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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Mountain Roads...Local Backcountry

Firewood Art!
Mountain Road near Maniago!
Northern Italy is dotted with little villages.
This is true for the flat land as well as the mountains. You can look at a forested mountain right in front of you and say there is nothing up there. Well, that is not the case! First you start to follow a narrow road up a slight incline. Then, there is a sharp 180 degree turn followed by a steep rise in elevation. These switch backs repeat over and over until you are a thousand plus feet above
the valley floor. Soon one spots a little farm house, with no one around, but you know it is inhabited by the cordwood neatly stacked and hand tools around the sheds. It is hard to describe homesteads to a tee. The inhabitants must live a barren life up in the hills and mountains. The one reason we don’t see people too often is because, we tend to tour in early afternoon. Remember, everything slows down to a crawl from 12 noon to 3pm. When, we do see people they are usually picking mushrooms, splitting fire wood or tending to their gardens.
Our little four person expedition group really enjoys doing these mountain road rides. Sometimes, the road gets down to a one lane road. Sometimes the unexpected happens. We spotted bicyclers pumping up the never ending road. The guys are nearly always dressed in their colorful biking clothes…This reassuring us that we’re not on an abandoned road and lost in the wilderness. At some point, we’ve even gotten to where the road nearly got covered over with fallen leaves.
Log Sled Stored for Winter Use!
The wildlife in the mountains is sparse. At least, we haven’t seen any wild animals. There are bears we’re told, but a small size resembling a grizzly, but actually being the size of a Saint Bernard dog. A foot note on bears…Our town in named Berlin, which I am told is derived from the word bear or at least for Berlin, Germany. There are deer signs on the highway, but we haven’t run across any yet. We’ve seen grouse and hawks and that is about it for wildlife. The domestic animals that we’ve seen locally, donkeys, horses, milk cows Lammas, chickens and high up in the uplands, sheep.
Ornamental Cemetery!
Plant life in the foothills… Many varieties of fruit trees are present. To name a few; olive, apple, fig, pears, chestnuts, grapes and most of all mushrooms. If we did spot a single vehicle stopped along the country side road, it was someone walking in the forest, close by, harvesting mushrooms by the five gallon pal size.
Foot Hills in the Aviano Region!
In our countryside road trips, we also notice cemeteries. They were all marked by these distinct, very tall conifers. They were all well cared for and up to date with flowers, candles and pictures. This part of Italy has many quarries and their were no shortages of beautiful stone markers.

That is what we saw and did!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Venice...The Corn Maze of Italy!

