Quick post. Lots of pictures coming. But not just yet.
Sorry for all the text.
The first day we were in Venice I didn't care for it much, but on the second day I fell in love. I think it was just a fling though, because now that we are leaving it, I'm okay with the thought of going away. Besides, my hearts still years for another, my darling G. I think of her often and lament that I will not see her again even after I'm home. Maybe not see her again for many years.
In Venice we had many fun adventures, mostly getting lost in the residential areas. It's such a beautiful city. I didn't know they had so many gardens, parks and green lush foliage all over. Even playgrounds and jungle gyms!
The architecture is breathtaking, and overwhelming. Everywhere you look it's some new design, some new aesthetically pleasing sight. You want to take it all in, remember and record it all, but it's impossible. Eventually you have to just give up with the camera and enjoy it for the moment, try to remember it in your mind as best you can.
We started in the popular San Marco square, and wandered left, keeping the Grand Canal to the left of us at all times. It was confusing navigating, but somehow we always ended up where we wanted to go... more or less.
We bought huge cones of Gilatto /sp?/ with many different flavors. It was delicious! Much better than any of the stuff I've had in my country. Even better than Mochi! So smooth... so full of rich flavor. I was expecting it to be average, it was anything but.
We wandered accidentally into a residential area and found this chess club. The two old men playing inside invited us in and played us. I was not much of a challenge and after two quick games my opponent was done and tired of me. We resigned ourselves to watching the game between "The Maestro" and Bill, which lasted nearly half and hour. It was a lot of fun. Those men were serious about their chess! When we first saw them through the window they each had at least one or two books on chess open in front of them on either side of the chess board, playing and reading.... studying intently their strategies.
After we wandered around outside, watching the local children play soccer in the deserted residential squares. We asked where the train was and this couple said "Follow us" and continued walking and talking... I felt like I was in Runescape XD which I guess it terrible. How can you compare real life to a video game? But thats what it felt like.
We caught a train back without a problem, knowing which stops we needed on the locals from the previous day.
Now we're off again. I have a feeling the luxury of the actual Internet and rooms and bed is done for a few days at least... and park benches and granola bars are back.
Wish us luck and pray!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Alive
I'm not entirely sure what day it is, what the time is or where I am right now.
I believe we are in Vicenza, Italy at Caserma Army Base.
It's been a long week.
We were hustled out of Rota Spain (A place not very friendly to American ex-military, everything is closed to retired military, spouse or dependents of Military... so we could not shop anywhere and needed special passes to go everywhere) and onto a train out of St. Maria.... something or other station. We were pretty exhausted when we got to the station, so I don't really remember the name.
We've become rather accostomed to sleeping only once or twice a week and eating perhaps oce a day, usually a meal comprised of Train Fare or the energy bars we brought with us.
So far all we've really seen of the country sides was what was visible through train windows. In this medium I can say: Spain is lovely, I've never seen soil so richly red with such brightly contrasting crops of Orange, gold and green. The mist that covers the fields in the morning only adds to soft beauty and color of the land.
France is mostly yellow.... and varying shades of orange-beige, the castles, the houses, the fields... all variants of these colors and not much changing. Also full of confusing grafitti reading "Classe, classe, senior classe Kilt (or Kille? something with K I and L in some order)" For miiles and miles.... I don't know what it means.
Italy is beautiful, the architecture is rich and old. Also oddly Reminiscent of Assisins Creed II... those game makers were on their game when they made the scenery, very accurate.
We have been riding the trains now for .... 3 or 4 days? Whenever we left Rota after thatlast entry. The reason for this is, we needed somewhere to go to get our bearings and figure the rest of our route out. Someplace with showers, laundry, net and a general goods store for supplies. So we set our sites on Vicenza, which many from our group had spoken of as being a good base for all these things, also centrally located for enjoyable daytrips. On this advice we set out and have been on non-stop trains since.
We stopped in Madrid and Barcelona. We sepnt the night in Mardid and camped out in a local park. Our Train got in just as the station was closing and there were no cheap available hotels, so we wandered the streets of Madrid and took in the night life before settling down in a local park near the train station and in front of the Botanical gardens, to while away the hours until the station opened again. We discovered where many, if not all of the cities museums and art galleries are located.
