A Long Day's Journey

Made it home earlier this morning at around 0100 local time, at the conclusion of a 30 hour travel day from Germany. The good news is that we made the flight at 0400 from Ramstein to McChord, but the bad news was that there was an intermediate stop along the way at McGuire AFB in New Jersey...about 45 miles from Philadelphia. Was trying to avoid east coast stops and the chance of getting stuck due to the flight backlog there from the hurricane, and sure enough once we arrived at McGuire we found that our hoped-for quick turnaround was instead going to be a 16 hour layover...leading to another 0400 roll call.

Faced with the prospect of a long delay, and with no hope of grabbing any lodging on base, we said the heck with it and booked a cheap commercial flight from Philly back to Portland. Fact is, we were home snug in our bed by the time they even called the roll for the McChord flight in New Jersey, so it worked out great for us.

Today is a recovery day, then tomorrow we'll drive up to McChord to reclaim our car which is still in the long-term lot there. We're pretty tired after two nights of little or no sleep, but glad to be back home...where it's actually warmer than either Ramstein or McGuire, BTW.

No Luck Today

Still waiting.
The chaos on the east coast in the wake of hurricane Sandy has also impacted traffic moving out of Ramstein. Many flights for Baltimore, Charleston, Dover, etc. have been cancelled or rescheduled. Nothing today but for one flight to Birmingham, Alabama, which only took 10 duty passengers. We made the roll call but it was no surprise when we didn't even come close.

The good news is that we then had the rest of the day free, and since it was a sunny autumn day here we opted for a day out to explore some of the local area. Caught a taxi to the nearby town of Landstuhl where there was an old 12th century castle.

Looking up at the ramparts of Schloss Nanstein.

The knight who used to live here is memorialized with this 16th century statue. Note the cross on the front of his tunic, indicating that he was about to embark on a crusade to the holy land. When returning the knights moved the cross to the back of their tunics. 

There was a nice little cafe right next to the castle where we stopped in for lunch. Had Sauerbraten while sitting next to a warming fire and, best of all, a pint of the local brew...which went down REAL easy.

All in all it was a very enjoyable "day out".

Looks like they're going to try to dig into the backlog of flights starting tomorrow, but unfortunately there's nothing for us on the board until Friday morning. The good news is that there are several flights that day, including two to McChord (wouldn't that be nice), but right now it's way too early to have any idea how many seats may be available. So...planning to get up early and check the schedule in the AM, then probably walk into Ramstein village to check it out and maybe grab some lunch before heading back to the hotel. First roll call Friday morning is 0400, so the plan is to bank some sleep in anticipation of a loooong day that day.

A Near Miss

...but we're still in Ramstein.

Made the 1255 roll call for the flight to Charleston, but didn't make the initial cut. They were showing 30 seats available and there was a long pause after they called the first 30 names while the selectees were being processed. Turned out that there were 4 no-shows, so they called out 4 more names, two of whom were us,  and so we thought we were on our way. Got processed thru, checked the bags, claimed our boarding passes and boarded the bus to take us out to the airplane. As we approached the A/C I noted that it was a McChord based C-17...so thoughts of just staying with it and continuing on to Washington state after we finished our business in Charleston were dancing thru my head, when we were informed that because of some late-arriving priority cargo they could now take only 7 pax instead of the promised 30. So...23 disappointed people had to reclaim their bags and reverse the process we'd just completed. No more flights for the day either - everything for BWI and Dover was cancelled due to the storm on the east coast. Such is the nature (and the adventure) of Space-A travel.

So...here we sit for one more day. The good news is that we got to keep our room in the General Cannon hotel on base, and if you have to wait it out somewhere this is as good a place as any. The Cannon is Ramstein's Distinguished Visitor hotel...for active duty and retired O-6's and above. We're in a very nice suite, and they serve a great continental breakfast in the wardroom every morning. Plus, we have access to an on-demand shuttle bus that will pretty much take us anywhere on base we care to go, so life really isn't too bad at all.