Kids going to school on the train!
Yesterday (Friday was our big day to travel by train to Venice. It is about a one hour train ride from Sacile to Venice. Getting to the train, well that’s another story! Let me explain. A couple of days ago, we did a dry run to the train station. We ran into a construction detour and finally made the dry run to the station. On the way back, we ran into another detour on the detour route, apparently there was an accident or fire as two firemen were blocking the turn off. On the day of our departure, we again ran into still another detour, but were successful in making it to the station on time. We got our tickets at the news stand and then had a slight problem getting them validated in the machine. You have insert to the left and, after screwing up, insert with the pale arrow, nearly invisible, pointing in. Now after all of that, we discovered from another English speaking passenger, that we could catch the 7:52 “Express” with only four stops!
Gondolas, Canals and Girls!
Saint Marco's Square
Another surprise was the number of school kids that ride the train to a couple of stops down the rail. This train is a high speed train! When another train is going in the other direction, at the moment the lead engine bisect, there’s a noticeable bang, much like a jet breaking the sound barrier. I must also point out that the train is extremely quiet with none of the clack, clack of the wheels rolling over the rails. The trains run on overhead electricity makes them even more quiet. The seats face each other making it easier to converse, if you’re sitting with another couple. We weren’t so fortunate as the train is jammed packed! We were lucky, at least to get seats! When arriving in Venice, at the station, one can’t help notice that there are 15 tracks that dead end into the station. These trains are several hundred feet long. That tells you that there’s a lot of people going and coming into this city.
The journey begins walking into the station and start noticing many, many Nationalities from all over the world! The next noticeable difference is the tobacco smell! Walking out the front of the station, one finds a new world staring at the “Grand Canal” much like looking at a busy main street, only with every kind of boat instead of cars and trucks! Did I mention people? Wow, much like New York with hundreds of people walking in many directions along the Grand Canal. Soon, we were swamped with vendors, from souvenirs to food. Our plan was to get away from the army of people and get a pastry and Cappuccino. It actually to some time walking before the crowds started to dissipate. Ah… finally, that pastry and the famous Cappuccino hit the spot!
Ambulances ready for emergency calls!
Joan had a city map and let me tell you, that Venice is much like a “Corn Maze” . No streets go into a straight line. Some go into a square, may be 100’ by 100’, others are even smaller. Some streets are marked, some are not! Some streets are 30 feet wide and some are literally 3 feet wide. When we were here several years ago, our tour guide said not to wonder too far and he was absolutely right. It is a wonderful experience to walk around Venice, but it is very, very easy to be disoriented going around three and four story old buildings that look similar. What an experience! I loved it!
Typical Canal scene in Venice!
Photography in Venice: There’s unlimited composition possibilities! A photographer is always looking for composition. Venice, a photographer’s paradise, has unlimited possibilities and so, I took hundreds of photos! From houses, to people, to gondolas, to everything else you can imagine. I’m not the only one who feels that way, as everywhere you turn someone has a camera. Locals in Venice are probably photographed more than anyone else in the world. It is such an unusual place, uncommon to most of the rest of the world. There are cobbled stone streets, but water canals bisect every section of the city. I’m told this ideology was to protect the city from invasion. In any event, it is a city that I love to keep my finger on the camera trigger constantly.
A selfie using a mirrored door!
With our Cappuccino break over, our plan was to head in the direction of the hospital, where Sam and Joan’s friends and former landlords live. Laura, is a traveling nurse and at the moment, has her hands full taking care of her elderly mother and father. She is also taking care of her mother in-law who is in hospice.
Kids and pigeons...St Marco's Square
Sam has a very good sense of direction and even with that and a map, we struggled to get into the neighborhood. Once we made it to the “Cannale delle Sacche”, Sam got his bearings and easily found the hospital, a marker close to Laura’s parents home. Speaking of usual Venice anomalies… How does a city of this size get to people who need emergency care? Of course, it is with an ambulance. The only difference is that they are boat ambulances. How does one pickup trash? Well, you guessed it, but the difference here is that men with small carts wheel around the streets and collect the trash and then meet the “trash boat” at a certain spots in the canal. Food deliveries are handled in the same reverse manner.
