You know that sinking feeling...

Well, I just drove home and pulled into my driveway... and like most people in Italy with any sort of yard/driveway... you have a wrought iron fence around the yard and enclosing the driveway.   My landlord (yeah for him!) had installed an electric gate... and I'm still working out the logistics of 'how far away the thing works and how quickly it works' to make it safe to pull into the driveway with cars behind me.  

I do turn my signal on 'ahead of time'... to at least alert drivers that at SOME POINT I am going to be turning RIGHT and to please don't hit my car!   However, I just don't know how far ahead of time I can push that button to start the unlocking process... (35 seconds later it automatically shuts unless you click the button again to pause the process).

I pulled into the house and grabbed my keyring, for the house, with it's 7 different keys and I thought that I had my car KEY IN MY HAND... because I clicked on the 'automatic door lock' on the door handle... and as soon as I shut the door... I knew, I KNEW that my car keys were still in the car!   I checked all of my pockets (pants and my coat) and sure enough NO CAR KEYS...

Despite all logic... I still checked the car door to make sure it was REALLY LOCKED.  It was.   Of course, it is dark and I can't see into the car.

In inspired desperation, I grab the house keys and unlock the downstairs entrance. Rush upstairs and try to imagine WHERE ON EARTH IN THIS NEW HOUSE FULL OF BOXES AND UNPACKED HOUSEHOLD GOODS  (ok, only about 1/4 of my possessions are unpacked) would my extra car keys be located? I know where they were kept in Germany. But, where did I have it in the hotel room for 5 weeks? Where is it now in the new house? I go to the wardrobe/closet thing that is in the guest bedroom where all of the things that I drove down with in my car, boxes that had been mailed to myself, and all the stuff that I had with me in the hotel room were stashed, in my new house, before the movers came. I put everything in this wardrobe closet thing (the length of a bedroom wall).

I opened one of the doors and I grabbed my old purse (that I haven't been using for about 3 months) and I looked through one of the pockets of my old purse and "YEAH!" "YEAH!" (insert the Snoopy dance of joy here)

 I actually found the extra set of car keys in the first place that I looked!!!

I was already thinking HOW COULD I GET TO WORK IN THE MORNING and WHO ON EARTH COULD I CALL?  I DON"T REALLY KNOW ANYONE... and any phone numbers that I MIGHT HAVE are on my IPAD, in my backpack, in the LOCKED CAR!!!

I think that I need a break for a few minutes before I start unpacking boxes.  

I think that I might have accidently driven to the Czech Republic on my way home yesterday

But, I'm not completely sure... However, I clearly was experiencing a 'Toto, we're not in Kansas moment' so, it is indeed possible that I could have crossed a border or two?

Why you ask? Well, as I was driving home.. There was a detour and being an obedient driver and there was no other option- I followed the detour and eventually found a sign leading to the little 'village' (ok, it is a place with 5 houses) that is less than 2 miles from my house. The detour was some road construction and it looks like they are widening the roads by about 18 inches. That's going to be a pretty narrow shoulder on our 'shoulder-less' roads.

Look you can see how close I was.. that's my town/village to the right. Not a side road to be found either.




Well, my 'self' pat on the back for finding my way home through a detour.. faded quickly as I approached the road .. only 2 miles away from the right turn to my ... there was another 'road detour'.. and I had to turn LEFT away from my home.. I eventually drove around this mountain.. I never saw the name of any town that I recognized.

OF course, all of the towns were little mountain villages... that looked just like those photos that you see on the 1,000 puzzle piece boxes.. maybe even a few looked like some of Heidi's cousins could have herded cattle and sheep in the big grassy fields.

AS in.. on the back and opposite side of this mountain.. and then the detour kept leading me way, way past the mountain to the north. This could be when I entered the Czech Republic by accident.

SEE THIS mountain? I was so far past it to the north (your right as you look at the photo) that the mountain looked so far away...and the side facing you in the photo is where my house is located.
Let's just say this... it took almost an hour and half to get home and it usually takes me 15 minutes to get home.

So, if you don't hear from me for a few days... they might have extended the detour and I really did have to detour all the way to the Czech Republic.