They're showing 3 flights to the USA tomorrow - all around midday - so we can even sleep in a little before starting out fresh in the morning.

Waiting in Ramstein

 Well, the good news is that we made it to Vicenza with no problem, spent the night there, and caught the bus to Ramstein yesterday morning...arriving here last night around 7 PM local time. Thought we had walked into an incredible bit of luck when we saw a flight to BWI on the board for a 2200 departure, but when I spoke with the passenger terminal rep I was told that the incoming flight wouldn't be getting in from the UAE until after 0100 the next morning, meaning that the revised departure time would be about 0300, so we said the heck with it and just checked into base lodging to get a good night's sleep under our belts before trying again today.

Pretty bus ride yesterday thru the Alps. Some photos:

Not too bad as we left Vicenza. Sunny and cool - but dry.

The scene from our first pit stop near Innsbruck. The forecast had been for snow and boy were they getting it. First big storm of the season apparently . It was coming down pretty heavily as we went thru Brenner Pass - in fact I was a little worried about getting thru at all - but the Austrians are old pro's at winter road clearing and we barely slowed down.

 The sun reappeared as we descended out of the mountains, but it was REALLY cold, and with enough of a breeze to have us scurrying inside.

After checking in at at the Pax Terminal we got checked into quarters. So...here we sit, waiting. First roll call for a USA bound flight is 1255 today to Charleston, SC, far enough south of Hurricane Sandy's track that it shouldn't be affected by the recent excitement  along the east coast. Supposed to be 30 seats available, so we're hoping.

Meant to say that there was a bit of drama in Rome the other day when we arrived to board our train to Vicenza. I had forgotten about daylight savings time and moving the clocks back an hour that night (Saturday). Lucky for us we showed up at the train station an hour early rather than an hour late. Just gave us a little extra time to relax with a cup of coffee before hopping on the train, but might have been really exciting otherwise.

The flight line at Ramstein. Hoping to be on one of those C-17's later this afternoon.

The Journey Home

The Basilica of St. Peter's, cleverly cropped to exclude the approximately 1.5 million people who were swarming all over the square.

Our week in Rome has gone by too quickly and we'll be heading home - or at least as far as Vicenza - tomorrow. Our last couple of days have been spent walking around the historic center and taking in some of the sites. Helps to have semi-mastered the local metro and bus systems - saved a lot of wear and tear on these old legs to be able to hop on and hop off the various forms of public transportation...something most of the tourists don't seem to take advantage of. On our rides around the city on the local buses we seemed to be the only non-locals...a pretty good sign actually

Anyway, here's the photo documentation of the last couple of days;

The Pantheon - originally built in 26 BC by Marcus Agrippa and later rebuilt in around 176 AD by the Emperor Hadrian using the original blueprints. The inscription on the facade means "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, built this during his third consulship". He actually built it to commemorate his victory over Marc Antony & Cleopatra at Actium in 30 BC - the sea battle that sealed primacy over the Roman empire for his friend and mentor, Augustus. 

The monument to Victor Emmanuel in Piazza Venezia...the man who united Italy in the 19th century. It's even more spectacular at night.

And the Trevi Fountain - still beautiful (and a tourist magnet) after several hundred years.


We spent yesterday evening at the Vatican Museums - surely one of the most amazing things you will ever see - capped off with a 30 minute stop in the Sistine Chapel to gawk at Michelangelo's ceiling and the frescoes above the altar. The place really is overwhelming, with one delight after another assaulting your senses as you work your way thru the various buildings and chapels. Entire rooms painted by Raffael are just a prelude for the time spent in the main chapel. It was nice, too, to have been able to do it as part of their special night program - something they only offer on Friday evenings during the Autumn season. Not very crowded at all, especially after we high-stepped it at the entrance at opening time to get ahead of the main body of tourists who had queued up for the night exhibit. 