Back to our walk to Laura’s parents home. Walking down Fundament Nuove, Sam pointed out an island across the Cannale which was St Michele Cimitero (cemetery). Arriving at the hospital square, we gazed at all of the building architecture and people. Helen and I entered a large church to get a glimpse and as with most churches around here, it was spectacular!
From the square, it was just a few hundred feet to Lara’s parents home. While walking down the narrow street, Laura spotted us. She was expecting us as we had called her earlier. She had been to the market. All of the residential doors are always locked. We were buzzed in by here parents on the second floor. Ironically, no residential dwellings are on the first floor. This is due to an occasional high tide and water seepage. It was a nice reunion for Sam and Joan. We also felt glad to be able to meet and to talk to native Italians. Laura spoke very well in a broken English and was a good translator for her mom and dad (Angelina and Tony)
Laura and Sam
After our visit and goodbyes, it was time to hit the cobble stone again. A little corner deli caught our eye and lunch was in order. Our plan from here was to walk towards the famous Rialto bridge over the Grande Canal. You just can’t walk in a straight line! Someone had to put a building smack darn in the middle and you’d think you’d just could walk around and continue, but on the other side, the alleys or streets go into a totally different direction. You’ve got to “Love Adventure” and I do! So, after walking and walking, we wound up at “Plaza de Saint Marco” and never came close to the Rialto Bridge, but that’s ok… because, we’ve seen the bridge on a previous tour. At the plaza, which is huge, thousands of people were also gazing at the beauty and grander of the Basilica of St Marco and the very tall tower.
Always looking for the next shot!
We watched as kids were feeding pigeons. A big thing was to have the pigeons on your arms while some family member took a photo. Joan wanted to hear the bells ring at half pass the hour, but for some reason they didn’t. Leaving the square, Joan spotted the statue of “Punta de Salute” across the “Canale della Giudecca”. She wanted to have more of a quiet time and relax, which to all of us wasn’t a bad idea. To get to the point across the waterway, we walked along the canal until we found a bridge to cross. The canal here is very wide and we walked a long distance through a lot of back streets until we finally arrived at a bridge. By now, we had walked for several miles. A note here: Total walking miles for the day was 9 miles according to my FitBit pedometer!
From the bridge to the point was considerably short walking time, because of a more direct route available to us. I must say that walking wasn’t a bad thing. We got to see a lot of Venice that most people don’t even come close to seeing. Arriving at the “Punta d Salute”, Joan noted that a statue wasn’t there anymore. Sam and Joan sat on the steps of “Saint Maria della Salute” Basilica, while Helen and I walked into the basilica and admired the beautiful church. Some of these churches you have to pay to visit, but this one was free. There was actually a mass that was starting, but of course in Italian. Moving along the circular interior of the church, I took more photos, of course without a flash.
Walking towards the Stazione (Railroad Station), we had a little time to look up Lara’s husband’s business, who is a Dental Technician. He was still at work when we rang the door bell, Giorgio answered the door and we quickly had a chance to say hello. Next, on the agenda, was dinner. By Venice standards, it was too early to have dinner at most restaurants. This gave us little choices. The restaurant that we chose looked charming, but the food was not up to par. Sam and I had spaghetti which was the equivalent of “canned spaghetti” with a gourmet city price! This was the only not perfect experience in Venice.
All day long, I kept thinking off and on about our return train trip to Sacile. How would we find the right train? Thirteen tracks to choose from! How would we know when to get at the right station? Well, here is the answer: The train departure leader board didn’t show Sacile, problem solved by asking a cleanup worker. He said, “You have to read the fine print’, “track 13”. How to get off, answer; Talk to passengers and listen carefully to the on board train public address which does say it in English! It was a long day, but a satisfying journey. We may go to Venice again before our departure from Italy.

