We landed in the airport around 915am, Germany time. As we waited by the carousel for the luggage, I had a nagging feeling the luggage wasn't going to make it. You see when we landed in Frankfurt, the plane took forever to taxi and the announcement was made that there would be a shuttle to meet those with a connecting flight to Venice. When we got off the flight, the attendant was there with a sign and told us where to go. (Thank goodness I still remember some of my German I took in high school too) We were transported to the other side of the airport, but for me, it could have been the other side of the universe and i would have been none the wiser. It was after all another country and I was in the minority. The shuttle stopped at a curb and everyone got off. We were shuttled into a building and proceeded to follow the people in front up the stairs to who knows where. At this point I had been awake for 20+ hours and crossed 6 time zones. I was totally confused and barely had my wits about me. So we followed these people with the German airport guards behind us. (OK so right there NOT a good idea.) When we reached the third floor we went in through a door and the German guys left us. I had no idea what to do or where to go but I knew we were in the airport. After stopping a worker there, and whipping out a but more German again, I asked him where we should go next and what to do. Apparently, we were at the Customs area and had to show them our passports. AHH!! Ok now I understood. We made it through customs and figured out where to go after that. We got to the counter with 10 minutes to spare. The flight was due to leave by 8:10am. We spoke to the lady at the counter about switching seats and she was able to get us in a row together, otherwise my 6 yr old would have been in the front of the plane and the rest of the family scattered throughout the plan. Not a good idea! We took the hour flight to Venice, and it was pretty uneventful. The flight attendants handed out German and Italian newspapers to the passengers as well as drinks. Since the announcements were mostly in German, with a few translated to English, we had to ask if it was ok to use electronic devices before my 6 yr old had a fit on the plane. All hail the Pokemon games!
Of course when we landed we found the bathrooms or il bagno as they say here and freshened up. The baggage area was crowded and the Italians know nothing about personal space. Apparently they also don't believe in lines and will cut in front of you even though you are next in line. So the whole Southern belief of being polite that i was raised with was not going to cut it here. We explained to the luggage people in painful detail that our luggage was lost. I really wish I took the time to learn a few key phrases. I managed to point to the sheet of luggage types, told her the italian number of our luggage as well as the Italian color. Thank goodness we learned those in our Girl Scouts this past year. We left the area and met our sponsor. I highly recommend this. Although there is a shuttle that takes all military personnel from the airport to the post, this way seemed better, more personal. And for those that might travel here, apparently having the airline loose your luggage is a good omen and pretty commonplace. Word of advice, travel with carry on only.
We made it to post which in and of itself was a miracle. I heard horror stories about how the Italians drive but seriously, you know the phrase, "Like a bat out of hell", this was worse! The guys on mopeds would drive right down the middle line of the road, and the other cars would ride your tail until you moved out of their way. It was nuts, almost worst than driving in a NY taxi cab. We checked into the hotel and our wonderful sponsor drove us around to get the lay of the land of the 1.8 mile radius of the post. He also took us to in processing where we entered our ID cards into the system so we could get on post without issue. The carbineri scan the cards everytime you come on post. We also had the chance to go to the housing office, which was a good walking distance from the hotel and right off post. We were offered a house right off, the one and only government lease available which we were required to take unless we could come up with a good excuse to turn it down or my husband was declared promotable. They wanted an answer right then and we looked at this lady in disbelief and told her we had only been in the country for 3 hours, and asked if we could have a little time to discusss this. We scheduled an appt and showing the next day and left. There are two entrances to post where you can walk on, so we we re-entered the post and headed to the exchange where we had a few minutes to get a change of clothes. As I was browsing the ladies section who should I see but a friend, the only person I know here, who moved here a year ago. I called out her name and she stared at me in disbelief. After the initial exchange of hellos she rushed off to an appointment and she promised to call later. It was nice to see a friendly face.
We found our mailbox, attempted to unlock the crazy lock, and headed back to the hotel to rest a bit. My friend called to invite us to dinner but warned us that dinner around here did not start until 7pm or so. (That's rather late you know.) She picked us up and took us to a little hole in the wall pizza and pasta place. The air conditioner was not working so we sat outside. Apparently when you do this, or any restaurant, you need to keep a watchful eye on your stuff or the gypsies will steal it right under your nose. Great, more things to worry about. Most of the family ordered from the extensive pizza menu and my friend and I chose the other option. You order the dinner, which is broken up in to three courses. The first course is a pasta course, the second course is your meat course and the third is your vegetable. After that, there is of course the dessert, or dolce course but we opted out of that. The drink ordering part was interesting. For water, you order large bottles which the table shares. YOu have a choice of natural water or Frizzante, fizzy water. YOu can also order the whole bottle of wine or small 1/2 liter or 500ml portions of wine. The dinner was good but the service extremely slow, and at times non-existent. Apparently this is the way it happens here. After dinner, our friend drove us around a bit and took us for gelato. After a semi successful attempt at ordering gelato, we enjoy our frozen dessert and returned to the hotel.
By then it was late and all I wanted to do was sleep. Screw the time zones, I was beyond exhausted. But what my friend did was help us fight through the initial jet lag part so we could get on the italian schedule. I was thankful she did this. However, after a day that started on a Wed and ended on a Thursday, 3 plane rides later and 6 time zones, and having been awake for 35 hours, I just wanted a shower and my bed.
**And for those that asked me, my father in law is doing better and should be released today from the hospital.
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