The title of this blog posting is "The Journey Home". We hope it doesn't need to be updated later to "The Ordeal Trying to Get Home". This Space A thing is great when it clicks, but there's always the possibility of unforeseen circumstances that can result in long delays trying to catch a hop home. Even getting to Ramstein on Monday (after a night in Vicenza) may be a challenge. The forecast for Innsbruck - one of the stops the shuttle bus makes along the way as it crosses thru the Alps, is for snow starting today and continuing thru late Monday...just the time we'd be passing thru. So...we're staying flexible and will just take it as it comes. If we get stuck in Vicenza for a few days, well ... there are worse fates. The good news is that Cat 6 traffic (ie retirees like us) has been moving pretty well out of Ramstein back to the US. We hope to snag a flight that goes all the way to McChord, but will certainly settle for one going to Dover, BWI, or Charleston (the more likely stops), since from any of those we can catch a reasonably cheap flight to Seattle. At any rate, this is where the "adventure" part of Space A travel really begins... so stay tuned.

Roman Holiday

View of the Eternal City from the Pincio - an overlook near the Borghese Gardens.


Been blessed with warm, sunny weather so far this week for our stay here in Rome. Rita has been trying to shake a nagging cold but we've still been able to get out and about...we usually try to be out the door early to get our sightseeing in during the cooler morning hours, and before the tourist hordes invade the inner city.
Some photos of our week so far:

Piazza del Popolo (People's Square), still looking down from the Pincio. The obelisk in the center is Egyptian from the reign of Ramses II (the Pharaoh from Exodus)  and was originally brought to the city by the Emperor Augustus in 30BC. It originally stood in the center of Circus Maximus.

Spent one whole day wandering around the Villa Borghese area - basically a large parkland dotted with museums and galleries as well as the Zoo. Was really nice to step out of the frenetic pace of the city for a few hours and spend time exploring one of the prettiest parts of the city, yet one that doesn't see the crowds that some of the better known attractions experience.

 Hopped on the subway one morning for a trip to the city center. Here's the Arch of Constantine with the Colosseum in the background. Since this area tends to be a people magnet we opted to go up the street and explore Palatine Hill and the Forum.

Nice look at Palatine Hill on the left, and the Forum on the right. When the lady at the ticket booth told me I had to return the audio guide I'd rented within 3 hours I thought she was kidding - couldn't possibly take that long, right? Turned out that it wasn't nearly enough time to see and explore everything we wanted to see. Could spend a week here and still not cover everything if you're a true history buff. For example, the area on the distant right of the photo are the ruins of the Temple of the Divine Julius (Caesar), erected by his adopted son Octavian (later Augustus) after Caesar's murder on the Ides of March. The temple was built at the site of his funeral pyre. The house where Caesar lived when he was Pontifus Maximus is just to the left across the forum. The place is full of historical locations like that...or at least what's left of them.

My Italian is pretty rusty. Couldn't quite make out whether these are the ruins of the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, or the first service station along the Appian Way.

The Curia is one of the oldest structures in the Forum, and was the meeting place of the Senate (although this isn't the place where Caesar was killed). The Romans were big into a creation myth which claimed that the founders of the Republic were actually escapees from Troy after the city was sacked and burned by the Greeks. These frescoes depict in graphic detail some scenes in the aftermath of the whole Trojan Horse thing. The idea being, I suppose, that the Senators would have constant reminders of their noble origins in antiquity.

For something completely different we wandered into the Bioparco, or zoo, while we were ambling around the Villa Borghese one day. Happened to be a Wednesday and, since the price for senior citizens on that particular day was only 4 Euros (as opposed to full freight of 13 Euros) we decided to give it a look. Turned out to be a very pleasant diversion for a couple of hours. Although it was quite small for a major capitol city, it was well done and had an assortment of creatures great and small. Decided to post this photo of an Australian Cassowary - probably the most dangerous bird on earth (hey, it's from Australia!) because it's notoriously ill-tempered and, if provoked, will slice you open from crotch to collarbone with a razor-sharp claw that it has on each foot. One of the few Aussie creatures we didn't see during our visit earlier this year...had to come to Italy to see one (go figure).

