Slovenia

We had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend in Slovenia. On Friday, after Chris was done with his reintegration stuff, we drove to Ljubljana, the capital city. We checked into Hotel Lev, which is supposedly the nicest hotel in the city. Being Americans, the two biggest items on our agenda were to find the Mexican restaurant downtown, and to go see the movie Wolverine in English.

Check, and check!

The Mexican restaurant, Cantina Messicana, was excellent in our opinions. It is just nice sometimes to have non-Italian food. And, we did get to go see Wolverine in English with Slovenian subtitles the next day at the BTC City kino. Awesome!

We also did typical touristy stuff and just walked around and shopped in beautiful downtown Ljubljana. We even found a great wine bar called Movia that stocked great Slovenian wines (according to Chris). He had fun tasting and shopping.

On Saturday, we drove to Lake Bled. This was my fifth time visiting Lake Bled, and it never disappoints. The food there is always spectacular, so we hit up our favorite places all weekend, and even made it up to the castle, which is a favorite destination at Bled. I have gotten huge and slow lately, so I gave myself a pat on the back for all the walking and climbing I did at almost nine months pregnant (admittedly with lots of breaks in between).

We spent lots of valuable time in the Hotel Golf pool (which is Heaven for pregnant women), and Chris treated me to a pregnancy massage.

So, all in all, it was an excellent relaxing weekend in Slovenia! My only complaint is that our hotel in Bled (Hotel Savica) did not have air conditioning. Whenever we opened the windows, the cigarette smoke from other visitors would invade our space. So, it was kind of miserable whenever we were in the room. But, lessons learned for staying there in the heat.

He's Back!

Ah, the sweet familiarity of Chris coming back from deployment - it's happened again! I'm glad to say that Chris got home safely on Wednesday from Qatar, and is settling back in at home. Except for the pesky reintegration stuff at work. But, he got to feel the baby moving around and eat chicken enchiladas, so he's a happy guy. We're going to go see Star Trek tonight, and then head out for Slovenia for the weekend. I'm excited to have my husband back home!

Living In Italy Can Be Lots of Fun

Sometimes I just have those weeks...and this is one of them. I am getting really excited to move away from Italy.

Just yesterday, I was with my friend Julie, and we were on a two-lane road (each lane going in the opposite direction). We were slowing down to turn left, with the signal on, and the Italian behind me was following too closely, so he had to slam on his brakes, and the Italian behind him hit him. Not badly, mind you, but enough to be annoying.

Well, we were simply using the lefthand turn to turn around, so I stopped to ask that everyone was OK and not hurt. He was furious with me (for, I guess, turning legally), and tried to blame the accident on me. He was actually kind of aggressive about the whole thing. Well, since he was calling the police, we called our friend Tony, who speaks Italian (thank goodness for Tony), and the whole ridiculous thing finally got sorted out. I was told by the guy I assumed was an insurance man to just go, as it was clear that nothing was my fault (my car wasn't even hit!).

But, the summary of why it was supposedly my fault: (keep in mind there was only one lane we were supposed to be using) I was "too far over to the right" even though I was turning left. WHAT?? Fortunately, some Italians (not the one involved in the accident) had the sense to let me go.

Today, a totally different annoying Italian situation. My soggiorno (Italian bureaucratic piece of paper letting me live here) expired. They need my Codice Fiscale (Italian bureaucratic piece of paper with number on it similar to an SSN) to process the renewal. I bring it in. They tell me that it is not good. Why, do you ask?

Because, my maiden name (McRoberts) has a space between the Mc and the Roberts. My passport does not have this same space. So, I am told that I have to go to Pordenone to get a new Codice Fiscale so that I can continue my request for a new Soggiorno.

I flat-out told them I would not. I mean, we are moving in October. To Germany. Where they don't have this nonsense. So, I am risking being told to leave. Oh well, I say! I do have a receipt saying that they are working on it, so on the off chance that someone hunts me down for this, at least I have legal proof that I am supposed to be here.

When are we leaving this country????

We're Moving!

I know, I have been horrible about this blog. We have had a virus on our laptop, so I've been doing Internet stuff on base.

It's been a great few weeks here though. We just found out, officially, that we are moving to Germany in October! We are both really excited, although a little sad to not be returning home as quickly as we thought we would be. But, Germany will be amazing.

We are moving to a NATO base called Geilenkirchen, where Chris will be back flying on the AWACS. We are both really excited about the opportunity to interact with people from so many European countries.

Geilenkirchen is located in the middle of Germany on the border of the Netherlands and Belgium, near a town called Aachen.

As usual, our doors will be open for visitors!