It was an interesting night, Madrid truly is a city that doesn't sleep. People walked through the park the entire time. Many of the bars were open until 3 or 4 in the morning, serving carne, arroz, cervesa and cafe. There was an interesting campaign against human trafficking set up on one of the sidewalks, comprised of black and white maniqiunns with barcodes, names, ages and stories of people who had been traficked. A gaurd was on 24 hour watch to make sure the exhibit wasn't vandalized and a man with a bag who spoke to himself stopped and loudly began to read the stories to the world before running off to chase the park cats into the garden, shouting obscenities at them.
We attracted the attention of the local police, but they didn't bother us. Just circled us a lot and asked us once if "Todo Bien? (all well)". On our way out of the park back to the train station we accidentally stumbled across a couple enjoying the night together in the nude that we had earlier seen benignly talking on a park bench. We averted our eyes and hurried on, they didn't seem to care and were unaffected. I wonder now though, if the police circled so much not because of the two odd foreigners sleeping on the park bench, but the more interesting two lovers in the bushes. The peeping toms.
From Madrid we went to Barcelona and tried to get a train to Milan. However, the Trains to Milan are not only popular and mostly booked up, but also only leave once or twice a week and cost 100 - 200 euros to ride (and thats WITH the unlimited global Eurail pass). So we were forced to find an alternative route made up of many local trains that ran through France and into Italy instead.
We met a Londoner who makes his living as a professional violenist and a father and daughter from Canada (They lived not an hour from Gander Canada!) who shared 3 of our trains with us. We made conversation the entire time and exchanged travel stories. It was fun.
When we got to the final leg of our trip, the last connections ( an overnight train from Dijon-Ville to Vicenza) the lady at the ticket boothe gave us the wrong information and nearly cost us our ride. We went to get our tickets (some local trains don't require tickets and flashing your Eurail pass is enough) and instead of giving us tickets or helping us make reservations (Some trains require a few extra euros for 'reservations' on a train, in addition to the Eurail pass) for the train, she looked at our pass and directed us to the platform it was leaving from. When we got the platform the conductors refused to let us on without tickets. We tried to explain the situation, but they kept sending us to the next car to talk to another person. The train started to leave and in desperation (we hadn't slept or eaten in over a day, and hadn't rested, unless you count our night in Madrid's park where I sat and read for 5 hours while Bill slept on a bench) and frustration and fear of being stranded we jumped onto the train without tickets.
It was very cramped on the train and difficult to move with our luggage. We then had to try to find an open room. The ticket collector came by and after a flustered and desperate attempt at explaining what happened he asked to see our eurail pass, which he then snatch away from us. He told us to follow him in French and led us all the way to the other end of the train, he put us in a compartment with 4 other people, demanded 25 euros each and then asked to see our passports, which he also snatched from us. Not sure what was going on I tried to get mine back, but he wouldn't give it to me. A thousand nightmares of getting in trouble with the French Police or being blackmailed for more money by the ticket collector ran through my mind. The Ticket collector told us he would be back in the morning, asked our stop and left.
The people in the compartment looked put our for being woken up by our abbrupt and rought arrival, but seemed willing to tolerate us and tried to make it easier by offering us a flashlight. One woman was standing, her legs had all cramped up. Bill used his pressure points and massage training as a peace offering and soon the woman's leg cramps were allieved and the others in the compartment less put out at our presence. They asked us to open the window and settled down. We scrambled into the bottom bunks and fell into fitful sleep as exhuastion took us over.
In the morning we were woken by a steward giving back our passports and 50 euros. He told us we could get breakfast in the dining car and that our stop would be coming up in about an hour in French.
We stumbled to the dining car and ate. It was all packaged food. Toast in a plastic sleeve that looked like it came out of a vending machine, plastic wrapped crossoint that looked like it came froma 24 pack, jam, butter, some juice and yogurt. After not eating for 2 days it tasted great and one of the stewards brought us cappuchino and coffee. The tiny meal cost 9.50 euros each, 19 and some change.... but we didn't care much, it was food.