That is what we saw and did!

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Moving Day!

Our large kitchen in the efficiency apartment!
Mission of the day: Checking out of our room for 11:00am and then a wait for 2pm to check into an efficiency apartment. We drove down to Aviano Center to the market. I noticed that some of the vendors were the same as the Market in Maniago. Still there was plenty to see. At lunch time, it was a return to the Menza (Italian Military Mess hall). We drove around a little in Aviano, stopped at the car rental company and because of a warning light on the dash, we were given a Peugeot sedan, a newer model year…we were happy! It seemed that we were waiting for that 2pm change of room and we were. We are now in a building across the street. It is actually closer to the Base Exchange and Commissary. We are adjusting to share the family style efficiency apartment. The apartment has a large full kitchen, living room, two separate bedrooms, washer dryer and the shared bathroom.
Our Dinning Restaurante!
Baby Clams and Pasta!
The rest of the afternoon was spent resting. It was sort of a good thing. We were on the move for a full week and it was time to recharge. This evening it was dinner at a new, for us, restaurant called “La Locanda” Helen is always trying something different and she had baby clams and pasta. Sam and I wanted to eat a little lighter and just ordered a Margarita, tomato, mozzarella cheese and garlic pizza! Joan, well she had something Italian that I can never remember, but she said it was delicious.
We are now back in the apartment watching American TV and writing my blog for the day. I am thinking that I will be posting also to wordpress.com. I believe they “Wordpress” have a better app for inserting more photos! If this proves to be true, I will post both in Blogspot.com and Wordpress.com. Stay tuned for updates.

That is what we saw and did!

