The Ride Over (Part 1)

I had a hard time getting over here. 3 fulls days of delays, 1 in Baltimore and 2 in Germany. Made for some interesting times. As a benefit however, I met some cool people and had some interesting conversations.

The view from the Ramstein AB passenger (PAX) terminal - I spent A LOT of time looking at this view

After the first day of not leaving Germany, they put us up in a hotel...which happened to be 1.5 hours away at what used to be Bitburg AB. Bitburg used to be a big US Air Force base back when you couldn't throw a rock in (then) West Germany without hitting a couple US military installations. The base has been turned back over to the Germans who have curiously turned the old Officer's Club into a techno dance club. There were even (unconfirmed) reports that the old base chapel had been turned into a strip club...hmm? The picture above is taken from my room.

The second day, we sat around again, until they finally kicked us out of the terminal. Starving and pretty well convinced we weren't leaving that day, a few of us ventured over to the gi-normous AAFES exchange at Ramstein. The place is huge! Bigger than a Sam's Club...and tax free! They had several food choices. I chose the weisswurst (below) and of course ein bier (above). Just one...for now. Prost!!!

The view from my room in Darmstadt...second layover night in Germany. Funny thing was, I had stayed in this hotel in 2007. Nice place.