While eating however, we lost track of the time. The train stopped, we looked out and saw a sign reading 'Vicenza' ... our stop. We scambled to get our luggage and race to the door in time to get out, but were unsuccessful. We had to wait until the next stop.
We reached the end of the line and got off the train.... surprised to find outselves in nowhere other than Venice, city of water. I wonder how many people come to Venice accidentally?
After wanding around Venice for about an hour and finding it impossible to navigate with so much luggage and also put out at all the bathrooms requiring you pay to use them, we returned to the train station and back tracked to Vecinza with the help of some nuns and priests in training. So... here we sit in the USO office, waiting for a room to become available at the 'Italy Inn' and trying to plan our next move.
No pictures to post this time, but when I upload them I will put them up.
I believe we are in Vicenza, Italy at Caserma Army Base.
It's been a long week.
We were hustled out of Rota Spain (A place not very friendly to American ex-military, everything is closed to retired military, spouse or dependents of Military... so we could not shop anywhere and needed special passes to go everywhere) and onto a train out of St. Maria.... something or other station. We were pretty exhausted when we got to the station, so I don't really remember the name.
We've become rather accostomed to sleeping only once or twice a week and eating perhaps oce a day, usually a meal comprised of Train Fare or the energy bars we brought with us.
So far all we've really seen of the country sides was what was visible through train windows. In this medium I can say: Spain is lovely, I've never seen soil so richly red with such brightly contrasting crops of Orange, gold and green. The mist that covers the fields in the morning only adds to soft beauty and color of the land.
France is mostly yellow.... and varying shades of orange-beige, the castles, the houses, the fields... all variants of these colors and not much changing. Also full of confusing grafitti reading "Classe, classe, senior classe Kilt (or Kille? something with K I and L in some order)" For miiles and miles.... I don't know what it means.
Italy is beautiful, the architecture is rich and old. Also oddly Reminiscent of Assisins Creed II... those game makers were on their game when they made the scenery, very accurate.
We have been riding the trains now for .... 3 or 4 days? Whenever we left Rota after thatlast entry. The reason for this is, we needed somewhere to go to get our bearings and figure the rest of our route out. Someplace with showers, laundry, net and a general goods store for supplies. So we set our sites on Vicenza, which many from our group had spoken of as being a good base for all these things, also centrally located for enjoyable daytrips. On this advice we set out and have been on non-stop trains since.
We stopped in Madrid and Barcelona. We sepnt the night in Mardid and camped out in a local park. Our Train got in just as the station was closing and there were no cheap available hotels, so we wandered the streets of Madrid and took in the night life before settling down in a local park near the train station and in front of the Botanical gardens, to while away the hours until the station opened again. We discovered where many, if not all of the cities museums and art galleries are located.
It was an interesting night, Madrid truly is a city that doesn't sleep. People walked through the park the entire time. Many of the bars were open until 3 or 4 in the morning, serving carne, arroz, cervesa and cafe. There was an interesting campaign against human trafficking set up on one of the sidewalks, comprised of black and white maniqiunns with barcodes, names, ages and stories of people who had been traficked. A gaurd was on 24 hour watch to make sure the exhibit wasn't vandalized and a man with a bag who spoke to himself stopped and loudly began to read the stories to the world before running off to chase the park cats into the garden, shouting obscenities at them.
We attracted the attention of the local police, but they didn't bother us. Just circled us a lot and asked us once if "Todo Bien? (all well)". On our way out of the park back to the train station we accidentally stumbled across a couple enjoying the night together in the nude that we had earlier seen benignly talking on a park bench. We averted our eyes and hurried on, they didn't seem to care and were unaffected. I wonder now though, if the police circled so much not because of the two odd foreigners sleeping on the park bench, but the more interesting two lovers in the bushes. The peeping toms.
From Madrid we went to Barcelona and tried to get a train to Milan. However, the Trains to Milan are not only popular and mostly booked up, but also only leave once or twice a week and cost 100 - 200 euros to ride (and thats WITH the unlimited global Eurail pass). So we were forced to find an alternative route made up of many local trains that ran through France and into Italy instead.