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Maniago Market Place

Most week days of the week, there is a “Market” in one of the local nearby towns. This is where we could get close to the locals who pick up some of their fresh staples for the week. It is quite an event in that several streets leading to the center of towns are filled with merchants. Everything under the sun can be found there. I bought a genuine Italian wallet! It didn’t even say, “Made in China”. It was styled like my old wallet and it fit my bill!
Our Hotel with Dolomite Mountains in background
We walked in several directions looking at all the wares that were for sale. A Cappuccino was in order! A side walk cafe was nearby and so we enjoyed the coffee and listening to the locals talking. They were probably doing the same thing with us. Sam said he wanted to go down the next street and checkout the cheese vendors. I was also looking to do this and we all followed him. Now, how does one communicate with a vendor who doesn’t speak English? The vendor had dozen and dozens of different cheeses. “A sample gesturing with my hands”. The next thing was “I wonder how much this piece would cost?” Well, we watched a few customers ahead of us and kept an eye on the scale and the Euro price. Not bad! A wedge as big as a good size apple pie was going for 3.50 Euro. That would be about $20 back in the states. Helen was talking to Joan when this guy noticed she was talking English. He also spoke English and Italian. He said he was from Canada. I said “Quebec,” he said, “no”, I said “Ontario”. He didn’t speak French and I hit it right on the head. With his help, we had some good cheese. One was sheep and the other I already forgot, but I can tell you they are both delicious!
Pork chop was done to perfection!
On a different topic, we have been staying at the Mountain View Inn here on base. You can only extend for three days at a time and so far we have extended three times. Tomorrow we will be moving to an efficiency apartment for $3 dollars more. This Friday, we are taking the train to Venice to visit Joan and Sam’s friends who have a house up here in Aviano. Time will tell if we get to stay at their Aviano home. Lara’s parents are in ill health and she has been taking care of them so we’ll see how all of this shakes out.
This afternoon, we did a dry run to the train station for Friday morning’s trip to Venice. It was a good thing as we ran into road construction and didn’t notice the Italian “Detour” sign. For fifteen minutes, we tried to detour around, but had to back track a couple of miles. Finally, after a detour to the next town, we made it to the train station! We would have had a heck of a time without Joan and Sam. They have taken the train before and know the ropes. Things like buying a train ticket and having it validated, at an electronic machine, before getting on the train. Things like using the tunnel to get to the other side of the tracks to get on the right train going in the right
This train will take us to Venice on Friday!
direction.
So far, the adventure has been a pleasant adventure! Today, we will be checking out of our first floor room at the Mountain View Inn. This is the name of the Air Force Inn in Aviano. Because of advance reservations, the Inn is booked solid. We will be moving to a different building to an efficiency apartment with two bedrooms. We will be sharing the apartment with Sam and Joan. This building is mainly used for families that are in the process of moving to a different duty station, better known as PCS (Permanent Change of Station).
We did have our challenges with the first day back at BWI (Baltimore Washington International) and the flight delayed a day, but that was easily overcome.
What surprised us most, I guess, was the fairly low cost of eating. We have been having breakfast in our room prepared in our kitchenette. Lunch has been at the Italian Military Mess hall known as “Menza” and evenings were at a variety of restaurants. Even the evening meals were not overly priced and exceptionaly delicious! I never knew you could do so much with “Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar”

That is what we saw and did!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Dolomite Mountain...High!!

Sunday September 20th.
Sam and Joan attended Sunday services this morning and we attended mass last night at the chapel over in area one, which is physically located in the town of Aviano. With our religious services completed, our adventure mission for this afternoon was to head into the mountains. (A note here, to say the weather this morning and afternoon was very clear and sunny.) This meant that the mighty Dolomite mountains were gorgeous! Our plan was to take a small touring, rubber tired train on an old road around some spectacular gorges and rock formations. The Barcis region has a large man made lake w
ith hydro electric power plants and towering peaks all around us.
The train ride was not costly, 6.50 Euros for each of us. The next train leaving was at 3pm, which gave us a chance to look around and watch the hundreds of locals who were also enjoying the afternoon sun and scenery. I noticed many Italians riding motorcycles. They all rode fast around the many mountain switchback roads. Most had bright flashy leathers to protect themselves. If they did wipeout, I would imagine the leathers wouldn’t be to helpful against the solid rock cliffs on one side of the road and the hundred’s of foot drops, on the other side of the road.
Finally, at 3:05 the train appeared coming out of the tunnel. To our surprise, the full train didn’t empty out. As a matter of fact, we were lucky to get on. What we didn’t know was that the train also picked up passengers at the village of Barcis, a couple of miles down the road. The train ride was not what I expected. The ride slowly went up in elevation switching back and forth for a few miles. Then, we came to our first of many tunnels. From here on in, we got our money’s worth! People not on the train were walking on the same paved road as our road train. The odd thing was that they were wearing hardhats. I presume small rocks can come rolling off the cliffs above. Some were wearing a different hardhat… the kind that cavers wear with a headlamp. Many, many tunnels to explore! With a moving train it was difficult to capture the moment with the camera. I just pointed and fired the shutter. The train finally came through the last tunnel and the end of our journey. It was a satisfying experience. If we every come this way again, I would definetly do the walking path.
From here, we motored to the village of Barcis, a tourist destination. It was Sunday and many families were enjoying this sunny afternoon. There was a dog show in the center of town. It was a different experience for us. Walking in a village, one must get off the beaten path to capture those picturesque photos that the four of us like. Joan said, “Let’s take a side paved path up to the main street.” We did and got all kinds of shots from sun dials, cats, shutters, buildings, gardens and so forth. On the main street, the irresistible Gelatos were right in our face, across the street. Yup, we got one and sat in the little park across the street and watched people, pets and Bugaty motorcycles ride by. It was getting close to the golden hour for photography! You know, when the sun is low to the ground and creates shadows and plays with everything. My favorite time of day!
Time to hit the road! From Barcis, our tour guide Sam, said we would head over the mountains back to Aviano! A one lane bridge and I mean one lane was our first obstacle. It was so tight that the passenger side mirror did scrape. Across the bridge, we ascended several thousand feet from switchback to switchback. It wasn’t very long before we started to notice snow road markers which were 10 feet high. It must be a monumental task to keep this road open in the winter. Ironically, the valley below gets only a trace of snow, if any, during the winter. Finally, on the summit, we reach a massive ski resort in the town of Piancavallo. Both Joan and Sam said that most of this was newly built since their last visit 5 years ago.
What goes up must come down! From Piancavallo, it is all down hill. A good thing our Peugeot, an automatic, has the ability to switch to standard shift. Sam kept the transmission in second and third g
ear down the four mile drop to the valley floor. No runaway truck stops here! We stopped a couple of times to take in the panoramic view. From here, looking North, East and South, as far as the eye can see there are no mountains and I was amazed how many small communities scattered the countryside!
It seems we are always eating. Sam said we were close to his favorite (Italian style) ha,ha restaurant. Pizzeria Vecchio Cafe in Polcenigo was our dinning experience for tonight. Calzone was the choice for Helen and I, as well as Sam. Joan had a veggie pizza. It may seem repetitious, but you can order several types of Calzones with different ingredients. It seems that I always say, “This is the best one so far.” but, they are all very good!
Aviano is the next town over from Polcenigo and we were home just a short time after dark! Just a short foot note here about the WiFi here on base. It is excellent! The only problem that we all experienced was that we could receive incoming email, but are having a problem sending out emails. The blog is going out better than back home!