Rita was feeling well-enough today for a short excursion outside the city, via metro and bus, to Appia Antica, or the old Appian Way -  the first major road constructed by the Romans in 300 BC to facilitate quick movement of the legions to hotspots around the empire. There's a section of it that's been preserved and enclosed by a park. Really well done and with not too many people around. It's a little difficult to get to so most people give it a miss I guess. Too bad - it was one of our favorite things to see while we were here.

Near the beginning of the road was the Quo Vadis Church. Legend has it that St. Peter, while fleeing persecution in the city one day,  met the reincarnated figure of Jesus Christ heading in the opposite direction. Upon seeing him Peter supposedly asked "Quo Vadis, Domine" (where are you going, Lord?) to which Christ replied that he was going into Rome to be crucified a second time for the love of his church. A shamed Peter then reversed his steps and returned to the city - eventually to face his own martyrdom. This church supposed marks the spot where they met.. and has the footprints to prove it. These are supposed to be the footprints of Christ himself - left behind from his meeting with Saint Peter all those years ago.

There were evocative scenes all along the road, including the Circus of Maxentius shown here, dating from the 1st century BC. He apparently built all of this to stage funereal games in honor of his dead son Romulus (no, not that one).  The games included chariot races and gladitorial combat, as well as Olympic-style athletic contests, and were attended by the Emperor himself.

The funeral monument and tomb of Cecelia Mettela, who was a family friend of a young Julius Caesar.

Long sections of the road still displayed the original paving stones laid down 2300 years ago...complete with ruts formed by the passing of a couple of thousand years worth of chariots, wagons, and carts.

Rita dressing up one of the structures along the ancient route.

The park has about 6 miles of the old road preserved, and it all looks pretty much like this. Lots and lots of history unfolded along the Appian Way. In 71 BC, for example, Spartacus and 6,000 members of his slave army were crucified along this stretch of road...Kirk Douglas just to the left, and Tony Curtis just to the right...

General notes: For those of you complaining about the cost of gasoline back in the US listen to this. The price of gas here in Rome is 1.95 Euros per liter which, after you do the conversions from liters to gallons and from Euros to dollars, comes out to be $9.63 per gallon. Yikes! Small wonder that most of the vehicles you see on the roads here are those tiny little "Smart Cars" that get about 60 mpg.

Other than that the prices here aren't too terribly out of line with the US - things are generally more expensive, yes, but not as outrageously so as gasoline.

Supposed to start raining tonight, so we've planned some museum tours for the wet weather over the next couple of days. Found a special deal online for night tours at the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel so we're signed up to do that tomorrow night.

Two more days here before we board a train back up to Vicenza on Sunday morning. After one night there we hope to catch the same free shuttlebus we rode before but this time back to Ramstein for a flight home (we hope). The same weather front that will dump rain on us here for the next few days is forecast to send temperatures plummeting in Germany - forecast for our arrival on Monday evening is for a nippy overnight low of 24 degrees. Time to dig out the cold weather gear from the bottom of our suitcases...

Florence and Fiesole

 The view of the city of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo across the Arno River.

 In Florence

We arrived here on Sunday afternoon the 14th after an interesting trip from Vicenza via Padua. What made it interesting was that some of the employees of TrenItalia decided to go out on strike that day and the company was forced to selectively cancel about half its schedule... our trip to Padua was one of them. After a rather exciting hour or so wondering if we were going to miss our connection we jumped on another train that was heading in the right direction, and jumped off in Padua in time to catch the Freccargento to Florence.

This has long been another one of my favorite cities on earth - mainly due to all of the Renaissance art and architecture that make the place seem like a midieval time capsule. Even having the usual tourist hordes crowding many of the famous galleries couldn't detract from our enjoyment of the place. We went to a few of the lesser known museums and then headed in the other direction, found a little cafe along the river in the shade of the trees, sipped a cold beer, and generally chilled out for a couple of hours. It really is a great city if you're not in a hurry to be anywhere. Besides, this is Italy, and the Italians are never in a hurry to get to much of anywhere.