We met a Londoner who makes his living as a professional violenist and a father and daughter from Canada (They lived not an hour from Gander Canada!) who shared 3 of our trains with us. We made conversation the entire time and exchanged travel stories. It was fun.
When we got to the final leg of our trip, the last connections ( an overnight train from Dijon-Ville to Vicenza) the lady at the ticket boothe gave us the wrong information and nearly cost us our ride. We went to get our tickets (some local trains don't require tickets and flashing your Eurail pass is enough) and instead of giving us tickets or helping us make reservations (Some trains require a few extra euros for 'reservations' on a train, in addition to the Eurail pass) for the train, she looked at our pass and directed us to the platform it was leaving from. When we got the platform the conductors refused to let us on without tickets. We tried to explain the situation, but they kept sending us to the next car to talk to another person. The train started to leave and in desperation (we hadn't slept or eaten in over a day, and hadn't rested, unless you count our night in Madrid's park where I sat and read for 5 hours while Bill slept on a bench) and frustration and fear of being stranded we jumped onto the train without tickets.
It was very cramped on the train and difficult to move with our luggage. We then had to try to find an open room. The ticket collector came by and after a flustered and desperate attempt at explaining what happened he asked to see our eurail pass, which he then snatch away from us. He told us to follow him in French and led us all the way to the other end of the train, he put us in a compartment with 4 other people, demanded 25 euros each and then asked to see our passports, which he also snatched from us. Not sure what was going on I tried to get mine back, but he wouldn't give it to me. A thousand nightmares of getting in trouble with the French Police or being blackmailed for more money by the ticket collector ran through my mind. The Ticket collector told us he would be back in the morning, asked our stop and left.
The people in the compartment looked put our for being woken up by our abbrupt and rought arrival, but seemed willing to tolerate us and tried to make it easier by offering us a flashlight. One woman was standing, her legs had all cramped up. Bill used his pressure points and massage training as a peace offering and soon the woman's leg cramps were allieved and the others in the compartment less put out at our presence. They asked us to open the window and settled down. We scrambled into the bottom bunks and fell into fitful sleep as exhuastion took us over.
In the morning we were woken by a steward giving back our passports and 50 euros. He told us we could get breakfast in the dining car and that our stop would be coming up in about an hour in French.
We stumbled to the dining car and ate. It was all packaged food. Toast in a plastic sleeve that looked like it came out of a vending machine, plastic wrapped crossoint that looked like it came froma 24 pack, jam, butter, some juice and yogurt. After not eating for 2 days it tasted great and one of the stewards brought us cappuchino and coffee. The tiny meal cost 9.50 euros each, 19 and some change.... but we didn't care much, it was food.
While eating however, we lost track of the time. The train stopped, we looked out and saw a sign reading 'Vicenza' ... our stop. We scambled to get our luggage and race to the door in time to get out, but were unsuccessful. We had to wait until the next stop.
We reached the end of the line and got off the train.... surprised to find outselves in nowhere other than Venice, city of water. I wonder how many people come to Venice accidentally?
After wanding around Venice for about an hour and finding it impossible to navigate with so much luggage and also put out at all the bathrooms requiring you pay to use them, we returned to the train station and back tracked to Vecinza with the help of some nuns and priests in training. So... here we sit in the USO office, waiting for a room to become available at the 'Italy Inn' and trying to plan our next move.
No pictures to post this time, but when I upload them I will put them up.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
on the homefront
While we eagerly await more news from the travelers we are working hard to keep the boredom at bay. N has recently thrown caution to the wind and started driving again. True it is tricky with a cast and not exactly comfortable but it's freedom and the open road baby. Tomorrow E,N and neighbor L are heading into town for a movie and errands. Meanwhile we hope the travelers are having many exciting adventures and taking lots of pictures.
Monday, June 28, 2010
yea
We are so happy the travelers made it to Spain, let their adventures begin!!
Meanwhile back on the home front life is not nearly so exciting, but we make due. S and E are outside keeping cool in the sprinkler. We were planing a trip to Chico today but are still waiting for the truck to be returned. It's much too hot to take the Merc. Perhaps tomorrow.
SALVATION
Haven't had net for a WHILE.... so get ready for one LONG update!
