May 21

Ah, headed home to see our children that were so dearly missed. WHAT, our flight is full, and so are all the others that day! We learned some lessons about flying standby. Tammy cried in the airport, when we found out it would be at least another day before we could return to our beloved children. A wonderful Delta Customer service Rep. named Laura Ventura came to our rescue. She knew someone who had a B&B out at Ostia on the Mediterranean Sea. She made some phone calls and we had a room for the night, just a couple of blocks from the beach. The owner would even come to pick us up at the airport, and drop us off again the next day. The good news was that it was less expensive then any hotel we would want to stay in back in Rome, and it included round trip transportation.

La Terrazza sul Mare Bed & Breakfast was a delightful. Even though the owner did not speak English, Tammy and she were able to communicate mainly in Spanish, with some Italian and English mixed in. We walked to a deli, got a snack and a beer, that we ate at the counter. After that we wandered over to the beech. Tammy took a nap on the beech and Mike went for a relaxing barefoot walk. The water and sun felt good, and helped get us into a better frame of mind. We walked down the beach to a snack hut, and asked where a good restaurant was. They did not speak English, and we did not speak Italian. They called someone over from sunbathing on the beach; he was the only one they knew who spoke English. He just recommended going down the beach a ways as there were many restaurants down there.

We went back to our B&B and changed for dinner, then strolled down the beach to look for just the right place. Everyplace had closed up for their siesta, so we just strolled along some more. After a while we turned around and went to a place that looked good as we passed it before. They weren't quite ready to open up, but they let us in anyway, so we could wait on their patio. They came and started serving us right away. We had sparkling wine, and a delicious seafood dinner. What started off as a disappointing day at the airport, had turned into a pleasant and relaxing day on beautiful beach on the Mediterranean Sea,

We returned to our B&B and talked with our wonderful hostess. We made arrangements for returning to the airport. The next day we had a delicious pastry breakfast on the patio overlooking the beach, and had a wonderful time chatting with our hostess.

May 22

Depart for home. Arrived late at night a Tammy's parents' home, gazed at our sleeping angels and went to bed ready to greet our children in the morning. What better homecoming could it be. We missed them.