That is what we did and saw!

View from Barcis, Italy
Ready for picking!

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Northern Italy...The Country Side

Photo of upcoming tour to Cinque Terre

Just a few days in country and our exploring adventures have started. Today, our first morning stops was to the ITT office at the Base Exchange. Here, we looked at several options to book trips all over Europe. Our foursome finally selected two adventure tours. One will be to Croatia by boat and the other will be Cinque Terre with a preview photo to the right.

It was raining and I didn't get a photo outside. Claire,
the snow above is not present now!
Once we got all of our paper work and planning behind us, we headed over to the Italian Military Mess Hall (Menza) for lunch. Reasonably priced and for cafeteria food excellent! Joan & Sam said they would take us up towards the Dolomite mountains to visit this ancient dome church which is visible for miles away. Therive was as expected filled with switch back roads, which were narrow, but located in a forested area and not on the edge of threatening precipice cliffs. I must mention that the weather in the valley was partly cloudy, but here at higher elevation, it looked like a shower was eminent and it was raining as we opened the car doors. When in Italy, be prepared and we were with umbrellas. The church built in 1339 is still in use and in good condition. We could hear the rain hitting the roof and spent a little more time in the church studying all of its intricacies. The rain let up and we took a mountain traiOnce we got all of our paper work and planning behind us,
Helen and Sam looking at the mouth of the spring!
we headed over to the Italian Military Mess Hall (Menza) for lunch. Reasonably priced and for cafeteria food excellent! Joan & Sam said they would take us up towards the Dolomite mountains to visit this ancient dome church which is visible for miles away. The drive was as expected filled with switch back roads, which were narrow, but located in a forested area and not on the edge of threatening precipice cliffs. I must mention that the weather in the valley was partly cloudy, but here at higher elevation, it looked like a shower was eminent and it was raining as we opened the car doors. When l back down to another lower parking lot where Sam was waiting with the car. The decending trail had mosaic grottos of Catholic depictions. Joan, Helen and I started down the path and no sooner the rain started agai
n. Thank God for the umbrellas! A little rain didn’t bother us, but I wasn’t able to take as many photos as I wanted to. You know holding an umbrella in one hand and the other hand with the camera was a difficult task!
Siberian Husky cooling of in the river
Yummy Gelato on a very hot day!
Enchanting village scene
Amazingly, as soon as we got back on a lower elevation the rain was gone and sun appeared. The humidity was very high with the temperature in the mid eighties. The next stop was what Sam called a spring coming out of the mountain. This was an understatement! It was a large flowing river. Ice cold water rushing from the Dolomite rock cliff, crystal clear, 30 feet wide and 3 to 10 feet deep! With the high warm air temperature and ice cold water, steam was instantly created. I haven’t checked my photos yet, but I’m hoping to have some interesting shots of this neat little area of Gorgazzo & Polcenigo. As we walked toward the car, the river was calling us toward the village with it’s interesting houses nestled along the bank. A lady had walked her Siberian Husky down the stone stairs to the river for a cool drink. She came back up and we couldn’t resist petting her well groomed dog! Even though we don’t speak Italian, we seem to be communicating very well with the local population. It was getting very hot now and we about faced, heading to the parking lot. The Peugeot A/C certainly came in handy. Speaking of the car, it was a diesel with 188,540 kilometers on it. I believe that equals to 117,153 or so miles. That certainly sounds like a lot, but the car was fairly new and it averaged 30 to 45 miles per gallon. The torque also was more
than adequate for the mountains.
Stepheno remembered Sam and Joan even after five years
From “La Sogente del Gorgazzo” spring or river, a Gelato was in order in the next town of Polcengio. La Gelateria was just opening at 2:30 in the afternoon. Remember, most all businesses shut down from 1pm to 2:30pm. We were the second customers and each had a Gelato cone! The first customer ordered a dozens different scopes which were placed in a styrofoam box, much like buying a dozen donuts. This was sold by the pound. Our cone was just $1.20 (Euro)… Not a bad price at all! It was now very, very hot! Sam drove us to a hilltop in the village where we explored the ruins of an abandoned castle . If walls could talk, we certainly would have heard an ear full!
It was late in the afternoon before we got back to the Air Force Inn for a rest. Later, our dinner was San Giorgio. Sam & Joan knew Stepheno, the head waiter, who welcomed us and made us feel right at home. Dinning at its best. Even though I only had pasta again, it was served to perfection! I also tried a house vino, which I enjoyed. At the end of the meal, Stepheno brought us an after dinner drink of some lemon flavored liquor. Between the vino and the shot, I’m glad Sam was driving back to the base.


That is what we did and saw!

Friday, September 18, 2015

Orientation...Aviano Air Force Base

Typical one lane bridge in remote villages
Our Calzone are not this huge
As you can we are taking in excellent food & Calories
Very warm this morning, partly cloudy and humid. Walked over a block to the Base Exchange to see about getting a vehicle to rent. I was the first inline when they opened, only to find out that they didn’t have any cars left to rent! The English speaking lady called another rental agency and they had vehicles available. We, Sam and I, would have to wait for a shuttle bus to take us into Aviano City proper later in the morning. Another retired “Space A” traveler had a reservation and got his vehicle rental. He offered to take us off base to the other agency. We had our rental and by 10:30 am, we were back on base. We rented the vehicle for 30 days with unlimited milage, but a 200 kilometer circle of Aviano. That would give us about 124 mile radius which would cover just about everything we wanted to explore on our own. We would be booking tours for anything further.
Joan wasn’t feeling up to par and she decided to rest for the afternoon in the hotel room. Sam took us all around Aviano and showed us the house were he & Joan used to live. Later that evening, we all went to a restaurant for an excellent home made Italian style dinner.
That is what we did and saw!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

The Wait...Space "A" Hurdles

Ok… This morning the sun was shinning. We had breakfast at the hotel and shuttled over to the AMC Terminal. Again, the International Terminal was nearly empty. Of course, all or most International flights leave later in the day. We all checked in, as we are supposed to do and than sat down to rest. Finally, more Space “A” passengers arrived and of course the chatting and information started flowing in both ways. The big news so far was that there was a USO reception center on the lower level. There, we were able to store our luggage, eat snacks, watch tv and many, many other comforting amenities, all for free, to card holding armed forces, past and present. I am presently writing this blog in the USO lounge.

4 PM… Up at the AMC Terminal: There is a terminal reader board with the number of seats available and with our signup priority number. Number of seats available 273…That’s after the military reserved seats. We started with number 37 on the list, but we are now unto 61. Now that 61 doesn’t represent the number of people ahead of us. It could be double that amount…maybe 120 if there are dependents. So 273 minus 120 equals 153 chances of making the flight. The line at the counter is growing! Nail biting! The aircraft is a B747-400 with a, I think, 460 or so capacity.

