Italy: the escape

Romans were good at many things. We have seen that in the previous posts from our stay in that city. But the people responsible for paved roads, you would expect to be better at the transit thing. We could not get out of Rome. We tried. Really hard. Apparently buses don't really have to run according to posted times. It took us several to reach the main train station where we waited for the shuttle that would take us to the airport. We were flying out of the secondary airport because there had been a fire in the terminal of the airport we were going to fly from. you would think the masters of aqueducts would have better fire sprinkler systems.

On our way to the airport we drove past ruins of things the Romans had been good at. It was probably a sign that really they aren't great at making the world run like the once had been. Or maybe a sign that we too would soon be ruins left to weather and crumple in the interminable wait to get out of Rome.  

Like the buses, apparently flight schedules are mere suggestions to the laid back Italians. There was no one to check us in even at the time the flight was scheduled to leave. They never posted information on delays. There were just lines. Lines and lines and lines. 

Finally, some of the very annoyed Germans we were in line with bullied the airport staff into taking our tickets and letting us walk out and board the plane. Once we were clear of the building the efficient German flight crew took over. We were buckled in and took off. In flight we got special little snack bags with our names on them. (This was because we had bought the step above business class so we could get train tickets when we got to Germany, but don't tell Laura. She was thrilled that they called our names and gave us sandwiches and bottled water and cookies). We left beautiful Italy, home of gelato and much of modern western culture, for the next stage of the adventure, Germany.