January 20, 2006

Ooookkk..where to start? Our R&R started on the 17th with a Rhino ride from the IZ to Victory. It was an early showtime for the Rhino but we still left rather late. By the time we got through the briefings, traveled to our destination, unloaded the truck, and got to our room - we only had a few hours before we were picked up to be taken to the airport. We were given one of the GRC rooms which was actually pretty nice. It had a queen size bed, dresser, tv, etc. The only downside was no bathroom. It seems most people have to use the community showers located on each floor. I'm not sure how much I would enjoy that living there. I prefer my own bathroom. The Baghdad Interational Aiport (BIAP) was pretty much like any other airport I've been to. The only people we saw were those that worked there and those who would be joining us on that flight. It made for a very empty airport. Security seemed a little more relaxed than usual. They did have dogs sniff our bags for bombs and run everything through the medal detectors but noone made me take my jacket/shoes off and I wasn't searched again when I made the detector go off...Ah well. We were charged an additional tax which I'm not sure was legal but it was only a dollar so who's going to make an arguement about that? The waiting room for the flight was quite filthy and the bathrooms weren't much better. The bathrooms there and in Jordan were actually on a BYOTP basis. Fortunately, I had packed kleenex so paper was at hand. :) When we finally boarded the plane we had to find our bags that we had already checked and put them on the plane. I guess that's their way of making sure all the baggage that ends up on is supposed to be there. The flight went well and we landed safely in Jordan. Upon exiting the flight I immediately got in line to get some currency. We had a little trouble figuring out what we were supposed to do since we wouldn't be connecting immediately. We were in a rush too because we had a driver waiting and were worried he would get impatient and leave us stranded. Turned out we only had fill out a form saying we were in transit, obtain a stamp, and leave. Only problem was it took a long line and a lot of questions to figure that out! :P I thought it was odd that we didn't have to pay for a Visa.. The hotel that we stayed us was really nice and even had free internet! :) We spent the afternoon going to Jerash (Check out the pictures at my photoalbum) and then went to dinner with our driver at an Arabian restaurant. We spent the evening enjoying some drinks and a cigar and then crashed early. By 5am we were back in the car on our way to the airport.
Our flight from Amman ended up delayed which made us late for our connecting flight. We ended up taking a different one 2 hours later. Figuring out the trains was a little amusing especially when we missed the connecting train because the first train was running behind too! It was very cold outside so standing outside waiting for our train in the dark wasn't too pleasant. When we finally arrived at Garmisch we decided to just take a taxi because we just wanted to be there..haha..and would rather pay the money for the taxi than try and figure out the bus system. Edelweiss was closer to the train station than we anticipated so it wasn't too expensive anyway. I took a nice bath when we got there - Mike passed out on the bed..haha What a day.
We slept in this morning..went to breakfast at the restaurant...and then went to the PX/Commissary. We stocked up on some food for snacking/breakfast and then were off for downtown Garmisch. We spent the day shopping, enjoying the scenery, eating at the local pizzeria, and playing darts at the Irish Pub. I purchased Harry Potter in German...and I will read it! I'm hoping it'll help improve my German... :) Tomorrow we will take some Snowboarding lessons and spend the day and the next on the slopes...Monday we're going to Neuschwanstein Castle...and we'll see after that! :) yay! Hope all is well back in Baghdad and back home! Adios!