Made it back home!

Yes!!! I am back in the United States! After about 21 hours of travel that included three airplanes and four buses, I arrived back on my doorstep in Madison at about midnight tonight. I should be ready to crash any minute now - my body clock thinks I haven't slept in almost 25 hours now. For the time being, however, I'm just riding on the huge adrenaline rush that comes with coming home after a month abroad.

Took awhile for the English to sink in - I think my mental monologue the first time I read an advertisement at Heathrow went something like this: 'HSBC, your local worldwide bank.' Hmmm...I think what it means is, "HSBC, your local worldwide bank' ... Boy, something was different about this one ... there wasn't a translation at the bottom ... and I still understood it! I really am getting good at reading these signs ... oh wait ... duh, it's in English." I also stood in a convenience store for several minutes, trying to conjure up a simple pantomime or French sentence to ask if the shop accepted credit cards ... before realizing I could just walk up and say, "Excuse me, do you accept credit cards?"

Last day in Nice was perfectly pleasant. I finally had a day in Nice with sunny weather, so I walked over to Castle Hill on the far east side of town to see the views of the city, then down to Place Massena museum to see the royal mansion and its museum (including several paintings and photos of Nice through the last 200 years, my favorite part.) Also stuck my head inside Hotel Negresco, THE fancy iconic hotel on the beachfront. It has chandeliers, it has modern art, it has a dome over the lobby designed by some guy named Eiffel ... but I still don't get paying 350Euro a night for the sake of a nice lobby. After my touring I went for a run along the promenade by the sea, and learned 3 weeks of non-running has definitely put me out of shape. But it was worth it - my "ice bath" after running was to walk into the Mediterranean and let the water wash around my legs while I watched the sun set. (Yes, I know! I know it sounds like something cliche travel writers would write! But that's really how it happened!)

Today was all about travel, and now I'm here! Everything took off/landed more or less on time, no weather delays, no cancellations, no "I'm sorry, it looks like we had you booked on yesterday's flight ..." or other oopsie surprises like that. Just bus, plane, plane, plane, bus, bus, bus, and I was home. Simple as that. I had a surprise waiting for me at the Chicago airport too ... Andrew was there to give me a big hug and my first personal welcome back to the States. What a sweetie :-)

Pictures will go up on Facebook either tomorrow or Sunday. For now, I think Merlin and I are going to bed! (Actually Merlin's gone already - so I think I'll go join him!) Bye bye!