The show time was 18 hundred or 6 PM. Then they started the roll call. If you don’t show up at the desk your signup request goes to the bottom of the list. So far the list has gone up to 153 Space “A” signups. Well, this is starting to sound complicated. Our number finally came to 98 on the roster. Yes, we made the cut!

After getting our paper work stamped, we got in line for a very long three and a half hour wait to have our luggage checked and Passports rechecked and then go through security and finally grab a bite to eat on the gate side of Concourse E. It is now 10:10 pm and we will start boarding at 11:30 pm with a departure time of 12:30am. We will land at Rammstein, Germany for a three hour layover before our final destination to Aviano.

4:16 am Ramstein time: Arrived tired but safe. Huge line at BWI check-in, which started at 6 pm and by the time we boarded and took off it was one am! Remember hurry up and wait! It didn’t take long to fall asleep. It was over 4,000 mile flight up through or near Iceland. More to come when I get rested in Aviano. It is a 2 hr refueling layover here in at Ramstein Air Force Base. Needless to stay we are tired, but soon we’ll be in our reserved room at Aviano.

8:00 am Thursday: Rested and I think, now making more sense. Jet lag is now bearable. The Air Force Inn here in Aviano is first class! The staff is outstanding! Recapping last night’s time line; after checking in to our room it was a little after 9 pm (21:00 MILITARY time) (6 hour difference between east coast time). That’s six hours ahead of EST. The “Club,” short walking distance, was kept open for the late arrival of the “Rotator” flight and we were able to get a decent meal and a draft (local) beer. Sitting with our traveling buddies Sam & Joan and another couple, whose name escapes me at the present time, had a relaxing end of the day. I was really impressed with the other couple who travel intensely, all over the world. To mention a few places, China & Russia, on a motor cycle. Probably the neatest, was the fact that he, retired Air Force, has the website “SpaceA.net” which we read and study a lot for tips.





That is what we saw & did!

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Boomers On The Move...Space "A" Travel

On the light rail to Baltimore

A new journey begins! This time we are taking on a little International travel with the AMC (Air Mobility Command). That is (retired military… Space “A” (available) travel. Our journey began a couple of days ago as we left our home town of Berlin and drove down to Manchester to stay over night at my brother’s home. He and his wife Monique are always very accommodating in putting up with our adventure plans. A place to park our vehicle for an extended time, a place to sleep and always a unique tour of Manchester’s new developments.

Baltimore Inner Harbo
We had a scheduled flight from Manchester to Baltimore on Southwest that went out without a hitch. At BWI airport, we picked up our luggage and got directions to the AMC terminal for our overseas flight to Aviano, Italy. The AMC Terminal was large, new and empty of passengers. Three Air Force personnel were at the desk. We checked in with no problems, but were told that the flight to Aviano was delayed 24 hours. Oh, well, they always say “the one thing definite about Space A is that nothing is definite!
Ball Fans...Red Sox playing here tonight!
Fun Dinning on the waterfront!
We arrived three hours before our traveling buddies Sam and Joan. After the AMC check in, we walked back to the Southwest terminal to greet Sam and Joan. Next order of business was to secure a place to stay. The AMC Senior Airman gave me a
phone number to call and in no time we had a discount room at the Sheraton. The shuttle came to the airport and picked us up. So far so good! We were looking for some place to visit and have dinner. Then, Terri the receptionist at the desk, gave us a wonderful tip. We were actually thinking of visiting Washington, DC, taking a tour or something, but she recommended instead of going down to the Baltimore Harbor. She said, “It’s a beautiful area, plenty of restaurants to eat, plenty of things to look at and visit. Ok, that was our adventure for today. The shuttle took us to the train station. Buying a ticket was a challenge, but we finally figured the machine and got a senior day pass for $2.00 each. Now we got on the
right train and with the help of locals, waiting for the train, we were set to get off at the right station, thirteen stops down the track and maybe twenty-five minutes later, we were walking towards the harbor.
The weather here in downtown Baltimore was perfect. The harbor area, as promised, was filled with people enjoying everything from shopping, dinning, jogging and sightseeing. Baltimore is noted for Crabs! With many dinning establishments we had a difficult time to choose one, but finally we settled on a seafood sports-bar. The seafood was excellent! A leisurely walk along the docks after dinner completed our harbor experience. It was now time to backtrack. Getting on the right train and getting off at the right station was a precise operation which we carried out flawlessly.
That is what we saw and did!