What Is An Expat?

Taken in the Louvre.

I didn’t even know they still made these pants. Seen under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

I’ve updated the gallery with pictures from our recent trip to France and Italy. It’s broken down into subgalleries of Paris, Versailles, Rome, Sorrento, and Pompeii for easy viewing, though the Paris and Rome galleries are pretty good sized. These were actually uploaded several days ago, but I’ve been kind of busy preparing to leave again. Enjoy!

http://expat.savagenet.com/gallery2/2007+05+France+and+Italy/

…for 2 weeks or so that is, until we uproot again for a time depending on the next job. As you may recall, we did Paris, Rome, and Sorrento in Italy. I haven’t processed any of the pictures yet, but I expect to be done within 2 weeks or so. Ha!

The quick summary:

Paris – We really liked it here. Broad, shaded avenues with lots of stuff to see and a great transportation network, though we did miss out on a day trip to Reims due to a train union strike, though the metro always ran and our overnight train to Rome a day later wasn’t affected.

Rome – Really nice too, but they have a littering and trash collection problem. You see a larger variety of types and buildings from different eras, clustered together more and wrapped up in each other. Most everything is closer together so the less effective public transport net (still certainly good enough for our needs) wasn’t any problem.

Sorrento – Nice, small, and relaxed with amazing views from the cliffs over the sea. We had a couple of days with alternating sun and windy rain with dark clouds, so this wasn’t all it could have been. We visited Pompeii as a side trip from here but it was just so so. We missed out on the island of Capri just off the coast due to weather issues.

Now…to unpack, get everything sorted again, and re-pack for the US!

Well, we’re taking advantage of one last vacation before this job evaporates. They won’t pay for airfare since I won’t be back the requisite 60 days, but at least I get the vacation time and travel days. We’re going to fly out tomorrow morning at 1 AM and at 6 AM land in Paris. We’ll spend about 5 days there and on day trips near it, before taking the night train down to Rome. We’ll be there 3 days and then spend 4 days in the Naples / Sorrento area, and one last day in Rome again, followed by a flight back home to Dubai. After we get back, Dubai is only home for about 2 more weeks and then we’ll start another chapter in our life.