle aged man who sort of looked like Dr Rusty Venture if he had hair and it was brown. He did not smell too good and he kept fidgeting with his beard the whole flight. It was extremely annoying. We however did arrive and the new lock still looked secured at baggage claim. I was actually third bag off, which was nice. There was light rain in Rome. I was able to catch the train back to Rome almost exactly. A half hour ride again which meant about 6:45pm. As with theasy train ride into Rome it was already dark and I was cheated out of seeing the surrounding countryside yet again by the late flight.
I managed to get a first floor room (read as second floor in America) at the Hotel Milo this time instead of sixth which was nice. Since it was already so late after check in I opted to just go to La Mensa di Bacco again for dinner because it is right next door. It was very crowded but I ended up talking to a mother and daughter who were visiting Rome for a couple days after a cruise that started from Barcelona. They were extremely nice and it was good to hear a bit of English again. I had a bruschetta aglia i olio and penne all'arribiata. The bruschetta was excellent and the pasta was nice too. It had more spice than the other one I tried but perhaps still a bit tame. I followed up with a coffee and gelato. The daughter is married to a former air force man now Delta pilot and we shared a few travel stories. She was born in Vermont and they lived in Worcester after he got out of the air force for three years so that was the small world bit involved. They live in Utah now and her mom in Arizona. I do really envy her the free flying she gets due to her husband's job. It turned out to be a very nice end to a somewhat annoying day.
Please forgive errors in this post typed on my iPhone.
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