Supposed to be boarding a plane right now...

So: I'm scheduled to give a talk at 8:30 AM on Friday in Florence.  To that end, I was due to fly out of Flint (to Atlanta, thence to Paris, thence to Florence) at 12:10 today - i.e., in about 15 minutes.  We drove there at around 10 this morning (usual 2 hour cushion for international flights) and were met with an ambulance surrounded by about ten cop cars going fast the other way.  Then when we got there, they were blockading the entrance and exit with even more cop cars.  Apparently, a security guard got stabbed.   Nobody seems to know what's happening.  We dropped off Frederick with Emily and tried again, but the cops said it would be closed for hours.  Maybe I'm just not fated to see Italy.

[Update: never let them tell you they can't change your flight.  It's 9:51 and I'm about to board a flight to Amsterdam in Detroit.  How did I get to this point?  I'll tell you.
1. After it became clear I'd miss my noon flight, the Dept. secretary rebooked for around 4.  It soon became clear I'd miss that, so I asked if she could find something out of Detroit.  No, but she could find something out of Lansing.  First leg of the flight?  To Detroit.  Why can't I just go from Detroit then?  Oh no, the flight's unavailable if you board it in Detroit, but not if you board it in Lansing.  Fine.  Drive to Lansing (thanks Joanne!) nice little airport, no problem, arrive in Detroit.
2. My flight to Paris from Detroit was due to depart at 8:45.  Not too bad.  Except I see immediately it's been delayed until 11:59.  This means I will miss the flight from Paris to Florence.  So I go to a "help location" and have to get on a black landline phone to talk to someone.  The first person I talked to was useless.  She kept thinking she'd found a new flight for me, but it always turned out it was the original 8:45 flight.  After telling me I wouldn't get to Florence until midday Friday (after my talk) she eventually transferred me to someone helpful who got me a new flight from Paris to Florence.  Great, fine, I thought.  And I went and had an absurdly overpriced dinner.  When I came back to my gate I thought I might as well get a new boarding pass printed here to save me having to do it in Paris.  At which point they told me that the flight would get in too late for THAT connecting flight.  But never mind, there was a flight out of Paris at 8:50 PM(!!!) on Thursday.
3. "Can you get me to Florence FROM HERE by any means necessary, so I get there before then?"
And hence the Amsterdam flight.  I don't know exactly when I'll arrive in Florence, but I'm flying out of Amsterdam tomorrow at 2:55 local time.  The adventure continues!