It has been a busy week. Frank and I flew from Sicily back to Paris, where we stayed over in the Sheraton Charles de Gaulle airport hotel so we could take our COVID test to get back to the US. (This hotel is a nice oasis in the middle of CDG, located in Terminal 2 where most international flights are, if you ever need an airport hotel in Paris.)

You have to take a test within one day of returning to the US. Since we were flying the day before, we had to take our test the day of our flight home, which was a little nerve-wracking. We scheduled a test at the clinic in the airport – which is one floor below the Sheraton – very convenient. We got the earliest appointment time and lined up with the other Americans needing to test. They swabbed us and made us all sit in a room for 30 minutes while we waited for results. Then they came out and announced results in batches – you either got a piece of paper that listed negative or you were whisked off somewhere else (we don’t know where!).

Thankfully, we were negative, so our flight was a “go.” We ran back upstairs to the Sheraton, grabbed our bags, and headed to check in for our flight.

So we are back home after a wonderful trip.  We faced uncertainty with COVID and were very careful all along the way – wearing our masks, foregoing museums or crowded spaces (we will have to go back for these), showing our CDC card everywhere if we wanted to eat indoors, and learning to be adaptable.

We also felt much closer to the war in Ukraine. We encountered refugees – the airports all had signs everywhere showing them where to go – but we also saw refugees sitting at the next table at dinner. They looked just like us. The war is not just on TV in Europe; it is on their doorstep. We got to know a waitress at our favorite local resaurant in Venice who helped bring her nephew from Kiev while we were there – we got the day-by-day update. Her son is in Moldova and she is worried about him, too – they are on the border and can hear the shelling from Ukraine. We traded contact information in case we can help. And all over Italy they are flying the rainbow flag to signify “Pace” or “Peace.”

We definitely will miss these views:

But also happy to back to our “new” view – HOME.

Thanks for following along with us.  Until next time!