Homeward Bound

Nothing like a Simon and Garfunkle song to get in the right mood for the journey home.
Our trip home was a two step process (with lots of little steps in between). 
Step one was a dizzying combination of buses, shuttles, a plane and a couple trains to get us from Siena back to Paris. We started with a bus ride from Siena to Florence.  The bus was on time and quite comfortable.  We got off the bus and walked across the street to the train station where we scoped out the shuttle to the airport, stashed our big bags at "left luggage", and took  3 hour walking tour of Florence.  We walked around the Duomo and the checked out a little museum in the Orsanmichele cathedral (they are ubiquitous in Italy!).  It's free and is only open on Mondays. We got a snack at a great lunch spot,  walked past Ponte Vecchio, rubbed the nose of the brass pig "Il Porcellino" in the Mercato Nuovo for luck and a guarantee to visit Florence again.  Feeling the need to stretch our legs before continuing our marathon travel day, we randomly explored the city until it was time to head back to the train station.  We picked up our luggage, caught the shuttle to the airport,  and hopped on our flight to Paris Orly airport.  At Orly, we took 2 trains that delivered us to Charles de Gaulle airport very easily where we caught the free shuttle to our hotel.  We nearly missed the shuttle but thanks to a helpful driver who pointed us in the right direction, everything worked out great. We checked into our room, ordered ceasar salads and watched a hilarious British show that used the daily news to have a lively and humorous discussion.  Total elapsed time from boarding the bus in Siena to checking into our room: about 14 hours.
One night at the Marriott near Charles de Gaulle airport and we were ready for step two.
The final leg was a more typical travel day consisting of a shuttle bus to CDG, a 7 hour flight to Boston, and then a 5 hour flight from Boston to Seattle.  Total elapsed time for step 2 of the homeward journey: about 17 hours. Seattle here we come!