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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!