Day 8 - Sunday, June 7th

Well, we are home again after a long, but easy, series of flights.

Our wake-up call was for 3:00am and they actually called us twice....I guess that they wanted to make SURE that we were up.

The taxi arrived at 4:00 for our trip to the airport. We were totally surprised by the number of people on the street at 4:00am. The down-town area of Porto was absolutely crowded with young people who were out partying. The clubs close at 6:00 here so there was still 2 hours left to go!!!

When we got to the airport, it was completely dark and we wondered if it was even open yet. However, as we walked in, we could see people standing in line, IN THE DARK. We joined them, waiting our turn to talk to the ONE clerk that was working. The lights came on about 4:30 and 3 more clerks arrived so we were able to get our bags and tickets organized. We then had to stand in line for the security check because they didn't start working until 5:00!!!

We both slept most of the 35 minute flight to Lisbon. The flight to Newark was only about 2/3rds full, AND we had emergency exit rows, so we had room to spread out and relax on the 7-1/2 hour trip.

We made it thru customs with no trouble, made it onto our last flight and arrived safely (with luggage) at the Atlanta airport.

Looking back on this week, several things have struck me. The first is the friendliness of the Portuguese people. The professors went out of their way to see that we had a wonderful time and hotel personnel, waiters and shop keepers did as well!!! The second thing is the picturesque nature of the city of Porto. As I looked back at the photos, I realized that the city looks like a movie set with all of the wonderful colors and architectures.

We are thankful for this glimpse that we have been given into life in a Mediterranean country and are now looking forward to our next big trip.... 5 weeks in Italy (month in Rome and 1 week in Naples) which is scheduled for September of 2010.

Thanks for sharing this adventure with us!!!!