Today is the.... 28th, we touched down in Rota Spain less than 5 hours ago. Local time at touchdown 5:20 pm... I have no idea what it is now. The weather is very warm.
We made friends on the plane, Iris, Johanna and Enrique. Iris lives in Rota with her husband and has generously given us a place to stay while we regroup.
What a hellish week! We are exhausted and glad to have finally made it across the pond. For a while we thought we would have to give up and turn back. I have saved some entries in a word pad to post once we had net again, I will paste and share them now, below.
----------------------
+++++++++++++++++++++++
24th of May - 25th of May
Oppressive heat, sticky humidity, lots of moss and green, green trees. We're in South Carolina.
Guard happily informed us it reached 120 F on Monday. It certainly feels it. The main chow hall is the bowling alley (which serves breakfast if you can believe it) a block or so away.
Lots of flights out... but not for us. Not enough seats on the first flight. Everyone is trying to get to Ramstein. People come out of the woodworks at roll call. We're too far down on the list to have a chance.
Finally got our names called for a Rota Spain flight. Got manifested and everything. Then we waited.... first we were told "Just a 20 min. delay" that turned into 30 mins... then an hour....two hours.... they come back, say the crew is tired and theres no one to take over, might not take off. 4 hours later, the plane is broken and the crew is off line on crew rest... flight canceled.
Next flight supposedly at 1 in the morning... flight roll is never called, look on the board and that flight no longer exists.
All other flights keep getting postponed. First they tell us 2 flights to Ramstien in the morning, that turns into Ramstein in the evening, then Ramstien tomorrow evening. We wait all night and all day. Nothing.
A flight to Rota is posted, " We are pleased to inform you this flight has 73 seats" 40 minutes later "We regret to inform you this flight now only has 7 available seats" people are called for it several hours later... they manifest... and... boomerang back to us. That flight broke down before ever getting off the ground.
At long long last, 11 pm the following night... another flight to Rota 72 seats! We all get called! Those who didn't get on the 7 seater are brought to us, we all load up. We're airborne.... where will we land?
The plane is cool. We're in the troop deck in the tail of the plane. We climbed the ladder up, up, up, we found ourselves in a forest of cloud. The a/c was spewing white condensation clouds and it looks like a special effects studio with all the fog machines set on high. Couldn't even see the safety demo by the soldier in the jump suit through the fog, but we could hear him.
26th of May 4:30am
Three guesses as to where we are right now.
I'll give you a hint; "Take a 'gander' at where we've landed, eh? It's been fondly called "The place the world landed on 9/11" The main town is in the shape of a goose's head and the national anthem starts with 'oh' as a final hint... there's a 1/2 time difference (so they proudly proclaim) from this famous time zone because of a lat/long interesting locacion.
No tellin how long we'll be here for. We landed to fuel up before Rota... but they asked us to take our personal items with us. C-5's are notorious for breaking down... I think the pilot knows something we don't. Supposedly we'll be out in an hour...
26th of May 11 pm
We have a 19 hour layover here while the crew takes a 12 hour rest. Roll call at 1:30 am for a flight back to the states in Delaware to make repairs on the plane. We were only suppose to stop in Gander for an hour to refuel, but a problem was found with the plane and the crew decided to turn stateside to fix it.
So we spent a lovely day exploring Gander Canada- Population: 10,000.
Breakfast was coffee at Tim Horton's- I've never been to a Tim Hortons before! The lady we hitchhiked with laughed when we told her this. "We Canadians know everything about you all, but none of you know anything about us! If you'd paid attention during the Olympics you would have seen advertisements for Tim Horton's on the railings," joked She.
This place is supposedly moose central. I see moose paraphernalia everywhere! And everyone has a moose story. I've been told I should see them in town, but there is a motorcycle rally for Retinitis Pigmantosa today and all the moose have stayed away.
We took a hike to the local pond, beautiful area, and fell asleep on some boulders there. The weather was a cool 70 F all day, very balmy and breezy.
Had lunch at 'Lillies Landing'. According to the awards on the wall, it's got the best Fish n' Chips in town.
