I'm not sure where the time went, but I eventually became too tired to blog after the kids went to sleep and kept thinking, "I'll catch up over the weekend," but the schedule didn't slow down during the weekend and I slipped behind, first one country, then two, then three. I'm glad we didn't stop in Luxembourg or Monaco though, because I could develop a serious nervous twitch if I slipped five countries behind.
On approaching Zurich Airport, my husband said, "Do you want to make another loop?" (aka Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, France, and Ireland) I laughed because I thought he was joking, but upon surrendering our car at the airport, he confirmed that he wasn't in fact kidding at all. Now, my boss, co-workers and clients have been extremely patient, but I don't think they would support another 10 weeks of leave and I wouldn't blame them. We once mocked a French couple when they said, "Three weeks of vacation isn't long enough," but I see now how any amount of vacation can seem too little even if the person realizes how spoiled he or she sounds by saying it.
We arrived at Newark Airport at 8:30pm and it only took about 10 minutes to remind us why we think New Yorkers are the funniest people in the world. We are always a little nervous going through customs even though we rarely smuggle anything besides HobNob Biscuits and Lyons tea. The customs agent seemed to pick up on our nervousness, or maybe our fatigue, and he immediately demanded that my daughter provide a passport for the stuffed owl she was holding. After she charmed him sufficiently (he had an Italian name after all), he moved to the boy, yelling "Sucker!" at him when he couldn't guess which passport the agent was holding. Call me crazy, but is anything more funny or endearing than an official who gives your kids crap unnecessarily?
The last train home bound left an hour before we cleared customs so we rented a car for the trip south. And we would have arrived before 2am had my husband not missed the New Jersey Turnpike exit, heading into New York City instead. In his defense, the exit was immediately to the right after exiting the toll plaza from the left lane. Strangely enough, crazy designs and confusing signs was my criticism of the Italian roads--one of which caused a missed exit immediately after a toll plaza. So, I put two and two together and determined that the reason New Yorkers are funny may be the same reason their roads are dirty and confusing--it's the Italian influence. In truth, it actually occurred to me while doing figure eights around Bologna that the civil engineers in Italy may be related to the civil engineers in New York, but the idea didn't really take hold until we were stuck in a traffic jam on a road we shouldn't have traveled with very little chance of exiting before Bayonne. On the positive side, we had a view of downtown Manhattan while calculating how many hours of sleep we'd get before working the next day....and it was this view that kept us from slamming our heads against the dashboard in frustration.
I must confess that I felt pretty sad walking away from our little Renault in Zurich Airport--almost like it was sentient enough to feel abandoned--and surprisingly (sarcasm) there was no Renault available for rent at Newark Airport. For five dollars more than our $150 rental fee, we were offered an upgrade to an SUV with nearly unlimited luggage space and massive cup holders. So, although we were driving around Europe feeling superior in a 53 mile/gallon car, we sold-out the environment for a five dollar fee and large cup holders. I'm not proud of this, I'm just saying it can happen when it's 3am in your brain, you're tired of packing your car strategically, and you want a car big enough that the kids can't actually reach each other when they start fighting and you're trying to sleep in the front seat. I must also admit that since this was my husbands first chance to drive in over two months (he doesn't drive a stick), I wanted a car big enough that an accident wouldn't reach us if he found one.
Luckily, we didn't get into an accident at all and we listened to radio stations from as far south as North Carolina (Chevy apparently has very powerful radio receptors) to stay awake. At one point, a song came on and my husband said, "We heard this same song on the way to Zurich Airport yesterday." I told him that this sounded like a pretty snobby comment and he agreed. He also said that we were likely to say some pretty snobby things in the near future and it occurred to me that throwing-out annoying comments like "I haven't seen a boat like that since Venice," may be the reason some people go to Europe to begin with.....but hopefully we're not those people.
We arrived home a few minutes before 2am East Coast time and although it was dark, we could still see the decorations our wonderful neighbors lovingly attached to our house.
I would lie if I said there weren't things I still miss about being in Europe, but it is also really nice to be home.
(Above): The last Zurich signs we saw before entering the airport.
(Below): Proof that we drove over 9,000 kilometers across Europe.
(Below): Proof that 9,263.8 Kilometers is exhausting for kids.
(Below): Our sad little Renault (silver car, center) where we left it at Zurich Airport.
(Below): Our house decorated for our arrival.
Author of: Letters to Salthill
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