It's amazing what you can just stumble upon while you're ambling about. Along one of the streets on the Oltrarno side of the river was this address - home to Galileo for a few years back in the 1600's. A plaque on the building next door announced that it was from that rooftop that he conducted his early experiments with the telescope, and which led to his theory that the earth wasn't the center of the universe after all...a teaching that nearly got him burned at the stake by the Catholic Church to whom all of this was heresy. Thing is, both buildings are still everyday residences. In the US these places would be shrines, but here it's just business as usual.

A nice scene from Piazza della Signoria - a Statue of Neptune along with Cosimo I to the left - with the skyline of Florence behind. The famous statues of David and Perseus holding the head of Medusa are just to the right of the photo.

In the Cloisters of one of the many churches. I think this was San Lorenzo.

In the center of the city are the Duomo , the Baptistry  (on the left) and the Campanile (on the right). They're truly monumental, and the tight quarters and the crowds make it tough to get a panoramic photo. Beautiful though. The Baptistry is one of the oldest buildings here, dating from the 4th century. The Duomo was completed in 1436 when the bronze ball was installed at the very top. One of the bystanders that day who turned out to witness the "capping" was a young Leonardo da Vinci.

Santa Croce - the burial place for every famous Florentine who ever lived I think. Dante, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Donatello and a host of others are entombed here. See the pylon just to the right of the church? There's another one just behind where we took the photo - they were the turning points for horse and chariot races back in the 15th century. They also conducted jousting tournaments here, sponsored by Cosimo de Medici. There's a famous story that recounts a chance meeting on the corner to the left of the photo between Leonardo and Michelangelo. Seems that as they passed one said something to the other (they didn't like each other much), the other took offense, and people had to physically restrain them from duking it out in the street. And the place probably looks exactly as it did on that particular day. History is very much alive here.

 The tomb of Michelangelo Buonarotti located inside Santa Croce. Galileo is here too, but he had to wait 100 years before the church forgave him for his "heresy", and allowed him to be buried in consecrated ground.


Fiesole

One great day trip was up to the little town of Fiesole - about 5 miles north of Florence in the foothills above the city. Talk about a world away from everything. No crowds, pretty day, and having the run of the place made for a terrific day out.

There are some pretty extensive Roman ruins here, including this small theater (seating for 3000 and still used for summer festivals today), some ancient baths, and both Etruscan and Roman religious sites. And it's all enclosed by an Etruscan stone wall that dates back probably 2500 years. 

Nice view looking back at the Campanile in Fiesole from the arches near the Roman Bath.

Like Rome, Fiesole was built on seven hills. It's located about 800 ft. above the valley floor where Florence sits, and in fact predates the Roman founding of Florence by several hundred years - probably because it was placed in a much more defensible site. Made for some breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside, which was dotted with villas along the surrounding hills and each with its own grove of olive trees or vineyards - both of which are still cash crops here...same as they were 2000 years ago.

When I saw this place on the local map I knew we had to hike out to it. This is the spot where Leonardo and his crew came one Spring day around 1508 to conduct the first experimental test flight - from a design of Leonardo's  for what was essentially an unpowered glider. Didn't work - in fact I think one of the crewmen suffered a broken arm when he leapt off the cliff just behind me trying to fly the thing - but it was here, 400 years before Kitty Hawk, that Leonardo first gave it a try. I've read that with only some minor tweaking of his design, and substituting the use of modern lightweight construction materials for the lumber he used, his design has actually been demonstrated as being flight capable.

The city is just too pretty to not include another view of it.

Heading for Rome today by train and will be there for another week. Hopefully we won't encounter any more railroad work stoppages and the trip will go off without a hitch. Will be staying near Vatican City while we're there. Haven't been to Rome since 1984 with the boys so we're very much looking forward to it.