Guest Book at the airport has some interesting entries. A couple corny jokes about ducks. An entry from someone who got stranded in Gander for a month, 3 entries from people whose plane caught on fire and had to make an emergency landing in Gander and a whole page of entries from people who were grounded when someone made a bomb threat on their plane. Also, half a dozen scattered entries from various patrons raving about the local soup. Apparently it is very, very good.
Showers at the airport then wait... wait... wait for the plane. We take off and it's a short 3 hour hop to Delaware. The pilot tells us we should only be down for maybe.. 20 mins to an hour while they make a quick repair and then we'll be off to Spain.
They make us go through customs (even though we were quarantined from the others in Gander and went through customs leaving Canada). The Custom's man had a bug up his butt and was very rude. They march us through the x-rays and metal detectors.... then walk us through the back door of the airport and back in through the front doors of the airport where... they make us go through the x-rays again...??? Seriously? And make us take off our shoes and everything all over again... We are brought to a terminal and made to sit for over an hour.
There are many small children riding with us and none of us have eaten for several hours, most of us have not slept since we took off a day before. We ask if we can leave to get food and are told "For security purposes we cannot permit you to leave this room." After waiting for another 40 mins or so we ask if we can have food brought to us, we are told "that is not possible." We ask if we can order anything, again, no. We ask how much longer the wait will be, they cannot tell us.
After another 40 mins or so, it's 2 hours past the time we were supposed to take off, maybe 3 hours, they come in and tell us the plane will not be taking off and kick us out of the terminal. We have no where to go and they won't let us sleep in the airport. They won't help us get food or taxis. These people are very rude...
Ironically... we see signs telling us "Customer Service is our #1 concern. Please, let us know how we are doing!" all over the walls and on the terminal viewer/slideshow banner thing.
First they tell us the new check in time for the flight will be at 11 pm. Then they tell us this will be postponed until 1:20 am the following day. We are stuck.
Bill goes and calls the Commanding Officer. An hour later we are offered meals and told the flight will take off at 10:30 am. We have a little hope things will turn up. But after taking our meal orders the flight is pushed back to 1:30 am again and we're on our own again.
I pass out... and wake up in a hotel room somehow. Guess I'd been out a while because it's 6:30 pm.
After a very, very, veryyyy long day (everything on base is closed, we cannot get food or supplies) at 2 am they begin checking us back in (for some reason they gave our checked luggage back... and now have to re-check everything) we have to go back through the metal detectors yet again.... and at long, LONG last, we board the plane an hour 1/2 later than scheduled at 3:30 am. We are all exhausted and none of us are expecting the plane to actually take off (after so many false alarms). Many people are having de ja vu, I hear a lot of "I think I remember being here before" "This looks familiar" "It's like we're caught in a time warp" "it's like a bad movie" "yeah, but this is the directors cut, it has an alternative ending!" "I hope so..." "No more theatrical version! Lets have a happy ending!" "I won't believe it until my feet touch Spanish soil..."
Then... Hallelujah! The plane takes off!!!
Bill and I pass out again for the entire 9 hour flight. (I didn't think I'd actually sleep the whole way). We wake up in Rota and the whole plane cheers and whoops and claps. We're actually here!
Everyone shuffles off and make arrangements for the night. All the lodging on base is full-up but the hotels and hostels off base have rooms. We say our goodbyes, exchange information and part ways.
Time to Regroup and see what tomorrow brings.
------------------------------------------------------
Some pictures from Gander Canada:
Sunday, June 27, 2010
finally
Finally heard from the travelers...Bad luck continues. Plane broke down they haven't yet made it to their destination. I'm begining to think this trip is just too ill fated, perhaps they should abort. Meanwhile the pups got a bath, as did the horses. Izzy continues to develop her hunting skills and complains loudly when she feels underappreciated and her treasures are not allowed in the house. Best luck to the travelers, and God speed.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
still waiting
We are still waiting to hear from the travelers. Meanwhile the heat and lack of activity is begining to take it's toll. I am restless and I'm running out of books to read. E. is writing her own stories now. Quite creative actually. W. will be leaving for camp tomorrow. We hope the travelers are happily exploring and we hear from them soon.
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