Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Greetings From Aviano

The flight last night was pretty short and uneventful. You knew it wasn't United because, when the captain made his announcements, he talked about being honored and privileged to transport military personnel. I was immediately impressed with this air base....they really have a first class operation. There were lots of folks in the terminal to answer questions and be helpful. There was a bus that took those of us staying at the Mountain View Inn, the appropriately named on base hotel. My room was a two bedroom apartment with full kitchen! Of course it was dark when I landed, but as you see in the first picture, the view when I woke up this morning was breathtaking. There is a club across from the Inn, so I went over to check it out.  They have a great selection of German and Italian beers on tap.  Spoke with some of the folks at the bar and got some ideas for what to do this week.

This morning I checked out of my room as I'm headed by train to Vicenza. I'm being hosted by an Italian family that are friends of friends of mine in Germany. They almost insisted that I come visit.  I stopped at the package store on base and bought a very good bottle of California Cabernet as a gift... not that they don't have good wines here, but I just don't know them as well. I'm coming back to Aviano tomorrow night. This next week is going to be a lot more adventurous than the last! Friday I'm going to rent a car and drive along the Adriatic coast.