Vicenza and Northern Italy

 Our unexpected and unplanned stop in Vicenza has turned out to be one of the most enjoyable accidents we've ever experienced. The US Army base where we're staying, Caserma Ederle, has been a terrific place to stay for the past week or so, providing an excellent location from which to explore (via day trips by train) some of the pretty towns and cities of Northern Italy, and has also allowed us to recover somewhat from the 9 hour jet lag that we brought with us from Ramstein.

The town of Vicenza isn't on the main tourist trail and thus isn't clobbered with the crowds that descend upon some of the better known destinations around here. It's a relaxed, somewhat mellow place that invites strolling - has some great places to eat too. We've enjoyed our time here immensely, and in fact may work our way back up here once we complete our travels to the south. Here are some photos:

 

 One of several of the very pretty little city parks that dot the old town section of the city - in this case with a view of the Castello and the old city wall in the background.

 

 One of the old homes along the river.

 

 One interesting discovery was this monument in the central park honoring Antonio Pigafetta - the diarist on Magellan's  first circumnavigation of the world back in 1519. Although Magellan was sailing for Spain (he himself was Portugese), Pigafetta was a local Vicenito, hired by Magellan personally to keep a journal of the voyage for posterity. Turned out to be a prophetic appointment. Although Magellan and about 90% of the men on the voyage perished during the 3 year voyage, and 4 of the original 5 ships were lost, Pigafetta managed to survive and eventually published his journal in Italy a few years later, providing almost everything we know about the details of the historic exploration.

 One of our day trips was to Aviano Air base north of Venice. Wanted to check it out for future Space A travel possibilities. The nearest town on the rail line was Pordenone - another northern city well off the usual tourist track. Enjoyed a pleasant day here exploring the old town. This is the original town hall...built in 1291.

 Also had to go over to Verona - about 45 minutes by train west of Vicenza. It's not famous for much of anything except that Shakespeare set his play Romeo and Juliette here. The tale is a complete fiction of course, but that hasn't stropped local tourism officials from trading on the legend. This little courtyard for example sits just below "Juliette's Balcony". You can pay 10 Euros to have your picture taken on it. Oh, and there's a bronze statuette of "Juliette" just below and to the left of the photo. Local custom has it that it's good luck to give her right breast a little squeeze, so it's shiny and polished while the other is...well...you know. As if all of this isn't already in bad enough taste, keep in mind that the girl in the play was supposed to be only 13 years old.

 Once away from the crowds Verona proved to be a great city for strolling too, especially along the river and in back of the old citadella which you can just see on the right. The town dates to Roman times and in fact there are some very well preserved ruins from that era, including the best preserved circular amphitheater in all of Italy...still in use today I might add.

 A nice photo stop along the river.

 And another. A very pretty place on a very pretty day.

Couldn't be this close to Venice without going there for a day - even though it's not our favorite place in Italy. Our last time here was a freezing cold and rainy day in early Spring. Couldn't wait to leave. Thought we should give it another chance since the forecast was calling for a nice day, so off we went. Turned out to be much nicer than we remembered, although the crowds milling around the area of Piazza San Marco were as bad as ever. All we had to do though was walk a couple of blocks beyond St. Mark's to find an area of beautiful parks and nearly deserted Viales to stroll around. Changed our whole opinion of the city in fact. Nice to have had the luxury of enough time to relax and just absorb the city rather than to feel as though we had to run around checking off blocks on a checklist. 

 Lots of evocative scenes like this as you wander around and off the beaten path.

 And another. Looking across the lagoon of Venice to one of the churches that dominate the skyline here.

 That's St. Mark's on the immediate right... there about 150,000 people just around that corner (just kidding). The gondolas and the Vaporetto water taxis arrive and depart from the area just to the left of the photo. Can actually ride the boat back to the Railway terminal, or out to the Marco Polo international airport.

 The "Bridge of Sighs" - last view of earth for condemned prisoners back in the 15th & 16th century as they crossed over from the courts to the place of execution.

 Heading for Florence tomorrow where we'll spend a week, then on to Rome on the 21st for another. Hoping the weather holds.